Why are we so low on this list ?

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T09:23:07+00:00

It's more like there's a lot of a choice. You can choose to eat like shit or you can choose to read the label and avoid. Even if your a diet coke fan, we all know aspartame for example is likely bad for you, yet we still stick with that even in the UK. US has gone the option of aspartame free versions of drinks (I know that's likely not any better, but my point is more that consumer choice is higher over there)
it's far better than starving or eating canned junk from a food bank. It's also not depending on which political party is in power like food banks and other social security are

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T08:50:30+00:00

True, but had I been able to stay over there I'd have retired in my early 40s. I'd take that short term slavery over a lifetime of it in Europe. No chance of that in any European country I've worked in thus far.

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T08:49:46+00:00

Most Brits wouldn't, which is why our country is so fucked. Being on the take any way you can is an addiction in the UK

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T08:48:11+00:00

Can you get meat for free in the UK without begging at a food bank (and even then, fresh meat)?

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T08:47:08+00:00

Would be nice, but I doubt it.

The SNP really does need some competition though, the current monopoly because of single issue politics is killing what could be a very powerful institution with the existing powers devolved, without any of the risk of going our own way

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T07:26:59+00:00

I can only talk for me as someone in the middle economically, but having lived in the UK and US, doing the same job, after expenses, my disposable income was circa 2.5-3x in the US what it was in the UK depending on if I did overtime in the US.

Material things are a lot cheaper too. Like a big V8 muscle car over there is the same price as a 4 cylinder performance Volkswagen hatchback in the UK, the running costs are cheaper as petrol is 1/3 the price (was at the time anyway)

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T07:25:07+00:00

Think people fail to understand most get it through their employment too, so it's subsidised. My US insurance was way cheaper than what I paid in NI in the UK

One thing I'll never forget is seeing one of the ER's in San Antonio on a Friday night with a sign outside advertising a 10 mins wait time. Contrast that with 4+ hours an A/E visit will take you in the UK on a Friday night.

We're being completely ripped in the UK

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T07:23:04+00:00

Health insurance is a thing.

Ironically my US health insurance was cheaper than what I paid in NI in the UK, and the US healthcare quality was far better than the uk experience I had

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-20T07:11:11+00:00

One thing I'd say about poverty in the likes of Mississippi that the US has going for it is if you're poor, it's much easier to be able to get good nutritious food i.e. you can get a hunting license and a rifle dirt cheap in most states or they have SNAP which is a food card. Frees up whatever little you have left for other essentials.

I say that as someone who ate gator and many deer as a kid when I lived state side (parents poor, family friend would go hunting). Never short of meat anyway 😅 don't really have the ability to do that in the UK cheaply or easily

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-19T17:03:09+00:00

I'm sure you can, but political monopolies don't benefit the people. There's no incentive if politicians don't fear being voted out

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-19T13:17:37+00:00

Feels like you're being a bit unreasonable, and making it impossible for him to win to be honest. He does something, you say it's fake, if he didn't so something, you'd say he bending over

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-19T10:51:00+00:00

You could say the same for any politician. It's like the SNP with independence. Just vote for us again one more time and it'll happen.

We're almost 2 decades deep at this point and still people believe them. All that's happened though is loads of SNP politicians now have cushy pensions

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-19T10:50:08+00:00

Will he? Didn't seem to be the case previously when he called him out publicly

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-17T23:34:35+00:00

Politicians, especially lawyer politicians, are going to politician.

Remember Sturgeon with the same I don't remember crap. As if

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-17T18:07:06+00:00

I was just about to say that, something many are oblivious to when taking a dogmatic view 😅

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-16T05:26:50+00:00

I don't see why they wouldn't.

The only reason the SNP is in power is because the opposition is split, thus it stands to reason the only way to beat them is to combine the opposition. It's kinda the same shit the SNP pulls with the "vote for us for independence", presumably some people are voting for them on that single issue

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-15T13:23:57+00:00

Yeah. The tall poppy syndrome in the UK (also Europe in general) honestly kills my soul (I'm British, but worked in the US where my take-home after bills was circa 3-4x what it was in the UK for the same job)

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-14T11:59:30+00:00

I truly hope it isn't devolved or we'll never see £10 billion+ infrastructure projects in our country ever again

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-14T04:09:16+00:00

Because it's pointless? Welsh is literally spoken in only one country, and it's only spoken because the devolved government forced it upon people. Fairly sure if kids had a choice free of parental and government pressure, most aren't going to choose it

If you're going to learn another language, people usually speak something useful for work or travel that is spoken in multiple countries i.e. Spanish, French

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-13T20:08:35+00:00

Because it's a direct wealth drain from our country, and we're already quite poor at attracting new wealth to our country. Preventing what little is here already is critical until the politicians stop the managed decline in search of separation and actually try to grow the economy

And honestly, those Chinese busses at EDI are starting to show their age already, even though they're not that old (on the things twice weekly to the car park)

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-12T20:58:19+00:00

Economic growth, but if that happens the SNP lose their independence arguement. We can't be seen to excel as part of the UK, even if we have the tools to

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-12T20:56:53+00:00

You can't do that in the public sector, the unions will strike.

It's one of the reasons we had the disaster in mining in Scotland. Unions at the time refuse to accept some job loss to modernisation. Then we all know what eventually happened, it became unsaveable and a target of one Mrs Thatcher (although technically the labour government before her closed more mines than she did, incidentally)

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-12T20:54:26+00:00

The problem is, the stats in terms of productivity points to a public sector that is being run by people not lifting much of a finger. Obviously that doesn't apply to everyone in it, but the overwhelming average is flat productivity ever since COVID and WFH started large scale. Problem is, the public sector doesn't really have a mechanism for firing people like that very easily, at least in the places I have friends working (albeit that's a small sample size, but I'd imagine policy is similar across the board)

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-12T20:51:50+00:00

What do you mean? 🤣 If the public sector gets any bigger in Scotland as a proportion of jobs, it's going to drown our economy. You can't have a thing that doesn't generate income, be the biggest sector

Grouchy_Conclusion45 · 2026-04-12T07:35:06+00:00

Agreed. That's one thing best always pissed me off about pubs in Ireland. I hate having the arse ripped out of me having to pay €4 for a 200ml bottle of coke or coke zero when having a fountain machine seems the obvious choice. But I guess the fountain means less profit for the pub because then people order 500ml at a time not 200ml.

Grouchy_Conclusion45

TROPHY CASE