Gosh Al, we do seem to have got your dander up!;) Take it easy…..as I said in a reply to another post I number many Scots amongst friends, after decades of visiting Scotland. None of these friends share your nationalist sentiments. I love my visits there, but I abhor nationalism of any sort and your reaction to my and others comments exemplifies my point. Much as you might wish it Scotland is not a nation or a separate country, but an integral part of the United Kingdom.

Oh I like a good argument, and am quite happy to stand my ground! Don’t get me wrong though – I love England, and all it stands for, but I’m not English, and to me it’s entirely natural that an English-based government couldn’t care less about that bothersome country north of the border. I’m also sure that if Scotland was an independent nation again, England would be our closest friend and ally.

The way I look at it, it says British on my passport….

It says ‘British’ on mine too, but I hope I live long enough to see ‘Scottish’ on instead…;)

I’ll bet you’re proud of your government handing out such goodies free of charge.
Since I have a personal interest in a particular three of these items,perhaps you could point me towards seeing the benefits of a democratic system that allows this :
My daughter has a chronic painful , but not life-threatening, condition. she pays the full prescription charge for her medicines,and she constantly needs various painkillers, Cost for each prescription is I believe £7 odd,but soon falling from £4 to £3 in Scotland ( and even better value for those lucky people in Wales and Northern Ireland, who have arranged to pay precisely nothing at all ).
Same daughter will leave university this summer weighed down with debt for her tuition fees,which she’ll have to repay. Tuition fees for Scottish students ? Big fat zero.
My severely disabled 87 year old mother,and soon my frail elderly father too,pay an arm and a leg in care fees. Had they been living in Scotland,they would have been free from this constant drain on their small savings and incomes.
I’d be mighty proud of the British government if they could very kindly arrange for English citizens to enjoy the same conditions as the Scots,but I won’t be holding my breath.It makes a mockery of the phrase ” United Kingdom “.

That’s precisely my point. A government should be in power to help the people to thrive, and lead a better quality of life, not just there to milk us dry.
Instead of being bitter about Scotland having these perks, ask yourself why you haven’t got them. There’s always plenty of money around for some things. It’s our SNP government who fought hard to win these concessions – we’d just be forgotten about by Westminster without them…

There are not 4 separate countries – they are all parts of the UK, and you have a Parliament in Scotland, not a Government.

Complete tosh. Scotland is a country by definition – just not an independent country.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/history/aDevolvedParliament/index.htm
This is what has now been subsumed into the “government” because it sounds more impressive. A bit like local authorities now having “cabinet members” who used to be plain counsellors. It’s all about puffing up the image to create something more important than it rally is.
Some of us are unimpressed.

That’s exactly the sort of lame smirking put-down that inflames nationalistic feelings. The Scottish government may not be important to you, but it is to most of us Scots.

And what a useless lot of money-sucking, nationalist parasites they are, the “Scottish Government” that is. But, I’m not bitter… 😀

Why shouldn’t the Scottish government try to get the very best deal for its citizens? They have accomplished a great deal of good for ordinary Scots – free care for the elderly, free prescriptions soon, no tolls on the Forth bridge, free tuition fees, to name a few. I’m extremely proud of my government (including Megrahi’s release) – how many of you can say that?

Not me, but I’m sure a few of our Scottish “brethren” here will enlighten us – if any actually know any Gaelic, of course.

Why would anyone except a Gael need to speak Gaelic? Most Scots are descended from the Picts, who were from Scandinavia and northern Germany originally, from across the land bridge before the North Sea was formed, after the last Ice Age. It was only relatively recently that the Gaels (who were Celts) spread up from Ireland to replace local Picts up the west coast of Scotland, and later the Highlands.
The Pictish language and culture has practically disappeared from memory and written records, the only remnants are a few words in Aberdeenshire Doric, with most being replaced by English, unfortunately…

I was really looking forward to seeing the episode (been watching Dr Who since 1963!), with the Dalek in his olive drab suit, but I thought it was one of the silliest stories yet.
Overloading with CGI is no substitute for a good storyline, and ‘modernising’ the Dalek’s look just for the sake of it simply won’t do…

It wasn’t intended to be about Scottish politics – it was about UK politics! You’ll have your own debates about your subjects “north of the border”.

No, not UK, the debate was entirely about English politics. There are four countries in the UK, not just one – Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales aren’t just extraneous counties of England you know.
In Scotland, our government is led by the SNP, but where was our voice in this ‘national’ debate?