kevverage.bsky.social
Investor/chair of a couple of Scottish businesses; chair of constitutional think tank These Islands; keen analyst of Scotland’s economic data (particularly “GERS” #fml); occasional political commentator; runner, hill walker & dog lover - views own, obv
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1,815 followers
952 following
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[i should caveat that my SEO knowledge may well be out of date - i always wondered whether Google *really* ignores “rel=no follow” tagged links and/or how sustainable that policy was given prevalence of use by news sites 🤷🏻♂️]
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… but at least the first one i checked (GlasgowLive) did themselves “no follow” the link to play casino, so perhaps not the SEO win they were hoping for (of course there will be *some* organic click traffic)
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agreed
as a minor aside: bit daft of Press Gazette not to “rel=nofollow” the links they provide to the stories (thereby further boosting their SEO with high authority links) …
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7/ And… what happened next? To nobody’s great surprise, the public sector workforce continued to balloon. It is now up 39,000 from pre-Covid levels. The civil service is 37% bigger than it was pre-Covid, increasing from 20,000 to 27,400. Source: www.gov.scot/publications...
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*tops*
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full quote and context — but it could equally apply to many people engaging in debates around fiscal matters, particularly as they pertain to Scotland
read.amazon.co.uk/kp/kshare?as...
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i’ve got bigger beefs with spelling bee than that
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www.these-islands.co.uk/publications...
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*sighs*
in the name of all that’s good and holy can you *please* take a quiet moment to actually read this - you might actually learn something?
perhaps then tell me which of these reserved costs Scotland doesn’t need?
but you won’t, because you don’t do actual detail, do you?
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i think at this point we just have to laugh - numbers really aren’t your strong point, are they?
www.these-islands.co.uk/publications...
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they don’t assign it, the Scottish Government’s Chief Statistician and Chief Economist work out what is spent both in and for Scotland, as required to produce certified National Statistics
you really should take more time to understand this (but i know you won’t)
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fwiw my guess is it’s the former: facts don’t bother you, nothing will relieve you of your visceral commitment to grievance 🤷🏻♂️
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people like you fascinate me in a kind of clinical way: do you know you’re floundering out of your depth and are just hoping you can blindly assert your way out of it, or is it that you genuinely don’t understand simple fiscal arithmetic?
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this would be an interesting interaction if only you had at least a passing understanding of the facts - if only you could be bothered to get yourself up to date and informed
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ps i really can’t be arsed explaining stuff to you which you clearly have no interest in understanding - i’d rather enjoy this view
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so we’ll just ignore all you false assertions? OK 🤷🏻♂️
now how is getting £2,400 per head higher spending while only contributing a population share of revenue a bad thing?
www.these-islands.co.uk/publications...
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are you even the slightest bit embarrassed about the fact that i have easily been able to show you that your rant is so based on a series of obviously false assertions?
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i mean you could take the time to actually understand the statistics, but that’s clearly not about to happen 🤷🏻♂️
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dear lord - when you’re this angry about National Statistics produced by the Scottish Government, it’s perhaps time to have a wee word with yourself
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i’m out walking atm, but will happily walk you through the actual figures when i’m back - i strongly suggest you read the GERS report and associated methodology statements and then read this - i’m sure you’re keen to know the facts of the matter?
www.these-islands.co.uk/publications...
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deficits are not a binary concept and - because of higher spending - Scotland’s is way higher than the UK average
the only staggering thing here is your level of ignorance about the subject you’re asserting about
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nope, wrong again - the national debt is assigned precisely on a per capita basis - you’re perhaps confused by our public sector pension funds?
this is page 6 of GERS, perhaps you should read the full report?
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we get £2,400+ per head in higher spending - that’s almost entirely funded by the Barnet formula,
not higher taxes - look at our tax and revenue per head figures for heaven’s sake, it’s not complicated
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his claims are absolute nonsense, he’s not taken the time to understand the GERS figures - it’s all covered here
www.these-islands.co.uk/publications...
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counterpoint: it absolutely did happen with Scottish Independence - as a BBC journalist expressed it to me “we had to stop being journalists”
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as can be neatly perfectly illustrated by looking at the lives of Robert Burns’ children
chokkablog.blogspot.com/2019/01/robe...
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different level, same wedge
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i had the same thought - but i also remember how the Nazi’s introduced a programme of euthanasia for the mentally ill …
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close to Knoydart I see - might try and give it a go next time i get up that way
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[I’m sure you all know this, but it translates as “old women in black”, which is Gaelic for nuns]
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ah nice - not played it but it sounds like a good option
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ps you should try and play golf on Iona some time if you haven’t already - it’s a giggle
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i see you and raise you 10pm June Iona