I've already answered that - compare it to whole countries then it does. Compare it to parts of countries and it doesn't, and it is a 'part' of a country just as eg. Bavaria is to Germany. If you are telling me that Scotland is a country because it has a government, then you must also acknowledge that North Rhine Westphalia and Bavaria, or even the city states of Hamburg and Berlin are countries
You're mental
There is nothing mental about this - unfortunately the British have the ability to chop and change when it comes to statistics. For positive ones like GDP you use Britain as the measure and for negative ones you split it into smaller units. We saw this during the brexit referendum campaign where it was claimed that England had the biggest population density in the EU, forgetting that the only valid international comparison was to use the UK as a whole for this. If you can split the country up to produce convenience statistics then others can do the same.You're mental
You should probably have a word with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. They also believe that Scotland has the highest drug deaths in Europe.
You are making the mistake of assuming that other European nations do not, also, contain areas which either were countries once, or would like to be - but they are not. If Scotland is a country then so is Corsica or Flanders. The fact that they have a football team makes no difference to this because if Flanders and Wallonia decided to field 2 separate teams for a World Cup then they could do so (as long as players don't play for both) - but it would not effect their legal status. Scotland is a constituent part of the UK. just as Corsica is of France. If I were to say that North Rhine Westphalia has the highest population density of all countries in Europe then you would, quite rightly, claim that NRW is not a country and so the comparison is unfair - and that is what I am saying here. It still doesn't change the fact that there are too many junkies in Scotland - but I am also sure that some areas of the north of England wouldn't come out too well if measured separately. The fact is that it is a British problem and not a Scottish one. The worst areas are the same areas which were drastically deindustrialized in the 80s and have been suffering ever since - and there are more of those, proportionally, in Scotland than in the other 3 states which make up the UK. Taken as a whole Britain is the fourth highest in terms of drug deaths - 3 times higher than Germany, so maybe it has something to do with policy - maybe decriminalization would be a step in the right direction.
Well, that's a different subject altogether, Cologne. I suspect we'd find middle ground with it.
We do have middle ground on this Saffy. I'm seen that the percentage of those dying in this way in Scotland who were unemployed was round about 85% - a horrific figure which confirms the cycle between the two, and of course homelessness. The situation in Germany is about half way between Britain and Germany on this - there are so called cocaine taxis operating legally in Berlin and Hamburg also has a big drug problem which is obvious through its position as a major port (actually lived in Hamburg for about 20 years). I do think we need to break the connection between drugs and crime and provide environments which are safe and controlled where those effected are seen as needing help and not punishment.
If some of the cases which come up here are true then it is quite damning stuff - however, the question of whether the hierarchy of the party can be held responsible for everything said by every party member at every local meeting in the UK. is debateable. With nearly 500,000 members it is almost impossible to control and discipline all such cases, and there are going to be racists in all parties. My suspicion is that this whole thing is simply being stirred up as a stick to beat Corbyn over the head with. It doesn't address certain questions such as why the Jewish lobbies have a monopoly on being able to define what anti Semitism is, which goes way beyond the protection accorded to other ethnic groups. Why, for example, is it racist to suggest that Zionism could be a partly racist ideology because it advocates a state where citizens rights are based on ethnic origins ? Apparently some Zionists can claim that they are God's chosen people yet they get upset when they are called racists as a result ! We cannot allow the fear of being called anti Semitic to stifle all criticism of the Israeli government and it's racial policies.
Not doing anything about the 100k kids without a proper home this Christmas. Not doing anything to provide enough hospital beds and staff. Putting people into the food bank system as official policy. Removing police from the streets making them less safe. Removing pension rights from women and telling people to expect to keep working into their 70s. Prisons that are full and understaffed creating problems when the inmates are released. Teachers providing food and shoes for the pupils.
