You realise the reason Faslane is there is because Scottish MPs wanted the investment and jobs in Scotland?

The article is a load of bollocks, moving the facilities has indeed been looked into but the MoD just hasn't committed to any plan given that no decision on independence has been made yet. The only thing the MoD have ruled out is keeping Faslane as a Sovereign Base Area similar to those on Cyprus.

And regarding the last sentence - Scotland does not unilaterally inherit the UK's nuclear deterrent simply because it happened to be on Scottish soil, so they do not have unilateral authority get to dispose of them. The will be passed to the rest of the UK post-independence, who will then make the decision about what to do.

The Government have already looked into moving it and all the jobs related to it from Faslane to Portsmouth or Plymouth - sure, it will cost a few billion to move, but that's peanuts compared to how much Scottish independence will ultimately cost to enact. While the new base is being built and readied for use, the submarines will be homed at a US port already familiar with Trident.

The real question is what are Scotland going to do about their currency post-independence? Parroting the same old lines about a currency union is getting old, especially as all major UK parties have said it will not happen - sure, Scotland could continue to use the Pound long term without permission from the UK, but they want a say in monetary policy, interest rates and a seat at the table on the Bank of England monetary committee, which is what has been turned down by the UK parties.

And yet Salmond and his crew keep saying it will happen (their favourite line is quoting an unnamed "senior civil servant" as saying "of course it will happen" - an unnamed source saying it will versus the heads of all major UK parties saying it won't...) and refuse to outline any other plan.

I've seen a gas station go up in a week - its pretty much all modular.

You do not "need" to take a break every two hours, it all depends on your long distance driving experience. I regularly drive 4 hours without a break, with no ill effects or loss of attention during that period.

In quite a lot of Europe you simply cannot do that without substantial changes to a lot of things, which is why EV's and hybrids have quite some way to go yet.

Why can't we do that? Lets take the house I just sold - end of terrace, on street unallocated parking, a 1.5 meter pavement between the house and the road, and regularly far too many cars trying to park on the road so you are lucky if you aren't on the next road over.

Without the government coming along and allocating parking on that road, and installing roadside chargers for each parking space with some method of ensuring the right person pays the bill, there is no way anyone on that road is going to be able to own or run an electric vehicle.

Such houses and roads make up probably 75% of Norwich, UK. And that's pretty much the norm in the UK as well, probably a bit worse once you get into Europe proper.

I can safely say that I have never, ever heard the term "Nimrod" used in reference to calling someone an "idiot". And asking around the office, neither has anyone else here. It must be an Americanism - which highlights why the furore over the term is wrong, as there is a world outside America.

Even if there are alternative ways of doing something, that doesn't mean you should just give up on all security completely.

Imagine having to copy two or three at a time of a companies contact list which may be thousands long - thats going to take a while and fewer people are going to bother than if you could just take the entire thing in one go.

Let alone one which gave receipts...

Lithium is a metal.

Oops. Right. Sorry.

"lithium is in the upper left-hand corner of the periodic table. Only hydrogen and helium are lighter on an atomic basis."

  I'm wondering if this is a non sequitur for electric batteries.

Not a non sequitur at all.

An important factor for batteries is energy density: How much energy is stored per unit mass. This is particularly important for electric cars: The higher the energy density, the less mass you havce to haul around for a given amount of "fuel", which means the less "fuel" is spent hauling your "fuel" around, so it's a more-than-linear improvement.

Lithium is both extremely light and a very reactive nonmetal. So you're talking about a lot of energy per unit mass for the lithium-based electrode's contribution to the reaction.

And what happens when there is no reasonable probability of conviction? When all there is is suspicion but no evidence? That is why prosecutors have leeway in prosecuting, otherwise we have significant sums of public money wasted on pointless cases.

I never said it was free, but we all pay taxes while only some of us don't have to fork out ridiculous additional sums for medical cover.

For example, I will never be hit with a bill for medical treatments my insurance won't cover. There isn't a moment I have to worry about getting charged for my stay in hospital. I don't have to worry about whether my insurance will cover the drugs my doctor has prescribed me, the most I will pay is £8.05, even if the drug costs £10,000 a course.

What unemployment thing? We are a few tenths of a percentage point behind the US on unemployment, nothing major.

Moving to the UK's system means no insurance company, and your employer et al do not have access to your medical records. In-fact, most doctors do not have access to your medical records - they are only now bringing in a system where your medical records are shared on an on-demand basis with other hospitals and surgeries. Walk into an A&E department and they won't have your medical records.