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England's problem



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Professor JP Duguid (Letters, 15 July) states: "The UK has over twice as many people as its space and natural resources can sustain with a fair quality of life." As he should know, these are not problems from which Scotland suffers, but, being saddled as part of the UK, we are sucked into this kind of national misrepresentation.
The problem the professor refers to, in a UK context, relates to England per se. The UK consists of four nations and not all of them are overcrowded and resource-poor. Let's get our facts straight and stop confusing the UK and Britain with England.

WILLIAM C McLAUGHLIN
Stonehill Road
Biggar, Lanarkshire



The full article contains 112 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 22 July 2008 8:42 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Hugh V McLachlan,

Elderslie 23/07/2008 00:21:52
'The problem the professor refers to, in a UK context, relates to England per se.'

Nonsense, it relates to the UK per se whether or not it all applies to England per se. It does not apply to all parts of the UK nor to all parts of England. It applies to some parts of Scotland and to the UK as such.
2

Hugh V McLachlan,

Johnstone 23/07/2008 00:23:41
#1

Sorry. I should have typed: '...it relates to the UK per se whether or not it also applies to ...'
3

Upbeat,

23/07/2008 08:43:34
The letter writer -in pointing up the professor's remarks would appear to presuppose that population density is a primary and important economic indicator.

It is not.

Some of the most successful economies in the world have few resources, but a very high level of economic activity takes place there . This is reflected in high population densities.

Macau is the top of the list worldwide with a density of 18,400 per sq km. By comparison Singapore has around 6.5 thousand , Hong Kong slightly less. Even in Europe such places as Monaco ( 16.7 thousand/km2) do not suffer adverse economic standards due to population density. Closer to home one of the most economically active and successful European countries..the Netherlands ...is well down the list at around 400 per sq km. - a population density far higher than any other developed nation of comparible size. The UK as a whole has just less than 300 per sq km.

While the split between Scotland and the rest of the UK was not revealed by these UN stats from 2004/5 (used above) the notion that population density on its own is a vital economic indicator is shown to be irrelevant to economic success ...or the lack of it.
4

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 23/07/2008 08:54:42
1 + 2# Asylum seekers and immigrants set off to travel to ENGLAND, and for the vast majority, the state title the United Kingdom means absolutely nothing to them.

The country they are bound for is England and certainly not any of the other Home Nations.

After arriving in England these immigrants then discover that this country is in fact a unitary state and drift northwards and westwards. Only small numbers of immigrants have settled in ther Celtic Nations.

However, it is beyond doubt that England is the main destination for the mass of immigrants to the UK.

For 3 years before the French authorities closed Sangatte immigration centre near Calais the BBC and ITN regularly carried items on the news about the thousands of immigrants who were ENGLAND bound. Many of these immigrants were interviewed, and the only destination for them was ENGLAND!

Since the 1950s when the first wave of immigrants arrived in the United Kingdom, in comparison to the Celtic Nations, the vast bulk of them have all settled in the North, West, and South-East of ENGLAND.

In comparison to the static population of Scotland, England's has soared in the past 60 years.
5

Hugh V McLachlan,

Elderslie 23/07/2008 09:17:24
#4 Mr. Lachie Todd

'1 + 2# Asylum seekers and immigrants set off to travel to ENGLAND, and for the vast majority, the state title the United Kingdom means absolutely nothing to them.'

So what? I do not understand the relevance of your remark with regard to the statistical point at issue.
6

Darien,

Panama 23/07/2008 10:16:42
#5 The point is, its not Scotland's problem. The downside is we can't control any overflow very well, if at all. Another Union Dividend (not) I suppose you might call it.
7

Scallywag,

Edinburgh 23/07/2008 10:53:49
Well said Lachie.

A prime example is Jamacian born John Barnes turning down approaches from Jock Stein & Scotland in favour for England.

Anyway was it not P.J O'Rourke who calculated that if the worlds poplutation were housed in the same density as Manhattan Island we could all fit in a space the size of the former Yugoslavia!!
8

StuartAD,

West Lothian 23/07/2008 11:00:21
We are over populated in some areas of the United Kingdom, Who would wish to come to a country which has weather as driech as ours? The English are obviously to blame.
Small wonder then that the housing market cannot cope,
We must be the only country in Europe who does not like High Rise flats. The problem is not the high rise but the people who mis-use them. Must be the fault of the E......
9

Jack Houston,

Renfrewshire 23/07/2008 19:18:35
Well, the first post here hit the nail on the head: this letter was entirely without logic of any kind. Indeed, I'd be inclined to guess that it's simply another typically blinkered piece of nationalist nonsense.

 

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