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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

SNP and Scotland leaving U.K.

364 replies

Hester54 · 16/12/2019 14:11

AIBU to not understand Scotland wishing to leave the U.K., can someone explain to me without being nasty or patronising, why is Scotland’s problem with the U.K.? Even before the U.K. ref

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Hohonoshow · 17/12/2019 09:34

I have, I even wrote about it in my phd thesis
I love this line GrinGrin

Hester54 · 17/12/2019 09:34

Can someone please give true examples where Scotland have been treated differently to the rest of the U.K. by Parliament as often said by people

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ssd · 17/12/2019 09:34

Come to Scotland. I live in a 3 bed house less than 200k. 20 mins walk to one of the 3 top secondary schools in Scotland. 20 mins drive to Russell group uni, and other top unis and colleges. 30 mins drive to the coast. 20 mins drive to Glasgow City centre, great shops, art and nightlife. 1 hour drive to Loch lomond, beautiful.
And everyone I know voted to remain. Brains and beauty Grin

tabulahrasa · 17/12/2019 09:37

“But the English didn’t have their own government once Scotland joined and still don’t have their own government today”

They were talking about how the union came about... so it was indeed an English government before that.

tabulahrasa · 17/12/2019 09:39

“Can someone please give true examples where Scotland have been treated differently to the rest of the U.K. by Parliament as often said by people”

Which people? Ask them...

I said one of the problems is that it’s treated the same even when the issue is different for Scotland, which is to be fair how it has to work by population - but isn’t always good for Scotland.

hadenough · 17/12/2019 09:40

I echo any of the 'come to Scotland' posts. The Scotland I believe in is outward looking, open, and ready to build a progressive and tolerant society.

As the saying goes 'Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on'.

LightsInOtherPeoplesHouses · 17/12/2019 09:43

“I’ve always thought as the UK as one, not individual countries”

Are you Scottish, Irish or Welsh? In my experience it tends to be the English who view the UK in that way.

Hester54 · 17/12/2019 09:44

tabulahrasa I am, that’s why I’m asking here,

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Songsofexperience · 17/12/2019 09:45

AIBU to not understand Scotland wishing to leave the U.K., can someone explain to me without being nasty or patronising, why is Scotland’s problem with the U.K.? Even before the U.K. ref

Sovereignty I guess. If you're a leaver you should understand.

Hester54 · 17/12/2019 09:47

tabulahrasa You could add that to anywhere, one decision, doesn’t work for everyone, that’s always been the same, how does it work in America?

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LagunaBubbles · 17/12/2019 09:47

08:35CakeandCustard28

Silly question but does it mean if they leave the UK no longer has to give them money? For free prescriptions and university fees etc?

Your attitude is exactly why a lot of people want independence. Free Prescriptions are funded out of the health budget for the NHS which is devolved. Scotland pays money into the Westminster pot. So yes if we were independent Westminster wouldn't have to "give us money for free prescriptions". Rather than be part of the typical Scottish scroungers tone, educate yourself or alternatively just fall for the right wing media spin on Scotland. Westminister could choose to use part of the budget for the English NHS on free prescriptions if they wanted to. But they don't.

Hester54 · 17/12/2019 09:51

LagunaBubbles Yes it could, but as people keep pointing out there is a massive population difference, it would cost a fortune to give everyone free prescriptions

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LagunaBubbles · 17/12/2019 09:54

Westminster also spends health money on areas Scotland doesnt, such as walk in centres. It is cheaper to give free prescriptions than means test them. This free prescriptions thing is often used to say Scotland are scrounging. It would cost exactly the same to give English people free prescriptions as a proportion/percentage of the budget as the English budget is far far higher than the Scottish budget based on populations, England having a far higher population.

Hohonoshow · 17/12/2019 10:02

Well, introducing the poll tax a year early is a concrete example of Scotland being treated differently OP.
But in the main, the dissatisfaction is surely that Scotland isn't treated differently, despite having different voting patterns, priorities and nationality than the rest of the UK.

tabulahrasa · 17/12/2019 10:03

“You could add that to anywhere, one decision, doesn’t work for everyone”

Yes, but that again brings us back to Scotland being a country...

Segmentationfault · 17/12/2019 10:05

I wonder why babdoc lives in Scotland if she thinks so poorly of it.

JeezyPeeps · 17/12/2019 10:05

yes in Shetland it would have been a minority language

Oh gosh. No, not a minority language. Gaelic wasn't spoken there (despite you assertion it was spoken everywhere). Unless you mean in terms of 'a gaelic family visited and spoke garlic while they were there'. In which case Shetland also speaks German, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu and Shona, amongst others.

Clavinova · 17/12/2019 10:10

20 mins drive to Glasgow City centre...And everyone I know voted to remain. Brains and beauty.

The EU referendum turnout in Glasgow was only 56% - the average turnout for Scotland was 67%. Glasgow is the city of apathy!

Butchyrestingface · 17/12/2019 10:12

I wonder why babdoc lives in Scotland if she thinks so poorly of it.

Babdoc has probably never been north of the Watford Gap in her life. Bet she gets travel sick after longer than 15 minutes in the car.

tabulahrasa · 17/12/2019 10:16

“Unless you mean in terms of 'a gaelic family visited and spoke garlic while they were there'”

No, I mean in terms of languages don’t follow borders, even on islands... so where a neighbouring place has a different language you’ll find people speak both. At home they’ll use theirs, but they can speak the other.

Unless you think Shetland is somehow inherently different to any other place?

JeezyPeeps · 17/12/2019 10:19

On, well, find some evidence that gaelic was ever spoken on Shetland and I'll listen. But having family from there and having lived there, the only person that I ever met that spoke garlic was someone who went away to study languages.

LightsInOtherPeoplesHouses · 17/12/2019 10:31

Yes it could, but as people keep pointing out there is a massive population difference, it would cost a fortune to give everyone free prescriptions

Aren't a huge proportion of prescriptions free anyway for various reasons? Something like 90%?

In Wales part of the rationale was that it would help keep people who couldn't afford to pay out of hospital, thereby saving money.

tabulahrasa · 17/12/2019 10:31

“ and having lived there”

Presumably you lived there this century though...

I mean, is there much of a case for Gaelic signs in Shetland? No, none really.

But if you study linguistics in Scotland at all, it’s very obvious that it’s not true that it wasn’t spoken either... there’s quite a gap between being a main language somewhere and not spoken at all.

JeezyPeeps · 17/12/2019 10:35

I lived there last century, actually. And worked for a heritage organisation while I was there.

I will concede that Gaelic speakers presumably visited the isles and spoke Gaelic, but that is not the same as being a gaelic speaking area. There is nothing that I'm aware of that suggests that native shetlanders ever spoke gaelic.

slashlover · 17/12/2019 10:38

Can someone please give true examples where Scotland have been treated differently to the rest of the U.K. by Parliament as often said by people

RTFT

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