DH wanting to apply for job in Scotland

I would jump at the chance to move to Scotland so may not be much help. It's lovely, and would be a great adventure. Why not try. If you hate it, move back. I think most regrets in life come from not doing things rather than the other way around.

I travel Glasgow to Exeter regularly.
Take the leap. Glasgow is fantastic.

There will be so many variables.

I like Glasgow and Glasgow people but I'm going to admit I have said I could never move west again. It's the weather.
One thing you could do is check the weather forecast for there every time you check your current location and see what you think.

The weather is part of Glasgow's charm.

Fair cop - get a decent raincoat and winter boots before you come up :-)

Glasgow is an hour away from Edinburgh by train, a 90 minute drive to Carlisle.

A 45 minute drive to Loch Lomond.

Housing is very cheap and you can buy 4 bed houses for £200k.

There are lots of things to do and if it may wreck your dhs career if he doesn't, why not try?

My parents live in Glasgow and my inlaws are in Birmingham. We live in London. We can get from Glasgow to just outside London in 6 hours so I'm not sure what you're basing your travel estimates on?

I've strongly encountered the 'indentured servitude' model of thinking from DP and other academics. The idea that you are bound to these institutions and have to play the 'follow the job' game. There is such pressure placed on the partner to facilitate the academic often impacting their own job/relationships.
In case it needs saying...in other areas of work you can
Move cities
Stay in the same city
Change jobs
For everyone saying OP should up sticks to the North there are very few considering the impact on her - leaving friends, family etc. It isn't a moral failing on her part to want to stay near her family and she has already made significant sacrifices for this relationship

There is such pressure placed on the partner to facilitate the academic often impacting their own job/relationships.

Very true actually.

user I agree that academic jobs are definitely different than some other jobs - part of that is the problem of the job though, you can't just rock up at the local uni and expect there to be a lecturing post in your extremely niche area, jobs in your academic discipline are rare, have to be at the right level (so professorships really rare, teaching fellows not so much) and may even be only available internationally or every few years. It really isn't the same as, say, being a GP or a teacher where if you hang out in that local area for long enough, you will probably find work. So, the options to move are fewer than for some other professions, and probably more similar to jobs like certain types of law or being a diplomat where you have less flexibility to move, and end up with a trailing spouse.

That said, most of the academics I know do not have trailing spouses but tend to a) have other academics as their partners, this can work very well if they have no children and can travel/work as they want, or are older/have older children and freedom, I think it works less well when there is a senior male and a younger female who then ends up doing the bulk of childcare and scuppering their prospects just a time they need to be moving forward b) partners who are not in the academic world at all but either are happy to work from home (and move internationally, most academics I work with are not from the UK) e.g. as a consultant, or even not work that much at all. The worst pairing is ambitious academic and reasonably ambitious other professional tied to an area for work- because that leads to very tricky negotiations over who is going to take precedence, and often men win at the family stage, although I've noticed lately lots of the female profs/more senior women I know making bolder moves later in life once the children have left home, like to China, or setting up new institutes and so on.

I also agree the system is very old-fashioned and expects a kind of dependent spouse picking up the pieces type model- so I don't apply to certain types of fellowship as they always demand international sabbaticals of three months or more and I don't want to leave the country for three months or more (although I have friends who do and take the kids). We don't have spousal hire in the UK either, so if both parties are academics, every time one moves, the other may end up staying, so you end up with lots of LATS (Living Apart Togethers). I know lots of academics who live separately in the week, or even in the term and get back together on weekends/holidays.

I can see being the partner of an academic is very annoying. My husband told me he would move anywhere in the world to help my career, which I greatly appreciate. I didn't take him up on it as I like to stay close to home. I don't think the OP is being unreasonable in saying Midlands and North (if it is that wide) as a general region for job hunting as that's a lot of unis, but basically, the more flexible and international you are, the quicker and better the jobs will be- and however unfair this is, that's the case. I know I could be promoted immediately by moving institution, I choose not to as I like it where I am.

TBH it doesn't sound d like his academic career is going too well, I don't think he should be looking s gift horse in the mouth even if it happens to be in Edinburgh (I'm assuming it's Edinburgh otherwise why even bother?)

A 4-bed house for £200k?? Whereabouts in Glasgow is that?

It was Glasgow i thought.

I work at Glasgow Uni (not as an academic though I do have a PhD) and work with loads of academics who commute from Glasgow to elsewhere in the UK. Our train and plane links are great. And it is a lovely place to live - interesting, vibrant, friendly people, great restaurants and culture, loads of green space. Not just in the west end either, the southside is brilliant too.

One thing I will say - if it is Glasgow Uni and he really wants this post, he needs to be meticulous when filling out the application as our HR dept are ruthless. I've seen longterm colleagues on rolling fixed term contracts, who academics were desperate to get into the department on permanent posts, not get invited to interview for not ticking off one of the Essential Criteria or being a bit vague on it.

summerswallow I really do understand the pressures, I took a 'stage left' into school teaching following my PhD. Ive made 3 moves for DP's academic career.

But there aren't many areas of MN where an OP can say " I moved, I closed my business, I rented my house and DP wants me to relocate again" ...And get a majority responding "that's a reasonable request to make of you". It feels on here at times that the partner's job/family/financial security/agency in the relationship is second to the needs of the academic career. I often wonder how posts like these would be responded to in 'AIBU' or Relationships

Academia isn't reasonable, though, and OP presumably knew that when she married her DH. Her DH may well face a (realistic) choice of this job or a job outside academia, perhaps having to start (again) at the bottom on a lowish salary of 20-25k.

I don't think she can post on this particular board and expect anything other than the suggestion of exploring the possibility of moving - if you aren't willing to move around the country, then you typically don't have a realistic chance of a permanent job in academia. Without knowing much more about her and her DH's circumstances, people can't really advise more than this. It is really up to her and her DH to decide how to balance their careers, families etc.

Ttbb 'I'm assuming it's Edinburgh otherwise why even bother?'

WTAF??