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
Scottish Policy
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
Poverty isn’t a rebranding opportunity
Scottish Labour is suddenly all about poverty, but it looks more like a means to attack the SNP than a realisation of past errors. Credibility comes from action, not PR.
Before we choose a country, SNP must choose a continent
It is time the SNP accepted it has to resolve the glaring contradictions in its emerging vision for Scotland. That means Nicola Sturgeon has to take control of economic policy.
Read More »Before we choose a country, SNP must choose a continent
A week of distortion and no-one to defend us
Distortions, lies, manipulations – another week in corporate PR, another week with no-one ready to fight back on behalf of the wider population.
Some thoughts on the First Minister’s lecture
Last night First Minister Alex Salmond gave the inaugural Jimmy Reid Memorial Lecture on the theme ‘Addressing Alienation: the opportunity of independence’. These are a few thoughts on what he said.