Quote Originally Posted by IAN 2411 View Post
I think that could be swings and roundabouts...I think it is what is given to all people throughout the UK for National Health contributions....Each Surgery in England, Scotland, and Wales receives that per head per week for drugs, equipment and doctors.
So it's not what "England gives Scotland," it's what the state pays for the health service, which is a completely different thing. The question is whether Scotland's tax revenues could support an independent Scots state, and I'm certainly not enough of an expert to make a guess at that; even an expert could only make a guess, because even an incumbent government can't be sure the books will balance next year.
I don't think the UK will ever get rid of nuclear subs, there is far to much unrest in the middle east.
And nuclear subs against Al-Qaeda are as much use as an AK47 against killer bees. Their uselessness in anything but an Armagedon war with the USSR was demonstrated way back in the Falklands war, when we had a Trident sub down in the South Atlantic, and all it could do was skulk around being the most expensive recon vehicle in the Navy. We only keep them now because the Tory backwoodsmen regard them as our last proof of greatness.