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Sceptical Scot

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Ray Perman

About Ray Perman

As a journalist Ray Perman worked for 30 years on newspapers including The Times, the Financial Times and the Scotsman. He has also worked as an editor and publisher and written thee books, including Hubris: how HBOS wrecked the best bank in Britain (2012), The Rise and Fall of the City of Money (2019) – and The Man Who Gave Away His Island (2010)

Bankers ignore lessons of the past

January 15, 2020 by Ray Perman Leave a Comment

‘The ruin of the City of Glasgow Bank was the biggest collapse in British banking history – until 2008. Its story contains salutary lessons for bankers in any age…

Rejoin the Sea League and save the seabed

January 9, 2020 by Ray Perman 1 Comment

‘The Our Seas coalition is, once again, a renewed opportunity to protect a precious and fragile environment. But campaigners will need the energy, vision and determination of John Campbell. And that means never letting go.’

Scots pound has a past… but a future?

April 30, 2019 by Ray Perman 4 Comments

Old Scots coins from the reign of James V1: CC BY-SA 3.0

An independent Scotland could find a new dynamism which would improve its economic performance. But not overnight. A new currency would almost certainly start at a discount to sterling.

Lloyd’s losses paid by ‘mass casualties’

September 24, 2018 by Ray Perman 1 Comment

In the final extract from Hubris: How HBOS Wrecked the Best Bank in Britain, Ray Perman counts the costs – born by the mass casualties who were (and still are) the casualties of the world’s worst financial crash. And what happened to those at the top?

How Lloyds swallowed HBOS hook, line and sinker

September 19, 2018 by Ray Perman 3 Comments

‘I think the deal stinks’ said one Lloyds shareholder. ‘A lot of people will lose their jobs’, said the former Bank of Scotland CEO. No-one foresaw the full and lasting cost of Lloyds rushed takeover of HBOS in September 2008.

Life savings lost in HBOS crash – Apocalypse Now: Part 2

September 10, 2018 by Ray Perman 1 Comment

Who has paid the cost in the HBOS crash? Inside HBOS, staff earning £15,000 -£18,000, who were also shareholders, were watching their savings evaporate. Ray Perman continues the story of a banking disaster unresolved to this day.

Apocalypse now and then…ten years after HBOS crash

September 7, 2018 by Ray Perman 10 Comments

A wet Bank of Scotland £5 note

The events leading up to the crash began in New York, 7 September 2008. A week later the shock waves engulfed Scotland’s oldest bank in Edinburgh.

Growth commission: an answer to the wrong question?

May 28, 2018 by Ray Perman 2 Comments

The SNP hopes its Sustainable Growth Commission report will restart the national debate on independence? Richard Murphy describes it as disastrous, the Fraser of Allander Institute sees much for all parties to discuss (with or without independence in mind). Ray Perman thinks it will be forgotten fairly quickly.

Red Queen policymaking

September 11, 2017 by Ray Perman Leave a Comment

Red Queen mural, image by wiredforlego CC By-NC 2.0

The Programme for Government is full of detailed initiatives to support and encourage everything from manufacturing in the West Highlands to tourism in Ayrshire. Mostly it is a description of what is already being done, but where’s the evidence for what works, asks a former government adviser.

Goodbye from her…and me

September 1, 2017 by Ray Perman Leave a Comment

“Truth springs from argument among friends,” is often attributed to Hume, although it doesn’t appear in his writings. As long as it doesn’t count as a slogan or a soundbite, I’m happy to subscribe to it. The former David Hume Institute director says au revoir…as a happy sceptic to the end.

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