Scotland latest:
Scotland still a bit crappy; Scots still money-obsessed misers.
Yep, 299 years after the Act of Union (something some seem to want to scrap), England is still better and Scotland retains its peculiar, under-developed charm (life expectancy of just 54? Christ...)
Meanwhile, 49 years after the creation of what is now the European Union, there is likewise precisely no indication of any dilution of national identity in any of the member states.
Note: Nosemonkey has tartan blood coursing through his veins, enjoys the odd haggis and adores single malts, therefore (like Mel Brooks with the Nazi jokes) is immune to accusations of being anti-Scottish. So there, you filthy bog-dwelling, skirt-wearing ginger-haired jock savages.
Note 2: The first article is well worth a read, despite the childish dismissal of its contents - an interesting and worrying look at poverty and inequality north of the border that will doubtless excite those of you with left-wing or Disraelite Tory tendencies...
4 Comments:
Just a thought though, if Scotland was independent wouldn't it be eligable for more EU funds?
I don't think it would matter - EU funds are usually allocated on a regional, not national basis, if I recall. Cornwall, for example, gets a shit-load of EU money, while most of the rest of England* gets very little.
In fact, if Scotland became fully independent while retaining EU membership then from an EU point of view it may be worse off, as it would have to contribute direct to the EU all by itself. At the moment it'd be quite simple to work out how much money Scotland gets from the EU, but practically impossible to work out how much the EU gets from Scotland. After all, the UK's EU contributions still all go through the Treasury at Westminster rather than via the various regional assemblies, meaning that (for example) Londoners' contributions can offset Glaswegians', and there's no way of telling what Scotland's net contributions/receipts are when it comes to EU funds, just as there isn't for, say, Basildon - and just as there's no way for any individual taxpayer to find out what percentage of his contributions are being spent on, say, stethoscopes for NHS paediatricians.
* Note to Cornish nationalists - for the purposes of this example yes, yes I am including Kernow as part of England. Sorry.
The fact this this sort of inequality still seems to be increasing under a Labour government, sorry I mean executive is faintly ironic. A twenty year difference in life expectancy depending on which side of Glasgow you were born in? Not new or particularly suprising unfortunately but my left wing tendencies are suitably agitated.
Of course up here in Aberdeen, the self-proclaimed "oil capital of Europe" (which still makes me laugh), we've all got so much money that we like to set fire to fifty pound notes to keep warm. Now where's that lighter?
Note to Cornish nationalists - for the purposes of this example yes, yes I am including Kernow as part of England. Sorry.
If you think Mebyon are a bit nuts (and I've debated with some of their leaders, nice, but, well - the were a little floored when I pointed out Devon has Stannary rights to), have you ever met Wessex Regionalists?
Oh dear. Essentially, when the ScotsNats say they got screwed over oil, boy are they right. Oh, you're rigth about the funding thing. Scotland would get money for a bit, but then the oil revenue would kick in, becasue that'll still be there for awhile.
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