Potential visitors - North Americans in particular - before they arrive, deserve to be told the following facts, not to dissuade them from coming but simply so that they can budget adequately for their visit and know how lucky they are to be living and working in the USA or Canada, compared to the UK. When they complain about the cost of gasoline (petrol) being US$3 or more per gallon back home, they will not appreciate having to pay over US$10 a gallon here.
Overall, as the figures below reveal, the cost of living in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is 260% higher than it is in the USA. In the northern Highlands of Scotland, it is 275% higher.
Sadly, none of the British, English, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh tourism websites give any of the information below.
In late March 2008, Alex Salmond, Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and First Minister of Scotland, flew to the USA then Canada with other officials of his government, to lead Scotland Week activities in Boston, Virginia, Washington and New York. Senior SNP Cabinet members (Ministers) went to seven cities in the USA and Canada. Their visit culminated with a Tartan Day parade on April 5 on 6th Avenue in New York headed by the First Minister.
Scotland Week used to be known as Tartan Week but it seems many Americans are confused about what a tartan means.
Things Scottish Ministers visiting the USA and Canada won't reveal:
| Average costs (all converted to US$) | USA | In UK |
| A good steak dinner at a well-known medium priced restaurant (eg Applebees or Red Lobster in USA) | US$ 9.95 | US$ 31. Why? Mostly because of the cost of petrol (gasoline, see below) and its repercussions. |
| Glass of wine | US$ 2.50 | US$ 9.20 |
| Annual cost of a per-household Government TV license, without which it is illegal to have any televisions on the house. See below) | Not applicable/ free | US$273 pa |
| Annual licensing cost of a Jeep 4x4 automobile, averaged by state | US$ 120 | US$820 pa |
| Annual licensing of an automatic transmission 4 door 4 cylinder car | US$ 80 | US$ 350 See Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) |
| Gallon of gasoline (petrol) prices | US$ 3 | US$10.30 (US$10.70 in the Highlands of Scotland, of which more than 65% is tax). Only Norway has higher prices, but roads there are 300% better than in UK, with far less risks to tourists. The UK's taxation rates on petrol are obscene, government profiteering on a huge scale, the main reason why parts some parts are so backward, so little populated and have such bad or single-track roads such as in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is totally obscene to travelers from the USA and Canada that a tiny, 21 square mile island like Bermuda, 700 miles from the nearest mainland, can have a lower price on petrol (gasoline) than the UK in general and Highlands and Islands of Scotland in particular. It is seen as a massive indictment of the present and past Scottish and UK governments, the biggest by far single reason for the lack of tourism infrastructure and exorbitant pricing for everything relating to tourism, commerce and industry in those parts of the UK. |
| Bus transportation prices | US$ 0.10c a mile | US$0.80 a mile |
| Train transportation prices | US$ 0.12c a mile | US$ 0.95 a mile, most expensive in Europe by far |
| House prices (average) | US$ 180,000 | US$ 290,000 in Scotland, US$ 394,142 in rest of UK |
| Car prices (average) | Up to nearly three times more than in USA. For example, a 2008 Honda Accord 2.4i that costs $19,000 new in USA costs more than £25,000 ($50,000) in UK. | |
| Water (household drinking) | US$87.60 on average, annually, per single family household | £379.53 or US$ 759.06 annually, based on Scottish Water's 2008-2009 figures for a Band D house |
There are many others.
About 75% of the price we Scots, plus all the UK's residents and tourists pay for our whisky is a UK Government tax. All in all, whenever we have visitors from America or Canada, we and they spend 75% of their hard-earned money purely on our taxes. We are being taxed to death. We have not yet learnt any of the lessons from Britain's disastrous war with the USA of 1776.
In the UK, the
Government, not the BBC, sets an annual licensing fee per household - not per
house - of £139.50 (US$279) from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009), as with only the over 75-year olds exempted and with huge
fines of £1,000 ($2,000) to anyone who flouts the law. The cost to individual
and non-commercial households and consumers is the same as those paid by UK
business which are small hotels, bed and breakfasts, etc. and have many more TVs
per household. This licence is paid only to the BBC for its television
and radio programming, not to other television or radio providers.
TV-detecting vans police the country, to trace TV owners who have not paid. The
cost of the TV licence is the highest by in
How many miles you can travel for US$20 (UK£10). As can be seen from the figures below, the costs to residents and tourists of taking a train anywhere in Britain is the highest in the world, by far. The current cost per mile in the UK is US$ 0.95 a mile. This translates as follows:
Latvia 663
Estonia 361
Poland 320
Hungary 283
Slovakia 263
Czech Republic 245
Italy 226
Romania 184
Austria 129
Portugal 124
Finland 107
France 102
Netherlands 99
Spain 94
Belgium 77
Sweden 67
Switzerland 66
Germany 56
Norway 50
Denmark 50
Ireland 44
Britain 29.45
Source, Daily Telegraph from March 31, 2007
Water
Written and researched by
Keith A.
Forbes, at keithaforbes@btinternet.com.
© 2008. Revised: May 12, 2008
