Scottish Independence: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Scotland having a unicorn isn't that odd, when you consider that Wales national animal is a dragon.

Ironically, Scotland would probably have been accepted into the EU by now if they had become independent.

When he said "The prime Minister is David Cameron", I felt like I travelled back in time

English : dont leave us we will be nice to you and dont screw you ever again! Scots : Okay england we put our trust in you. English 5 secs later : LetS lEaVe ThE EU

As a Scot, it pains me unbearably to watch this and fantasise over what might have been

That Harry Potter refference was tragically on spot 😂😂😂

'A Lot To Explain' - Yeah I tried to do a 'quick' explanation of Scottish history and ended up taking 15 minutes to explain how the Scottish Royal line took over England. Living in California I don't get to vote.

"Cameron's problem is that, as a posh, southern Tory, he's seen in Scotland as everything that's wrong with England and the UK" Boris: Hold my beer

If Scotland ever became independent, I'd absolutely try to emigrate there.

I know this was to encourage Scotland to stay but now I, an American citizen, am rooting for Scottish independence lol. Let's go Scotland, let's go! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 You deserve respect!!! But do what you gotta do.

Throughout history, unicorns were thought of as the only thing that can beat a lion which is England's animal.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If the scots knew then what they know now, I have no doubt they would have voted for independence when they had the chance. The U.K Government aren’t stupid. They can see this, which is why they presently won’t grant them another referendum. But it’s a dangerous game they’re playing, because they must know that calls for another referendum will only grow stronger the longer it continues to be refused, with hostilities and resentment growing alongside it.

"The currently unstable Euro" is incredibly hilarious after Brexit to hear

Fun fact: After they repealed the ban on kilts, a new highland dance was made called the Seann Triubhas (meaning: Sean’s trousers). The dance involved many movements indicative of shaking and sliding off pants. As a qualified high-level highland dancer I can say that you can really tell how happy the Scots were when they made this dance.

My step-dad is pure Scot. Never lost his accent after 40+ years in Canada. I always wondered how my mom could understand him. My husband has trouble. Never start him on any history of Scotland because it never ends with him. Great pride. "The Stone of Destiny" 2008 is a good movie to watch about Scotland and England to explain some things about how/why England added Scotland to Great Britain. Approved by my Step-dad that only likes factual movies if they're in colour (fiction for old b&w).

5 years ago Scottish independence wasn’t that great of an idea but now it’s a terrific idea and they should totally go for it

"The UK is not a country" is the greatest colonial trick ever played.

"jk rowling doesn't want scotland to leave the UK" i'm convinced, scottish independence now!

We chose the unicorn because the English national animal is a lion and Unicorns are the enemy of lions. The thistle was chosen because when we were being invaded by vikings one of them stepped on a thistle alerting us to their presence so we could fight them off.

The province where I live in Canada literally just means "New Scotland" in Latin, our crest also has the unicorn and our flag is a merger of the old scottish flag and the new one. basically what I'm saying is that we're just diet scotland over here

Five years later this is worth it just to see Oliver make a Scottish accent...

When the Scottish flag falls down: Narrator: “Oh dear! And it’s not as though things were going swimmingly before!” The most eloquent way ever to say “well, that didn’t work.”

5 years on and still hilarious. Aged well, like a fine scotch whiskey.

Oliver is a great comedian. He is also great at gesturing at both sides of an argument-even though the side with which he doesn’t personally agree is usually savaged with satire. Still, the comedy makes it all palatable. Is this the future of how the public is educated on the issues of the day?

2014 The UK to Scotland: "If you leave UK you will be outside the EU!" Scotland: "Oh well, then we better remain in the UK!" 2016 The UK to the EU: "We will leave the EU!"

Scottish independence in 2014: Are you guys really sure this is what you want? Scottish independence in 2020: Go right on ahead

Watching this in 2020, it seems kind of odd, that there’s an audience laughing in the background

6 year after: UK has left the EU, and now the Scotts know why the should have left the UK...They have HUGE problems exporting fresh fish and agriculture produce to the EU.

Had Scots got a peak into the future they would have voted 85% in favour. [Corona, Boris, Brexit ]

Seven years ago... “If You ask a stupid question. You get a stupid answer.” Well now... I guess that explains Brexit.

I'm fairly certain that that 1% vote for Scotland to stay with the union is because of John Oliver eating haggis with a unicorn

"When you haven't been nice to someone for a thousand years, it's very difficult to suddenly start." Hmm...people around the world should learn from this.

The best representation of Scotland and England's relationship is the chain on the unicorn. The unicorn is scotlands national animal because it can't be tamed. So on the British crest the lion wears a crown and the unicorn is chained up

Although there are obviously more serious problems than flags when it comes to countries/territories becoming independent, I find it very petty that flags are always a concern. I remember debating with a friend of mine on why the US territories and D.C. should become legitimate states and his only offense to the idea of adding 6 states was that the US flag would need more stars. I mean there are legitimate arguments as to the pros and cons of statehood for each and you literally base your decision on a flag?

The writing in these early seasons was immaculate. I love seeing Oliver be himself. In the new seasons there seems to be a disconnect between him and the writers, there is no reason for this man to be saying “slayyy” or “yaasss queen”

I love Scotland. I'm half English, half American, raised in the US, and I love England and and Scotland both. I have been to both countries several times. Scotland has a magical quality to it. I'm glad they didn't leave the UK but I totally understand why they feel the way they do, given the history.

"Solar power is not an option for them" Yeah but wind turbines certainly are

Wales and England have been in an arranged marriage for 900+ years … and it’s not so much an arranged marriage as it is a kidnapping

Definitely need a sequel to this between now and the (possible) IndyRef 2 vote!

Scotland: Fine. We'll fucking stay, but only because the U.K.'s already part of the E.U. and it would be a bitch and a fucking half to get back in on our own. England: Alright, now that the vote's over and you're committed to sticking around, I've pretty much unilaterally decided to drag us all out of the E.U. with absolutely no plan whatsoever of how to not completely fuck us all over in the worst possible ways. Scotland: I have never hated you more in our entire history and I honestly did not think that was possible.

“It’s not as though things were going swimmingly before” that sarcasm was just so perfect!!

John: For the next show, I need two interns in a unicorn costume and four... better make it eight men with bagpipes. HBO: What do we pay you for again?

**2014** 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: please don’t leave, Scotland. We promise we’ll stay in the EU, and you can benefit from our EU membership. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: or else? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: or else it will be very difficult for you to re-enter the EU. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: alright, I’ll vote no. **2016** 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: pack your bags everyone, we’re leaving the EU! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: WTF?!! You promised- 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: Shut up. This was a democratic vote. We’re leaving. **2020** 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: We want to leave. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: No! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: Why? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: That’s un-democratic!

Choosing Thistle as their national flower is quite beautiful idea I think. I see it sometimes in field and nearby roads. It is beautiful, humble, and it has stings.

Lmao it's hilarious they thought Cameron was too bad, but now they got Boris up in there. Hoping Scotland succeeds in 2021!

Man, if there was EVER a person that needed to shut up more, it's J K Rowling.

We should support Scottish independence

I can't help but wonder, had the Brexit vote happened before the the Scottish independence vote would the results have been significantly different? I mean I'm an American, telling England to piss off is part of my heritage, and Irish rebel songs are a major feature of playlists.

England: We want our independence. Scotland: Are we a joke to you? Ireland: Join the club, laddy.

This would have been funny: Scotland as an independent country stayed in the European Union after the Brexit! But i have to say: We are friends, germans, scots, brits, french, spanish and italian people, irish and austrian and all the other ones. Let us stand together!

"It tastes like a delicious house fire" combined with the Scottish flag falling of the flag pole resulted in me laughing harder than I have in years.

JO really needs to do an updated version of this video where he does nothing but apologise to the Scots for 30 minutes.

2014: "Scotland will be fine because of oil revenues" 2020: "We will literally pay you to take our oil"

The unicorn in mythology is the only animal that can kill the lion(England)

I know its been 5 years since this piece aired, but the sentence "They could lose the Pound and have to join the currently unstable Euro" just made me laugh so hard. :D

Yes to an independent Scotland and a united Ireland

I SO want to see an update to this now. Hopefully John will be all for our independence now he's a citizen of the US.

Would be awesome for Puerto Rico, Scotland and Hong Kong to become independent. Let's do this! 🇵🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇭🇰💪

as an irish Person this is incredibly funny to watch

John’s Scottish accent is everything I never knew I needed.

15 minutes with John Oliver taught me more than what a week of school could do

I was rewatching and snuggling with my dog. She was relaxed until he mentioned Cameron, at which point she hopped up and left the room.

[Drinks Glenlivet 18, one of the fruitier scotches on the market] "It tastes like a delicious housefire" Someone in the writer's room wrote that, then grabbed the first bottle of scotch at chest-height in the scotch section at the liquor store.

I still say they should've kept the queen's body to negotiate for independence

I'd like to say John aged well. Given COVID he certainly did

It has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.

"Scotland may lose the Pound and have to join the currently unstable Euro..." 5 years later...

Scotland should really become an independent republic!

Don’t worry John. We’re Scotland, the only country in the world that consistently votes against it’s own independence.

As a Scot: WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAAAAALL

Is it just me, or does John Oliver do a really good Scottish accent?😅☺️

8 years later and everyone misses cameron

John Oliver is so addicting. I can't stop watching these vids

Lmao @ 3:40. John just summarized basically the entire history of Scottish-English relations for like 7 centuries in 20 seconds.

Honestly, the only reason Scotland seems to be tied to England is A) language, and barely B) Proximity, but that's never stopped the Scotts before 1707. C) Economics, Scotland by 1707 had lost most it's Treasury. D) cus the English parliament think it's just as British as they are

I'm folding laundry, and as John said "You could have picked a wookie in a top hat," I was holding a Chewbacca shirt

I’m failing to remember them right now, but so many amazing community experiments and monetary system overhauls seem to have come out of Scotland. So at least, this is not a new idea. What’s especially funny to me is when people say that Anarchist experiments have been short lived and few and far between. First people’s nations have some amazing examples of such thinking. Even if their history was full of clans and lairds.

It's always fun to look back at older videos. The main argument from the "Vote No" part was: You have the best with us - member of the Union *and* member of the EU. And then England chose to leave the EU whereas Scotland chose to remain and thanks to the Union they got dragged out. And England selected Boris Johnson as PM who - even when compared to Cameron - was a major step down in terms of "making England bearable for the rest of the Union".

"I'll have all the powers, and your brothers can die fighting my wars." That is the realest interpretation of Harry Potter i have ever heard

This is the funniest episode! Somebody should make a clip of all the Scottish accent lines John's delivering especially the Englishman throat piercing flower line, the confused mother lines etc

A classic. Also, that JK Rowling bit - woof.

Scotland didn’t get their independence, but does anybody come back here once in a while just for a good laugh and a bonus history refresher?

The thistle actually was chosen for it's ability to pierce an Englishman (although it was the foot ,not the throat) In one of the numerous wars an English soldier was creeping up on a bunch of Scots with murder in mind : He stepped on a thistle and screamed ,thereby awakening his potential victims . The Scots in question leapt from their beds and killed the English ,winning the battle!! Viva thistle!!

This video made me realize that I love Scottish accents

Fun fact: one of the popular legends around the thistle becoming the national flower of Scotland is that the English were tying to scale the walls of Edinburgh at night in order to invade, yet one of the English soldiers accidentally grasped a thistle while climbing, letting out a piercing cry that woke up the guards, who then successfully repelled them. Granted there’s no evidence behind this story, yet it’s still a pretty fun tale...

I love to see John switch from referring to himself as English to American over time.

"Solar power not an option" not an issue In Scotland, they have wind, water and tones of algee, they can make plenty of renewable Energy.

Well, it's been a few years here now... and I can say saying in the Union was the worst possible decision ever made. Also, their whole oil thing was a lie, now 2-3 times more oil rich than before (we found a couple fields even bigger than "north-sea"), we were dragged out of the EU against our will, we had no obligation to take on any UK debt (but this could be negotiated on as an equal amount to scotlands UK assets, so we get our assets and equal percentage of debt, or no debt), the pound is now one of the worst preforming currencies in the world as it hit a 167 year low and the only reason it was only the lowest in 167 years is due to the fact recording only began in 167 years and most of that time the english £ and scottish £ were seperate (scotland had the £ first, and the "bank of england" was originally a scotish institution which was moved to england), we also could continue to use the pound but not sterling, and have it pinned against the pound sterling if we wished (ie; isle of man pound), or we could use the €, or any other currency we desired. Also, again, dragged out of the EU against our will and weren't even allowed to be involved in any actual discussion, and then there was may and now boris coupled with england dismantling democractic voting in england to ensure the tories stay in control... Oh, and then there's the fact westminister MP's stated "scotish are not genetically capable of making political decisions".

"'better together' is not a great name for a campaign" prescient words, John

Irish guy watching trying my best to stay quiet. Fuck it give us back the six counties

The EU to the UK: "Please don't leave the Union! We are stronger together!" UK: Never! I don't want other countries to telling me how to rule this country!" The UK to Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland: "Please don't leave the Union! We are stronger together!"

John's Scottish accent is the perfect impression of Billy Connolly

Scottish power isn't a problem, we have so much wind that we can power 2 Scotlands

To think I've been missing out on this for years because I thought John Oliver would be too dignified to do comedy!

Fun fact: The actual previous Scottish currency was also called the pound, but, due to a greater history of currency debasement, had fallen to 1/12 the value of the English pound by the time that it was abolished. Given that the English pound has been debased far, far further since then (an actual Tower pound of sterling silver is worth just over 190 British "pounds sterling" at current prices), there's no reason that a revived "pound Scots" couldn't be introduced at parity initially, although the exchange rate could certainly rise or fall subsequently.

There is meant to be a second referendum for Scottish independence at the end of 2023.

4:46 It's even more sick when you learn that Scots chose the unicorn for their naitonal symbol because in the legends it is the only animal that can defeat a lion. And guess who's national animal is a lion? ;)

I can't believe people used to take Rowling seriously.

I can only imagine how many Scots regret not taking the chance, when they had it.

Love the way he tells his audience that they can't do the accent, and then proceeds to do it himself again and again :-D