At the start of general election year a leading Scottish trade unionist and policy wonk reflects on the industrial strategy challenges facing both SNP and Labour.
Lessons from the Edinburgh schools fiasco
Nicola Sturgeon has called for an inquiry into the Edinburgh school closures and the PFI scheme behind it is under renewed scrutiny. Here Unison’s senior Scottish official, a long-time PFI/PPP opponent, looks at why things went so badly wrong.
That £350m Anglian Water contract: what lies behind it
The Scottish Government has finally (see Lucy Hunter Blackburn here) decided to award a £350m contract to run aspects of the provision of water to public bodies/non-domestic customers to Anglian Water, a controversial privately-owned firm based in Huntingdon. The decision has unleashed a storm of protest – not least because ministers are NOT bound b y EU rules as they claim.