‘Is there a Scottish Road to Socialism?’ This is the question posed in the third edition of this SLR Press book. The format is the same – a range of contributors from across the left wing spectrum in…Read more…
Job losses and the Scottish Budget
In recent days there have been many political exchanges over job losses as a consequence of the cuts to council grant allocations in the Scottish Budget for 2016/17. Let’s look at the issue…Read more…
Budget Bill – Stage 3
The Scottish Budget is debated at Stage 3 in parliament tomorrow. While there is plenty of pain for all public services, it is local government that is bearing the brunt of austerity in…Read more…
A new approach to mental health
Mental health services have received some welcome media attention recently. If acute hospital services were this limited there would be a major public outcry – so why do we accept second best for…Read more…
Using procurement to tackle the tax dodgers
The tax dodging activities of companies has come under a lot of scrutiny, but we could do more to tackle this abuse in Scotland with existing powers. Companies who want to bid for taxpayer funded…Read more…
Big challenges for pensions and the market isn’t the solution
There are major changes happening to our pensions, many of which workers are ill equipped to face, and policy is not keeping pace with the challenges ahead.
Today, I was at the TUC pensions…Read more…
Scottish Budget: getting serious about tackling austerity
In tomorrow’s Scottish budget debate, if they are serious about opposing austerity, MSPs need to do more than badly administer George Osborne’s efforts to wreck our public services.
The Scottish…Read more…
Why CETA has implications for Scottish Water
The CETA trade agreement could lock in water privatisation in England and have implications for Scottish Water.
The Council of Canadians has warned that if the Canada-European Union Comprehensive…Read more…
Why we shouldn’t lose sight of the Barnett Formula
While the political temperature is rising over the fiscal framework negotiations, let’s not forget the Barnett Formula.
The fiscal framework is a key element in the devolution of income tax to…Read more…
Time to get serious about energy prices
Every seven minutes in the UK an older person dies of cold.
As Geoffrey Lean recently put it in the Independent; “people will die of cold in their own homes – in this, the world’s fifth-largest…Read more…
The Council Tax freeze explained
The announcement by Moray Council that they are to consider increasing the Council Tax has highlighted the Council Tax freeze. It is unlikely that many, if any, councils will actually increase the…Read more…
Taking the high road to better work
The Scottish Government can support good quality employment by ‘blocking the low-road’ for employers and ‘paving the high-road’ towards an empowered and healthy workforce.
That’s the conclusion of…Read more…
Valuing the social care workforce
Social care is delivered by people, informal carers and workers, not robots. This means improving the quality of care in Scotland has to seriously address workforce issues.
I was facilitating a…Read more…
Time for action on fat cat pay
On the day most workers in Scotland returned to work, FTSE100 CEO’s had already been paid more than the average worker will earn this year.
Fat Cat Tuesday is a useful way of highlighting just how…Read more…
Looking forward, well sort of, to 2016
Happy New Year! Lets hope 2016 will be a better one for everyone, but that may be the triumph of hope over reality.
Despite much hype from the Chancellor, the real economy is still struggling…Read more…
Scottish budget ducks tax and shunts austerity to councils
If yesterday’s budgetis “a Scottish response to austerity” then we are in very deep trouble. A response to austerity has to be more than simply administering George Osborne’s efforts to wreck our…Read more…
Why the Presiding Officer is wrong on the anti-Union Bill and what Parliament should do about it
At last night’s STUC event in Glasgow, a packed Concert hall heard just why Scotland overwhelmingly opposes the Anti-Union Bill. It showcased all that is great about our movement. From the community…Read more…
Time to get serious about social care
While sound and fury explodes all around us on NHS spending, spare a thought for the crisis in Scotland’s social care system.
Today, I was in parliament for the launch of the Commission for the…Read more…
Lessons from Oldham for the Blairite Tendency
There has been little so entertaining this week as reading the bemused response to the Oldham by-election result in the mainstream media. All those ‘Corbyn must go’ stories had to binned and a whole…Read more…
Scottish pension funds and infrastructure investment
MSP’s have highlighted today how local government pension funds could make a useful contribution to infrastructure in Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee…Read more…