The investment industry is responding to the demands of pension funds for investment strategies that address climate change. However, we should seek to distinguish between meaningful action and…Read more…
Procurement failures
The UK Government is mired in a series of procurement scandals that go way beyond poor practice. While not on the nearly on the same scale, all is not well in Scotland either. In recent months I have…Read more…
New thinking on constitutional options for Scotland
With immaculate timing, Boris Johnson blunders into the devolution debate on the eve of the Scottish Conservative conference describing devolution as a “disaster north of the border”. Fortunately, we…Read more…
Contrasting approaches to the crisis of care
The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired several new books, which seek to analyse the impact on our healthcare systems and broader society and propose reform. I have read a number of these as background to…Read more…
The case for hydrogen
When it comes to renewable energy, there is a large degree of consensus on the technologies that should feature in our energy strategies. The differences are most apparent around nuclear power, but…Read more…
Air Traffic Control in the Highlands and Islands.
The public procurement of cutting edge technology is risky at the best of times. For a small public sector airport company to embark on such a programme during a pandemic, which is devastating the…Read more…
Building Stronger Communities
The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted the importance of strong communities, supporting and looking out for each other. However, strong communities do not happen by accident; they need to be nurtured…Read more…
Build back a better economy
Economic forecasts on the economic impact of the pandemic vary. However, they are all pretty bleak, and this emphasises the need for an effective recovery package.
There is growing support for an…Read more…
More lessons from the pandemic – Scottish Care Service
Today, the Jimmy Reid Foundation has published the second in their series of papers on ‘Reconstructing Scotland after COVID-19’. As with the first paper, they seek to put forward policies that…Read more…
Build Back Better
In April I wrote about the longer-term lessons to be learned from the pandemic and the importance of thinking about these now, rather than allowing others to capture the narrative – as they did after…Read more…
The Case for Economic Democracy
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy will be significant, and we will need new ideas to address the consequences. While written before the pandemic, Andy Cumbers’ (University of…Read more…
Return to work planning – some issues to consider
I have been helping one medium size organisation with its HR challenges in recent months, and this week, we were looking at plans for a return to work for the majority of staff who have been…Read more…
Lessons to be learned from the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has immediate implications for its victims and those in health and care treating them. There are also medium and long-term implications to consider if we are to avoid the…Read more…
The case for Universal Basic Services
If the current crisis teaches us anything, it has to be the importance of a genuine safety net for everyone in our society and the weakness of the global economic system. COVID-19 has brutally…Read more…
Turning climate change rhetoric into action
Despite the best efforts of industry lobbyists, the debate over whether climate change is happening is over. In Scotland, we have ambitious targets, but targets alone don’t remove…Read more…
How pension funds can invest responsibly
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…