‘If subsidizing a rich US corporation amounted to an abuse of Scottish revenues, arguably it is even more serious that the government and local council forfeited their impartiality as planning authorities by buying into TIAA’s deal. They may even have breached EU State Aid rules..’
Housing
Agenda: end rough sleeping crisis
‘we must hope that … investment of public resource is directed toward what is known to be effective: rapid access to affordable housing together with person-centred support that is available for as long as it is needed.’
Drugs, poverty and entertainment
Why are there so many deaths from drugs in Scotland? We know all the standard answers but maybe, too, the creative sector has a part to play? Part One of two
The tangled history of Edinburgh St James
‘So St. James Square remained the province of a handful of small businesses and workshops and 3,700 or so of Edinburgh’s lower orders and their exploitative, ever-neglectful landlords. The long decline of James Craig’s tenement buildings continued. Rack followed ruin and ruin begat rack.’
Help to build – with Scottish taxpayers’ cash
Confidential document from housing industry lobby group reveals underspent funds will be spent on the controversial Help-to-Buy scheme
Tackling Scotland’s poverty crisis
‘When the UK government reneged on the Child Poverty Act 2010 with its goal of eradicating child poverty in the UK by 2020, Scotland dissented and set about introducing an equivalent goal for Scotland.’
Solving housing crisis means fixing broken land economy
The long term-aim must be to return to a society where houses are viewed as somewhere to live, not as vehicles for accumulating wealth. This can’t happen overnight, and it won’t be easy. The task involves taking on the unholy alliance of private developers, banks and – most difficult of all – ordinary homeowners, many of whom now view ever rising house prices as normal and just.
Regeneration: promise or threat to city vitality?
‘How often are citizens actively included in the decision-making? For Haringey, read those parts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and every other vibrant city that attracts the developers’ eye’. Fay Young on the key urban question: how can people reclaim the city landscape?
Advice For Our Times: art meets social service
Advice For Our Times, a pop up event at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery on Thursday 8 February, highlights gaps in advice, support and social services for people suffering adversity of many different kinds.
Poverty Safari and the Glasgow Effect
‘Required reading for all those engaged in the fight against poverty’, Gordon Munro reviews Darren McGarvey’s book, Poverty Safari.