The city of Edinburgh…..
The Athens of Northern Europe whose skyline is dominated by its castle which is situated at the Heart of this Capital city of Scotland.
A dynamic prosperous city steeped in History which leads the way in many different fields of Science,Medicine and the Arts,home of the world-famous Edinburgh Festival and Hogmanay celebrations.
Edinburgh is Populated by a wide demographic of people from many different backgrounds and home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood near the Old Palace at the foot of the Royal Mile.
The city of westminster
A small city within a city whose main feature is its financial district with a skyline that is Dominated by a big wheel and a clock called Ben.Westminster is a prosperous city which is also steeped in History who have led the field in Capitalism and making money from Imperial Exploits overseas.Home to Buckingham palace;The Queen and her cousin Dave in number 10 Downing street;Not to mention (many many) corgis.Westminster is populated by a small demographic from Wealthy backgrounds or members of the establishment and home to the House of Commons where most of the Laws of the land are made.
Sound quite similar in certain ways don’t they?
Well they both have wealth,Palaces ,Parliaments and lead the way in certain fields so they must be similar right?
Wrong im afraid because even though these two cities share similarities that’s where it ends if you look at the two cities in greater detail,the differences are even more apparent if you look at their policies and how they see their electorate.
Holyrood is interested in the well-being of the people under its Governance and it believes that the needs of the many outweigh the desires of the few,where as Westminster has no such conscience about the citizens under its Governance and believes in a Profit before people political system where cash is king first and foremost
Some might say that im being a bit harsh on Westminster,but I put it to you that im not being hard enough on Westminster if we put it under the microscope and judge its Governance on merit.
Let’s start with the basic factor of their voting systems and how representative they are to the people who live under each system.Firstly we have the first past the post system which is outdated and Very South centric on the way it was formed and the reasoning behind it,next we have Holyrood who use proportional representation which means the vote is far more representative in its design and actually means every single vote actually has meaning.
Nothing shows the difference of the two Parliaments by their most recent actions on state-owned services in each of their respective Nations and how the respectively deal with these matters.
This week Westminster Privatised the Royal Mail at a ridiculously low price costing thousands of Jobs and no doubt making a lot of money for certain institutions in the process,even more incredulous is that the share price rose by 38% in 24 hours which shows it was a profiteering exercise for the benefit of making profit whilst placing the good of the public and Royal Mail workers as an afterthought to say the least.
On the other hand we have Holyrood taking Prestwick Airport back into public ownership saving 1400 jobs and no doubt adding another jewel into Scotland’s crown,even better it’s the longest civilian runway in Scotland so it opens Scotland up to many possibilities with freight and long haul from the middle east and Russia.I will also add that its the only Airport in Scotland with a direct Rail route so it opens up Prestwick to be a hub for a whole swathe of tourists who in turn spend their money in our shops and services and create wealth in society.
A true policy which puts the benefits of the many before the greed of the few.
Then we have the National Health service which is another fine example of the difference between Edinburgh and Westminster Politics if you compare the Westminster system to Holyroods on the health of its citizens.
Westminster’s system is relying more on the private sector which tells me that in a few years there wont be a NHS in England,or at least nothing that we will recognise as a Universal Healthcare System.Which can only br described as another example of a profit before people system in an area where money should never be an issue ever if people’s health and well-being is in the equation.
Now in comparison look at the Scottish NHS which is still fully publicly owned as Bevan set it out to be with a free at the point of use for everyone no matter the cost.Not only that but if you call an ambulance in Scotland you will get one staffed with fully trained paramedics,unlike under Westminster where you will get the privatised model of two unskilled medics with 3 weeks training?
Lest we forget that under Holyrood you get free prescriptions which is another sign of a healthy society who care for their ill and disabled however they can,and another sign of people first policies from the Edinburgh System under Holyrood.
Even when we talk about basic necessities like Social security and a fair days pay they have conflicting ideas on how people should be treated in employment,or out of work due to Illness and other factors out of the individuals control.
The westminster system is to have its citizens either on minimum wage “zero hours” contracts or on the forced labour “workfare” program(Im struggling to see the Fair part mind)for your Social security which is basically modern slavery if we are going to be grammatically correct about the heinous policy.
Not only that but the Westminster system enacts capricious policies like the bedroomtax which focuses almost entirely on the disabled and ill,and if that isn’t enough the westminster system systematically humiliates our disabled and ill by sending them to an IT company called Atos to be judged(inaccurately as designed)whether they are worthy of their Social security annually.
On the other hand we have the Holyrood system and the way they would treat their citizens if they had full control of their own destiny as an Independent Nation,and how they would deal with Social security and the wealth of its citizens post 2014.
Then we can look at how Holyrood plan to deal with issues like a “fair days pay” and zero hour contracts if there is a Yes vote next year at the referendum.If the SNP had full control of the Nations wealth they would commit to making sure everyone is getting a living wage and policies like workfare,ATOS and the capricious bedroomtax would be scrapped with immediate effect.
I don’t know about you but I prefer the Holyrood system before the Westminster system due to its belief that People are the priority,and not how much that person is worth by the size of their bank balance or what bloodline they might be born into.
THE END(Unless it isn’t)
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