I love this site http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_toasts.htm

Its full of daft quotes ..
Here's to them that like us -
Them that think us swell -
And here's tae them that hate us -
Let's pray for them as well!

Here's tae us -
Wha's like us -
Damn few -
And they're a' deid -
Mairs the pity!

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
The sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields.

Some hae meat, and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat -
And sae the Lord be thankit.

Police not merging

The East Anglian press are witnessing an interesting power play , two police forces - Norfolk and Suffolk both rural, geographically similar , and small in comparison to the rest of the UK Forces seem to be at war with each other . Norfolk want to merge with Suffolk, but Suffolk doesn't want to merge but to collaborate , press leaks imply that both are in discussion about it but don't want to scare the staff.

Why not merge them , well Suffolk police costs less to run than Norfolk's police so the local tax payer in Suffolk would have to pay more. Suffolk's crime stats are better than Norfolks . So obviousely Norfolk want to merge . There could be economonies of scale in having joint HR, estates, IT and civilian staff reductions , which would supposedly free up cash for more police on the streets .
But hang on what about the real cost of merging, new logos, new uniform, redundancy payouts, new stationery , new markings on vehicles and the elephant in the fridge is IT - they have totally different IT systems - that alone would cost millions.

Not to mention the bloodbath that could happen as senior management and the police authority end up fighting to keep their jobs .

Barnett Formula - time for change

The formula dictates that for every £1 the Government distributes, 85p goes to England, 10p to Scotland and 5p to Wales. With five million people, Scotland now has only 8.3 per cent of the UK population. That has led to a situation where "identifiable spending" in Scotland on public services is £1,500 higher per person than in England, according to Treasury figures.

Thats from here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580787/How-the-Barnett-formula-works.html

Yeah right - per person .. but you dont get your money from the govt per person - Joel Barnett himself said that he only used the 'per head' figures to explain how it worked to the ministers of the time.

It does need sorted out to get it back in balance as there is now a 1.7% discrepency.

This month the #territorial # ministers are looking at it .

Scots Language

Good grief - I really do speak another language -

"The UK government now accepts Scots as a regional language and has recognised it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Notwithstanding the UK government’s and the Scottish Executive’s obligations under part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Scottish Executive recognises and respects Scots (in all its forms) as a distinct language, and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English."

So that's English, Scots, French, German and 14 computer 'languages '.