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…
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library
This is one of my favourite quotes about libraries, written by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. It seems particularly appropriate during Libraries Week. Coincidentally, I contributed to a pan-European study this week on libraries, highli…Read more…
Governing With Purpose – a guide for charity trustees
As someone who works with and serves on several third-sector boards, I have sometimes wondered why anyone does this. External criticism and internal squabbling are not unknown, and thanks are not always forthcoming. Moreover, when personal time h…Read more…
Tackling drug deaths – Scotland’s national disgrace
Scotland’s drug-related death statistics are a national disgrace. In 2021, 1,330 people in Scotland died due to a drug overdose. That was more than three times the rate of the rest of the UK and the highest in Europe. As the chart below shows, this isn…Read more…
Lessons learned from the pandemic for social care
I was in Stockholm this week speaking at a workshop looking at Europe-wide experiences of the pandemic on social care. The On the corona frontline – Lessons learned, promises broken? event was hosted…Read more…
A New Scotland
In the book, A New Scotland, leading activists and academics lay out the blueprints for radical reform, showing how society can be transformed by embedding values of democracy, social justice and…Read more…
ScotRail – the start of a new journey
Today is a special day for rail campaigners who have been making a case for bringing Scotland’s railways back into public ownership for the 25 years since privatisation. ScotRail is back as a public…Read more…
Putting the local into reducing health inequalities
While national strategies are essential in reducing health inequalities, we need to emphasise local action. This week the Scottish Government statistics division published its long-term…Read more…