The issue of which currency an independent Scotland would adopt has gone on the back-burner. But with a new poll showing 58% support for indy it deserves to move to the front…Economist/statistician Richard Marsh urges a wider debate.
Bringing the future into the present: the Covid food crisis
During pandemic times all four pillars of food security are challenged as domino effects and blockages, compounded by Brexit and the climate emergency, disrupt processes at different points of the supply chain.
Scotland must look to Europe
Now that Johnson has reverted to talking of No Deal/WTO terms, is it time for Scotland to strike out on its own in relations with the EU (and the wider world)?
The disappearing act
‘Faced with Westminster’s constitutional tinkering, independence may well appeal precisely because it looks less like a radical departure and more a restoration of sanity and normality—a factory reset rather than a clean slate’
Mythologising modernism
‘This is not the model of capitalism envisaged by Adam Smith, that beautiful smooth-running machine with its assumptions of benign reciprocity between an industrialist and a workforce. It is, rather, an unfettered Hobbesian monster, not unlike the rampant and exploitative mercantilism which Smith (a proto-social psychologist, as well as economic theorist) sought to discredit.’ First of three in a series on Edinburgh’s architecture…
The shadow in the corner: Margaret Fay Shaw
Folklorist and photographer Margaret Fay Shaw captured disappearing ways of island life. Her shadow appears in many of her photographs. Was this a deliberate self-portrait or an accident? asks the Canna House archivist
We need a vaccine
‘It looks as though outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 will be a fact of life for some time to come, but “learning to live with the virus” should not mean letting it infect large numbers of people. The plan should be to make sure that very few people get infected so that new outbreaks are small and rare.’
Why are we waiting?
‘There is no win for Johnson in going for a hard Brexit. How he u-turns remains to be seen. But he is the artist of the political pirouette and has never been faithful to a policy, or belief other than his own advancement in three decades of political activism. The majority of Tory (and other MPs) plus public and press opinion would welcome a compromise deal..’
Germany’s miles better…
‘Germany, even if one goes as far back as Bismarck and 1871, is a relatively young country and, in its latest iteration, highly attractive to a lot of Europe’s youth. It does offer, then, a model for any nascent Scottish republic: open, tolerant, European, nationalist in a civic, secular sense. But, as its friends, including Kampfner, acknowledge, it faces significant challenges now and in future.’
Recovery? what recovery?
‘Both governments have a responsibility. Yes, the Scottish Government needs to be much more open about the financial scenarios it faces. But the UK Government needs to have a much greater appreciation of the knock-on impact of its decisions, such as the cancellation of the Autumn Budget, on devolved policymaking. Devolution shouldn’t be seen as an afterthought.’ (Graeme Roy)