amigacooke
Well-known member
I think this is because of the Barnett Formula.
Is time running out for the Barnett formula?
How's UK railway dealing with the snow?
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Is time running out for the Barnett formula?
I am sorry to have to say this being a Scot but you are so way out there IsambardKingdomBrunel because England DOES support us up here and as has been mentioned the Barnett Formula. We get more per head but there again Scottish Local Authorities cost more to run per head than down in England because out political masters sook in with people by providing all sorts of services and employing far too many people on the public payroll. The SNP are fools and there used to be a joking description that the initals stood for Scottish Nose Pickers! The comment elsewhere that we have an independent parliament is wrong too - we have home rule but still thing GB. NI and Wales are also subsidised and again over in Ulster like here too much dependency on public authority employment which doesn't produce much. My city has 500,000 people in it but in 1960 had just over a million but we now have more working for the city not less - some 30,000+ (!).
Introducing all the "free" services (which is another nonsense as someone has to pay for them) is like a form of voting bribery and if reduced the poor old English will get it!
Introducing all the "free" services (which is another nonsense as someone has to pay for them) is like a form of voting bribery and if reduced the poor old English will get it!
IsambardKingdomBrunel
Joined June 2001
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Since I understand that the UK is a net contributor to EU coffers it is hard to understand where all this free money you speak of is coming from that is being siphoned off just to prevent Wales from getting it.
I suspect a large part of the English population would be more than happy to see Wales and Scotland completely independant.
At the moment we have the worst end of things, you (Wales and Scotland) get a say (and vote) in our affairs, but have your own 'parliaments' so we don't get to affect you.
Scots (and Welsh?) decided to have free prescriptions, we weren't consulted, we just have to pay for it.
The Welsh assembly just voted to give students free university education I believe... we had no say in that, and yet we are going to be paying for it..... nice.
Mike.
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Why would I want to do that then?
You're mixing up the Union of Crowns and the Act of Union. Over a century apart and it was a far from amicable deal.
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IsambardKingdomBrunel
Joined June 2001
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amigacooke
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amigacooke
Well-known member
Yeah, kick em all out. If Marc Isambard Brunel had been returned to his native France, think of the trouble it would have saved.
That's as may be, but it does suggest that the phrase 'England supporting the two countries is pure fiction.' is not entirely correct.
Wait a minute, there seems to have been a little wandering from the topic here.
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IsambardKingdomBrunel
Joined June 2001
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Not you personally but N. Ireland govt.
http://economicenvoy.com/index
The above is a link to the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, headed by Declan Kelly - an Irish American.
The Irish Americans are a rich and very politically influential group who wish to have influence over the economic future of N.Ireland side by side with the ongoing peace process. Some cynics say they're doing this for purely selfish reasons but they, the American Irish, may invest big money in N. Ireland. You probably know this already.
Sorry, this is way off topic, nothing to do with UK weather, I apologize.
Hi Everybody
Weather getting Warmer so carry on. However if you really want to talk about railways I have just returned from London Paddington to North Somerset and for my £170 return fare I had to stand all the way from London to Chippenham on the return journey which is more than two thirds of the distance.
My connection at Bristol Temple Mead's into Somerset was more than twenty-five minutes late due to "the severe weather conditions affecting the train". Somebody should've told the station announcer that we have not had any snow to speak of in Bristol or Somerset.
So, first great western has had a rather disgruntled passenger e-mail them tonight stating just what I thought of their service. But then again I suppose it is still far better than traveling by road on the motorways at this time of year.
Bill
Weather getting Warmer so carry on. However if you really want to talk about railways I have just returned from London Paddington to North Somerset and for my £170 return fare I had to stand all the way from London to Chippenham on the return journey which is more than two thirds of the distance.
My connection at Bristol Temple Mead's into Somerset was more than twenty-five minutes late due to "the severe weather conditions affecting the train". Somebody should've told the station announcer that we have not had any snow to speak of in Bristol or Somerset.
So, first great western has had a rather disgruntled passenger e-mail them tonight stating just what I thought of their service. But then again I suppose it is still far better than traveling by road on the motorways at this time of year.
Bill
The NI Assembly would do anything to have US investors here. That's why our glorious first and deputy first ministers (because one side can't have something the other has) make frequent trips there to coax them over. Anyway, you're right. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off topic. I get enough of NI politics at work.
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Hi Rob and Everybody
I think you should return to your Scottish homeland tonight and join the troops in clearing the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh of the snow.
You can then sit down with them and enjoy a square sausage. Besides, the exercise will do you good.:hehe:
Speaking for myself, after the day I have had today courtesy of first Great Western, I am not going to do anything tomorrow except engage in my hobby with Trainz and Railworks and see who i can upset on the forum
Bill
Getting back to the weather, it's been a beautiful dayhere, the banana crop is ripening well!
I think you should return to your Scottish homeland tonight and join the troops in clearing the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh of the snow.
You can then sit down with them and enjoy a square sausage. Besides, the exercise will do you good.:hehe:
Speaking for myself, after the day I have had today courtesy of first Great Western, I am not going to do anything tomorrow except engage in my hobby with Trainz and Railworks and see who i can upset on the forum
Bill
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I do remember clearing snow with a bulldozer on the ranges at Castlemartin, but perhaps not done since.
Rog
Hi Rob and Everybody
I think you should return to your Scottish homeland tonight and join the troops in clearing the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh of the snow.
You can then sit down with them and enjoy a square sausage. Besides, the exercise will do you good.:hehe:
Speaking for myself, after the day I have had today courtesy of first Great Western, I am not going to do anything tomorrow except engage in my hobby with Trainz and Railworks and see who i can upset on the forum
Bill
Hi Bill,
Hey, I would love to be in Scotland over the Christmas period but unfortunately I can't due to having impaired mobility caused by a torn cartilage in my right hip joint - very painful at the moment, so exercise out of the question.
Can't believe £170 for Somerset to London! Is that the cheapest option? I'm a bit out of touch with long distance train fares. It's £12 for a ride on the Llangollen Railway, that was my last journey recently.
I wouldn't dream of intentionally upsetting folk - not on this forum.
The weather here is still OK!
Rob.
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Must say that pfx does have a point in that the Union of Crowns and Parliament were at different periods. or many in Scotland the Union of Parliaments was contentious but frankly it had no alternative finacially. The country was all but bankrupt and the Darien Scheme failure brought that to a head. Had the 1707 GB thing not happened Scotland would have languished in the doldrums with a poor economy and the bawbees would have meant noting much in the currency stakes.
NI doesn't really practice democracy at Stormont but it is all they have. what niggles me in railway matters is that IE down South got massive injections for wholesale re-openings and new works whilst up over the Border they struggled for decades. Unlike on mainland GB where the rail companies just run trains and railtrack does the track and stations N. Ireland Rlys have got the lot to be responsible for. They also get less of a subsidy per mile than First Scotrail here and indeed all the companies on the mainland get. NIR even had to fight to maintain the truncated system left and indeed left with only just over 20% of what used to be.
NI doesn't really practice democracy at Stormont but it is all they have. what niggles me in railway matters is that IE down South got massive injections for wholesale re-openings and new works whilst up over the Border they struggled for decades. Unlike on mainland GB where the rail companies just run trains and railtrack does the track and stations N. Ireland Rlys have got the lot to be responsible for. They also get less of a subsidy per mile than First Scotrail here and indeed all the companies on the mainland get. NIR even had to fight to maintain the truncated system left and indeed left with only just over 20% of what used to be.
Yes, we all pine with longing and look with envy upon real democracy! A bit of a naive statement but what would I know? I only work there.
@ robd - Are the trains dear from the west country to the 'home' counties then? I got an e-mail from East Coast yesterday offering £8 seats from Edinburgh to London. Only condition was you had to be a member of the Imbojiwandi tribe from the Upper Amazon basin, born on the 29th February 1988 and married to a fat lass from Chester-le-Street called Irene. I was so close, however Mr Stelliopolis or whatever his name is, will be flying me back to the homeland for hogmanay. The Bottle shop is fully stocked and lorne sausage, pies and bridies will be in short supply for others in my vicinity.
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