Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Tonitrus]

You could probably say that of many of the UK population centers are rather gloomy.

I think all of the stone buildings/homes are really cool...but they kind of have their positive/brightening effect amplified in the summer, and negative/gloomy effect amplified in the winter.

[Valmy]

I meant that Scotland has a reputation for having high rates of depression not that it's countryside is so hideous that one wants to kill themselves.

[Sheilbh]

You could probably say that of many of the UK population centers are rather gloomy.

I think all of the stone buildings/homes are really cool...but they kind of have their positive/brightening effect amplified in the summer, and negative/gloomy effect amplified in the winter.

Yeah this is really true.

I meant that Scotland has a reputation for having high rates of depression not that it's countryside is so hideous that one wants to kill themselves.

Really? I mean they've a reputation for being dour but I didn't think of them as depressed - maybe this just sums up traditional British issues with mental health issues. "He's not depressed, he's just naturally miserable"

Edit: Although it does remind me of the iconic Rikki Fulton character the Reverend I M Jolly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cpb8rqYFd8

And can confirm that is an accurate take on many Scottish clergymen

[Syt]

Someone on Reddit said that one factor is the "Trainspotting" generation that used drugs heavily is pushing up the numbers as their bodies are giving out.

[Tamas]

Someone on Reddit said that one factor is the "Trainspotting" generation that used drugs heavily is pushing up the numbers as their bodies are giving out.

I think the Trainspotting generations' bodies are starting to give out even without drugs.

[The Larch]

Edinburgh is hands down the most elegant capital city in Europe - it can hold it's own against any pretty city in the world.

It also has miserable weather and tons of homeless people. And I'm sure that the residential areas outside the city center are not exactly elegant.

[Sheilbh]

It also has miserable weather and tons of homeless people. And I'm sure that the residential areas outside the city center are not exactly elegant.

Fair - but I don't go to Prague to schlep round the Khrushchevskaya blocks on the outskirts (actually I might for some solid brutalist Instagram content, but I shouldn't ).

[The Larch]

It also has miserable weather and tons of homeless people. And I'm sure that the residential areas outside the city center are not exactly elegant.

Fair - but I don't go to Prague to schlep round the Khrushchevskaya blocks on the outskirts (actually I might for some solid brutalist Instagram content, but I shouldn't ).

Point is, no matter how fancy the city center is, that's not enough for some people not to shoot smack to make it through the day on civic pride alone. 

[Sheilbh]

True - but I really don't think it's the environment in Scotland whether urban or natural is somehow so uniquely and unremittingly grim that the people turn to smack. Unlike in the sunny uplands of Scandinavia and the Baltics.

[The Larch]

True - but I really don't think it's the environment in Scotland whether urban or natural is somehow so uniquely and unremittingly grim that the people turn to smack. Unlike in the sunny uplands of Scandinavia and the Baltics.

Maybe alcohol related deaths and suicides could be included as well for a global vision on how life in the bleak north harms its denizens.

[Josquius]

True - but I really don't think it's the environment in Scotland whether urban or natural is somehow so uniquely and unremittingly grim that the people turn to smack. Unlike in the sunny uplands of Scandinavia and the Baltics.

.
Scandinavia has a decent social support system. It's hard to get too stuck in a poverty trap there unlike in the UK.

The baltics are a bit more surprising but I guess there in contrast to other ex ussr nations it can very definitely be seen that things are getting better and opportunities are available - they've a big tendency to move abroad chasing these.

[Sheilbh]

True - but I really don't think it's the environment in Scotland whether urban or natural is somehow so uniquely and unremittingly grim that the people turn to smack. Unlike in the sunny uplands of Scandinavia and the Baltics.

.
Scandinavia has a decent social support system. It's hard to get too stuck in a poverty trap there unlike in the UK.

The baltics are a bit more surprising but I guess there in contrast to other ex ussr nations it can very definitely be seen that things are getting better and opportunities are available - they've a big tendency to move abroad chasing these.

Yeah and  there are areas of Scotland with incredible poverty. But Scotland's one of the richest regions in the country (about equal with the South-West) so I don't fully get why their figures are so much higher than the UK as a whole which includes generally far poorer areas.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The rate in NE England (also a bit gloomy in winter and poorer than Scotland) is higher than the UK average at 95 deaths per million; but still nowhere near the Scottish rate :

https://www.drugwise.org.uk/deaths/

There has to be an additional factor.

[Richard Hakluyt]

This relates to the mystery of the "Glasgow effect". Namely, that life expectancy in Glasgow is several years lower than in the rest of the UK even after accounting for poverty, climate etc etc

https://www.gcph.co.uk/population_health_trends/life_expectancy_in_glasgow

These are almost third world figures. Greater Glasgow has at least a third of the Scottish population so this is an important contributory factor.

Anecdotally the Scottish middle class have always seemed to be far more callous towards their deprived than the English (and the English are pretty callous). Their insensitive housing schemes are perhaps a less anecdotal marker of that. I find the SNP's posture as more caring and inclusive than the English political parties as completely risible, quite a con on Scotland's poor they have going there.

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/16/brownfield-sites-prioritised-in-plan-to-build-300000-homes-a-year-in-england

"OMG teh poor might move in and my 300% gain in property value might be reduced to 280%!"

This is so fucking disgusting.

I must have told you about this thing I saw a few years ago with my own eyes. A nice big town, with an absolutely and utterly unkept, albeit seemingly originally artificial forested area. Was fugly like sin. What were even uglier though, the several giant 10-odd meters long roll-out signs with text on a black background demanding a stop to some housing project to "preserve the neighbourhood" or some such. There was clearly a vast amount of empty space they didn't care for or used, but GOD FORBID some new houses get build there.

Once the mass of renters grows beyond a critical mass these people will be fucked and the country with them.