The Scottish Government

why are people responding to "it's shmee again"--fife.
he/she is trying to niggle as they are irked that the game is up.
you are only one vote-you are in a minority(get over it!)
lets move on and discuss what doors will open and what great new opportunies we will have once we unshackle ourselves from the uk straightjacket.(that's what they use to restrain the insane--oor frean fi fife). and we must have been insane to have accepted the deluge of propaganda used to keep us down all these years.
i wont be responding to you "it's shmee again" as your bereft of vision.
keep on voting labour and reading your daily record(you have plenty to choose from these days. in fact they are even trying to GIVE them away!!)

#56. You again.
Thursday, October 4, 2007 14:09

Aye, shame we've had to wait 40 years until the bridge is knackered before joining it properly to the rest of the national road network and another road is now going to have to be built for the relief crossing.

Getting it right?
A stoater:

>>>all paid for by bridge tolls<<<

Care to enlighten us on how much of the £36m cost, was paid by FETA and bridge tolls?

Detail and facts do appear to be confusing for you these days, eh no, Dad?

#54

Well nice to know you enjoyed the new roads at the Forth Road Bridge, all paid for by bridge tolls?

You'll get it right yet son!!

#53

I am not obsessed about anything specific, if you must know. I am just puzzled as to why wrapping ourselves in the Saltire will apparently pay all the bills, cure unemployment, make Scotland an entrepeneur's dream haven.

How much will it cost us, the people, to pay for Alec's pipe dream? If he wants our votes he has to give us a rational answer!

If you don't want to know the facts, then join him in cloud cuckoo land!

#52 you again
Jealous? Tell our enemies that they may take away our jobs, but they'll never take our sense of hummooouuuurrrrrr!!

I came over from Kincardine today @17:00 to try out the new motorway spur south of the Forth Road Bridge.
It worked perfectly, the only hold up was folks taking their time over the bridge, rubbernecking the northbound queues at the toll barriers, then later approaching the roadworks on the M8 which is currently being upgraded westbound to dual carriageway standard.

I've said, in my experience over 30-odd years driving 30,000 miles a year, curing congestion is not about widening the roads but widening the exits.

btw: what happened to #48-#50?

#51 - Me Again - Fife.

I'm sorry. But are you in the NHS, or what? You seem to be obsessed by medical matters. The rest of us are trying to work out a possible future for Scotland and you are talking about surgeons dropping their scalpels on one patient, jumping in a car and travelling to a factory or roadside to carry out a life-saving operation on another critically injured casualty.

The subsidised ferries, again. What has this to do with the early pension of women in some unnamed South American state? What I'm talking about is the resurgence of business in the isles actually paying for their subsidies in the form of an increased tax take. Except that, just now, the tax would end up in London, lost and gone for ever.

Or would you like to see the islands reserved for Hooray Henrys' Holiday Homes? Sell a semi in London - Buy an estate in Scotland!

The truth is that the economy of London and the South East is that of a separate state. It is atypical of the economy in the rest of Britain, and the whole of Britain gets the medicine that keeps London in business.

All our taxes (bar Council Tax) go down to the Treasury. There the cash stays until London weighting has been extracted for all its essential services - police, firemen, nurses, teachers, the social services, court officials, prison officers, ambulance drivers - the lot. Then more is creamed off to extend and modernise the commuter rail service, the airports the roadways and the channel links including Eurostar. Then there are all the arts and museums and galleries, which we 400 miles away subsidise and have no chance of visiting, unless at huge expense in hotel bills and travel. I would like to have seen the Terra Cotta Army, but it is out of my price range for the above reasons. What's left is doled out to us like kids' pocket money.

People do not realise that the money flowing into London from the regions contributes to the multiplier effect, effectively allowing it to race away from the rest of the UK even faster. Big money in the form of large salaries, huge Government contracts, consultancies, the Games etc flows out to that local economy allowing small business and subsequently larger businesses to flourish easily and successfully, generating even more prosperity.

We could, through independence, at least invest Scotland's own tax revenues in our own economy and get it going again.

I am talking billions, Fifey, while you are discussing peanuts, casualty units and booze.

#46

I was right, you are jealous!!

You should have come to Fife, and paid the tolls!!

#49

Ayrshire and Monklands? Ask the Health Secretary she combined the two areas by reference to the Kerr report. Like her you have confused the threat of 'closure' with 'downgrading'. 'Closure' of a hospital or A&E was never threatened, A&E surgical facilities were to be downgraded in the area. As one of the leading people opposing the proposal, a nurse, stated,'A surgeon from Glasgow can drive through to perform surgery if required'. I personally can't see the difference for a patient needing surgery being transported to a surgical unit some miles away from the accident in a modern ambulance, and a surgeon having to drive the same distance to perform the operation. Except of course that the ambulance has blue lights etc to clear the traffic! Unecessary duplication of services and a waste of a valuable resource.

Did you not note that you have 'lost' another two A&E departments and a specialist cancer treatment facility with the cancellation of the Kerr proposal, approved by the previous administration?

The problem with the economic argument is that it makes people deal with the reality of a situation, and make rational decisions on difficult issues.

Your argument and the pleas of John Swinney on the 'fairness' of subsidising the island ferries reminds me of the South American country's government that argued that women had 'done their bit' by raising children etc, and were entitled to a pension at the age of 36, (not 63 but 36!!!). Very acceptable I am sure to women and their immediate family. Two years later the Country was bankrupt so NO pensions, NO social security payments, NO medical facilities..... All done with the best intentions.

If you don't want to know the costs then you are kidding yourself on, and heading for big trouble.

So what have the SNP achieved in first 100 days of government, more than the previous coalition in eight years?

Free bus travel for over 60's? No that was the last lot!

Six more booze outlets at the home of Scottish Rugby? Yes just what we needed!

No more BOGOF's on booze? YES that will solve the Scottish alchohol problem!! Let's hope the nasty supermarkets don't go for half price booze, or buy one get another half price, or 3 for the price of 2. Should keep our Justice minister busy for the next 4 years!

Oh yes, this blog and a white paper on a referendum, and more powers for the parliament.

As a Scotlivingin Ireland I have seen the benifits of devolved government, independence for Scotland isin my view the only healthly way for the people of Scotland to go for a better future, the Republic of Ireland has went from strength to strength maybe like ourCeltic cousins on thisisland Scots can dothe same

#44 - Fife

Sorry. What has Ayrshire got to do with Lanarkshire, where the Monklands argument is taking place?

Do you really wish to involve the country in even more expense by sending patients to the overstretched and more pricey Hairmyres and Wishaw with their longer waiting times. Methinks your accountancy on this matter is in error. Monklands casualty is cheaper per head.

What cost to the country if even one wage-earner with dependents did not make the extra miles to the more distant casualty unit?

But, there you are, off on the economic tack again. No consideration for the customers who are paying dearly for their Health Service. The people in the area want Monklands. They don't want to travel further, to end up in an even more serious condition than they started.

As for the consultants, if they want a really full list in a busy theatre, I would recommend a spell in Wishaw General which is working at 120% capacity and has a waiting time of over 19 hours for treatment. They would get more than the required number of operations to demonstrate their skills.

As for Local Income Tax and £2000 for first time buyers, give them time. They have only been in power 5 minutes and already they have achieved more than Labour and the Lib Dems did in 10 years.

If you want to see the total land mass of Scotland used efficiently, and depopulation reversed, you have to give the islanders a level playing field in terms of buying goods and getting themselves and their produce to the mainland markets economically. It is a sensible solution to the geography of Scotland. Ferry subsidies are right.

As for the tolls, I would refer you to #40 Livilion's post of the 30th of September. There may be a few job losses, but probably less than those brought about by closure of Monklands casualty unit.

To pay for all this, we could welcome home our Westminster MPs, saving £4.4 million in salaries and £8.6 million in expenses, the cost of keeping them on the London gravy train. Then there is our share of Whitehall, from the Home Office to the MOD to the Foreign Office etc.. Then there are all the London-based quangos and consultancies, the contractors of failed computer systems, like that in the NHS and lastly the London Olympics, just right for the wide-boys to maximise their take on contracts while the National Audit Office (which would be sacked from any commercial company) looks on.