Radical transformation is the stock description of the Scottish political landscape by protagonists of independence since before – and after – the vote on September 18 2014. But, in the second part of our first podcast, we look a bit more closely at that claim and find it wanting.
Economist David Eiser says the more fundamental issues such as poor, if not stagnant, growth in wages and the collapse of productivity have been ignored in the campaign. Social policy specialist Kirstein Rummery worries that a greater role for civil society in formulating policy will be crushed by a majority, one-party government that can, effectively, do what it likes but, nevertheless, still expects more grassroots participation over the next five years. But politics and policy specialist Paul Cairney thinks the idea of an invigorated body politic is a “hard sell.”
What do our readers think? We’d love to hear from you over the comings days and weeks. Whatever happens, change is a’comin – and we will chart it in word, sound and vision.
Finlay says
There is progressive obesity on the left and right flanks of the Scottish body politic, other than the hysterical self-indulgence generated by the simplistic yes/no question the referendum did nothing to exercise that progressive obesity.
The only political significance of the referendum maybe of Scotland’s progressive class abandoning the political shipwreck of the Labour party for the inflated Mae Wests of the SNP.