Food For Thought II

Well, here is some more food for thought. In these difficult times it is incumbent upon us all to work for the common good; and that got me thinking. How about all those correspondents on here, who object so strongly to virtually every aspect of SG policy, start paying for the things they have been getting free all these years. After all it could lead to accusations of hypocrisy if you accept a benefit you so publicly criticise.

I'm thinking of:-

Free Prescriptions - It is £9 per time in England. Most of us will be able to calculate quite easily how much we would have had to spend if we lived in England instead of Scotland. If we just go back 5 years I think that would be fair. My quick calculation shows that I would have had to pay £810 during that period.

Free Bus Travel - For over 1 million people in Scotland bus travel is free. That number will rise when young people are added to the list of those eligible. So, next time you use a bus for free put the fare in your piggy bank and when it gets to a reasonable sum send it off to the SG so they can spend it on the fight against Coronavirus.

Free Pre-school Childcare - The SG suggests this could save each family £4,500. If you have infants in your house and you object so much to this benefit send a cheque for £4.5K down to Edinburgh once your child has started primary school.

All those new/renovated Schools - 750 schools built or refurbished but if you object so much why not go private? It'll reduce class sizes and give the kids of those of us who value what has been achieved a better education.

Scrapping Tuition Fees - A 4 year Scottish honours degree would cost up to £44,000 if our students were expected to pay what they do in England. Again, I am sure Kate Forbes would welcome a load of cheques from those of you who object so strongly to having had their offspring enjoy a world class education for free.

I could go on but I think you get the message. There is an easy way to show just how opposed you are to all of these social policies. Just write a cheque and you will feel good again knowing that you have helped ease the burden on the Scottish exchequer.

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Originally Posted by Corky Smeek

Well, here is some more food for thought. In these difficult times it is incumbent upon us all to work for the common good; and that got me thinking. How about all those correspondents on here, who object so strongly to virtually every aspect of SG policy, start paying for the things they have been getting free all these years. After all it could lead to accusations of hypocrisy if you accept a benefit you so publicly criticise.

I'm thinking of:-

Free Prescriptions - It is £9 per time in England. Most of us will be able to calculate quite easily how much we would have had to spend if we lived in England instead of Scotland. If we just go back 5 years I think that would be fair. My quick calculation shows that I would have had to pay £810 during that period.

Free Bus Travel - For over 1 million people in Scotland bus travel is free. That number will rise when young people are added to the list of those eligible. So, next time you use a bus for free put the fare in your piggy bank and when it gets to a reasonable sum send it off to the SG so they can spend it on the fight against Coronavirus.

Free Pre-school Childcare - The SG suggests this could save each family £4,500. If you have infants in your house and you object so much to this benefit send a cheque for £4.5K down to Edinburgh once your child has started primary school.

All those new/renovated Schools - 750 schools built or refurbished but if you object so much why not go private? It'll reduce class sizes and give the kids of those of us who value what has been achieved a better education.

Scrapping Tuition Fees - A 4 year Scottish honours degree would cost up to £44,000 if our students were expected to pay what they do in England. Again, I am sure Kate Forbes would welcome a load of cheques from those of you who object so strongly to having had their offspring enjoy a world class education for free.

I could go on but I think you get the message. There is an easy way to show just how opposed you are to all of these social policies. Just write a cheque and you will feel good again knowing that you have helped ease the burden on the Scottish exchequer.

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If the Scottish government were to reimburse me the difference I pay between tax in Scotland and RUK, I would happily send them a cheque to cover my/my dependants use of all these services and I would be quids in.
If you think these things are free, you are deluded, nothing is free in life, all funded by the taxpayer, unless of course you dont/wont work.

So anyway Corky, how do you think and independent Scotland would be fairing, right about now?

Two posts with one stone.

You would be far worse off if you lived south of the border. If you are worried about it calculate what you have saved since 2007 and send the money off to a charity of your choice.

If Scotland had voted Yes in 2014 we would be in a far more financially secure situation. Of all the revenue raised in Scotland roughly 50% of it is never seen again north of the border. It disappears down to the black hole that is Westminster to fund things like Crossrail, the London sewer upgrades and HS2. The list of other savings is almost endless.

As members of the EU, Scotland would still be part of the Early Warning and Response System which allows for cooperation and coordination between member states when faced with health crises. The UK has pulled out of this. So far as I am aware the UK has also stopped cooperating with the EU on drug approval and procurement meaning we can no longer benefit from the huge bargaining power of the EU when it comes to drug prices.

So anyway, mi16 how does it feel to hate your country so much that you want it to be run by another country?

how does it feel that you want your country to be run by 27 other countries

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Originally Posted by dc1

how does it feel that you want your country to be run by 27 other countries

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Well, there would only be 26 other countries but Scotland would have a seat at the table which it doesn't have now. Look how well the EU protected the interests of Ireland during the Brexit negotiations. Look how badly Westminster treated Scotland at the same time.

At least we would be in a Union that valued us and took account of our situation. We would also have a veto over certain decisions.

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Originally Posted by dc1

how does it feel that you want your country to be run by 27 other countries

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How is being a member of a 28 country trade agreement being "run by" the rest of the EU? Much better that than being run by a trade agreement with the USA, imo.

If we voted to leave in 2014 we would be more financially secure.
Are you for real, we would still be trying to build some sort of economy, remember all the numbers quoted back then were built upon an oil economy of over $100
The price has been nowhere near that ever since.
We would be running a huge deficit and be unable to offer any funding to fight us through this.

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Originally Posted by mi16

If we voted to leave in 2014 we would be more financially secure.
Are you for real, we would still be trying to build some sort of economy, remember all the numbers quoted back then were built upon an oil economy of over $100
The price has been nowhere near that ever since.
We would be running a huge deficit and be unable to offer any funding to fight us through this.

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It must be horrendous for you; believing that your country (Scotland) is the only one on Earth where the people are so stupid that they cannot run their own affairs and have to get someone else to do it for them.

I have asked this before but no BritNat will ever answer - maybe you will this time. Why can Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland, Croatia, Norway, Denmark, Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Czech Republic, etc, etc, all run their countries perfectly well yet, according to you, we Scots are uniquely incapable of doing so. We are far better placed, in terms of natural resources, than almost every other country on that list yet you think we cannot succeed. I believe in the Scottish people and the great contribution we have made to the world. You, on the other hand, appear to have no faith in your fellow Scots at all.

Have confidence in your fellow country-folk. After all independence is the natural order of things. Stop believing the BritNat propaganda from the likes of the Daily Mail. And finally ask yourself why, if Scotland is such a basket case, the Establishment fought so hard and dirty to keep Scotland in the UK.

Oh... Put a cork in it... Far more important things happening right now.

Not to mention fundamental changes ahead to all of society that nobody can predict that could totally change society as we know it.

Lets just get this current crises over with, reappraise the situation & take it from there. & this should be applied to Brexit as well.

Justs puts all this bickering into perpective.

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Originally Posted by Alrock

Oh... Put a cork in it... Far more important things happening right now.

Not to mention fundamental changes ahead to all of society that nobody can predict that could totally change society as we know it.

Lets just get this current crises over with, reappraise the situation & take it from there. & this should be applied to Brexit as well.

Justs puts all this bickering into perpective.

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Aye, fair enough. We are probably all spending too much time in the house at the moment.