The New Fat Scotland 'Thanks for all the Fish' Thread.

elantan

Shakethedisease wrote: »

Once Labour supporting media ie almost all of it, painted them as an SNP 'front' it was basically all over for them in terms of attention.

Interesting trivia tonight though in a free for all local election.

We need more of these people front and centre next time. Greens too. Patrick Harvie was brilliant with the little coverage he got last time round. So surprisingly was Tommy Sheridan from the far left. However, once again the media may just try and paint them out of the picture as if they don't exist.

I see all the Scottish newspapers are reporting terrible downturns today in readership....;)

I agree with all you say and noticed it myself last time round, yep was good news for the labour lassie

Such a shame for the newspapers ... such a shame

Thrugelmir

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I read a comment earlier that asked why Norway, a country with roughly the same population as Scotland have a 400 billion oil fund yet we have nothing in the uk. Makes you wonder about successive government mismanagement. We look to government to make good choices and to build on prosperity but it would appear their experts & economists have made some pretty poor choices.

Mismanagement of what precisely?

Leanne1812

Huge oil revenues for one. You know, that resource that was a boom & a bonus. To be one of the most successful economies in the world yet we cannot have something put aside for a rainy day surely tells us those in charge of economic policy have failed. What's your opinion on this?

Thrugelmir

Successive Governments have run budget deficits for decades. Without oil revenues would we be enjoying the standard of schools, transport, hospitals, universities etc that we have today in 2016. That's the question you must ask yourself.

Have you ever been been to Norway. Nothing like the UK. A very different place to work and live.

Another thought as an illustration. The UK finally repaid it's loan from the USA to help rebuild after WW2 in 2006. Taking a single point in isolation is very easy. The reality is far more complex.

elantan

Was Norway different before oil though ? Ages ago when I looked into it it was quite similar to Scotland .... it's obviously miles ahead now, although I do appreciate it still has many issues it needs to address.

I looked at social not really economical differences, sociology is more the subjects I have studied ( psychology, sociology and biology and health care obvs as opposed to economics )

Thrugelmir

elantan wrote: »

Was Norway different before oil though ?

Very different. Post WW2 Norway was one of the most highly taxed countries in the world. Retained high levels of public ownership in quoted companies (key industries). Oil simply became part of the existing welfare model.

ruggedtoast

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I read a comment earlier that asked why Norway, a country with roughly the same population as Scotland have a 400 billion oil fund yet we have nothing in the uk. Makes you wonder about successive government mismanagement. We look to government to make good choices and to build on prosperity but it would appear their experts & economists have made some pretty poor choices.

I posted this to offer something to ponder. I don't want to start a whole new debate on oil is dead etc.

There was a documentary called Wasted Windfall on Channel 4 some years ago that went into this. It modelled how much the government could have made out of a sovereign wealth fund and what it could have been spent on.

I can't find it now but this article summarises it:

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-%E2%80%93-failure-invest-britain%E2%80%99s-future

Basicaly Thatcher squandered it on tax cuts for the rich.

They are wrong that failure to create an endowment was down to a lack of vision though, it was an ideological decision. The Right of the Tory Party would rather give state assets to the private sector for nothing than have them earn money in public hands.

The damage that woman did to the country will continue for decades.

Thrugelmir

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The damage that woman did to the country will continue for decades.

Add Gordon Brown to your list as well.

michaels

Are the Scots brighter than rUK?

They realised Independence was financial suicide and voted against.

rUK knew that independence from the United States of Europe would be very (ruinously?) expensive and yet still voted in favour.

Thrugelmir

michaels wrote: »

rUK knew that independence from the United States of Europe would be very (ruinously?) expensive and yet still voted in favour.

The EU doesn't fund the UK's budget deficit though. Perhaps the rUK isn't as daft as it it may appear. As the direction of travel is known and the long term objectives set. Meanwhile the EU languishes in the economic mire with different vested interests making it incapable of coming to a one size fits all solution.