We've been insulated from the cuts in Scotland because the SNP have been putting off making any cuts for the last two years. They've been deliberately postponing until after the election, so now our cuts are going to be much more severe and harder to budget for than the cuts in England.
This next year in scotland is going to be very difficult.
And I bet you that the SNP blame Westminster for every single library and hospital that gets shut down. Fostering the flame of independence.
But. The sums just don't add up for independance. Making Scotland into the next Ireland or Iceland is no longer an option.
Right, that's the impression I get. I actually get pretty annoyed with my folks who think Scotland can stay insulated from cuts. But given the catastrophic state of things in the UK under the ConDems, would independence necessarily be worse?
It's going to be hard for Scots I think, because the SNP have essentially lied to us so much about the state of the countrys finances, their budget for example is pure pie in the sky. There just isn't enough money to pay for everything they've said they'll do. There's going to be horrific cuts.
And I think independence would be worse. Scotland has this major problem that out of anywhere in the UK, we have the greatest proportion of people employed by the councils. It's close to 50%. So we have the situation where half the country is working to pay the taxes to pay the wages for the other half.
For Scotland to be independant, I would guess something in the region of 25% of people who work for the councils and the state would have to be made unemployed.
And really the only answer the SNP have to fill the black hole in the budget is just to start borrowing massive sums of money and running up a huge deficit. Which, as we've seen with Ireland/Iceland/Greece, just doesn't work out well in the end.
This is a really interesting post, thanks for sharing it! Watching the way the Scottish and Welsh elections have shaken out has for the most part been pretty heartening.
Thank you! Yeah, I'm disappointed that the Tories made any gains, but at least they don't have an actual hope in hell of governing in any capacity, like, ever, and I'm please Labour made strong gains. Glad you found it interesting!
The Tories did a fine job of screwing the lib dems every way imaginable with the AV thing. First of all they made it AV, the bastard compromise that nobody could love. And then they insisted the referendum be held on the same day as the elections, to make sure that when people went to punish the lib dems at the polls, they also punished them in the referendum.
AND they ran the most vile and lie-filled campaign I've seen in a very long time. If indeed ever.
If I was a lib-dem, I'd be wondering why the hell I was in this coalition with those snakes for partners.
There's really no question is there? I mean, the Tories are the same old monsters they have ever been. If anything they are even worse now, even fewer morals.
I agree about the differences in Welsh and Scottish language issues having a significant effect. Your analysis of that, and Labour as a party of nationalism (which I knew but didn't fully understand*), are especially interesting to me. Thank you.
she obviously felt completely comfortable saying this in the same breath as expressing all sorts of other left-wing ideas and was completely confident I'd feel the same way
Been there a kazillion times, just with slightly different issues. Although, thinking about it, maybe not that different (your pro-Norman-English foes and mine probably have similar attitudes). I've often wondered if some of the English-in-Wales who've moved there recently were in search of rural England (and possibly as a low-key British form of "white flight").
* Humorous aside: one of my Welsh-speaking friends from north-west Wales claims the Labour Party only have even a foothold in many parts of Wales because the local Labour clubs were the one place that served alcohol on Sundays.... lolz.
You're welcome, I'm glad you found it interesting and thanks for the response.
I think, alas, privilege will always manifests itself in that kind of ignorance - it's an assumption that this is how reality works because it couldn't possibly work another way - it blocks the need to even consider whether the issue at hand tallies with other attitudes one might hold. I'm fortunate that I'm not often on the receiving end of it, but it makes sense that there's a universality in the experience of passive oppression (and overt, aggressive oppression too, obviously, though that's fortunately not what we're talking about in this instance). :(
I've often wondered if some of the English-in-Wales who've moved there recently were in search of rural England (and possibly as a low-key British form of "white flight").Yeah, this is pretty true, I think. There are a lot of, well, to put it bluntly, rich, white English folks who retire to rural Wales. Pembrokeshire - the south western peninsula - is one of the places that sometimes goes Tory
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This next year in scotland is going to be very difficult.
And I bet you that the SNP blame Westminster for every single library and hospital that gets shut down. Fostering the flame of independence.
But. The sums just don't add up for independance. Making Scotland into the next Ireland or Iceland is no longer an option.
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And I think independence would be worse. Scotland has this major problem that out of anywhere in the UK, we have the greatest proportion of people employed by the councils. It's close to 50%. So we have the situation where half the country is working to pay the taxes to pay the wages for the other half.
For Scotland to be independant, I would guess something in the region of 25% of people who work for the councils and the state would have to be made unemployed.
And really the only answer the SNP have to fill the black hole in the budget is just to start borrowing massive sums of money and running up a huge deficit. Which, as we've seen with Ireland/Iceland/Greece, just doesn't work out well in the end.
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AND they ran the most vile and lie-filled campaign I've seen in a very long time. If indeed ever.
If I was a lib-dem, I'd be wondering why the hell I was in this coalition with those snakes for partners.
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she obviously felt completely comfortable saying this in the same breath as expressing all sorts of other left-wing ideas and was completely confident I'd feel the same way
Been there a kazillion times, just with slightly different issues. Although, thinking about it, maybe not that different (your pro-Norman-English foes and mine probably have similar attitudes). I've often wondered if some of the English-in-Wales who've moved there recently were in search of rural England (and possibly as a low-key British form of "white flight").
* Humorous aside: one of my Welsh-speaking friends from north-west Wales claims the Labour Party only have even a foothold in many parts of Wales because the local Labour clubs were the one place that served alcohol on Sundays.... lolz.
Reply
I think, alas, privilege will always manifests itself in that kind of ignorance - it's an assumption that this is how reality works because it couldn't possibly work another way - it blocks the need to even consider whether the issue at hand tallies with other attitudes one might hold. I'm fortunate that I'm not often on the receiving end of it, but it makes sense that there's a universality in the experience of passive oppression (and overt, aggressive oppression too, obviously, though that's fortunately not what we're talking about in this instance). :(
I've often wondered if some of the English-in-Wales who've moved there recently were in search of rural England (and possibly as a low-key British form of "white flight").Yeah, this is pretty true, I think. There are a lot of, well, to put it bluntly, rich, white English folks who retire to rural Wales. Pembrokeshire - the south western peninsula - is one of the places that sometimes goes Tory ( ... )
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