Benefits of the United Kingdom

Being part of the United Kingdom has many benefits. The Royal Navy has spend billions building  new ships on the Clyde. These provide highly skilled jobs for many Scottish businesses. If we became a separate country these contracts would no longer come to us.

If we go ahead with Scottish Independence the consequences for us are going to be enormously disruptive. Every aspect of our relationship with Britain will have to be renegotiated. For example the whole benefits system will change. Anyone on benefits will no longer get them from DWP, as that is a UK Department. The whole renegotiation will take years, probably decades. During that time the interuption to government will be huge. Anyone looking to get anything done for them will find that civil servants will be tied up in negotiations.Everything from our TV licence to our driving licence will change because they are organised by British Departments. We will have to get a new passport, the list is endless. I know how frustrating it can be to get a passport. Can you imagine the chaos that is going to follow independence.

Assisted Suicide

Opponents of the Assisted Suicide Bill say that elderly people will be coerced into assisted suicide. I looked after my mum in a care home for three years. I witnessed many deaths, but I never saw a family that wanted their loved on to die, on the contrary, they did all they could to keep them alive.
The safeguards in the bill will mean that only those people who really want as assisted suicide will qualify. The person has to make two written applications and take the medicine themselves. When you consider that the person will be very ill and probably in a lot of pain, that will be a considerable task.

Assisted Suicide Bill

Assisted Suicide Bill

Margo MacDonald's Assisted suicide bill is going through the Scottish Parliament. This bill will allow people suffering terminal illness to die with dignity. I strongly believe this right should be given to people who are suffering chronic pain. If your life has become intolerable you should have the right to end it. Treatment for chronic pain in this country is almost non-existent. There is one little pain clinic hidden away at Stobhill hospital with one consultant and waiting lists of almost a year. Doctors have almost no understanding and little interest in chronic pain. Sufferers are treated like third class citizens.
 Opponents of the bill believe life is sacred and we have no right to decide ourselves. If you have watched loved ones die you will know that it can be a terrible thing to suffer so much. Painkillers have very unpleasant side effects, and in many cases they have almost no effect. Religious groups are lobbying MSPs against the bill, they believe life is not ours but belongs to some god. They think that suffering is some essential part of life. When you look at the world, religion has caused untold suffering.Many wars have been fought in the name of god.

Glasgow pain clinic

Suffering from chronic pain as I am, I was referred to the Glasgow Pain Clinic. It demonstrates how little the NHS thinks about pain sufferers. The clinic is one Consultant . He did nothing for me. All he could do was talk and tell me how little doctors know about pain. He referred me to a physiotherapist. All she did was take down my details and told me to continue doing the exercises I currently do.
You are treated as a second class citizen if you have the audacity to suffer from chronic pain.