It could be a long political year if today’s election pitches are anything to go by. Anas Sarwar was making a pitch to Yes voters in Rutherglen. It is a smart move given that despite the SNP’s woes, the dial has barely moved on support for i…Read more…
Scottish Budget 2024-25
There were no big surprises in the draft Scottish Budget published today. I set out the background to the Budget in a briefing for the Jimmy Reid Foundation, and it was always going to be challenging given the economic environment and the appalli…Read more…
Pharmanomics – How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health
If you read one book this year about the economics of health, Pharmanomics by Nick Dearden should be it. The Director of Global Justice unpicks the way Big Pharma does business and rips us all off. This may not be unique in a capitalist society, but in…Read more…
Public service reform is not a quick fix in a crisis
The forthcoming Autumn Statement and Scottish Government Budget has inspired another round of calls for public service reform. Primarily wishful thinking as a substitute for public spending cuts, but the principle has merit.The Chancellor appears…Read more…
Why another Council Tax freeze is wrong
Yesterday, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government would freeze the Council Tax next year. While many will welcome any help with the cost of living crisis, this is the least effective way to provide that support. I thought my da…Read more…
Naval Shipbuilding – UK by Default
I was at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Maritime and Shipbuilding this afternoon to present a report I wrote for Prospect, Design, build and maintain: Effective defence procurement. The report describes the current defence procurem…Read more…
Programme for Government – Fair Work
The Scottish Government has determined that Scotland will become a Fair Work Nation by 2025. Yesterday, the Scottish Government published its Programme for Government, so it’s a good time to assess the likely progress in the coming year.The Reid …Read more…
Pension fund investment
This blog post is a rare departure for me. I am going to support, in principle at least, a UK Government initiative! Even if it was overhyped and delivered somewhat less than promised. Yes, of course, there is a but.In his Mansion House speech la…Read more…
Defence Strategy Refresh
All governments have a defence strategy, which typically outlines the threats and how the government proposes to respond to those threats. The current UK strategy claims to be an integrated review of defence, development and foreign policy. However, it…Read more…
Hope and Despair
‘Hope and Despair’ is the appropriate title of Neil Findlay’s new book covering the last few years of his time as an MSP. It was politically tumultuous from the aftermath of Brexit and Theresa May in 2017 to Boris Johnson in 2021. As a Scottish L…Read more…
Effective defence procurement
I was in Westminster this week at the launch of a paper on defence procurement I wrote for the Prospect trade union. The launch included interesting contributions from the Shadow Minster for Defence Procurement, Chris Evans MP, Andrew Kinniburgh (…Read more…
Pensions update
I was doing a general update on pensions last week for a gathering of pension trustees. I have long been interested in pensions, even before becoming a pensioner! I was the joint secretary of the biggest pension scheme in Scotland, and I am curre…Read more…
Post-pandemic social care – Hopes and Disappointments
I was speaking at the launch of the report ‘Post-pandemic Hopes and Disappointments’, which looks at post-pandemic social care across Europe. Written by the brilliant Lisa Pelling from the progressive Swedish think tank Arena Idé. This is a follo…Read more…
Freedom of Information and democracy
I was speaking at an event hosted by the Jimmy Reid Foundation on the reform of Freedom of Information (FoI) in Scotland last night. Topically in the news this week with The Herald publishing a secret register of Scottish Ministers’ declarati…Read more…
The reform our NHS really needs
With NHS reform getting a lot of attention, the Socialist Health Association Scotland has published a discussion paper I drafted that outlines the issues and seeks views on the way ahead. It is vital that those who support the founding principles…Read more…
Nicola Sturgeon departs – opportunity, or more of the same?
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation and subsequent leadership contest are likely to dominate the airwaves for a while at least. Personally, I wish her well – eight years as First Minister is a tough shift for anyone. I have had my disagreements with her over…Read more…
NHS Reform: It’s Social Care Stupid!
The current NHS crisis has spawned a flurry of proposed reforms to the National Health Service. They range from privatisation to the use of volunteers. However, most miss the point. The underlying problem facing the NHS across the UK is the failu…Read more…
Rebalancing the UK
Big-picture reform may not be on everyone’s list of priorities, but governments should be able to tackle big long-term projects while also addressing the immediate issues. Unfortunately, the short-termism of so many politicians has undermined the…Read more…
From the national to the local
Yesterday, I was speaking at the book launch of ‘A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society’. I have previously written about the themes in the book, which I picked up in my Afterword. These go beyond traditional economic thinking …Read more…
Action on health inequalities
As the UK and Scottish Governments start the process towards another round of Austerity, we need to remember the impact this will have on health inequalities. Those in Scotland’s most deprived areas are 3.9 times more likely to die from an avoidable de…Read more…