The Euro elections are over; now the EU is choosing new leaders for the next five years along wioth a new focus on industrial policy. Are you in, Scotand?
Walking with poems
The Corbenic Community in Perthshire, home to people with learning difficulties, is a special place too for poets, sculptors – and the rest of us
Euro at 20: time for reform
Post-Brexit (if/when?) the EU will undertake a big debate on how to reform the eurozone: does Scotland wish to take part?
Sturgeon’s strategic passivity
‘Certainly, the tawdry displays of English chauvinism, the ugly racist sentiments behind it, the Dad’s Army nostalgia for empire, quite apart from the liars and cheats that delivered Leave, are reason enough to stay in (and reform) Europe – and quit the rotting ship of the British unitary state before it’s too late.’
Brexit and the coming break-up of Britain
Westminster and the three devolved governments should conclude a new constitutional settlement for pooling sovereignty within the UK, with fresh powers and competences given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to control their people’s destinies. Otherwise, it will only undermine the current devolution settlement and assume even greater central powers in the name of national (UK) sovereignty’.
NHS Scotland should look to EU for funding models
‘But this is the sad truth about a would-be full European state: its references/comparisons on health issues (as at the opening First Minister’s Question Time of 2018) are always to/with England. In some cases, it borders on an obsession. At the very least, we should rather investigate how EU member states perform and what we can learn from them.’
A Scottish progressive alliance is vital
‘Certainly, if Brexit in some shape happens in March 2019 and a 20 or 24-month transition brings nothing but economic pain and social conflict along with a revived Far Right, then the ‘progressive alliance’ between Labour and SNP at least in Scotland and/or in Westminster may not just be desirable but essential to save democracy – and a lot more’.
Think again on Brexit
‘In a democracy, it is always possible to think again and to choose a different direction. We need to think again about Brexit, to have a UK-wide debate about calling a halt to the process and changing our minds.’
Standing up for Scotland in Europe
“But as good as nobody is speaking out loud for what has always been the preferred option: EU membership as an independent country on a par with Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia.” How Scotland’s GE2017 campaign is missing a golden opportunity to confound dreary Mayism.
What kind of Scotland?
“Yet we all still need to ask and find answers to these questions: is Scotland genuinely more egalitarian? How does Scotland tackle early mortality, poor health outcomes, rising poverty, educational under-achievement – and with what instruments?” This boring binary campaign ignores all these.