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Post by littlepea on Sept 13, 2005 10:41:39 GMT -5
prices in the UK are skyrocketing, it's up to 99.9p per litre in some places that's $6.89 for a gallon of petrol!! how does that compare with gas prices in the US? the other day it was discovered that the british government in the 70s lied to the scottish people about the true value of north sea oil because at that time there was a big campaign for scottish independence and with the discovery of north sea oil we would have gone on to be one of the richest countries in europe if we had been independant and kept the oil for ourselves. that might be hard to believe, but scotland is a small country (only 5 millions residents). the enormously high fuel prices (highest in europe) are to try and encourage use of public transport, but the problem is that the money generated from the tax on fuel doesn't go into funding public transport, it goes towards other things (such as extending motorways ... ie. encouraging private car usage ... ). it's a scandal. of course now the statistics have come to light, all the westminster politicians are saying that they are 30 years out of date and are completely meaningless now ... i hate politics ... check it outedit to add this link which includes the estimate that scotland has lost out on £200 billion as a result of the lies of the westminster government. i bet you most people will have forgotten about this in a fortnight's time
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Post by Tara on Sept 13, 2005 15:54:46 GMT -5
Gas prices here in CT are just above $3.00 but I think it dropped a bit. The other day I spent $29 to fill my car with 9 gallons. That's bull. At the Native American reservations, it's a lot higher for gas.
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Post by littlepea on Sept 13, 2005 16:25:29 GMT -5
well that's less than half the price of fuel in the UK, so count yourself lucky. my car usually costs about £30 to fill up and it's only a small car (a 1995 peugot 106) - that's $54!!! if you were to fill up your car in the UK it would cost $62 ... the more important issue, however, is the fact that the british government lied to its people in order to prevent scottish independance
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Post by PhantomsPandora on Sept 13, 2005 22:14:24 GMT -5
Ugh I just wish there was some way to get trains and public transport in all cities...I wouldn't be objecting to that. Especially since with the medicine I'm on I have no business on the road.
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Post by Tara on Sept 13, 2005 22:41:52 GMT -5
Yeah, I've been thinking about people who are already on tight budgets... wtf happens to them when it comes to transportation?
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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 14, 2005 7:16:14 GMT -5
It's been right around $3 here too. I remember a couple of years ago when it was pushing $2 and I was on a much tighter budget... I was considering quitting my job to get one closer to home so I could walk. As it is now, I'm more concerned with conservation than costs... so I'm making as few trips as possible out of my town... combining errands, etc.
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Post by cenk on Sept 14, 2005 9:57:45 GMT -5
Yeah the prices of petrol in the UK is extremely high most of it is taxes so at least (some) money goes back to the people eventually. littlepea I dont know if the British government lied to the Scots (very likely though) but I feel angry because the then British Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher apparently in the 80's sold the North Sea oil rights to the Americans so even England is not benefiting from North Sea oil. (She also rejected the idea of a Disney Land being built in the UK (I was angry when I was much younger )
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Post by littlepea on Sept 14, 2005 17:03:33 GMT -5
the uncovered documents prove that the british government knew what the true value of north sea oil was and warned that if scotland went independant and used north sea oil to their advantage then scotland would become one of the richest countries in europe, so they kept the information under raps and lied to the scots by saying that it wasn't such a big deal and we wouldn't be able to make it on our own hence halting scottish independance when it was at its most threatening. just watch how the politicians are again playing it down and they're now saying that we would be selfish to keep it all to ourselves - f-ck that! i don't see why we owe anything to england and they're certainly not due any favours now that we see what you were up to all along ... i for one will continue to vote SNP (partly a tactical vote - i'm not interested in their other policies, only scottish independance, and they are the party most likely to achieve that). but again, the issue will die down and people will forget about it in a couple of weeks (if not days)
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Post by cenk on Sept 15, 2005 18:52:41 GMT -5
I think Scotland should be grateful that we (England) didn't wipe you out 100's of years ago!
(maybe England should just abort the foetus that is in Englands womb ie. Scotland.)
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Post by littlepea on Sept 15, 2005 22:13:47 GMT -5
what the hell are you talking about? england tried to take over scotland but the scots resisted (have you not seen braveheart? ) and eventually the two countries formed a union in 1707. it may have been a good move at the time for both sides of the border, but it's time for scotland to go solo again, methinks. it would have been better to have gone independant 30 years ago, but we can't change that now, so the sooner the better as far as i'm concerned (before the north sea oil actually does start to run out). i dunno if thatcher did sell the rights to the oil to the americans, i haven't heard that anywhere else (and i wasn't particularly interested in politics at the age of 4) but all i'm hearing is that there is still plenty of oil left in the north sea (it's not even half empty yet) and scotland would have a relatively massive (ie. considering our population) claim to what's left if we went independant tomorrow. what's particularly shocking (and you should be concerned about this too) is that the british government can get away with lying to its people in order to suppress the exercise of informed democracy. as soon as this was uncovered it was widely ignored by the national press, so it will be forgotten and democracy will again fail as it turns out that the government is in fact not accountable to the people (as it is meant to be). this has happened within half a week (my original post was the day after the first report of the documents) ... rest assured that nothing will come of this - you're gonna be stuck with us scots forever, it seems ... what is it england actually needs us for anyway? if we're so useless and dependant on you then surely you would be encouraging the cause of scottish nationalism to get us off your backs? actually, i can see why labour want to keep us seeing as nobody votes tory up here ... it's pretty depressing if you think about it ...
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Post by cenk on Oct 4, 2005 11:56:46 GMT -5
Look Braveheart is just a movie you should believe everything you see in movies. If my understanding is correct Scotland is just like America in that the both have high numbers of UFO sightings because they are crazy and deluded or just drunk or something like that.
Scotland is like a Cancer on England however this Cancer is one that doesn't harm us much so we are content on leaving the status quo. England will however keep ahold of this Cancer because we can suck Scotland for all its worth!
Maybe its better if Scotland doesn't become independent imagine a Scottish government trying to rule Scotland, its like giving Scotland a invitation to destroy itself.
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Post by littlepea on Oct 4, 2005 19:11:04 GMT -5
a typical south of england attitude - i hope everyone sees this so they can see you for the fool that you are. here's an interesting fact: if it weren't for Scotland, England would only ever have had the Tories in power throughout the whole of history (since the Tories first came into power at least). if that isn't indicative of our different cultures then what is? (apart from the fact that we enjoy haggis while you enjoy morris dancing) incidentally, a disproportionate number of people in the westminster government are scottish (including tony blair and gordon brown), so in a way the UK is being run by a scottish government. imagine a scottish government trying to rule scotland - ah, bliss! and we can enjoy our embarrasingly low taxes while laughing at you poor suckers paying over £1 for a litre of petrol - bring it on
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Post by cenk on Oct 6, 2005 4:35:53 GMT -5
Well for a start littlepea people in England don't pay over a pound £1 for petrol, thats sounds like a Scottish myth to me . I've seen petrol prices of 87p in Birmingham (my new abode) infact when I went to the Orkney Islands petrol was £1 per litre I wouldn't what to dare hazzard a guess of what the prices might be like now. In regards to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown well I never liked them infact I hate them and always have. I think you have provide my point as look what they've done to England. Our Economy is messed up now because of your Scottish Compadre Gordon Brown because of him taxes are going to HAVE to increase which is just gonna affect me and you(well not me I'm a student therefore I dont pay taxes). To be honest I am so sick of Labour I would rather the Tories to be in power than Labour. (Although ideally I want the Liberal Democrats to be in power)
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Post by littlepea on Oct 6, 2005 11:25:07 GMT -5
surely not the tories with the state they are in just now, never mind their policies? my reference to you paying over £1 for petrol was me fantasising about an independant scotland, cos we would take all of the north sea oil for ourselves meaning that you would have to import petrol (from scotland, probably ) and we would obviously sell it for a huge profit (and why not?) meaning that our petrol would be cheap while yours would be expensive i don't think you can blame the scots in government for the crappy state of things, they are there on merit, which doesn't necessarily make them very effective, but they are the best available. i'm a student too, so i don't pay taxes, but i'm a scottish student so i don't even pay tuition fees (unlike my english counterparts ) gordon brown is not my compadre, i have no strong feelings towards him personally but i'd rather the lib dems (another party with a scottish leader) were in power rather than labour or the tories, but i'll continue voting SNP (or any other party that's leading the way for scottish independance) for the forseeable future. also, i asked my brother (who works in the south of england) if he'd heard about any of this issue (british goverment lying to the nation in order to halt scottish independance) and he hadn't, it's hardly been covered up here, but down there it's gone completely unreported is it just me or does that piss you off too?
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Post by cenk on Oct 6, 2005 12:20:46 GMT -5
Your dream sounds all nice and well but I don't think its going to happen. I hope the Scots will be the slaves of the English forever and forever, Amen. (I'm only winding you up, dont take it seriously )
I have an older brother at university so hopefully I will only pay small percentage of the fees or none of it at all.
Charles Kennedy just needs to keep off the whiskey and hopefully next time we will have a larger gain in the elections.
Media coverage anywhere is never fully comprehensive. It should be but it is not I think its partly due to conflicts of national interests. So basically yes it does piss me off.
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