Scotland after the vote
Discussion
Moonhawk said:
Foppo said:
Socialist nanny state? Maybe.Who cares if you are looked after.
It's not a good model to try and follow if one of the defining reasons for wanting independence is "freedom". cloggy said:
Big Rod said:
jshell said:
And please take it from a Norway resident that it's fairly s
t here and we don't want Scotland to turn out this way!
Is it really?t here and we don't want Scotland to turn out this way!Care to elaborate on that a bit for us if you'd be so kind?
When it comes to health, it is impossible to buy many, many of the medicines we take for granted. Cold and cough medicies are either dilluted or simply not available. Expats from the UK have to stock-up on stuff, particularly for babies & kids as Calpol, Ibuprofen etc are not available. The health service is being run down and often they fail to diagnose problems. A colleauge of mine and I both ended up in hospital having gallstone attacks which are stunningly painful, but neither of us were successfully diagnosed. When I had a prolpased disc recently my GP just asked if I wanted signed off work and gave me paracetamol. I bailed to the UK for the disc and also had my gallbladder out in the UK. They have the highest rate of long-term workers on sick leave as it's easy to get signed off and they get full pay for a year.
Levels of personal debt in Norway are getting mental as it's turning fast into a mega-consumer and label society. Big houses, holiday homes, German cars/Teslas, expensive clothes are bought on credit.
They do a lot of good things though, ferry services are amazing (free to electric cars), tunnels everywhere from island to island, bus services are good and cheap and to be honest people of all levels are respected. Also on the electric cars: No road tax, can use bus lanes, free charging points and don't pay the road tolls which are for everywhere.
Workplaces are nice, good atmosphere, but our IT system is beyond shyte. There are often free buses to workplaces, but they are full of people in the cold/flu season simply dying and infecting others. Colds and Flu sweep through the country each Autumn and no-one stays at home. Trying to get anything done in summertime is a nightmare as everyone fecks of for weeks on holiday, cover or not. That's a big challenge to manage.
And you don't mess with City Hall. Everything is tracked and linked to your social security number, even shops have access to your details. The tax man will pursue you to the ends of the earth and if they think you've stepped out of line, the world comes down on your shoulders. Colleague of mine had his assets seized when he was 2 days late re-registering his car, then it cost him £17,000 as he'd inadvertantly 'imported' his car.
Taxis are mental expensive!
Oh, and Norway shuts on Sundays. Everything except petrol stations, a coffee shop or two and licenced, tiny grocery stores.
People tend to be srupulously honest though, which is refreshing, and they don't like liars.
A great thing is that you can buy duty free on arrival to Norway. That saves a lot of hassle!
All in all it's 'nice', but in practical terms a difficult place to live after the UK.
jshell said:
Sure. Of course things are expensive, cars hideously so, rents unbelieveable and speeding fines are around £600 for not far over the limit - limits are very, very low. 28kmh over the limit in a built up area is jail time. Driving is horrible, due to the excessive fines people just drive nose-to-tail with the result that driving standards are very, very poor. Huge numbers of people using mobiles, lots of drivers simply wandering about the road as they don't have to concentrate. The bars and clubs are nice and some of the women are beyond stunning, but busy bars are full of boorish guys mainly who just plough through the crowds. Same in shops and shopping centres, it was a nightmare having a baby on a pram as you're constantly on the defensive for blundering people. Fossd shopping is a nightmare, no Tesco, ASDA, Waitrose style supermarkets, even in the cities. Finding reasonable food is a chore much of which doesn't have sell-by dates or is simply rotten, particularly the fruit and veg. The number of times we get home, cut something open and have to head back to the shop with it is amazing. On the plus side a new Rolex SeaDweller Ceramic can be had from an AD for £5,500 if you include the tax free.
When it comes to health, it is impossible to buy many, many of the medicines we take for granted. Cold and cough medicies are either dilluted or simply not available. Expats from the UK have to stock-up on stuff, particularly for babies & kids as Calpol, Ibuprofen etc are not available. The health service is being run down and often they fail to diagnose problems. A colleauge of mine and I both ended up in hospital having gallstone attacks which are stunningly painful, but neither of us were successfully diagnosed. When I had a prolpased disc recently my GP just asked if I wanted signed off work and gave me paracetamol. I bailed to the UK for the disc and also had my gallbladder out in the UK. They have the highest rate of long-term workers on sick leave as it's easy to get signed off and they get full pay for a year.
Levels of personal debt in Norway are getting mental as it's turning fast into a mega-consumer and label society. Big houses, holiday homes, German cars/Teslas, expensive clothes are bought on credit.
They do a lot of good things though, ferry services are amazing (free to electric cars), tunnels everywhere from island to island, bus services are good and cheap and to be honest people of all levels are respected. Also on the electric cars: No road tax, can use bus lanes, free charging points and don't pay the road tolls which are for everywhere.
Workplaces are nice, good atmosphere, but our IT system is beyond shyte. There are often free buses to workplaces, but they are full of people in the cold/flu season simply dying and infecting others. Colds and Flu sweep through the country each Autumn and no-one stays at home. Trying to get anything done in summertime is a nightmare as everyone fecks of for weeks on holiday, cover or not. That's a big challenge to manage.
And you don't mess with City Hall. Everything is tracked and linked to your social security number, even shops have access to your details. The tax man will pursue you to the ends of the earth and if they think you've stepped out of line, the world comes down on your shoulders. Colleague of mine had his assets seized when he was 2 days late re-registering his car, then it cost him £17,000 as he'd inadvertantly 'imported' his car.
Taxis are mental expensive!
Oh, and Norway shuts on Sundays. Everything except petrol stations, a coffee shop or two and licenced, tiny grocery stores.
People tend to be srupulously honest though, which is refreshing, and they don't like liars.
A great thing is that you can buy duty free on arrival to Norway. That saves a lot of hassle!
All in all it's 'nice', but in practical terms a difficult place to live after the UK.
Interesting insight. Thanks for that.When it comes to health, it is impossible to buy many, many of the medicines we take for granted. Cold and cough medicies are either dilluted or simply not available. Expats from the UK have to stock-up on stuff, particularly for babies & kids as Calpol, Ibuprofen etc are not available. The health service is being run down and often they fail to diagnose problems. A colleauge of mine and I both ended up in hospital having gallstone attacks which are stunningly painful, but neither of us were successfully diagnosed. When I had a prolpased disc recently my GP just asked if I wanted signed off work and gave me paracetamol. I bailed to the UK for the disc and also had my gallbladder out in the UK. They have the highest rate of long-term workers on sick leave as it's easy to get signed off and they get full pay for a year.
Levels of personal debt in Norway are getting mental as it's turning fast into a mega-consumer and label society. Big houses, holiday homes, German cars/Teslas, expensive clothes are bought on credit.
They do a lot of good things though, ferry services are amazing (free to electric cars), tunnels everywhere from island to island, bus services are good and cheap and to be honest people of all levels are respected. Also on the electric cars: No road tax, can use bus lanes, free charging points and don't pay the road tolls which are for everywhere.
Workplaces are nice, good atmosphere, but our IT system is beyond shyte. There are often free buses to workplaces, but they are full of people in the cold/flu season simply dying and infecting others. Colds and Flu sweep through the country each Autumn and no-one stays at home. Trying to get anything done in summertime is a nightmare as everyone fecks of for weeks on holiday, cover or not. That's a big challenge to manage.
And you don't mess with City Hall. Everything is tracked and linked to your social security number, even shops have access to your details. The tax man will pursue you to the ends of the earth and if they think you've stepped out of line, the world comes down on your shoulders. Colleague of mine had his assets seized when he was 2 days late re-registering his car, then it cost him £17,000 as he'd inadvertantly 'imported' his car.
Taxis are mental expensive!
Oh, and Norway shuts on Sundays. Everything except petrol stations, a coffee shop or two and licenced, tiny grocery stores.
People tend to be srupulously honest though, which is refreshing, and they don't like liars.
A great thing is that you can buy duty free on arrival to Norway. That saves a lot of hassle!
All in all it's 'nice', but in practical terms a difficult place to live after the UK.
Big Rod said:
Interesting insight. Thanks for that.
You're welcome.Some nickname it 'trance nation' or 'zombie nation' as the populace are kept happy enough that they don't complain, take no interest in politics and as they have the great reputation, don't really care about foreign affairs or foreign politics either.
Don't know whether you lot on this thread have seen this or not, but this could well be the scene on the 19th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJPGIdwZ70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJPGIdwZ70
Welshbeef said:
Qwert1e said:
Norway and Switzerland - probably the two dullest "civilised" countries on the planet.
Norway and Switzerland are beautiful countries really stunning - so is Scotland (Wales and many many parts of England )
jshell said:
Driving is horrible, due to the excessive fines people just drive nose-to-tail with the result that driving standards are very, very poor. Huge numbers of people using mobiles, lots of drivers simply wandering about the road as they don't have to concentrate.
Interesting similarities with the state of Victoria, Australia. When people are forced to comply to speed limits driving standards go to sh!t.
Lefty said:
?
Which bit of 50:50 did you struggle with?
Be interesting to see what % of people polled were undecided.
It was 20-something percent.Which bit of 50:50 did you struggle with?
Be interesting to see what % of people polled were undecided.
OK just to clear that up - 23 percent undecided which is huge compared to other polls recently. Taking the out of the equation, its 51 No, 49 Yes.
Further Edit: Just read on and that apparently of all those who have confirmed they will definitely vote, its 41% for both Yes and No, with 18% undecided, so Welshy's initial figures were right.
But still, 18% undecided seems like a big climg in their numbers. Compare to a month or two ago, Yes hasn't increased their share THAT much, while alot of No voters seem to have become unstuck and are currently filling out the undecided ranks.
Edited by Wrathalanche on Tuesday 9th September 08:30
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