Meanwhile in Scotland......

Did yous all know that gritter trucks in Scotland all have names? Like Gritty McVitie, Luke Snowwalker, Sir Salter Scott, Ready Spready Go, Gritallica ?

And you can track them online: t.co/xmwLnrROwb

David Plowie

No snow in the East Neuk of Fife....

Every day is a schoolday here on GN Bags I knew nothing of this about the Gritters.

I suppose Gary Gritter is a no no now

Aw, Naw Mair Snaw.

DGD's school closed and no way can we get out to go and collect her. She will however go to her friends house just round the corner from the school.

TV off - 'weak signal' but log fire lit and candles at the ready in case of power going off. Thankfully I did the 'big shop' yesterday.

Are you still snow free in Dundee and Fife?

Scotland's international exports increase while sales to the rest of UK fall

Scottish unemployment falls by 1,000

granny23 - a 5 minute flurry on Friday but all gone within 10 minutes. Did see quite a lot as we headed west to Glasgow on Sunday!!
This morning I heard of a new test to be included in the PISA tests.
This will look at the attitudes teenagers show towards inclusion and tolerance as well as to racism and cultural identity.

England US and several European countries will opt out but Scotland along with Australia and Canada is opting in.
The Global Competence test will also look at students' abilities to identify fake/real news.

Should make interesting reason.

Reading not reason!

I found this Irish take on Brexit extremely interesting. I t seeks to explain why the pro Brexit vote was high in England while the reverse was true in Scotland NI and Cosmopolitan London.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/brexit-is-a-collective-english-mental-breakdown-1.3356258

paddyann I often think Scotland sounds wonderful in terms of benefits around health care, free university tuition etc. but what I have never understood is, where does the money come from to pay for these? it implies there is something that is not being funded in Scotland; can you enlighten me, please?

Granny 23

I read your link and presumably your shared opinion of the English as it's author. I think the heading ' ENGLISH Mental Breakdown' gives a hint as to the Psyche behind the article. An example would be:-

" Haunted by their unassimilated imperial past, the English continue refusing to think of themselves as a nation in the same sense as Scotland or Ireland and maintain a constitution for their United Kingdom which denies the obvious. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have their variously titled national assemblies, but England has none – not out of modesty, but in order to claim for itself the exceptional position of anonymous master of its now diminutive empire."

It was the usual English / Imperialist rhetoric and I have to ask why was Wales not mentioned if the purpose was to define why some voted Remain some voted Brexit. Is there another article headed 'Welsh Mental Breakdown' , after all Wales voted Brexit too.

I have often posted the English should have parity with the other UK countries and have it's own Devolved Government so I do agree with this point :-

" Not until there is a separate English parliament "

However I want one out of fairness not for the reasons your linked article and presumably you feel because of:-

" English crisis of identity.", "Because only the English could not see themselves as a nation at all." " in order to claim for itself the exceptional position of anonymous master of its now diminutive empire.". nor to "continue denying the Scots and the Irish a will of their own. ".

I suppose I have to trust the majority of people live in the 21st Century and there will come a time when there is a collective understanding what happened eons ago are where they should be , in History . Probably too much to ask sadly.






I agree with two sentences

Humptydumpty if you google The Scottish Budget you'll find how our finances are worked .Remember though that we havea set budget....prone to Wm cuts year on year ..and as we cant borrow our budget HAS to balance.And it does.

Pogs ...the England has ALWAYS had its own parliament ,its called Westminster and over 85% of MP's there are English MP's .Little or no chance of any of the devolved Nations getting any legislation through ,and of course now with Evel ,no chance of ever having a PM from any of the other nations either .Thats something that appears to have escaped most English people .Our MP's are often treated appallingly in the house of commons with one recently even being called out on his WEIGHT! W e can never have true democracy in these circumstances and of course thats how it was meant to be.

POGS you presume wrongly that the thoughts of the author chime with my own. I found it so interesting precisely because it was a completely different perspective from the debates around Brexit and the status of the 4 Countries that make up the UK that we have on Gransnet and generally in the UK media. Perhaps, because I was on a short break in Dublin when I read it, I was more open to listening to an Irish voice.

I had many interesting conversations in Dublin which I found to be a vibrant, modern, international city. One such chat was with a Swede who was in Dublin to take part in an intergovernmental forum. He told me that Dublin was the popular choice for meetings of the group because none of the other countries had any objections, or axe to grind with the Irish who were seen as neutral hosts. A very smart business women from Alicanti told much the same story - that Dublin was where her Multi-National company chose to hold its meetings, do its banking and maintain an
office.

On a completely different note we spent an evening with a German couple, who were in Dublin for the trad music Festival. I innocently asked if there was a traditional music scene in Germany and was told that there was not, except for some small pockets in Bavaria and other rural areas. Then he said with deep regret that history and thereby folksong was a very difficult/divisive thing for Germans. He said that Scotland and Ireland both had a proud history in that they had never set out to conquer others but only ever resorted to violent actions in defence of our homelands, whereas both England and Germany had often been the aggressors. He was quick to point out that he was not blaming the common people (quoting Burns' 'Man to Man the World o'er) but rather the Kings, Governments and dictators who had instigated these conflicts for their own glory.

I am still assimilating these thoughts, these opportunities to 'see oor sels as ithers see us'. Would be interested to hear what other Scottish Grans think.

He said that Scotland and Ireland both had a proud history in that they had never set out to conquer others

I think that's a slightly skewed version of British history as the Scots were fairly enthusiastic participants in the conquering of other nations by way of being in the British army. (I know there were Irish regiments, too, but I get the feeling that they were in the army more to avoid living in poverty than to enjoy the 'fruits of victory')

There are certainly plenty of Scottish names scattered around what was the 'Empire'!

I think he was referring to Ireland and Scotland when they were Sovereign countries before they had been subsumed into Britain and in the case of Ireland afterwards too.

As for the poor Irish flocking to join the British Army was the same not true of poor youngsters in all parts of Britain? The wealthy elite bought commissions for the younger sons who became Officers and Gentlemen. Those same younger sons of the wealthy were also encouraged to make their name and fortune in the far flung corners of the empire, while the poor people emigrated because they had lost their land or livelihood here, or in some cases were transported for some misdemeanour.

I thought Scotland subsumed England. James VI of Scotland moved south to become James I of England thus uniting the crowns.

Another stunningly ironic fact that I learned last week was that during the Easter Rising in 1916 the rebels consisted of mainly old men, women and young boys as most able bodied Irishmen - thousands of them - were away fighting and dying in Gallipoli with the Aussies and Kiwis, as part of the British Forces. However,

By Friday 28 April, about 18-20,000 British soldiers had been amassed in the capital against about 1,600 rebels while much of the city centre had been destroyed by British artillery fire.

There is no logic or reason to the above. It reinforces my belief that violence is never the answer to anything.

Aye Jane more like deserting Scotland and never giving it a second thought.

I was just thinking today about the article in the Irish Times.

When we talk about how each country voted in the referendum, what is never mentioned is how voters of each nationality voted in each country. It's as if everyone in England is English, everyone in Scotland is Scottish, etc.

I'm a Scot living in England with 2 brothers also living in England and all three of us voted Remain. It was never discussed until after the referendum. I would love to know more about how nationalities voted rather than nations.

The wealthy elite bought commissions for the younger sons who became Officers and Gentlemen.

I don't think there was an Irish 'elite' left, though. The 'elite' in Ireland were mostly of English origin. That's why I didn't think that the Irish were quite so complicit in empire building. Whereas the Scots elite persisted in Scotland.

Good question Wilma but I can't think of anyway you could find out the answer. We should, I suppose, refer to 'voters living in England' rather than 'English Voters' and so on. I have been trying to think of anyone I know, whether Scottish by birth or originally from elsewhere in the UK, who voted to leave the EU and can't come up with a single one, although obviously, there were people in Scotland who voted to leave. Discussions prior to the referendum were pretty boring as everyone of my acquaintance was of the opinion that Remain was a no-brainer. I also know a wide variety of people originally from other Countries - France, Poland, USA, Canada, Germany and more - they were all strong remainers too.

Tbh the only people I know who voted Leave are English (and vote Tory). After one conversation I stopped bothering to discuss the referendum with them because they were never going to change their minds. It was about immigration and sovereignty for them full stop. They didn't do any reading or research, they knew how they would vote from the minute the date of the referendum was announced. They're used to my left wing views, but are not interested in talking about current affairs. They sound awful, but they are good friends!

I checked on the annual Household Enquiry form we have to fill in for the council and it does ask for your nationality, but there's no guidance on how a British person should answer the question. I suspect most people will say they're British not English, Scottish, etc. I'm not aware of anyone other source of a person's nationality. Shame really.

Good News?

www.fircroft.com/blogs/massive-find-for-bp-could-radically-extend-life-of-north-sea-oil-83131914017