Is the Queen finally losing it? 
Maybe those 88 years are catching up with her.
How can you respect a decision not to do anything? 
The status quo remains unchanged.
This sounds like the speech she wrote if Scotland had voted for independence. Did the old gal pick up the wrong speech from her desk?
This is just hilarious. all of us throughout the United Kingdom will respect Scotland’s decision not to do a damn thing. 
This is the stupidest thing I’ve read in awhile.
It sounds perfectly nice and diplomatic to me. What’s the problem? From what I’ve read it’s not really true that the status quo is unchanged because Scotland has been promised greater local independence by the British government.
But doesn’t the wording sound like it was intended to accept Scotland’s vote for independence? a result that all of us throughout the United Kingdom will respect. They will respect a Yes vote for independence.
You’d expect a different message if they voted No. Something like, we are pleased that Scotland has elected to remain united with Britain. The UK can go forward united and strong.
The Queen’s message just struck me as so oddly worded. Especially for a professionally written speech.
No, it doesn’t read that way to me. I think it’s written to try to soothe people’s feelings and your wording might come off as gloating. If they’d voted for independence I expect she’d have wished them well and emphasized that they would still share a history and things like that. The Queen doesn’t really take positions on political issues, so like everybody else, she’s encouraging everybody to respect the democratic process.
If you’re a person who wanted something done, the decision to do nothing is pretty important.
A speech like this isn’t for the people who won, it’s for the folks who lost.
<shrug> Maybe I’m reading too much into it. It just seemed like a backwards speech from what actually happened in Scotland.
Not my country. I guess her subjects know what she’s saying.
Alternately, they could respect the fact that after having been disfranchised for centuries and finally given the right to choose for themselves, they have chosen to be part of the UK.
Or they could simply respect the success of the democratic process.
It’s a simple statement that says little and yet says enough, which is pretty much what you’d expect from a person whose job is to be a symbol of national unity and character without really taking too strong a stand on anything that’s the right of the people to decide.
I don’t see what is wrong with that statement either. It’s actually a bit more political than the usual bland government-approved stuff she gets to say publically. It might even be a shot across the bows of those in Cameron’s Tory party who might be thinking to oppose further reform, for England as well as Scotland.
I think you nailed it. She’s an expert at giving grand statements that have little actual content. It must be so irritating to go through life never taking a public position on any issue. It would drive me nuts to live like that.
Ach, there’s loads of people who go through life making grand statements with little content. They seem to get by, and find some way to live with it.
Concur - it was a good turnout, and (as far as I’ve heard) the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ sides have remained reasonably amicable and respectful to one another throughout. This is HRH saying ‘Democracy is good, and this was a good example of it’.
“…it is a result that all of us throughout the United Kingdom will respect.”
My first thought was that the queen was using “respect” in the sense of “abide by” or “accept.” That sense of the word doesn’t imply anything positive toward its subject; it’s actually entirely neutral.
It still makes for a somewhat bland and perhaps unnecessary observation, but if this is what she meant, it sort of undercuts your position.
No, the speech she had prepared in case Scotland voted for independence began “Fuck you, you ungrateful bastards.”
On a more serious note, I think her message was directed at the Scots who voted for independence. Obviously, the people who won the vote are going to respect the outcome. She was reminding the people who lost that they should accept the will of the majority.
I guess it struck me odd because usually a No vote on anything means business as usual.
Say a state had a ballot to legalize medical pot. The voters reject it. The state’s Governor would never say “we respect your decision not to legalize pot”. The Governor probably wouldn’t say anything. It’s a non event. A ballot issue was defeated. Time to move on to the next issue at hand.
It’s not a non-issue. It’s all people have been talking about for weeks, months. Now the decision has been made, but there are still things to be talked about.
The fact that they had the vote, and that it was so close, means that business as usual has already been disrupted. The same is true with Quebec’s failed campaign to leave Canada.
This was a vote on the political, governmental and economic fate of an entire nation.
This is not really anywhere near the same as the legalization of a banned substance in a single American state.
I think the wording was intended to be applicable regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
They’ve been saying all day how important it is that Cameron and the other politicians fulfill the promises they made to Scotland’s voters. The promise of Devo Max went a long way in getting voters to vote No and stay in the UK.