What is going on?

Oh and above all they are the biggest liars on the planet. Wouldn't know the truth if it hit them in the face. 99% of SNP supporters beouve in nothing more than the saltire and reruns of braveheart movies.

 

The theme of single faith schools is a difficult one Scullion. If you accept the idea that schools can be 'private' then you cannot avoid this - also, if we separate religion and the state and say that eg. the church should not interfere with politics, then the same must be true the other way round ie. the state cannot interfere in their internal affairs. It is not the fact of single faith schools which is a problem, but the material which may be taught in them. We live in a mostly Catholic area of Germany in which there are some schools which would have a crucifix hanging on the wall - my wife also went to a school where she was taught by nuns (in Cologne) - because she has left the catholic church it is now difficult for her to find employment in any of these schools. This was the reason she chose to live in Hamburg for so long (ie. it is Protestant, and the school system is more liberal there). Although now some Catholic schools claim to be multi faith - in as much as they have a few Moslem children (window dressing ?) Jesus is still hanging around on the walls.

 

I would challenge you to provide evidence of the SNP - NSDAP connection Aberdeen. It is true that the Nazis tried to establish connections with separatist groups (as a potential fifth column), they tried this in Brittany - but is there evidence the other way around ? You were right in another post in saying that I am a long way away from the action here - but, my connection to Scotland is through my mother, who was born in Kirriemuir and grew up in Glen Clova (one of the Ogilvies). She was full of this SNP stuff, but this was at a time when they only had support in the Highlands - I am sure that she disliked lowlanders more than she did the English.

I got the feeling then, as now, that the only thing which unites Scots is the feeling that they are 'not English'. Basically Scotland grew as a nation within the UK. Before the unification the only border which really mattered was the Highland line - which separated a wild Gaelic speaking clan system from an orderly Scots English speaking lowlands, which lived in permanent fear of the swirl of the kilt, or the bagpipes. Strange then that these things should be now used as national symbols by the same people whose ancestors lived in dread of them, and who mostly supported the highland clearances.

Around 80% of Scots are lowlanders whose ancestors included as much Anglo Saxon blood as Celtic, with some Norman and Danish thrown in (as if blood was anything other than red) - Edinburgh was even founded as part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. To cut a long story short - the Scots are not a single race, they are just as mixed as the English are. I do not believe that the vast majority of SNP supporters are anti English - maybe others on here who live in Scotland can give a different angle on this. It is not necessary to be anti anything to be a supporter of self determination, autonomy and decentralization. I do not believe that the 2 countries belong together any more - the heavy industry which once connected the south of Scotland to the north of England has disappeared & since the 80s the 2 countries have been politically polarizing from each other. The UK. does not work for all of its population any more - you only have to compare life expectancies between Glasgow, Hull or Manchester on the one hand with those in rural Surrey or Kensington on the other - the differences found here are greater than those in any other western European country.

 

Better off financially for a start. Hard to quantify exactly, thanks to the Establishment's refusal to release relevant figures. It's an undeniable fact that that the last 'Scottish Balance Sheet' they were prepared to release - in 1921 - confirmed the ongoing robbery. Up until then, the amount spent on 'Scottish affairs' averaged at 30% of the amount paid into coffers by Scottish taxes - small wonder they decided to keep the information to themselves. A percentage which in all probability decreased remarkably after the 70's. Of course, there's a broad hint in last year's UK trade figures, which showed Scotland as having exported Scotch whisky to the value of £285M while England apparently exported £2.8B of the same commodity and kept the resultant revenue. Factor in the 'no Trident' bonus, as well as no London-Birmingham HS rail contribution, no London Crossrail contribution, no House of Parliament refurbishment contribution - none of which actually benefit Scotland in any way shape or form.

Yes the SNP were wrong on oil - but then so was everyone else. In fact they were actually less wrong than the Tories who had predicted an even higher barrel price. Failed the NHS, schools and policing? Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on all of that - with the appropriate evidence...

As for the 'tax raising powers' you claim that they refuse to use - even my P5 kids can tell you the reason for that. What the Tories give with the one hand, they take away with the other. I thought everyone knew that - my mistake.

 

Wrong again - the worst thing in Scottish history was allowing the Duke of Queensberry to push the Act of Union with England through parliament in 1707, after he was promised half the funds awarded to Scotland by Treasury for himself, as well as the title 'Duke of Dover'.

Some things never change...

 

Do expand on "The establishments refusal to release relevant figures" I guess your're referring to the individual tax records that are not released by HMRC due to confidentiality issues and the SNP were even admitting they have never been denied any requested figures (this was discovered under a FOI request as it was another claim not ringing true). How relevant is 1921 to the current day? In my opinion the current figures are relevant with the overspend in Scotland regularly exceeding the over collection ie. we benefit from the current system. Where do you get the Scottish whisky export figure? That has to be wrong. Trident, can you compare the saving there to the cost of border police, armed forces, loss of jobs at Lossie, the clyde etc. ? HS2 paid easily out of London revenues head for head would still only be 4 billion over how many years? On the balancing side how about all the money rUK will save from having to subsidise the Scottish government through the Barnett formula? It's logica we need more per capita spending up here to get equivalent services based on our population density alone. This will not come from the EU, add in the effect of a hard border and trade tariffs if you had an independent Scotland by some miracle in the EU with a hardline EU trade deal with rUK and you have all the ingredients for disaster. The No campaign was a lot closer than Yes on oil revenues, I seem to recall us discussing in the runup, none of us thought oil would tank so badly but the SNP / Yes campaign was based on pure fantasy flying in the face of the knowledgeable who did at least get the production forecasts close. NHS spending in Scotland has not kept pace with England under the SNP vs Tories, Barnett formula means the Scottish parliament gets the equivalent growth to spend but SNP choose to divert it away to who knows what (trips for Sturgeon to Europe to cover non devolved matters, free University tuition etc (yes we as a family benefited but its hardly fair!) policing, the Police Scotland debacle where the police forces are further under resourced and increasingly less effective.. Schools reading and writing dropping back.. this is a measure of the poor end of society.. http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/04/7639/0 increasingly poor education standards which will drop of a cliff with the austerity that would be introduced with independence.

 

Thankfully we didn't get "King Salmond" self appointed title and will not get "Queen Nicola" either. The two most self interested public figures since Magna Carta.

 

"As for the 'tax raising powers' you claim that they refuse to use - even my P5 kids can tell you the reason for that. What the Tories give with the one hand, they take away with the other. I thought everyone knew that - my mistake." I'm obviously not gifted with the comprehension of your P5 baby goats. Perhaps you could enlighten me with the same indoctrination you are using on them?

 

I'm still intrigued by your whisky claim (always interested in the great spirit). This seems to explain it to me but no idea where you get your 285M export from, wings over scotland by any chance? https://whytepaper.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/meme-busting-whisky-and-the-non-existent-export-duty/

 

That's about the only accurate thing you've said so far. Sorry to bring on your indigestion, but no indoctrination from me - the reality was confirmed to my class by one of your own Tory MSPs when questioned by them. Like most Tories, I doubt she even realised what she'd admitted to.

No - try reading the back copies of The Telegraph from last month - it was in there.

1. I thought I'd made that clear enough actually. No you're wrong (again) - it's nothing to do with HMRC confidentiality issues. Up until 1921 the Treasury produced an annual report on income from, and expenditures relating to, Scotland. Quite why that was stopped has never been made clear - but the figures shown on those reports made for interesting reading - and were probably so embarrassing for the Treasury that they stopped the practice to hide the truth.

2. Again you're wrong. You appear to be giving credence to the Tory lie that Scotland is subsidised by rUk when the opposite is true. Quite possibly you've been fooled into believing that Westminster's annual GERS report is a true reflection of Scotland's finances.

3. You didn't read what I said - I never mentioned the No campaign. SNP projections were based on an oil price of $110 per barrel - at that time Westminster had been working to an oil price of $120 per barrel. Do the maths again and tell me why only the Yes campaign were fantasising. Perhaps this would be a timely moment to remind you that the Yes campaign wasn't solely run by the SNP - it was cross-party.

4. You have unwittingly complimented the SNP re the NHS - thank you. If their spending has not kept pace with England then it's to the SNP's credit that the performance of Scotland's NHS far outstrips that of England, as it does across all indicators, under their leadership. of course the real reason may be that the spending in Scotland actually goes where it it supposed to, and not into the wallets of the likes of Richard Branson. I suspect that all that 'diverting away' you are obviously fretting over is actually being spent on recruiting the doctors who are currently leaving England's NHS in droves - nothing at all to do with your so-called 'free' university tuition. Surely you realise that it's not free - it's paid for out of our taxes, the SNP prefer to invest in Scotland's people unlike England's politicians. That fact is reflected in Scotland's status as having the mostly highly educated population in Europe. Has it crossed your mind that your claimed Police underfunding may have something to do with the fact that Police Scotland are the only UK force required to pay VAT? To be honest I'm not aware of the debacle you are referring to - nor the under-resourcing. Compare police numbers in Scotland under the SNP to police numbers in England under the Tories since 2010 - you'll obviously be surprised to find that the former has increased whilst the latter has decreased.

 

I've heard moans from the Welsh that they 'only' have an assembly while the Scots have a Parliament. I think the answer is simple - the Scots have some of their own laws but the laws in Wales are under "English and Welsh law". I so appreciate that there are laws that apply to the whole of the Union. A lot of Jersey laws are based on UK law and I imagine it's the same for the donkeys (sorry, Guernsey).

 

1. No you haven't made it clear at all. I now understand why Scottish education is falling behind...
2. No you're wrong GERS is produced by the Scottish parliament at Holyrood not Westminster. Its not a tory lie rUK funds Scotland. The fantasists can follow the SNP lies which keep being proven wrong, time you as a teacher looked for facts instead of believing the Saltire clad tripe.
3. I mentioned Yes and No. You were calling the Yes Tory as is the wont of Nationalists try and make everybody react to Tory as an extension of a long ago grudge formed by Thatcher. I don't need to do the maths again. Everybody was wrong with projections and would be again if we did the today. The issue is on what basis those projections were made, at a current price back then of US$140/bbl 120 or 110 were reasonable numbers for projection though the oil companies would tend to use 75% of previous years average for budgets. The issue is the base for volume projections which for No was based on professional estimation and for Yes was based on a number plucked from the air to create the desired picture.
4. Scotlands NHS does not outperform that in England on any indicators. In the real world when I have to wait 3 weeks for a regular GP appointment, 6 months for a hospital appointment and then sent to a private hospital in Glasgow paid for by the NHS, you really need to get to the coalface and see the reality, Scotland is paying a fortune from the NHS budget to private care and nursing, efficient No, planned No, its the very Sturgeons badly directed cuts (training) years ago that are causing the current problems. You know I know very well that University tuition fees come from the tax paid by us. Its direction of budget and SNP choose to provide this subsidy to mainly the middle classes at the expense of reducing the amount spent on college education which results in fewer college places nationally hitting the poorer. Most highly educated population in Europe, that really is fantasy. That VAT was only introduced because of the SNP policy and they knew about it before making the change. Its an omen of how the SNP behave, do what they know will be problematic and create grievance pointing South. If you think this is accidental then you're naive, the party of racism, segregation and discord, a target for my hatred, I do put Sturgeon and Salmond in the same class as Hitler and Chavez, I'm an ex pat living in Scotland and it's the reality of how I and many of my peers feel.

Do enlighten as to the give with one hand take wit the other as I wasn't in your class. Perhaps it's another fantasy...

 

Can't find your whisky revenue quote so have to believe all the HMRC, Scottish Whisky federation etc. figures which show all revenues accredited to Scotland, obviously the Telegraph article was in one of your dreams.

 

Can you quote any one single person of any present significance in the SNP who has expressed anti English racism ? Please do so before regurgitating such outbursts on here. Do you feel physically threatened in Scotland - or so much so that you can place them in the same catagory as someone who sent 5 million to the gas chamber ? There is racism in small countries like Scotland, just as there is in larger ones, but there is no right wing populist party in Scotland as in other countries. I am not getting into the economic debate here, because I don't know enough about it, but the SNP are civic nationalist and pro immigration, which they have emphasized over and over again.

 

This is a Scottish Government publication, please read and make an effort to understand.. http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00504649.pdf

 

Yes.. and I note your use of current as you no doubt know the historical treacherous links between the SNP and the Nazis....

Roisin McLaren, president of Edinburgh University’s SNP branch, said that she had ignored the Prime Minister’s pleas to save the Union because it was “an English t*** telling us all what to do.”

She also used an interview with the Guardian to pour scorn on Mr Cameron’s passionate defence of the UK in a speech at the Olympic velodrome in February during which he urged the English to make clear they want the Scots to stay.

Arguing that Mr Cameron is a “toff Tory politician, who nobody here likes or voted for”, the 19-year-old dismissed his plea by concluding: “F*** off! If he If he’s had any sense, he would have kept his gob shut.”

Miss McLaren, who has campaigned alongside Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond

Do I feel physically threatened yes. In the same category as the Nazis, yes, the Nazis appeared benign and interested in advancing the German cause with some pretty logical and understandable rhetoric at first but underlying that there was something far more sinister, I feel history repeating and sense the same here. I hope I'm wrong as I love Scotland and 99% of its people, it's Nationalism that I cannot abide. Where the SNP sits right centre or left is not really a point up here as they drift to wherever the votes are. They are not left wing, they are not right wing they are purely Nationalist believing in their own superiority. They are pro immigration at the moment in the same way as many countries use immigration to fill the lower echelons of society and increase their power base with beholden electorate. They will turn when it suits them, they are Nationalists after all who believe in blaming other Nations or societal elements for any problems.

 

Miss Mclaran, as president of a university branch, is hardly a person of great significance in the higher echelons of the party - have you heard anything from Sturgeon or Salmond which justify placing them in the same catagory as Hitler ? Also, what Mclaran said about Cameron (who is also of Scottish origins if the name is any indication) could just as easily have been heard in Liverpool or Manchester. There may be anti English thugs on the streets who happen to also be SNP voters - just the same as there are probably many of those currently attacking Poles in England who are also voters of established parties - does this make those parties racist ? I dare say that many of those who went Paki bashing in the past may have also been Labour voters, did this make the party racist ? Your comments about the SNP and the Nazis is something I have dealt with in another post. The NSDAP tried to stir up separatist emotions in many parts of Europe, in the hope of establishing fifth columns there - they tried it in Brittany, Ireland, Corsica and in the north of Belgium - is there any evidence that there was any response from the SNP ? The SNP at that time consisting of little more than a few odd bods up in the highlands. The leader of the SNP during the war was Douglas Young and the only facts known about him in reference to the war are that he was against forced conscription in Scotland -( there was also no conscription in Ulster at this time), does this open him, or the SNP, to the charge of treachery - if it does then every conscientious objector, every Quaker, and most Methodists are also guilty of it.

 

1. If you can't understand that it's more a reflection on your English education to be honest.

2. Wrong again. GERS is compiled by SG statisticians from figures handed to them by Westminster. There is no other mechanism for SG to obtain the required figures.

3. Boy it must really gall you that the Tories are hell-bent on leaving the EU for Nationalistic reasons - exactly the same reason that you have railed against the SG for wanting to leave the UK!

4. Then it sounds like you need to move back to the beloved land of your birth as you have previously intimated that you'd like to. I live not 50 miles from you yet can get a 'next day' GP appointment, I can attend a hospital A&E at a weekend and be seem virtually immediately, I have a guaranteed maximum 18 week wait for surgery from point of referral (in fact, both of my last operations have involved 8 week waits after approval from the surgeon) - and, like everyone else, am given the option of being sent to a private hospital in either Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow for said surgery. There's nothing sinister, wasteful or illogical in that - it's simply a sensible approach to ensuring that NHS targets set by SG are met. If your experiences of waiting times are any different, I'd strongly suggest you change GP and attend another hospital when you need to - you're obviously living at the wrong coalface.
Only a true Tory would reduce an argument over Education to one of 'class'. It would appear that, like your Lords & Masters, you would like to see the 'poor' have the benefit of a college education - no doubt to keep the supply of plumbers etc rolling - whilst leaving University for the higher classes. I've never felt the need or urge to place myself or my family into such a category but, if pushed, I would classify myself as a self-improved member of the working class. After the dubious benefit of an English Grammar school 'education', I have worked in various 'menial' jobs in both hemispheres - and gradually worked towards putting myself through University at my own expense. I applaud the SG for actually removing the financial barrier that has stopped many working class poor from attending University and improving their lot in life - something that has actually happened. In spite of your apparent unwillingness to believe, Scotland actually does have the highest rate of University educated adults in Europe thanks to that.
VAT on police only because of SNP policy? Perhaps you'd like to theorise as to why NI have the same set up free of VAT whilst Scotland can't? Quite possibly it's because of Tory policy and their known hatred of Scots...
"the party of racism, segregation and discord, a target for my hatred" Yet you are the one who (wrongly) accused the Scots of anti-English hatred, and here you are describing perfectly the right wing parties in England.That beggars belief, as does your totally illogical comparison of Scotland's leaders to Hitler. Were you drunk when you wrote that? I'm approaching the end of my twelfth year of working in Aberdeenshire as a peripatetic teacher. In that time I have worked in 55 of the 152 primary schools in the authority - including three in your town - and have yet to encounter/witness/experience any racism at all, from pupils, parents or staff. The majority of those schools have a high percentage of non-British pupils. The teachers within those schools are from a variety of countries - Scotland, England, Ireland, Canada, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Uganda to name a few off the top of my head - and have wide-ranging religious backgrounds, yet all concur with me. We tend to holiday in Scotland rather than abroad - and have done so in the Borders, the Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland - and guess what? There's been no evidence there either. My immediate family are currently spread across Scotland - number one son has lived in Perth for two years, with two years in Aberdeen prior to that; number two son lives, works and studies in Aberdeen and has done for two years. Both have jobs involving working nights in city centres (barman & musician) - both would be likely candidates for encountering any of the problems you claim to exist - but haven't. My sister and her children (each of whom have families of their own) all live in Edinburgh - yet they too have experienced none of the problems you claim exist.

5) "Do enlighten as to the give with one hand take wit (sic) the other as I wasn't in your class." Your now-thankfully-retired-Tory MSP answered the question posed to her, by one of the pupils, "What effect would using the tax-raising powers have in Scotland?" rather more accurately than she probably intended. She included in her answer the interesting insight that "any tax revenues raised by the SG through using those powers would be deducted from the Block Grant." She wasn't wrong either.

 

Thankfully my MSP has retired, albeit I believe temporarily it was a certain Alex Salmond, didn't know he was a tory! We've never had a tory MSP for this region so I haven't a clue what you're talking about!
Your tory friend misled you, the Barnett formula takes no account of local taxation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula.
Question for you, Did the Scottish government know the consequences of creating a National Police force prior to their action? Did they know that VAT would become chargeable where it had not been the previous case? If so why did they do it, what is the benefit of this centralization?
I've said already 99% of the people in Scotland are great, inclusive, fun and cultured. Nationalists who just want to get a divorce from their English partner are the ones I'm afraid of. We are a union not beholden to anybody, we've had more Scottish influence and leadership in Westminster than would be proportional.So you support the English out movement eh, rather than try and correct the feeling of racial persecution you support sending us back South of the border.
I like to see equal education opportunities for all which means a balance of funding to support all types of education. Unlike yourself I value plumbers, builders, miners, factory workers just as much as business leaders and professors, my grandparents were a roadsweeper and an asbestos factory worker, unlike yourself I see value in colleges aswell as Universities and diverting funding from academia at the expense of late developers and vocational training is not justified in my opinion. Education is class segregated, its why we have the current arguments over grammar schools and what is best to try to cross the class barriers for a more equitable society. Only a fantasist would not agree with this.
Well if 50 miles away the system is so different in health frankly I'm surprised but then it may be down to the high population density here in the South of the shire and services never kept up. As for governments whether they be tory or SNP (South or North) I disagree with spending NHS budgets on private care to wallpaper the cracks of poor planning, you alluded to an objection of feathering Bransons nest, I do not like that either and I don't like my taxes being used to bolster the profits of BUPA either.
I'll remind you that the decision to leave the EU was a democratic decision by the British electorate. I do not agree with at least half the party do not agree with it but it is governments duty to implement the democratic choice of the people and manage the fallout the best they can. The false honeymoon period of no impact is still with us, the true cost will be known when we do actually leave, it will be a heck of a lot of work and who's to say we will not be able to come out strong it's just not the way I would have gone.. Anyway it's good to be in a party that allows for individual thinking and I do not have to toe the party line and support all policy unlike some parties I could mention... Definiitey not drunk when comparing SNP to Nazi party I see them as one and the same. It's just the SNP haven't yet evolved into their full potential, they are on the path but not there yet.

 

Identical truth denial and misrepresentation of facts http://aryanism.net/politics/national-socialism-and-nazism/