‘Fiscal responsibility is the flip side of fiscal autonomy. Those who argue for more money from the Scottish Government without proposing new powers for local government to raise own revenue are also playing a blame game.’ First in a series on centralisation/local autonomy
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Politics

The parochialism of the present
‘Revisiting our educational history might encourage us to question some of the prevailing orthodoxies of our time…Perhaps we should ask why there are no comparable radical voices in Scottish education today.’

Citizen’s assembly to break Brexit deadlock?
We should not imagine that they could magic away all the current quandaries over Brexit. But they could play several important roles in clarifying options, reflecting on solutions, overcoming division, and reinvigorating democracy in the UK.

P1 tests – first green shoots of recovery for Scottish education?
A Nordic-style kindergarten stage is the only way currently available of connecting all Scotland’s children with their evolutionary heritage. And, who knows, it might also help get Curriculum for Excellence back on track.

UK’s remarkable energy transition
Looking to 2019, with more renewable capacity being installed, it is possible that solar could overtake coal, and renewables could generate more than nuclear for every single month. They could also generate more than coal and gas combined over a month for the first ever time.
Culture

Best Scottish Poetry offers escape to reality
Claire Askew’s delightful poem, is it escape or reality? Thanks to the noxious ill wind of Brexit, it seems, there’s a new demand for words with meaning, or meaningful ambiguity. Where better to find it than Best Scottish Poetry.

George Square 1919: no real revolutionary threat?
‘Yet while many continue to play up the revolutionary aspect today, there is no evidence it was anything more than a legitimate demonstration.’

Syrian, Scottish, British
‘I knew I was a citizen when I lost sleep over Brexit, full of regret at not being able to vote. I knew I belonged when I held my baby boy for the first time in a maternity ward in Edinburgh, and when he said his first English word.’

Open up: the emotional museum
What better time could there be to explore what shapes our identities? Fay Young goes in search of the emotional museum
Latest blog posts
Brexit’s multi-billion hit on Scotland’s economy
‘All of these assumptions are necessarily educated guesswork. Add all the ‘worst case’ scenarios for each of these elements and you end up with an economy that shrinks by an eye-watering £11bn figure.’
So sorry, England
‘Even if Scotland cannot now save the UK from Brexit, it could still enable the UK Government to proceed with its existing EU deal but at a price.’
Sex and gender identity in the 2021 Census
By Kath Murray Lucy Hunter Blackburn Lisa Mackenzie Leave a Comment
“Given where we are, we think the most appropriate and pragmatic response would be to recognise that both sex and gender or lived identity may be relevant to people‘s lived experiences.”
A question of trust
Auditors in England are under the cosh while the Scottish public audit model wins plaudits. But no room for complacency argues the Auditor General for Scotland