“It may be that the process of establishing and issuing the bonds is seen as strengthening the Scottish state in advance of a future independent Scotland. But in a constrained fiscal environment, it will be fair to ask whether borrowing in a more expensive way makes sense.”
Local government
Tweaking council tax won’t solve its fundamental flaws
“a revaluation is necessary. Indeed, it should be a prerequisite…To continue without revaluation is deeply unfair and to take forward reforms without a revaluation just rubs salt into the wounds.”
Where are Orkney and Shetland?
Orkney’s leaders recently raised the prospect of secession from Scotland, prompting Prof James Mitchell to look back over half a century of constitutional musing and political leverage.
Gulliver’s foot and art’s redemptive power
“One by one aspects of what the CFS did were closed down or were taken back under the aegis of the council. The times changed. Austerity, unemployment, and drugs bit hard here. The Festival Society gradually declined, and so did the sense of community.”
A fresh start: time to make devo really work
“A government that operates on the basis of centralisation and control; micro- management and a misplaced lack of faith or worse still, a lack of trust in local government to deliver locally based solutions to both national and local issues will not succeed. It must exploit the full toolbox offered by devolution.”
Scotland’s centres of power need reform: Part 2 (Holyrood)
James Mitchell’s survey of Scotland and its centres of power ends with reflections on the glaring need for reforming Holyrood after two decades of devolution. “The Scottish Parliament is not a delicate flower that needs protection but a robust institution that required robust critiques, especially from those who support it.”
What does Hunt’s first Budget mean for Scotland? (Update)
“The £320 million of money coming to Scotland mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech is for 2023-24 and 2024-25, but that’s all we’ve been told. Given that these figures will have been worked out in advance, there is surely no reason why these figures can’t be released in full at the same time as the rest of the Budget documents.”
What have local councils ever done for us?
“A start to redressing this imbalance would be for the UK Government and the devolved governments to sign the European Charter of Local Self Government – then we could at last begin to have serious conversations, based on a joint understanding of and respect for each other’s roles, on how we are to successfully tackle the substantial and increasingly complex issues of the future.”
Prophets without honour in their own land
“Scots have a self-image of being frank and forthright. Within the professions at least, this is rarely justified. Agreement with official policy rather than plain speaking is the dominant form of discourse at the upper levels of Scottish education. Similar tendencies can be seen in law and medicine….”
Reclaiming life and space at Picardy
‘Now that the traffic engineers have had their say it’s clearly about time that the public, not the notionally public servants, have a say about this space. I still hold to the view that sculpture – and new work in particular , the 4th plinth idea – would work here.’