Rural Pamphlet Cover

It is available for £2.

To see a sample of the content read the article by Colin Turbett on the SSP website.

Behind the rural idyll

Scotland’s countryside may be an ideal holiday destination or second home location, but behind the glorious scenery is a story of inglorious poverty and despair.

For the people who live there, rural life can be rife with problems, from scant housing to social alienation, dying communities to disappearing amenities.

Official figures reveal that hits rock bottom in picture-postcard Dumfries and Galloway, and that other indicators of poverty and inequality feature commonly in rural areas: low income and chronic ill-health for pensioners, and mortality rates for under-65s.

The Highlands have been described as the suicide capital of Europe.

The population is ageing, a trend likely to increase with the onset of recession and the hemorrhaging of younger people to the cities, and health and social services for older people are being slashed because of never-ending rounds of public spending cuts.

Continues on SSP website.