Goodbye Old England - Jockxit. It's Time We Were Gone

[Tangled Metal]

Who runs Scottish rail infrastructure? In England it's railtrack but I'm curious who is the actual body that looks after and updates the rail infrastructure in Scotland? Is there a Holyrood owned and funded Railtrack Scotland doing that?

[reohn2]

Tories continually state there is no appetite for Independence in Scotland. Many Tories are also keen to point out we are kept people in Scotland.
If both those statements are true why on earth is Boris launching a £5million pound anti independence advertising blitz on Scotland?

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/po ... z-scotland

Quite!
The current bunch of millionaires now in power are terrified of Scotlanc leaving the union.

[Tangled Metal]

Clue in the full name "conservative and unionist party". You know there are some proud of the union with Scotland, I'm one of them.

[PH]

Quite!
The current bunch of millionaires now in power are terrified of Scotlanc leaving the union.

Labour too, for the different reason that they’d have no one to form a coalition with.
It’s hard to see how they can be denied a referendum, the last one established that it’s considered an appropriate way to decide and no one can say there isn’t now a different set of circumstances.

[reohn2]

Quite!
The current bunch of millionaires now in power are terrified of Scotlanc leaving the union.

Labour too, for the different reason that they’d have no one to form a coalition with.
It’s hard to see how they can be denied a referendum, the last one established that it’s considered an appropriate way to decide and no one can say there isn’t now a different set of circumstances.

Yes,that about sums it up on both counts.
Brexit's gonna be one heck of a ride,though I fear not so much a rollercoaster,more like the ghost train only for real

[Paulatic]

Clue in the full name "conservative and unionist party". You know there are some proud of the union with Scotland, I'm one of them.

The clue is indeed in the name are all Tory members proud of the union?

What is it that makes you proud of the Union?

Network Rail Scotland is responsible for rail infrastructure in Scotland they work alongside the Scotrail franchise currently awarded to Abellio.

Franchise commitments include:
the living wage as a minimum for all staff and subcontractors
at least 100 apprenticeships
guarantee of no compulsory redundancies throughout the life of the franchise contract
rail staff pensions and travel rights to be protected
introduction of guaranteed trade union representation on every franchise board meeting

[Mick F]

Rail franchises are under review.
Scotrail as well.

If it were up to me ...... and perhaps many of us ........... the railway network would be re-nationalised, including the Scottish bits.

[Cunobelin]

Apparently Boris and the Tories are to stage a multimillion-pound campaign against Scottish independence, funded by the Taxpayer

Given the dishonesty, deception, lies and corruption of the Brexit and Election campaigns, I hold out little hope for the integrity of this one

However, with any luck it will backfire, cause even greater resentment in Scotland and reaffirm all the reasons for independence

[Mick F]

............. funded by the Taxpayer .................

Sorry for picking you up on this.
Everything the government does ........... be it good, bad, or indifferent ......... or even whether you or I agree with the politics of it ....... is funded by the taxpayer.

[PH]

............. funded by the Taxpayer .................

Sorry for picking you up on this.
Everything the government does ........... be it good, bad, or indifferent ......... or even whether you or I agree with the politics of it ....... is funded by the taxpayer.

Yes, but those things political parties do for political gains are supposed to be funded by the party.

[Mick F]

Ok, it possibly isn't the "taxpayers" then, but it certainly isn't the politicians themselves.
Someone pays, and it's usually the taxpayers.

"twas ever thus.

[irc]

Given the fact the SNP govt can go hundreds of millions over budgetjust getting two small ferries built and one hospital built I am frankly terrified to think what a mess they would make of setting up Scotttish replacements for everything currently done at a UK level. At the same time as raising taxes and cutting expenditure to meet a post Barnett formula budget.

Given that irc sometimes wears restrictive glasses
You must have heard about HS2 I thought that was billions over budget? Or the Brexit ferries £50m for nothing
Or £100m on advertising telling us to get ready for Brexit. Yes we can all find examples of poor management and misspending. We all have the option to dwell on them or be optimistic and believe in what could be achieved.
Compare with what Scotland HAS delivered (vs England & HS2) over the past 15 years
1) 20% reduction in fastest journey time between 2 key cities
2) trains 33-50% more carriages on 5+ routes between these cities
3) all 5 routes electrified
4) 4 routes with standard fleet of new electric trains 1 route with refurbished fleet
5) displaced diesels to Northern (on time) & extending on some Scotrail services by 50%
6) trains (10) rapidly secured when new train problem delayed delivery
7) resilience of 15tph each way over 5 routes
enabled 6 month full closure of main station in Glasgow, whilst trains ran to alternative platforms/stations (counters all the threats about rail severance being required if HS2 not built - there are potentially 2x 125mph 4-track diversion routes to Midlands/North, using any of 4 London termini

Source @BCCletts

It's nice they got the trains to run on time. Shame about health and education.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... cord-high/

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/c ... -1-5085585

[Cunobelin]

It's nice they got the trains to run on time. Shame about health and education.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... cord-high/

Are you really suggesting that 83% failing to meet the 4-hour target is a failure in Scotland?

It is similar to 84% in England.

[Paulatic]

It's nice they got the trains to run on time. Shame about health and education.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... cord-high/

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/c ... -1-5085585

It’s interesting that on the very day SNP mPs have been barred from debate and voting on NHS England with the excuse of EVEL. Yet whatever they decide does in fact have a bearing on the Barnett formula so it is indeed of concern to Scotland.

Also interesting you have trust in the Telegraph and don’t question the bile from a Tory spokesman. . Using their figures though let’s compare them to England for the same period.

Scotland 83.8% within 4 hrs
England 81.4% within 4 hrs. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/w ... -43ui4.pdf

Putting those figures aside though, thankfully I can’t give you first hand experience of hospitals I’m a stranger to them. I do know people who are or have been dependent on hospitals and reports I receive always sound like a better experience in Scotland. Maybe the experience in your area of Glasgow is different?

[Tangled Metal]

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/after-ten-years-snp-party-10592063

Interesting article and seemed without bias. Anyone got a better source of information on SNP performance in the decade they've been in power in Scotland?