Please don't associate me with Ayn Rand ever again.
Well the Tories are known for their number spinning, so it's very clear that the number has been grossly over-estimated. Poor Mr. Clegg, I've seen him on the telly once since the election. He may as well not exist.
Ahh yes. The Ulster Plantation. You totally just reminded me that I did huge history project on that about four years ago. I'm pretty sure I'm from the South, given that my Catholic roots are the Irish roots. I think my existence here is due to a potato famine in some measure, but I really need to do some more digging. "Throughout the 1500s Ulster was viewed by the English as being "underpopulated" and undeveloped." [Wikipedia] Funny how history repeats itself over the world.
Ironically I know very little about Ireland, despite having a grandfather from County Tyrone and a grandmother from Dublin. A good place to start would be too find out whether your roots are in the north or south, since a lot (but not all) of Nortern protestants are descended from deported Brits by King James VI of Scotland (AKA, James I of England, Ireland and France). Complicates things, huh?
Wow, you do know quite a lot! Thanks heaps, Scottish one! Now I just need to learn more about my Irish roots
You aren't being annoying at all. As far as I'm aware Argyll is quite a large open space, which has a large amount of countryside and coastline. It doesn't really have any major towns or cities in it, but it does hold some of Loch Lomond, the biggest loch in Scotland, and as a result, Ben Lomond. Nowadays the area of Argyll isn't really too exact, since it was mostly used in recent years to refer to a council area. Nowadays it's known as Argyll and Bute. The council area is well known for having quite a few islands in it's jurisdiction, with Iona, well known for being the center of Scottish Christianity (Catholic, since this was before any protestant movements). I've been to a few places in Argyll, there are ferries from Gourock to Dunoon and Rothesay, which are popular places to go to for days-out since they are so picturesque. As far as I'm aware these towns focussed quite a bit on fishing. It's a very traditional place, but as a result there aren't a lot of residents in any particular town, with the largest town having a population of no more than 20,000.
Disregard that last post. I did some 'digging' (Wikipedia) into Clan MacLaren, and found this. What do you know about Argyll? This is good, because this means the book is somewhat consistent with what my grandfather told my father -- that Argyll somehow fits into it. I'm not sure why that clan book mentioned Leith. Clan MacLaren - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Argyll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Also, sorry if I'm being annoying
The Proclaimers? As in, those two brothers? And what is Waverly? I assumed it was some suburb (or something similar) in Edinburgh, but all the Waverlys on Wikipedia are American. The reason I'm interested is because I had a look in my girlfriend's mother's book of tartans and so forth. Turns out I'm of the MacLaren clan (not my surname), and come from Leith. EDIT: Though I did find this: Edinburgh Waverley railway station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I'm confused though. Leith seems too small to say that is where my ancestors are 'from'.
I don't really know all that much about Leith since it's so overshadowed by Waverly in Edinburgh. I know that it has strong links with 'The Proclaimers' and ship-building. It's in the East of Scotland whilst I'm in the West, so it falls out of my jurisdiction . Still it's actually in the city of Edinburgh so if you're interested in it you'll probably have better luck finding out things about Edinburgh.
Leith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia What can you tell me about this place (if anything)?
Why is it that practically every country is in debt? The UK is in debt, the US is in debt, NZ is in debt, the developing world is in so much debt that the interest is more than what they pay back each year, so that it increases exponentially. The international money economy is the biggest fraud ever concieved. The money doesn't exist -- it's borne from speculation of what will happen. The only certainty seems to be that debt will increase. Debt is overstated, and is a tool for overriding sovereignty. Case in point: Moody's threatened to lower NZ's credit rating from AA to AA-, and the government reacted by increasing GST, to 'cut debt'. It all makes no sense. Private interests increasingly control governments; and I'm not being conspiratorial here. Well, maybe a little, heh. But the IMF and other supra-national (and thus un-democratic) organisations condition loans on the basis that sovereign states follow policies of retrenchment and basically rejection of the policy that you and I support. That is a great deal of power. Hell, there's so much debt that nobody could possibly make money from loaning it.
It all sounds horrible to me. Unemployment is growing, and the government just don't seem to realise that what they're doing benefits no-one. I don't think many people would mind if Britiain got into a little bit of debt just to ensure the welfare of it's people. Look at how much debt the United States is in.
I had hoped the LibDems would be a mediating influence, not a wolf in sheep's clothing. EDIT: Maybe there is a mediating influence after all! That sounds good, but I'm sceptical it's not just a "but we did do this..." sort of game, in order to obfuscate their other changes. The fees sound horrible.
Oh, I forgot to mention that they raised the threshold for people paying income tax, something that they're probably going to hide behind. Now poor people who are slightly worse off than the poorest also don't need to pay income tax!
