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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To urge every one in scotland to vote tomorrow

125 replies

bittersweetvictory · 04/05/2011 18:49

In case the conservatives sneak in and kick the buggery out of our country like they have done to England, im voting SNP so we can continue to have free higher education, free prescriptions and a 5 year council tax freeze.

OP posts:
claretandcheese · 04/05/2011 21:57

Nijinsky, as a Scot who has never voted Conservative I am sick of my vote not counting in the UK context.

MollysChamber · 04/05/2011 21:59

Every vote counts. However majority wins. That's democracy for you.

High taxes? You think? Try Scandinavia. FWIW I think they've got it right too.

Newgolddream · 04/05/2011 21:59

kaumana - I wish I had seen the TV debate, apparantly a Nurse gave Alec Salmond a good going over - who kept insisting the NHS was safe with them, she told him the SNP were annihating the service. Can only speak for myself, we are a small team who are already 2.5 members of staff down - who are not being replaced. Its all the students I feel sorry for.

MollysChamber · 04/05/2011 22:01

Oh yes I saw that nurse - she was good.

My friends working in the NHS say they've never seen things so bad.

kaumana · 04/05/2011 22:04

claretandcheese - Re: prescriptions, apparently if they were made free for people with cancer and long term serious conditions as well as people who have been exempted for a long time due to low income the costs of administering the system would outweigh the fees received from the small number of people left paying.

Small amont of people left paying !! How sick a nation are we (scared face)?

claretandcheese · 04/05/2011 22:05

Have worked in NHS for years. As far as I can see it's always been "bad" regardless of which party has been in charge.

claretandcheese · 04/05/2011 22:07

kuamana I think the point is that the people left paying are relatively healthy and therefore don't need many prescriptions. So not so scarey!

dementedma · 04/05/2011 22:07

I never said the equivalent didn't happen in other countries, I am merely commenting on the experiences of me and my family here in Scotland. I live in Fife by the way - our family moved here over 30 years ago - but are still disparagingly referred to as "that English family", despite having been to school here and my 3 DCs being born here.
Saying "well, it happens in other countries" doesn't make it ok.
My point is that as a family we are very widely travelled, both as a family, and as one of 5 wandering siblings Grin. We all universally agree, that the worst racism we have experienced is here in Scotland, including physical violence. If Scots want to bury their heads in the sand about what happens in their tartan shorbread "wha's like us?" country, there's not much i can do about it really.

Newgolddream · 04/05/2011 22:07

Its scarey Molly, every meeting we have Im expecting them to say our service is closing - fair enough I would still have a job, but what I do is rather specialised and I dont want to end up in any old job, plus the effect it would have on our patients. I dont actually agree with free prescriptions for all because I think its just an enticement to vote for them, and I know other budgets have been cut to pay for this, for example Scotland has longer waiting times in certain areas than England plus we have less walk in centres tahn England to.

I think people with chronic conditions such as asthma should receive their prescriptions free though, after all they would die without their drugs.

mummysleepy · 04/05/2011 22:11

the BMA (BRitish Medical Association) Scotland gave Nicola Sturgeon a standing ovation at a recent conference she attended. The NHS in Scotland is in a MUCH better state than in England, didn't hear what that nurse said but I suspect she's not looking at the bigger picture.

I agree that cost of free prescriptions isn't that great as so many chronic conditions, elderly, unemployed etc already get prescriptions anyway. It will benefit people with conditions like asthma who didn't get free prescriptions before but could be on 3 or 4 different drugs at a time costing them a fortune, so its not a bad thing

claretandcheese · 04/05/2011 22:11

dementedma, that is really horrible. And sad. I hate myself now for being Scottish. Does that help?

claretandcheese · 04/05/2011 22:12

I'm not being sarcastic.

nijinsky · 04/05/2011 22:12

Molly's Chamber "High taxes? You think? Try Scandinavia. FWIW I think they've got it right too."

Ah yes. Trondheim. The Promised (Junket) Land. Full of miserable people trudging about in freezing rain because it costs £5 to drive your own car in and the public transport is shit. How many £millions have been wasted in Scotland proposing similar schemes?

Comparable only to the number of Norwegians who can't afford to live or even shop in Norway so drive over the border to Sweden for marginally cheaper prices.

handsomeharry · 04/05/2011 22:13

If Scots want to bury their heads in the sand about what happens in their tartan shorbread "wha's like us?" country, there's not much i can do about it really.

Dear oh dear.

What a deeply unpleasant remark.

nijinsky · 04/05/2011 22:14

mummysleepy asthmatics like me were already able to get pre-paid prescriptions for 3 months for £12 covering just about every medication you could possibly need.

kaumana · 04/05/2011 22:15

newgolddream - I saw the debate, I work for the NHS too. They are getting away with it because there has been "no redundancies" the fact that no jobs are being replaced is shocking. I believe the general public think that natural wastage (to cut back on numbers) i.e. retirement etc is a good thing. What they don't realise it is rarely the high earners that are going.

Newgolddream · 04/05/2011 22:19

Thats because nijinsky the SNP reduced the prices of prescriptions gradually, it wasnt that long ago that they were full price which meant the cost of a pre payment certificate was higher to. We used to spend a fortune on my DHs inhalers, tablets etc.

If Scots want to bury their heads in the sand about what happens in their tartan shorbread "wha's like us?" country, there's not much i can do about it really. Nice, really nice. [rolling my sarcastic eyes]

dementedma · 04/05/2011 22:20

claretandcheese Grin of course it doesn't!
I must stress that I have the most wonderful Scottish friends, as do the DCs. But the fact remains, that racism, particularly anti-English racism - is very much alive and well in some parts of Scotland and Scotland doesn't need it. this little country has a lot to offer, but while it consistently keeps a chip of the "remember Culloden/Bannockburn" on its shoulder, then it will never progress. History has its place, but it's not in the future. As long as the adjective "English" is used as pejorative as in "English bastard" , "English cunt" etc, then Scotland has a problem and it should deal with it. Sectarianism and racism are lablels that Scotland wears in the wider world, and which it could do with losing.

dementedma · 04/05/2011 22:22

labels

Newgolddream · 04/05/2011 22:23

Kaumana - yes. Our receptionist left, and wasnt replaced. It is an open plan main office - so they decided that the 2 secretaries had to take on the receptionists job. Now they are even more busier than they were - having to stop typing dicatated tapes every 5 minutes for example, mistakes are starting to happen needless to say, stress levels for everyone are increasing.

dementedma · 04/05/2011 22:23

newgolddream roll away.
I rest my case

handsomeharry · 04/05/2011 22:23

dementedma - we will all just have to take your word for it that you have experienced such high levels of physical and verbal abuse in Scotland.

However, we now all have direct experience of your unpleasant remarks with regards to Scotland and the Scots.

Go figure.

nijinsky · 04/05/2011 22:23

Its just that I get the feeling that Scotland will turn into a nation supported by perhaps 12% who work full time and the rest sponging off them, whilst the former are told they are evil to have well paid jobs. Slight exaggeration but its kind of the attitude that prevails in some places. If you dare have a political view that is not in some way socialist, you are ripped to shreds.

Probably better rip out my tongue for heresy in saying such things.

Newgolddream · 04/05/2011 22:25

newgolddream roll away.
I rest my case

And what case is that? I have no idea what you mean just because I dont like your nasty remark - does that make me anti-English? Hmm

dementedma · 04/05/2011 22:28

handsomeharry if you consider my remarks about SOME Scots burying their heads in the sand as unpleasant then you have either misinterpreted my feelings and/or are extraordinarily sensitive.
When someone keys "English Cunts" into your car, then perhaps you will have a better understanding.
Until then.......