I was speaking at an EIS conference last Saturday on the challenges facing our democracy. It prompted me to examine the evidence more closely.DemocracyLet’s start with the state of our democracy. Polling by NCSR highlights the scale of the challe…Read more…
Political change has to be more than a slogan
The elections in England ought to be a wake-up call to political parties, particularly about the disillusionment many voters feel about our politics. The warning signs were present in the opinion polls and surveys from ERS; others have highlighted the …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…
Understanding opinion polls
I was doing a session on public affairs at a company staff conference last week, and in the Q&A, I was asked about using opinion polls. The questioner referenced a Twitter exchange I had…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…
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…
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…
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…
Big challenges require radical action
It’s time to get radical if we are to address the vast challenges facing Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Let’s start by understanding the scale of the problems facing us. In my New Year blog,…Read more…
2019 – the big challenges ahead
Happy New Year! Traditionally a time to think ahead and a good time to consider the big challenges facing Scotland and the wider world.
At present, Brexit dominates the policy discourse and, within…Read more…
Happy New Year – looking forward to a better 2017
Happy New Year! If 2016 was another ‘anno horriblis’, lets hope 2017 is an ‘anno magnus’. As I demonstrate how I scraped through law school without properly learning Latin!
I don’t do predictions,…Read more…
Is there a Scottish road to Socialism?
‘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…