An alert reader sent us a piece of interesting follow-up info to yesterday’s piece on NHS Scotland costs. Because comparable figures for NHS England are available too, and they make for surprising reading.
These are the Scottish figures for medicine costs at list price, ie before any negotiated discounts that the health service is able to obtain:
The population of England, at 55 million, is just over 10 times that of Scotland (5.4m). So one would imagine that its like-for-like costs would come in at around £12 billion.
The BBC front page headline for this is actually just the alarming-sounding “Scottish prescription costs rise by 25%”, without even the qualifier about the timespan.
It’s probably overdue that we start collecting these together. So here’s Sir John Major on the Andrew Marr show yesterday, explaining why a “once in a lifetime” referendum should in fact be held again because its outcome was determined by something that turned out to be untrue.
Which is, of course, totally different to Scotland being told to vote No in 2014 in order to stay in the European Union, because [REASONS TO FOLLOW AT SOME POINT]
The entire Scottish media has today leapt like starving dogs at a tin of Chappie on a new “study” by right-wing flag-crazed imperialist nutjobs T***e I*****s, which claims to prove that an independent Scotland would have a BLACK HOLE!!! of infinity squillion pounds and all the crops would wither in the fields and stamps would be £5000 each and we’d be invaded by space monsters and all the usual stuff you’d expect.
(In all seriousness for a moment, it genuinely tries to flog the “fiscal transfer” myth and the “Scotland would have to join the Euro” myth and a bunch of other Better Together Greatest Hits that were utterly debunked old hat half a decade ago, and in order to make its economic case work it basically pretends that Brexit isn’t happening.)
But at the bottom of its article the New Statesman offers to link its readers to the full extent of the author’s professional economic expertise and well-argued case, and in fairness if you click the link they do exactly that.
Credit where due, it’s an uncanny likeness of the gloomy wee fella.
Labour MP Stella Creasy, explaining to Sarah Smith on today’s Sunday Politics why she backs a so-called “People’s Vote” on Brexit because voters should have the right to change their mind about a referendum if circumstances change.
The Daily Record’s politics lead story today is a slightly underwhelming poll that shows 41% of Scots believe the Tories are carrying out a power grab against the Scottish Parliament, against 34% who think they aren’t (and 25% who have no idea).
Which seems a good time to round up the last results of our own most recent poll, and some slightly disturbing revelations about the Scottish public’s grasp of devolution.
In the light of David Davis’ resignation last night and the continuing shambolic chaos that is UK politics, it seemed a pertinent time for these findings from our latest poll.
Alert readers may recall that a few weeks ago we revealed how an independent Scotland could reduce its budget deficit by billions of pounds a year – by renting out the Faslane naval base to the rest of the UK to keep their nuclear weapons in.
Voters in England, we learned, were more than happy to pay Scotland £5bn annually – and perhaps even more – for a Trident submarine park during the decades that it would take to build a replacement base south of the border.
Of course, that plan is only any good if the people of Scotland would accept it too.
Cynicus on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Had you told me last week that France would come to Murrayfield and scored 40 points I would’ve put my…” Mar 7, 17:11
Willie on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Seems that one of the UKs aircraft carriers is being readied in case it needs to head off to protect…” Mar 7, 16:59
Sven on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “I take it our Prime Minister was successful then, and they must have, “Released the sausages” then Mark. Calls for…” Mar 7, 16:38
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Does Milliband know it’s going full speed? That must be slaying the nautical miles per gallon figure. Won’t anybody think…” Mar 7, 16:35
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Not factually accurate, YL. We all know that in the Mad Mullah’s frame of reference, step 2 is: 2. Slay…” Mar 7, 16:22
Mark Beggan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “HMS Sausage steaming full speed towards Cyprus. Britannia rules the waves.” Mar 7, 16:19
David Holden on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Well that was a bit special as Scotland beat France at Murrayfield in what has to be one of the…” Mar 7, 16:14
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Actually, Geri, your juxtaposition of R and love reminds me. I was wondering if your recent absence was down to…” Mar 7, 16:08
TURABDIN on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Aaaah…let us psychoanalyze the word SHITHOLES. «they make shitholes and call it peace» an update on an old theme. eneuch…” Mar 7, 15:20
Geri on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “You reap what you sow, hatey. Didn’t the good Lord tell you that? He’d spit you out of the land..…” Mar 7, 15:11
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Perhaps you need to read our history. Centuries of every horror imaginable. Our ancestors fought each other to a standstill…” Mar 7, 15:04
Young Lochinvar on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “1. Bomb the crap out of somewhere. 2. Create large numbers of economically displaced. 3. Experience a surge in migration…” Mar 7, 14:56
TURABDIN on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “HEGSETH is rather obsessed with masculinity, online links reinforce that by his dislike of homosexuality. Were the Atlantic to take…” Mar 7, 14:53
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The cants at airport security who make us take half our clothes off and go through our baggage with devices…” Mar 7, 14:48
Cynicus on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “TURABDIN says: 7 March, 2026 at 9:30 am ‘IS HEGSETH a woman despising, overscompensating closet «fag»….’ link to archive.is =============…” Mar 7, 14:20
TURABDIN on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “@Hatey Mc «Every day’s delay will only make the final reckoning worse for us» WE, the inhabitants of the region…” Mar 7, 14:18
PIND DADAN KHAN on Scotland’s Most Frightened: ““They have been trying to kill us since 1979.” Says who? MI5? Daily Mail? Daily Sport?” Mar 7, 14:14
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Give over, TURABDIN. Concerts and buses bombed, wee lassies carved to bits with knives, crowds rammed by vehicles, civilians in…” Mar 7, 13:43
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Excellent choices, Northy, man cannot live by synthetic carpet alone. Are you quite, quite sure ye dinna tak the drink?…” Mar 7, 13:37
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Reminds me of the joke where the voluminous matron asks the ragged wee urchin “Is mass oot?” I’m afraid you’re…” Mar 7, 13:33
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Geri says: “Looking more and more stupid by the day”” Mar 7, 13:26
Northcode on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “a think a’ll hae Tuscan Chicken fir ma tea the nicht… served wi a crunchy green salad, or mibbe wi…” Mar 7, 12:58
Northcode on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Here’s a verse or twa fae wan o ma favourite Andy Stewart songs. Oh, ma maw came doun Fae an…” Mar 7, 12:30
TURABDIN on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Provided it is all going on elsewhere the Anglo-Saxon west sleeps content but when it reaches homeground the pearls may…” Mar 7, 12:23
Geri on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “You are being gubbed, Shiteface. AGAIN. It’s game over. USA & it’s minions driven out of the ME. The cash…” Mar 7, 10:58
Dan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “FFS, comment held in moderation because of using a certain word.” Mar 7, 10:43
Geri on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The masonic lodges & the prody interpreting shit for the dumb. The moment a Brit is involved, hearing of some…” Mar 7, 10:36
