Politics
A new democratic settlement for Scotland
The SNP’s 2016 election manifesto commits to a new wave of decentralising power in Scotland. But is that likely from a party that is now or on the verge of becoming the predominant one in…
Student funding: what the parties say
Scotland’s leading expert on HE funding sets out what the parties say about student support in the run-up to the May 5 elections to the parliament.
Holding our own feet to the fire
Loki stirred up a hornet’s nest among Yes supporters when he wrote on the STV website why he won’t vote SNP on May 5 but for RISE. Here he explains more about why he’s saying…
Ireland, Scotland and Westminster
Alex Salmond’s take on the Easter Rising – and Irish independence – is a flawed analysis. Not least because he leaves out the civil war. And sees “Westminster” at fault everywhere.
Maths and myths around graduate charging
Ruth Davidson has set out proposals for charging students up to £6000 upon graduation for a 4-year course. But the maths around this idea are not simple as Scotland’s leading expert on student funding explains.
Not the news where you are
The campaign for a Scottish Six TV news broadcast is gathering steam and figuring in the Holyrood election debates. One reason is the wilful ignoring of Scottish election news/views by London-based media. Here two Cardiff…
Sustaining scepticism in Scotland
This magazine is now a year old: it needs support to grow and offer a richer variety of sceptical analysis and comment to, we hope, a wider audience.
University is no universal benefit
Scottish universities, we learn, have a £60m annual funding gap yet ministers talk as if all young people should go free to university. But how is that wider access to higher education to be financed?…
Enabling communities to plan their own future
Life outcomes increasingly depend on a postcode lottery. So Scotland needs to combine community and spatial planning so as to improve local people’s lives and tackle glaring inequalities.
Free childcare: good idea, difficult delivery
Free childcare is a flagship SNP policy, with the First Minister promising to double the number of free hours if (when) she’s re-elected. But the current nursery system, public and private, is creaking and badly…
Reasons to be cheerful – or ca’ canny
The Scottish Conservatives talked up their Holyrood election prospects at their recent conference at Murrayfield. But their past record and the wider economic and political context suggest they would be wise to err on the…
Putting council tax reform to bed
The SNP still calls its proposed Council Tax ‘reforms’ radical. But one of Scotland’s leading experts on local government finance disagrees profoundly. This is really about ruffling as few feathers as possible.