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Interesting to peruse the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) statistics this morning. Public spending in Scotland in the last financial year totalled £68.6 billion. Taxes levied in Scotland amounted to just £53.7 billion, a difference of some £15 billion making it proportionately more than twice the size of the UK figure. Were Scotland an independent country, it would have a budget deficit of around 10 per cent of GDP, the highest in the developed world.
The 1.6m or so up there who voted for independence ought to be buying flowers for those who didn't this morning for without them they would be staring into the abyss.
An idea isn't responsible for those who believe in it.
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Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 11:52 - Aug 25 with 1852 views
Yeah, but that's all because of Sassenach oppression. Or something.
Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back.
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Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 14:42 - Aug 25 with 1749 views
The cost of the benefit system,education and health service alone would be enough to sink the ship...that s not even taking into account the volatile price of oil which they are counting on.
PROUD RECIPIENT OF THE THIRD PLANET SWANS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
"Per ardua ad astra"
Just looking at the bare numbers is for people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
If Scotland went independent there may well.be short term.issues, but in the long run they are likely to develop a danish/Scandinavian type social system, with emphasis on health and education and a reduction in income inequality.
In the long run it would lead to a less divided and happier nation.
The Scots have a record of innovation that is the envy of most of the world.
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 16:38 - Aug 25 by sherpajacob
Just looking at the bare numbers is for people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
If Scotland went independent there may well.be short term.issues, but in the long run they are likely to develop a danish/Scandinavian type social system, with emphasis on health and education and a reduction in income inequality.
In the long run it would lead to a less divided and happier nation.
The Scots have a record of innovation that is the envy of most of the world.
Allow me to paint a picture of what a deficit on that scale would look like if it were to be repeated for say three years. It would be schools without books, surgeries without staff or equipment and pot-holed roads without lights.
Those innovators you speak of, they will all have drifted south because there would be no R & D grants available and no market for the patent. Within a few short years the Scots would be reduced to the level of Bulgar or Turk.
Numbers matter because without a sound financial base to work from every plan is still-born.
An idea isn't responsible for those who believe in it.
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 16:38 - Aug 25 by sherpajacob
Just looking at the bare numbers is for people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
If Scotland went independent there may well.be short term.issues, but in the long run they are likely to develop a danish/Scandinavian type social system, with emphasis on health and education and a reduction in income inequality.
In the long run it would lead to a less divided and happier nation.
The Scots have a record of innovation that is the envy of most of the world.
Oddly enough, the themes of that line of thinking are similar to those who feel that Brexit won't be the economic disaster many of us feel it will.
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 17:03 - Aug 25 by Lohengrin
Allow me to paint a picture of what a deficit on that scale would look like if it were to be repeated for say three years. It would be schools without books, surgeries without staff or equipment and pot-holed roads without lights.
Those innovators you speak of, they will all have drifted south because there would be no R & D grants available and no market for the patent. Within a few short years the Scots would be reduced to the level of Bulgar or Turk.
Numbers matter because without a sound financial base to work from every plan is still-born.
A similar picture was painted by many regarding Slovakia splitting from the Czech republic.
Amazing how taxes levied in other parts of the UK fund free University fees in Scotland.
Welsh undergraduates will accrue a minimum of £27,000 of university fees and resultant student loans - whereas Scottish undergraduates have it all for free.
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Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 21:39 - Aug 25 with 1512 views
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 21:39 - Aug 25 by Nookiejack
Wales mugged for all the historic coal deposits imagine what a fund Wales could have built up.
Correct.
And who is doing all the mugging ? And all the while we wave our little unon jacks and sing GSTQ like the good unquestionning subjects that we all are.
(Vote for our lovely Leanne, mun ...)
Beware of the Risen People
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Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 09:13 - Aug 26 with 1349 views
Those figures don't surprise me at all. I have always maintained that independence would lead to economic hardship for the Scots and ourselves. It also doesn't surprise me that Sturgeon and her cronies don't want to face the Scottish parliament and the awkward question that the GERS statistics throw up for her. It has been hilarious to watch all those taken in by her media performances...invariably the same people who were taken in by the likes of Tony Blair. You hear; - "She talks well" - "She's competent" - "I wish we had someone like her as Prime Minister" - "At least she is DOING something" (that one is particularly laughable) - "She is doing her best for Scotland" - "Her actions following Brexit puts Scotland in a better position than Wales re: securing post Brexit funding equal to what was received whilst in the EU"
She is a facking chancer, a bullshitter, plain and simple. She has achieved fu#k all and is lying to the Scottish electorate to keep them on board the good ship SNP.
The figures prove decisively that if the SNP would have won their independence referendum the Scottish people would be up shiit creek. The fact is that the SNP preached anti-austerity but if they had won independence they would be implementing the kind of cuts that Greece had imposed on them...and they would be Greece make no mistake, on their knees begging the EU to let them in so Germans could direct Sturgeon and co. where exactly they should make these swingeing cuts. In this context; http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/french-support-for-the-eu-project-is-crumbli
The irony of desiring this state of affairs whilst calling themselves an "independence" party is beyond parody, it really is.
As for the idea that the Scots were mugged (oil), as were we (coal), and we should be in a position like Norway... We were, and are, part of a state called the UK when these industries kicked off. Resources were, and are, pooled...as are the benefits. The monies earned from these industries were funneled into the UK as a whole which we all benefited/benefit from. Did we and the Scots not benefit from; the building of the railways, motorways, schools, hospitals etc. ? Did we not benefit from the British navy (securing our trade routes as well as our defence), the funding of the British military in general (without which we would all be speaking German now and the Welsh language would be dead altogether) ? Do we not benefit from the modern economy we have now, including the financial services sector in the City of London, which subsides the Welsh and Scottish economies at the moment? ...ARE THE ENGLISH CURRENTLY BEING "MUGGED OFF"? I could go on and on with that list.
The point is we pool EVERYTHING and share EVERYTHING. Together we are stronger. To break up a country you need a bloody good reason as it invariably leads to bloodshed, suffering and economic hardship. The status quo has to be intolerable. We don't have a bloody good reason unless you count the foolishness that spews forth from the mouths of Sturgeon & co. and the likes of Trampie.
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 02:35 - Aug 26 by Kilkennyjack
Correct.
And who is doing all the mugging ? And all the while we wave our little unon jacks and sing GSTQ like the good unquestionning subjects that we all are.
(Vote for our lovely Leanne, mun ...)
I don't know of many Welsh people who sing 'God Save the Queen'. 9/10 we are waving Welsh flags but also are proud of being British and choose to wave the Union Jack where appropriate. I don't want to be a "subject" either. Neither do millions of English people. We can join political parties who want to change Britain for the better; starting with electoral reform, replacing the House of Lords with a chamber that is more appropriate and the abolition of monarchy...or at least the stripping of any power, even symbolic (in my Britain a monarch would not be involved in any aspect of public life and would receive no funding unless related to profitable tourism).
We have a Welsh parliament that decides how our money (subsidised by England) is spent. We elect representatives of Welsh political parties to make those decisions on our behalf. In Scotland they can raise taxes too (although the SNP chooses not to use that power as it involves taking responsibility for how you spend other people's money). If we vote for an Independence party we get a referendum.
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 21:25 - Aug 25 by sherpajacob
A similar picture was painted by many regarding Slovakia splitting from the Czech republic.
It is one thing to emerge from decades of penurious state-socialist oppression, quite another for a two-car owning, foreign holiday taking family from Dumfries to begin heading in the opposite direction.
An idea isn't responsible for those who believe in it.
0
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 11:32 - Aug 26 with 1287 views
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 09:13 - Aug 26 by Kerouac
Those figures don't surprise me at all. I have always maintained that independence would lead to economic hardship for the Scots and ourselves. It also doesn't surprise me that Sturgeon and her cronies don't want to face the Scottish parliament and the awkward question that the GERS statistics throw up for her. It has been hilarious to watch all those taken in by her media performances...invariably the same people who were taken in by the likes of Tony Blair. You hear; - "She talks well" - "She's competent" - "I wish we had someone like her as Prime Minister" - "At least she is DOING something" (that one is particularly laughable) - "She is doing her best for Scotland" - "Her actions following Brexit puts Scotland in a better position than Wales re: securing post Brexit funding equal to what was received whilst in the EU"
She is a facking chancer, a bullshitter, plain and simple. She has achieved fu#k all and is lying to the Scottish electorate to keep them on board the good ship SNP.
The figures prove decisively that if the SNP would have won their independence referendum the Scottish people would be up shiit creek. The fact is that the SNP preached anti-austerity but if they had won independence they would be implementing the kind of cuts that Greece had imposed on them...and they would be Greece make no mistake, on their knees begging the EU to let them in so Germans could direct Sturgeon and co. where exactly they should make these swingeing cuts. In this context; http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/french-support-for-the-eu-project-is-crumbli
The irony of desiring this state of affairs whilst calling themselves an "independence" party is beyond parody, it really is.
As for the idea that the Scots were mugged (oil), as were we (coal), and we should be in a position like Norway... We were, and are, part of a state called the UK when these industries kicked off. Resources were, and are, pooled...as are the benefits. The monies earned from these industries were funneled into the UK as a whole which we all benefited/benefit from. Did we and the Scots not benefit from; the building of the railways, motorways, schools, hospitals etc. ? Did we not benefit from the British navy (securing our trade routes as well as our defence), the funding of the British military in general (without which we would all be speaking German now and the Welsh language would be dead altogether) ? Do we not benefit from the modern economy we have now, including the financial services sector in the City of London, which subsides the Welsh and Scottish economies at the moment? ...ARE THE ENGLISH CURRENTLY BEING "MUGGED OFF"? I could go on and on with that list.
The point is we pool EVERYTHING and share EVERYTHING. Together we are stronger. To break up a country you need a bloody good reason as it invariably leads to bloodshed, suffering and economic hardship. The status quo has to be intolerable. We don't have a bloody good reason unless you count the foolishness that spews forth from the mouths of Sturgeon & co. and the likes of Trampie.
[Post edited 26 Aug 2016 9:35]
Slight aside, seeing as you mentioned the City of London, I can highly recommend reading 'Treasure Islands' by Nicholas Shaxson
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 09:13 - Aug 26 by Kerouac
Those figures don't surprise me at all. I have always maintained that independence would lead to economic hardship for the Scots and ourselves. It also doesn't surprise me that Sturgeon and her cronies don't want to face the Scottish parliament and the awkward question that the GERS statistics throw up for her. It has been hilarious to watch all those taken in by her media performances...invariably the same people who were taken in by the likes of Tony Blair. You hear; - "She talks well" - "She's competent" - "I wish we had someone like her as Prime Minister" - "At least she is DOING something" (that one is particularly laughable) - "She is doing her best for Scotland" - "Her actions following Brexit puts Scotland in a better position than Wales re: securing post Brexit funding equal to what was received whilst in the EU"
She is a facking chancer, a bullshitter, plain and simple. She has achieved fu#k all and is lying to the Scottish electorate to keep them on board the good ship SNP.
The figures prove decisively that if the SNP would have won their independence referendum the Scottish people would be up shiit creek. The fact is that the SNP preached anti-austerity but if they had won independence they would be implementing the kind of cuts that Greece had imposed on them...and they would be Greece make no mistake, on their knees begging the EU to let them in so Germans could direct Sturgeon and co. where exactly they should make these swingeing cuts. In this context; http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/french-support-for-the-eu-project-is-crumbli
The irony of desiring this state of affairs whilst calling themselves an "independence" party is beyond parody, it really is.
As for the idea that the Scots were mugged (oil), as were we (coal), and we should be in a position like Norway... We were, and are, part of a state called the UK when these industries kicked off. Resources were, and are, pooled...as are the benefits. The monies earned from these industries were funneled into the UK as a whole which we all benefited/benefit from. Did we and the Scots not benefit from; the building of the railways, motorways, schools, hospitals etc. ? Did we not benefit from the British navy (securing our trade routes as well as our defence), the funding of the British military in general (without which we would all be speaking German now and the Welsh language would be dead altogether) ? Do we not benefit from the modern economy we have now, including the financial services sector in the City of London, which subsides the Welsh and Scottish economies at the moment? ...ARE THE ENGLISH CURRENTLY BEING "MUGGED OFF"? I could go on and on with that list.
The point is we pool EVERYTHING and share EVERYTHING. Together we are stronger. To break up a country you need a bloody good reason as it invariably leads to bloodshed, suffering and economic hardship. The status quo has to be intolerable. We don't have a bloody good reason unless you count the foolishness that spews forth from the mouths of Sturgeon & co. and the likes of Trampie.
[Post edited 26 Aug 2016 9:35]
If we share everything then how come wales is bottom of every league on wealth and health that the UK govt publishes. Confirmed by the huge EU structural funding that shames the uk government for its neglect of wales and the welsh people. Thats opportunities denied right there.
And your Britain - and mine - has been sold off without you noticing. All the following dead or sold off - BT, post office, british rail, british coal, british steel, british gas, the electricy board, the water board, british airways, the introduction of academy schools, - most things that helped make us feel British in a day to day sense, all gone. Its deliberate.
You may want to reflect on other aspects ?
Beware of the Risen People
0
Scottish seperatism: The reality belies the rhetoric. on 13:11 - Aug 26 with 1260 views
So wales is bottom and not the paradise some make it to be.
It's a case of old industries dying .
Not just Wales.
How d ya think the people of Birkenhead and walls end felt when shipbuilding was killed or steel in ravens rain and Redcar, Corby too, or the pits in Lancashire, Yorkshire, diffDerbyshire.
It's not just Wales .
What is wrong is thst Wales has not been regenerated outside Cardiff. Wales is divided as is evident on here and therein could be the problem.
One thing for sure, I d rather be with the big boys of this world for help than be independent and starve.
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