“If the fiscal shortfall were only a few billion then fair enough, it’s not that important and we can deal with it when it arises, but not when it’s around £14-18bn. Facing up to it post-independence, when no real thought has gone into how it might be achieved, would be a massive challenge and potentially highly divisive across society.”
Blog
GERS 25: making Scotland pay for Starmer’s wars
The latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report, GERS, came out this week. Within it lies a fiscal trap that will hit Scotland in future years as the UK ramps up spending on the military.
Make it happen: Fred the Shred goes head to head with Adam Smith
Two Scottish financial journalists go to the Festival Theatre to review James Graham’s Make it happen and emerge three hours later deeply unimpressed…
Forget Trump: ‘Everybody loves the sunshine’
A wee tribute to American musician Roy Ayers who blows the dark Trumpian clouds away with one song…
Starmer Y1: what now for Scotland and a fractured union?
“Labour’s hopes, when it won the general election, to be in government in England, Wales and Scotland by 2026 currently look off the agenda, not to say absurd. A fractured Labour government and parliamentary party is not well positioned to think about the fractured union that it claims to govern. And a UK government focused on England looks set to continue doing so.”
Why Israel won’t stick to any ceasefire in Gaza/Iran brokered by Trump
“..a core issue for Netanyahu is that his three war aims simply have not been achieved; the theocratic Iranian regime has not collapsed, its nuclear programme can readily be resurrected, and Hamas has survived. All of this means that Israel is likely willing to strike Iran again, already intends to maintain its control of Iranian airspace for months and probably years, and is intensifying its operations in Gaza at a terrible cost to Palestinians.”
Make Europe Great Again
Ultra-conservative central European thinkers among others are joining forces with MAGA protagonists to work for the break-up of the EU as we know it
The spending rollercoaster is well and truly back
The Scottish Government says it and Scotland have been “short-changed” by Rachel Reeves but what does the Spending Review mean for us really?
Scottish paradox: a £704m boom on a foundation of sand
“The most striking disparity is gender. For every £100 of investment capital distributed in Scotland last year, a colossal £87 was captured by businesses run by men, who secured 75% of all deals….The disparities highlighted in this report, particularly the concentration of capital in a handful of typically male-led, later-stage ventures and urban centres, risk stifling the very dynamism a healthy start-up ecosystem depends on.”
Are Scotland’s ferries too cheap?
Subsidising tourists to ship their vehicles to the isles is not a good use of public funds