Author: James Mitchell
Enough campaigning. Is the next Scottish government prepared to govern?
Hot on the heels of Anton Muscatelli’s hard-hitting report comes Jim Gallagher’s rigorous investigation into Scotland’s failing governance. Fixing Broken Government comes with positive recommendations for a radical re-set in time for the May 2026 elections. But will Scotland wake up in time to avert fiscal crisis? We have to, says, James Mitchell” “we cannot…
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SNP ‘Company Man’ can’t save the party he loves
“Leadership requires a willingness to confront so much that he turned a blind eye to. A decent, able functionary, as Swinney understood when he stood down as leader in 2014, does not have the qualities required to lead a political party, far less to lead a government.”
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Blind men and the elephant
‘Scottish policy making remains too top-down, centralised with bureaucrats at the centre assuming their expertise trumps all others. Disconfirmatory evidence that things are not working is often ignored. Believers find excuses, blame others while their support for their pet policy is, as in When Prophecy Fails, ‘not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth’…
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Starmer can’t afford to be cautious
Labour “is caught between the public policy need for bolder action and an even more sober presentational approach than that of 1997. Bold policies are not incompatible with sober campaigning. But sober campaigning may not excite and mobilise support,” says Prof Mitchell, arguing the case against ultra-caution.
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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.
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