In the last few months, I have completed three projects on Responsible Investment (also known as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)) in the pensions sector. One a broad policy paper and two…Read more…
Still learning the lessons of PPP
Nearly thirty years after John Major’s government introduced the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), it is astonishing that we are still writing about and using this failed model of delivering public…Read more…
Passing on the Scottish healthcare experience
I am in Stockholm this week talking about health and care systems. Sweden has a healthcare system which is generally free at the point of use. However, there is greater local autonomy at the regional…Read more…
Financial and workforce challenges for social care in Scotland
Two new reports again highlight the problems facing social care in Scotland but offer few indications that a credible solution is on the horizon.
The Accounts Commission annual overview of…Read more…
Focusing on the climate emergency
I see in The Herald that ScottishPower chief executive Keith Anderson said Labour promises to take back control of Britain’s energy network meant “losing focus” on the issue of tackling the climate…Read more…
Manifesto reflections
I have worked on a fair few manifestos in my time. For Labour, UNISON and a range of campaigns. I can honestly say that the Scottish Labour manifesto for this General Election is, without doubt, the…Read more…
Transforming social care in Scotland
If there is one issue that ought to be at the top of any policy agenda in Scotland, it is social care. One in 24 people in Scotland receive funded care support, and they deserve better.
Over half a…Read more…
Tackling climate change with warm homes for all
If we don’t take action now, a zero-carbon energy system will remain a pipe dream for decades to come.
I was listening in on a focus group discussion the other day, run by a friend in the industry….Read more…
Keir Hardie and the 21st Century Socialist Revival
The life, politics and ideas of James Keir Hardie, the Labour Party’s founder and first leader can be a tool for socialist political education and a spur to action in the current political era.
I…Read more…
Housing Commission shows how to tackle the housing emergency
There is a real housing emergency in many parts of Scotland, and we need the Government to recognise the scale of the problem and take radical action.
I was in the Scottish Parliament today at the…Read more…
Plunder of the Commons
Public wealth takes precedence over private riches. This is a policy prescription from what became known as the Lauderdale paradox. The Earl of Lauderdale in 1804 argued that there was an inverse…Read more…
How we can finance the future
I am in Cape Town, South Africa, this week speaking at the global summit, ‘Financing the Future’.
This is a gathering of the global divest/invest movement. The aim is to shift finance flows away from…Read more…
New National Parks for Scotland
National Parks are beautiful and inspiring places enjoyed by many – so why don’t we have more of them?
I declare an interest, I love our National Parks. I have walked the hills of the Trossachs and…Read more…
The making of a democratic economy
Progressive writers, including me, have filled libraries with polemics against austerity or neo-liberal economics. However, we have been somewhat less prolific when it comes to setting out the…Read more…
The Scottish Parliament – 20 years on
On this day (1stJuly) in 1999, Westminster transferred powers to the new Scottish Parliament in the most significant act of devolution the UK has ever seen. 20 years on it is worth considering if the…Read more…
Gizza Job!
The immortal words of Yosser Hughes is an unconventional way for an economist to start a book, but then Danny Blanchflower has often found himself at odds with conventional economic theory. His new…Read more…
Rethinking how to deliver budgets
Instead of just tinkering around the edges of the Scottish and UK budgets, we should radically rethink how to deliver them.
A couple of months ago I blogged about a new book by Katherine…Read more…
Putting the ‘Public’ back into Scottish Water
Scottish Water is a public corporation, accountable to Scottish Ministers and parliament. It was created in 2002 by a merger of three regional water authorities. This contrasts with the privatised…Read more…
More history and less economics?
“We need more historians and fewer economists”.
This was the somewhat tongue in cheek claim made by the historian Rutger Bregman in an interview with Dan Snow on his ‘History Hit’ podcast….Read more…
Radical climate action needs social justice and a just transition
There is a broad consensus on the need for ambitious targets on tackling climate change, but there are some differences around the edges when it comes to taking practical action.
The Climate Change…Read more…