Peter Wu:          Firstly Fiji had its first democratic election in eight years today. The polls just closed and I am sure the election results will come in drips and drabs soon.

Fiji has been ruled by the military for the past eight years, after it deposed the democratically elected government led by an Indian. (they did that twice). The current head of government has nothing to lose by going to the polls. If he does not win, he can stage another coup. Talk about a Win-win situation. He has everything sewn up.

Second, the Scots will go to the poll tomorrow too, to decide their future. If they win, the UK as we know it will fall apart. It has already been labelled as many things, ‘Small Britain’ or ‘the Un-tied Kingdom’ being two of them.

Third, NZ will also go to the poll this coming Saturday. It’s one of the messiest election I’ve seen, as there is so much mud-slinging and character assassinations going on. It’s also noted for the rise of the smaller parties, like the Greens.  The current government is widely expected to be returned albeit with a smaller majority. So the country will be glued to the TV Saturday night.

Stella Tse:         I bet no election is more colourful than ours, in the election of a mayor for Toronto in October. Most of you must have been exposed to all the news (drug, alcohol, rude and weird behaviours, etc) around our current mayor Rob Ford. He was running again against a socialist Olivia Chow, and a conservative aptly named John Tory. Adding to the drama, Rob Ford is now hospitalized with a tumor, and his brother is now replacing as a mayoral candidate, the saga shall go on for a few more weeks...

Johnson Yue:    I do agree with you that Toronto’s mayoral race is such a dramatic event. Even though the Ford nation change candidate, but the diehard Ford supporter, in my opinion, will still vote for Doug Ford.  Can’t wait to see what the election result will be.

Stella Tse:        Though I am from being non-Ford supporter, we all wish Rob Ford well.

Metis Hon:       Well, if Scotland votes "yes" tomorrow, it may not be the last referendum we have on the topic. The whole thing is like a divorce and very messy. There are lots of issues the political leaders have hardly discussed. They will become central political questions and really controversial. For example, what are they going to do with the North Sea oil revenues and maritime rights? What about BBC? Where will the borders go? What will the immigration rule be? What attitude will the rest of the UK take to a Scottish application to the EU. There are also tricky questions about British defenses, particularly the siting of Trident. What portion of our national debt, and the interest payment on it, belongs to Scotland?

Quite a number of big banks and insurance companies are saying they will leave Scotland if the vote is "yes". It is definitely a huge price to pay economically for securing independence.

The Scottish nationalists are very inward-looking people. They never really welcome outsiders and they really hate being governed by the English. We had firsthand experience being Chinese moved up from England who lived in Dundee for 3 years. A research in 2003 marking the 400th anniversary of The Union of the Crowns indicated one quarter of English people living in Scotland were victims of antagonism, harassment and prejudice. One third considered the Scots basically Anglophobic.

If the vote is "yes" tomorrow, the clever and rich Scots will simply leave and move south, the poor, the unemployed will be trapped.

Peter Wu:         Thanks for your ringside comments.

I’ve read a little about the pros and cons for Scottish independence and they all make sense.

Despite all those talks about economic benefits or disasters of the dis-merger, I’ve got a strong feeling it boils down to nationalism at play.

Based on what my wife told me (she was there in June-July this year), the Scots are very much their own people, and hanker to be their own boss.

I gather it’s no difference to the Cantonese who look down upon any non-Cantonese.

If the Scots manage to become independent, it may just be the excuse for the democracy movement in Hong Kong to declare Hong Kong independent too.

Bob Choi:         The desire for independence and self-rule is woven into our DNA.