‘Every major party in Scotland has contributed to the process of centralisation and this has undermined local responses to the crisis. Scotland’s constitutional status is an important issue but not at the cost of considering the need for reform of local governance….’
Scottish local government
Scottish council cuts: enough is enough
‘Without real and substantive change in council funding, both fiscal and legislative, then the only budget option for councils will be more cuts, fewer services, fewer workers.’
Community empowerment or delivering less with less?
‘..with so much promise offered by new economic democratic agendas such as new municipalism, communities can have a key role as partners with the state against the cosh of market liberalism and declining public services.’
Strike now for the future – we have a world to win
Children around the globe are right to go on strike, and we must listen to them. Gordon Munro explains why
Scottish local government: a geopolitical approach
In the latest of our series on local government and devolution, the head of the Cosla office in Brussels analyses whether a European model makes sense.
Songs of Freedom: Music education 3
Part 3 of Abi’s series on music education: ‘If the early years are the roots of the ‘musical learning tree’, then this next stage develops the all important stem, where unconscious and conscious intellectual learning begin to blend together’.
Teaching music to young children with body and soul: Part 2
We all have a voice, Abi Rooley Towle describes how children’s education can benefit by introducing song from the earliest years.
Let children play (and learn) with music
Making music should be a fundamental right of all children from an early age, introducing a series by our new guest contributor, holistic music teacher Abi Rooley-Towle
Tale of Two Cities (and large town)
‘There is no halfway house when it comes to a child’s best interests. However, until automatic funding becomes a Scotland-wide reality, at least Falkirk … is lighting the way.’
‘Turbo-charged austerity’ devolved from centre to local councils
‘The Labour councillor’s passion resonates all the more because it is non party political. Voting for cuts to vital services, which will hurt those who most need them, ‘should give none of us any joy or pleasure…from any side of the chamber’.