Tuesday 16 October 2012

SO, WHAT DO YOU KNOW?


Here's a wee Quiz for you courtesy of the SNP. I'll print the answers tomorrow and trust you to mark yourselves!

1. Scotland has 8.4% of the UK’s population. What percentage of the
UK’s overall tax take comes from Scotland?

a) 4.2%
b) 7.4%
c) 8.4%
d) 9.6%


2. According to the International Monetary Fund which of these
countries has the lowest wealth per head?

a) Iceland
b) Ireland
c) Norway
d) United Kingdom


3. According to Professor George Walker, Professor of Financial
Regulation & Policy at Glasgow University, what percentage of the bank
bailout would an independent Scotland have had to pay?

a) as little as 5%
b) a population share of 8.4%
c) as much as 50%
d) they are Scottish banks so 100%


4. According to the latest official statistics how much of Scotland’s
overall tax take is spent on things like the state pension and welfare
payments, compared to the UK?

a) 45% for Scotland to 35% for the UK
b) 60% for Scotland to 20% for the UK
c) 40% for Scotland to 42% for the UK


5. At the moment, UK government statistics exclude the North Sea from
Scotland’s economic accounts. If the wealth in Scottish waters is
included, how does Scotland compare to the UK, in the league table of
wealth per head for developed countries?

a) 34th for Scotland to 5th for the UK
b) 21st for Scotland to 3rd for the UK
c) 6th for Scotland to 16th for the UK


6. At the moment, the Westminster Parliament has the final say over
all laws in the United Kingdom, including the right to pass laws even
in devolved areas. What percentage of its current legislators are
directly elected by the people of Scotland?

a) 25%
b) 11%
c) 9%
d) 4%


7. True or false? Scotland ...

For our size, has more highly ranked research universities than the
UK, the US or Europe: TRUE or FALSE?

Is the EU’s largest oil producer?: TRUE or FALSE?

Has 25% of the EU’s offshore tidal energy potential: TRUE or FALSE?

Over the past 30 years has had a budget SURPLUS over the UK of £19
billion: TRUE or FALSE?

47 comments:

  1. Yep. It. Will. RAin. Gold bars in a independent. Scotland. Everyone will. Be.
    MillionAires x£££££££££££££. Etc

    Wow we must. All. Rush. Out and vote. Yes
    Mind. We could. Wait. And. See what. The. Unionists. Offer us

    Oh. Day one. And the snp. Lies. Are. Trotted out. Once again. Was hoping. They would at least be new original ones

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a pity more people are not aware of the numbers. We are a rich, resourceful people. We can easily make it in the world.

    We would also be able to shape our society/welfare systems and elect the Governments WE chose. We could set our spending priorities (Trident, anyone?) and encourage our growth industries (e.g. renewables).

    Doug

    ReplyDelete
  3. Niko. What.Is.With.The.Punctuation ?

    Or are you sending this by telegram ?

    Would love to hear your counter arguments to these facts (many produced from Westminster sources through GERS or from international bodies)

    I agree we have to listen to all the arguments and then vote, but if this what you have to offer in debate (along with a large section of Labour) just to call them lies when my kids future depends on people like you voting, then get a grip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The. Snp. Would not. Know the. Truth. It bit them. On the a@@@

      Delete
  4. A guess will do Niko or have you got to ask Ed first!

    We could. Wait. And. See what. The. Unionists. Offer us I presume £10 billion cuts to welfare every couple of years while continual bailouts of the banks so that they can keep up with inflation x 100 annually.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there.
    I wanted to share this on Facebook but if I do, it'll display Niko's stupid first comment.
    Is there a way round this?

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's. ok. I. found. a. way. round. it. Jeez. that. was. quick. for. me. !. Anyone. know. how. to. get. rid. of. these. annoying. .s. ?.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great, I worked that one out too. You just have stop being daft!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes Niko. I see the Liberals have come up with some proposals, and we know how they always keep their promises... so we'll believe them loads.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Niko=nowhere man.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Doug:

    All we have to do is get the facts across. Only a fool would want to stay in the UK when the facts and figures show that we could live like Scandinavians if we didn't have the UK millstone round our necks.

    Of course with the MSM lying through its teeth and low grade 'journalists' like Robinson of the BBC making it up as they go along, we probably have a major problem getting the facts out there.

    If only we could trust anyone in this country.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anon: Niko's never been hot on punctuation. Classical references, yes, but points and commas... nah...

    And he doesn't make counter arguments as a rule. He just carps from the sidelines.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The Unionists offered us more last time... and they lied, CH.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Richie...sorry I wasn't able to help you, but glad you managed to work it out for yourself... and you got rid of the .s

    Maybe you could pass the secret to Niko. He seems to have been attacked by them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. http://wingsland.podgamer.com/the-thieves-of-devolution/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-thieves-of-devolution

    An excellent article (as usual) explaining how it will be if we say no.

    Niko...what's on offer if we stay with the UK? I mean surely not just more of the same...privatization, war, nuclear weapons, royal parties, bankers' bonuses, profits, G8 meetings, tea with the president... fiddling, lying, corruption?

    Or is there some great secret plan to make Britain a good place for ordinary people to live? Decent minimum wage, decent pension, decent hospitals, decent bus and train services and affordable too, roads that might be worth the £170 a year we pay?

    Nah, thought not.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Richie

    Dont be nasty anyway you do reveal how the cowardly Nats censor obfuscate and hide any criticism.

    tris

    Counter arguments

    well were to start err but you know them and choose to block them out of your mind.
    I long ago accepted the Nats snp have the same psychological make up as members of some bizarre Cult.

    there is no objective evidence which they will accept the snp doctrine will always win out.

    You see your Nationalist reality is not the real reality so why bother arguing with delusional people who when challenged usually turn violent verbal or and physical.

    The outcome of this Referendum will depend not on the delusional Nat snp followers.
    there votes are in the bag but sadly its not enough.
    its the undecided or unsure the snp need to convince but I wonder if spitting and swearing reviling
    unbelievers is a good or winning strategy.

    more ants are caught with honey than vinegar.......that one only gets a tin ear from the Nats..


    ps

    I gotta new iPhone so me posting is more to cock than usual


    Classical antiquity

    on that I am a bit of a nerd


    Or is there some great secret plan to make Britain a good place for ordinary people to live?

    yes VOTE LABOUR

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ok Niko...

    Erm so all the positive things you have to say about the union can be summed up by a good old rant at the snp?

    I've never turned violent, not once.

    Ho Hum.

    I just want to know how staying in teh union will make our lives better.

    And you've yet to tell me... you or anyone else....well except Mr Cameron, but all of his reasons were things that people of his class liked and benefited from, like embassies all over the world (which people like him can stay at and save money on hotels, but not a huge load of good to me, because they wouldn't entertain me for a second, so it's off to the Youth Hostel!!)

    Or having nuclear weapons... which of course means a lot to Cameron, because it lets him meet Barack, but funnily enough, us having nuclear weapons has never gained ME an invitation to the White House.

    You see what I'm getting at, Niko?

    A new iphone? That probably explains it all. Very nice, though. Did you get one for Taz too?

    Can I have your old one??

    ReplyDelete
  17. I wouldn't touch it tris its got a rolling hypnotic message keep tellings as if the voters new what we have for them Lab/Tory health care.

    ReplyDelete
  18. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=366452773438370&set=a.321977804552534.75744.301783293238652&type=1&relevant_count=1

    Bettertogether counterargument... Portray the 9.6/9.3 figures as negative, emphasis on our budget deficit (imply it is a subsidy) not mention that the UK has a much larger one...

    Smooth.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Further to my above. Scottish 'budget deficit' - 20%. UK (less Scotland) 26.5%. About a third higher. Better Together. Yeah right...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just done a quick search on FOUR Independence polls that are currently running on mainly unionist sites. Here's the latest figures Tris.

    Scotsman.

    YES 2177 votes (66%)
    NO 1099 votes (34%)

    STV

    I will vote for Independence 602 votes (91%)
    I will vote to keep Scotland in the UK 41 votes (6%)
    I haven't made my mind up yet 13 votes (2%)
    I won't vote in the referendum 6 votes (1%)

    TELEGRAPH

    YES 5,462 votes (54.73%)
    NO 4,518 votes (45.27%)

    NO SCOTLAND

    YES 3,174 votes (89.76%)
    NO 362 votes (10.24%)

    All are just straw polls but I think there might be a trend here.

    yes VOTE LABOUR

    What the hell is all this about Niko?

    As far as I'm aware the question in 2014 will consist of TWO options.

    "Do you agree that Scotland should be an Independent country.....YES/NO."

    I am not aware a THIRD option will be included.

    "Do you agree that Scotland should be an Independent country.....YES/NO/LABOUR."

    If we choose to "block" the counter arguments from our minds then perhaps you should REPEAT the arguments FOR remaining in the union Niko, after all I've never ONE positive case for the union yet. All I've heard is continual droans about staying at the "top table."

    Oh and before you go on about us being safer together financially best you read these I think.

    http://order-order.com/2012/10/17/imf-reality-v-balls-deficit-denial/

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9613703/UK-deficit-before-crisis-was-38bn-bigger-than-thought.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think CH, that everyone should read this. Personal bills from doctors, ambulance bills of $500, bills for the sheets.... OMG. What a scary way to live.

    And it coming to an English Heath Board near you.

    And if we say no, I bet it will come here.

    That will teach us to want something for nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anon:

    Well noted. It seems to me that they have convinced the English that THEY would be better off without us, which is fine by me. But it shows how effective lying and twisting statistics can be.

    The comments of utter hatred on the Telegraph site the other day were quite frightening. The venom that English people seemed to feel about Scots (often because they are jealous of your services, which they think THEY pay for) was sickening. I was surprised that the Telegraph allow that kind of posting...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Arbroath:

    The Tories' incompetence with the economy pretty much matches Labour's.

    I notice that the Telegraph (on the story you linked to) has an article saying that pensions will go up by 38p a day, which ill be nice for the poorer ones. It will help a lot with the 8% increase in gas and electricity and expected 20% inflation on flood.

    More deaths this year then.

    And no, inflation is not 2.2%. The fuel companies have put up their prices a month later, allowing last years price rises to fall out of the system.

    Given that September is the month where the pension increases are set, I wonder if there was some sort of agreement that they would be allowed to put up the cost as much as they wanted, as long as they did it in October.

    ReplyDelete
  24. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/9613853/State-pensioners-38p-a-day-rise-despite-increasing-living-costs.html

    Forgot to add that.

    ReplyDelete
  25. And I should have said that these polls (albeit utterly unscientific) are encouraging.

    ReplyDelete
  26. @Nikostrapon

    I wasn't being nasty. I was just pointing out that a good way to get rid of the .s is to stop being daft. Looks like you learnt something but you went a bit too far by missing out a great heap.

    "anyway you do reveal how the cowardly Nats censor obfuscate and hide any criticism."
    Yeah, because we run the BBC, The Scotsman, The Herald, The Daily Record, The Press and Journal etc. So no way will you ever see or hear criticism of the SNP or the Independence movement.

    Your posts would make more sense if they were .s and nothing else.

    Do you have a fart button app on your new iphone?
    Download it and go and play with it for the next 2 years.

    ReplyDelete
  27. With all the austerity measures being brought in by Call me Dave and his happy band of hypocrites is ti any surprise that we end up with graphs like this?

    www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=126017364147502&set=a.109727429109829.18318.100002177166941&type=1&theater

    We have a minuscule amount of benefit fraud, in terms of the overall expenditure of Westminster, we have approximately ten times the fraud of unclaimed benefits and we have approximately 110 times the benefit fraud in unpaid taxes. So where do Dave and his gang target their austerity cuts?

    Oh now that is a hard one let me see now. They wouldn't be targeting those in receipt of benefits by any chance?

    What about the massive amount of unpaid taxes?

    Ach don't worry about them, they're just a minor glitch. I'm sure we'll get all the unpaid taxes into HMRC shortly. Yeah right and my name is Queen Elizabeth II!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Mrs Niko told me, in strictest confidence at the bingo, that the specialist refused to give Niko an enema for his litle trouble on the grounds that there would be nothing left but Taz.

    ReplyDelete
  29. me new besty mate Richie says


    @Nikostrapon
    I wasn't being nasty

    and then says


    Do you have a fart button app on your new iphone?
    Download it and go and play with it for the next 2 years

    er! go figure

    tris is he aware of your code of conduct

    Brownlie being ERR! Brownlie

    tris I have it on good authority that the Nats have a ninja black ops team who infiltrate media outlets and portray themselves as Scots hating English Bigots..

    apparently Brownlie had a hand in their ninja training which explains why they all speak in Doric which is a bit of a give away


    for Richie
    .s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s
    .s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s

    ReplyDelete
  30. LOL: You're right Richie. Nats control everything. The poor unionists hardly get a word in... and even when they do we redact it.

    It's terrible, so it is.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Good graph Arbroath. The Tories are repulsive aren't they.

    These unemployed and sick are just dragging the country to its knees. That';s why they have to be brought down.

    You can't do it to the rich. If they weren't allowed to fiddle, they'd leave and live in Monaco or Liechtenstein...

    Then where would we be?

    Just imagine. There just wouldn't be an inch of the Alpine principality that wasn't covered in Tesco or NatWest Bank.

    ReplyDelete
  32. John. You really shouldn't be telling us all what Mrs Niko said. It wouldn't be nice if we were all laughing at Niko.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Niko Pet.

    Are they all being horrid about you? Terrible.

    Right listen up chaps. You've all to be nice to Niko from now on. OK?

    ++++++++

    John, I thought it was Gaelic you spoke. Who is it that speaks the Doric... Tom Harris?

    ReplyDelete
  34. tris

    was listeing on the wireless to radio 4 (sad I know but there you have it)

    and some Tory minister was explaining how simple the universal credit will be for disabled people.

    Tanni" Grey-Thompson obviously had got it all wrong.

    yes it is going to very very simple cos they are going to get Nothing now thats simple

    ReplyDelete
  35. My dear Nats
    Alex Salmonds snp divdend

    UNEMPLOYMENT in Scotland increased by 7,000, to 222,000 in the three month period from June to August this year, as the double dip recession continued to grip the economy.

    • 2,490,000 people in employment in Scotland whilst claimant count fell to 139,900

    • Scottish unemployment rate stands at 8.2 per cent, higher than the UK average of 7.9 per cent


    ReplyDelete
  36. Tris, I think I've got the Tories sussed.

    They are not going after the tax avoiding masses for one reason. I've suggested elsewhere that Cameron is, in private, not too phased about "losing" Scotland for his ulterior political ends. This is "backed" up by his not going after the tax avoiders. He knows he needs something immediately after Independence to draw on and what better than the "tons" of cash he, or m,ore correctly Osborne, will gather in from all those tax avoiders.

    The tax avoiders think they are getting away Scot free with their non payment of taxes but lo behold them post Independence, Osborne is going to hammer them so hard they'll wish they had never set foot in Britain.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Niko funny that since that period coincided with the London Games with all of those thousands of PART TIME jobs created because of that political willy waving is bound to create a short term anomaly. We have been told to have sympathy for you. will despair do?

    ps. did the PJ's fit as they were in your colours?

    ReplyDelete
  38. Thanks for al the .s Niko!
    Not sure what I'll do with them though.
    I won't ask you for suggestions.
    I feel guilty not giving you anything in return, so these are for you
    ~@*>{+#
    And as we're now besty mates and I have to be nice to you, you can have these too
    xxx
    Love you babe!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Tris I've found another straw poll to add to our list of polls. This one is in that most Pro Scottish o newspapers, the Daily Mail. They are asking if Cameron can keep Britain together. Their poll is currently running at:
    NO 38%
    YES 62%

    Yet again another straw poll and yet again the unionist myths are being blown apart. Let's hope these straw polls can be transferred into real votes in 2014!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Abroath
    Yes there is always hope

    ReplyDelete
  41. 62% say Cameron can do anything is a bit of a joke Arbroath.

    Unless it is to quaff very expensive champagne.

    His policy on fuel bills fell before the starters gun went off. maybe it wouldn't have if he'd run it by the Energy Dept or the power companies, or even the office cleaner.

    Still it kept Andrew Mitchell off the front pages today... Crisis management, create a new crisis on the basis that brits aren't bright enough to laugh at you for two things at one time.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Richie...have you seen a photo of Niko?

    ReplyDelete
  43. No Niko. Radio 4 is good. Not in the least pathetic, although it is very anglocentric.

    I've noticed how some people are going to lose £500 on the universal credit.

    Joking apart. This is serious stuff for people who live on the edge of poverty and can't do anything about it. I'm furious at this selfishness.

    The Tories are evil.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Whose double dip recession is it Niklo?

    Wouldn't you say that if the SNP's policies were implemented we would have loads of these people working on what they insist on calling Shovel Ready projects?

    But no, Mr Osborne's UK/American Republican point of view is that you can't spend your way out of recession.

    Despite the fact that austerity has never yet worked, osborne is determined to do it, because he knows it's their only chance for 20 years to shrink the state and stop poor people getting something out of their country...like work, for example.

    Damned idiot.

    Our unemployment is their fault. They will not spend the money. They'd rather buy bombs and celebrate the beginning of a war. Bravo. Typical Tories.

    ReplyDelete
  45. It's certainly a plan Arbroath, and based on how clever Cameron and Osborne are, I suspect it could be right.

    It may not have occurred to them that the rich won't pay up; they'll just move away till the Tories are gone...

    ReplyDelete
  46. yes, CH, the London jobs (including the ones that were not PAID jobs) have changed the figures, just like the 13 month space in fuel increases have skewed the inflation figures.

    It will all go to hell in a hand cart next month.

    What's that about PJs?

    ReplyDelete