This Glasgow East by-election result is a very big deal to the UK Government, because Gordon Brown's Labour Party has held this seat since the beginning of time.

It has lost to the Scottish Nationalists, strongly indicating Scotland will not support Labour in a General Election.

And this indicates Gordon Brown has to leave office before the next General Election...

It also indicates strong support for the Scottish Nationalists in Scotland. This is important because it will cause the dissolution of the UK...the one aim of the SNP is independence for Scotland and separation from the union.

Labour will learn exactly nothing from this. They'll stumble along in denial. They'll get the boot and the Tories will rule again. Bloody shame.

In England, Diuretic.

Up here, it's looking like SNP. And who knows how that will end...they're already pushing every button to progress the independence issues,with more power they will be hard to stop.

Of course, I support dissolution of the UK, so that makes me very happy...

Why Viv? I can understand the SNP (I used to go to school with my best mate who was an inveterate Partick Thistle fan) but why dissolve the UK?

Partick Thistle. He has my sympathy.

The union is just outgrowing it's purpose. People see the EU as a possible route now. Scots have been governing the UK for the past 10 years, they have a stranglehold on the Labour Party leadership.

And the introduction of the separate Scottish Parliament has let those who doubted the ability of Scottish politicians to self-govern Scotland, dismiss their doubts.

The national security issue is not that high a priority, no one is going to invade.

Economically, Scotland does not do well out of the union. The people do not starve, because there is an infrastructure of welfare benefits and such, but the jobs here are low-quality and people think economic prosperity is channelled to London.

Scotland can go either way, no one is sure of what the real feeling is as yet, but people are just tired of it. Life in this country is just a grind for everyone at the moment. Support has been growing for independence and this latest by-election indicates that people will not vote Labour in the General Election.

What I know, is that we are all feeling the economic problems, plus the Government is backing vicious job cuts in the Civil Service which will impact on voting as so many people are affected and it is centralising most things...to south of the border. Scottish people do not support the Iraq situation or Afghanistan and for many many other reasons I think Scots will not vote Labour. They will absolutely not vote Conservative either, so this leaves the Liberals or the SNP.

As the SNP have very able leadership at the moment, people who do not particularly support the independence agenda will still take the SNP route.

Alec Salmond has used the little power he has at the moment very wisely to push the independence agenda. I'm sure if he gains more seats, it will be lights out for the union and I think it's what the people here want.

Why do you think it's not a good idea? I've encountered this before and many non-nationals seem to have some emotional attachment to the idea of the UK union, or they think Scotland is mad because it will not be capable enough to thrive outwith that union...that latter is nonsense, we are very capable people and already heavily involved in international politics etc.

And how do you, as an Australian, view your great leader the Queen of the Commonwealth...

Well you outlined your argument very clearly and I have to say it makes sense. I'd completely forgotten about the effect of the EU.

As for the Queen. Nothing personal but the sooner we're a republic the happier I'll be