Scotland - another fail

I don't know how we get by day to day in Scotland. We're so incompetent. Our health service is a shambles, education is a mess, crime is out of control, the government is in a constant state of crisis. How do I know this? Well, most political parties, TV, radio and almost all the newspapers tell me so.

And all this despite the fact Scotland is subsidised to the tune of billions of pounds a year by Westminster.

Except none of it is true. If you imagine working in the NHS means you go to work every day trying not to listen to the constant criticism of your work, of course that's not what happens. You go to work to do the job you were trained for, make the best of the conditions you work in, look after your patients and your colleagues and go home after your shift - knackered. And do it all again the next day.

Same with teachers and police officers. That's why so many young people go on from school to university in Scotland. It's why the crime rate in Scotland has been falling for the last decade.

'Public servants' knock their pan in on a daily basis. And still we're told by the media that they are workshy wasters, pushing bits of paper around a desk.

I'm also not sure the Scottish Government is in state of crisis. If they are, they're keeping it very quiet. I'm more inclined to believe that the people who work in Holyrood spend a lot of time trying to compensate for the austerity policy imposed on us by the Tories in Westminster.

As for being subsidised by Westminster, I have a few questions:

- If Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the UK, why is our infrastructure so awful? There's a long list of roads, bridges. airports and tunnels that need to be built or improved to make communication better here. We've had this list for about 50 years now and it's not going down much.

- If we're such a financial burden, why doesn't Westminster cut us loose? The UK is in a bad way right now. so it would make sense to cut off Scotland if it's so expensive. And, please, don't tell me subsidising Scotland is an act of charity by Westminster. I've seen charity and it looks nothing like what goes on in the UK government.

- Am I wrong in thinking I've seen a video in which a Tory admitted there was no subsidy to Scotland? Of course I'm not. In Scotland, we've also done our own sums and we know Scotland probably subsidises the UK, although the figures and how they are presented (by Westminster) keep changing so it's hard to pin it down to exactly by how much.

- If I say wind power, wave power, oil, gas, whisky, beef, technology - does it still sound like my heid buttons up the back? We know exactly what Scotland has going for it as a country.

It's worth remembering a few facts of life in the 21st century: politicians tell lies. Some are better than that: they are just economical with the truth or inclined to slant the truth to suit them. The media - especially the BBC, STV and newspapers printed in Scotland - depend on the public services for stories. That doesn't mean they present them well or fairly. In fact, a lot of the time the media leap on stories like ravening beasts, chuck a few adjectives around - and then, damage done, they move on.

I'm not SNP. I'm a Scottish Green. We operate to a set of principles like equality, justice, the environment, etc - and right now ideas vital to the future of our children and grandchildren are being lost in the anti-SNP approach of Westminster, Unionist parties, and the media. Holyrood also loses sight of big issues - like housing, looking after the sick and mentally ill, better care services for the elderly - because it is forced to constantly defend itself against the trash talk we're exposed to all the time at the moment.

It would certainly help if political parties and the media stopped using words like 'clash' and 'battle' to describe what's going on in the public services.

It's worth remembering: we're all dependent on public services. They care for us in hospital, educate our kids, patrol our streets, staff our libraries, empty our bins.

Love them or lose them.