Remind me what's good about living in Scotland?

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I moved to Scotland 25 years ago (central belt) and I've had a great life here but over the last year or so I've got increasingly itchy feet. May be a post-Covid or age thing but I'm not sure I want to stay in Scotland forever - it just doesn't seem to be as appealing to me, and even the cities seem a bit flat at the moment. Realistically, I can't disrupt DS education at the moment, he's very settled and happy so please remind me of everything that is fantastic about life in Scotland. I'm forever reading threads about people who are desperate to move to Scotland and I'm not really seeing why at the moment.

So you think that people who have been to university and who don't earn much should pay more tax than people who haven't been to university and who don't earn much?

So you think that it's fair to give the 50 percent of most academically able (and:or most helped by parents) a big additional investment from the state in their education, whether they make it pay or not?

Yes, if you invest unwisely, you pay for it, generally.

Fairisleflora, agree, DH works in HE and many universities in Scotland are struggling with the funding, consequently chasing more and more students from overseas (outside EU) because they need the enhanced fees.

@beechhues I've got one child at an ancient uni, one about to start at FE college and another who left school early and has had access to several courses full and part time at very well attended (one in a lovely brand new building) FE colleges. He has more contact hours than his brother at the "posh" uni. I am happy with how much the government has invested in my High School dropout to enable him to catch up.

Mine went to uni and one so far, did a masters. We are working class, grew up in schemes. Ds did 3rd yr abroad, took all the loans going.
As i said before, dont recognise this portrayal of Scotland.

I think you could copyright that and sell it to Visit Scotland

In England there are top up funds available for poorer students, and they don't need repaying. I know people who've been given an extra 3-4k a year.

I love the easy access to countryside and skiing and slower pace of life (originally from London many moons ago). The traffic isn't bad where I am and nobody really commutes over a hour to work! Long summer nights mean we can do our outdoor hobbies easily.

Downsides - my local NHS service is terrible (parents GP in England who I had to see over Christmas was horrified I hadn't been seen in person I had a antibiotic resistant infection missed for over a month). Still no long covid clinics for Scots, still get anti English comments despite living here over a decade (I know this is the minority idiots though still not pleasant and a referendum increases the number of vocal idiots). Education worries me especially as my area your limited it's the local high school or private (can't afford that).

My job and my life is based here but my job is highly likely to move to North England in the event of independence and we would move with it.

Is that not a shortbread tin you're describing?

Free university, free prescriptions, less privatised NHS, lots of culture in Glasgow and Edinburgh (free museums, Edinburgh festival, loads of parks in Glasgow, good theatres, concert venues, plenty of places to eat out) incredible scenery (nothing else in the world like Glencoe, loads of castles), great for hillwalking, friendly, comparatively cheap, more measures for the poorest here like DHP to cover bedroom tax etc, free bus travel for under 22s, more family friendly (including more provision like extra free nursery hours, baby box, rounds of IVF etc) it has its problems like anywhere else but I think it’s easy to feel the grass is greener,

I left the city when DD was on the way.

I wanted her to grow up the way I did.

There are top up bursaries available at some universities - particularly Oxbridge I think. That's the case in Scotland too - I think St Andrew's offers £1.5K to students from poorer households. It's not an English / Scottish thing, it's down to the universities themselves. Remember of course that Scottish students can go to English universities, but with the benefit of far lower interest rates on the student loan than is available to English students, and retaining the possibility of a Scottish government bursary of up to £2K. So it is cheaper for a Scottish student to attend an English university than for an English student to attend an English university. And it is of course far cheaper for a Scottish student to attend a Scottish university than for an English student to do so.

Because it's so easy just to 'fuck off'. Like when someone is moaning about their job and someone chimes in with 'if you don't like it leave and get another one'. Just like that!

I like Scotland as a whole but Edinburgh has gone to the dogs.

I think us Scots are really friendly.

Sadly, I think Scotland is a place where wages are lower than the rest of UK, but housing in urban areas is very expensive. There isn't much opportunity. Services are shit. Tax is high and I don't see where it goes. The religious divide on the west coast is so depressing. Its wet, dark and miserable about 8 months of the year (ok exaggeration there). Drugs, alcoholism, crime, you name it - its here!!!

I'm starting to hate the place. I very much love the people here though!

Sorry, not much help. My 5 year plan is to move lol.

It’s not comparatively cheap at all. I find prices much higher.

Pros - Friendly, beautiful, great cities, proper investment in culture, okay cost of living, investment by govt.

Cons - SNP, nanny state, victim mentality of many Scots, tribalism, weather, areas of deprivation, some places a bit parochial/really not great to live if you're a foreigner.

Glad to hear that @Wbeezer - I have one not likely to go, possibly two, despite my impeccable mc credentials and more needs to be done for non-university track kids, AND that too many are funnelled into degrees through poor choice optimisation that don't pay well.

Even with 'free' tuition a degree is still a big investment of your time and money.

You can disagree with key policies without thinking it's all rubbish, I disagree with 'free tuition' in EU too - maybe the rising tide of nationalism is partly caused by the non university educated having their lives constantly made worse over the last 30 years while all the investment goes to the macrons.

@ssd I'd "fuck off", as you so charmingly put it, but as a PP said, it isn't always that easy. I'm nearing retirement and for what I'd get for my house, I wouldn't be able to afford anything in another area.

I don't get that friendliness is such a great thing. I HATE being spoken to by random strangers. OH moved up from near London and can't stand the way he can't get moved in the supermarket for groups of people blocking the aisles chatting. Then when he asks them politely to move, he gets a glare or worse.

Fewer fucking people.

seals, dolphins, otters, orcas, humpbacks.

space to breathe.

silence.

Perthshire raspberries.

You sound a joy @RaraRachael

It's true that there are problems with some services. But I'm not sure why people think that these are necessarily better down south. If you read some of the threads on MN, you'll hear really terrible stories about the state of the NHS in England, for example. And they've closed loads of libraries down there. The streets are filthy, etc etc.

I’d wait until you see what state services are in in 12 months before you say anything. The shits about to hit the fan big style.

however I wouldn’t necessarily say they are worse than England, but they are certainly no better at present. Despite all the propaganda about the land of milk, honey and shortbread.

Went to Edinburgh last November. It was windy, rainy and bloody brilliant. I found the locals be be friendly and welcoming. I'd never been to Scotland before and it's given me inspiration to see more. The politics is a bit (insert expletive) and when Nicola came on the telly in the pub she was booed...but it's got culture, it's got architecture, free prescriptions, free university, gorgeous countryside and I fell in love with square sausage. (I'm such a tourist) So yes, I'll be back. So much nicer than London, where I live (though we have a despot leader too).

I'm buying a second home to function as a retirement home one day, and I really wanted to buy on the island that my grandparents moved from for work. They ended up in the central belt, my parents lived there and I did too for a while til I moved, and we all can't stand it. I think its one of the ugliest places in Europe and the public transport is abysmal if you've ever lived in another northern European country and can compare it. Yes, if you have the money you can move somewhere like East Lothian but the commuting is horrible and it feels like Surrey-on-legs. The salaries unfortunately aren't like Surrey but the house prices aren't cheap!

So I moved away, but I wanted to buy a second home where my grandparents came from. Not a big family sized one but a small rural one needing work. We have decided to buy in France instead. The council tax equivalent (tax fonciere plus residence tax) are 1100 euros per year. In Scotland, we would pay double so around £4000 per year, with threats that it may triple. All because our grandparents moved away for work. Of course, I could give up work and become one of the many jewellery designers or artists who have set up on those islands, probably funded by savings or inheritance, but because I pay income tax and work, I would be heavily penalised for it. I wouldn't buy somewhere and rent it out either, because of all the rules and expensive licenses involved in that.

Then I read all the news headlines about cracking down on holiday home owners, or on Airbnbs (having quite happily stayed in Air bnbs all over Europe) and it just doesn't seem very welcoming or very stable. The SNP has never even committed to signing up to the ECHR should there be independence, and joining the EU would clearly take at least 2 decades, so theres no guarantee what would happen to that holiday home.

I have to say I don't really understand the hatred of second home owners. Many of us who have links to the islands might like to buy there but have to live nearer our work for most of our lives in practice. Owning second homes is perfectly normal everywhere else in Europe and a lot of the islands are full of ruins where people used to live. I would have thought the Scottish Government would have been doing everything possible to encourage people to buy in the islands as many start up with holiday homes but end up moving there permanently once circumstances permit. But with double the stamp duty and council tax, its far easier to take our money abroad and spend it there instead.