Realistic vision is a leap forward
Comment on White Paper by Reid Foundation Director in the Daily Record
Scottish Policy
Let’s not revisit the oil con
Nationalising Scotland’s oil is not a priority – stopping multinationals and their pals in the Treasury fleecing us again in the renewables field as they did in oil is: Robin McAlpine’s article from today’s Scotsman
A New Economic Model for Scotland
Robin Hahnel and Gar Alperovitz are two of the major figures in the New Economic movement in the US. We are very lucky to have them writing on the Common Weal and Scotland’s economic future – from today’s Sunday Herald
A post-stone age economy
A teaser from the Scottish Left Review which will be out next week. Jim Mather argues that the model of financialised capitalism has very clearly failed to address the ‘Common Weal’ either in terms of shared wealth or economy security. A new approach is needed.
Welfare state of mind
My Scotsman article – Political leaders and their parties have to be told to stop parroting what the plutocrats want them to say and start doing what the people who elected them told them to
Economy plan chained by convention
Belatedly – my piece in The Scotsman the Scottish Government economic paper: The SNP’s plan, while recognising some of what not to do, seems to include repeating the mistakes that caused the economic crisis in the first place
Farage debacle a chill wind for Scottish politics
The response to a protest against an anti-immigration, xenophobic political party has been as hard to believe as it has been distorted. The impact on Scottish politics is alarming.
Read More »Farage debacle a chill wind for Scottish politics
The difference between disclosure and transparency
Disclosure is telling facts; transparency is telling facts with the expectation that you will be held to account. Why does Better Together not seem to know the difference?
Read More »The difference between disclosure and transparency
Inquiries and the deformed state
The British State’s attitude to inquiries is like the Hapsburg’s attitude to marriage – who cares if the outcome is deformity and an inability to function properly. So long as we don’t let outsiders meddle in our affairs we’ll still be Kings of the World., even if we can’t see and our fragile skeleton will no longer sustain our weight.
Selling an island’s future for £2,000 is a Ministerial responsibility
The people of Raasay loose the right to exploit their own resources for £2,000. New Public Management allows officials to run society without political interference – but only if Ministers refuse to interfere.
Read More »Selling an island’s future for £2,000 is a Ministerial responsibility