2014 June 03 « Dr Alf's Blog

First Minister Alex Salmond (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Simon Wren Lewis is correct and I agree with Dr Alf’s prognosis.

Currently, the 1974 Barnett Formula gives every man woman and child in Scotland £3,500 gbp a head.
In addition to that, most of our EU budget rebates are distributed to the Celtic fringe and Scotland gets free tuition fees, free Adult Social Care and a bigger share of Petroleum Revenue Tax since in England we do more freight miles and drive our cars further for no benefit whatsoever.

The Scots are over represented in the Westminster Parliament but also have their own Parliament.

Alex Salmond‘s figures are bogus and he wants to trick the Scots into believing that they can have what they already get (circa £5000 gbp a head as above), plus 92% of the North Sea oil revenue and the benefits of EU membership.

Scotland would have to reapply to join the EU, would lose revenues and jobs and revenue as they moved offshore and would be very much worse off.

In addition, people in the Orkney’s and the Shetlands would want the remaining North Sea oil and independence to boot.

Thus, Alex Salmond is going to lose his referendum but mostly because most people in Scotland do not believe a word he says and will vote in their financial best interests despite the deep loathing many of them feel towards the English and the politicians.

John Gelmini

My take on this article reblogged by Dr Alf is that the millennials sensibly trust themselves and possibly their parents if they live in Southern Europe.

The millennials do not believe that the jobs are coming back any more than they believe in politicians, the media and academics, who peddle bright futures in exchange for study and qualifications.

Dr Alf asks what they should do, apart from learning useful languages, the answer is develop a portfolio of transferable skills and linear income streams. This is because 50% of the jobs will disappear in 20 years through AI, robotics, automation, 3D printing and other technologies.

The challenge for Europe’s millennials is most acute in Southern Europe but will equally apply in Northern Europe, especially the UK and Germany‘s millennials will not be spared.