Gender, Poundland, Iceland

Between the constitutional debates being largely male,  graduates being ‘too posh to stack’ and councils being cheap; this week’s Lesley Riddoch podcast is on the look out for heroes. The villains seem easier to find.

During the course of the podcast, we think we may have found some top people. Step forward, Cait Reilly, Stephen Jardine and Mike Small. Cait for her spirited legal action. Stephen for his always insightful journalism about food  plus calling for a 'National Food Manifesto' and Mike for the Fife Diet.

 

Comments

[Mike Vickers]

I attended the David Hume Panel on Delivering Social Security: Options in Scotland’s Constitutional Debate: it was the second in a series of four and probably the most important, at least to me, because it is the area where in Independent Scotland could be very different for the UK as currently constituted (sorry for using this word as it is now oft repeated that the UK does not have a constitution - Yes Lesley is right we are bound by the ECHR). There were a range of speakers and can you can go to

http://www.davidhumeinstitute.com/research.html

to read the papers.

The panel chairman was James Mitchell from Strathclyde and he is very much for Citizens Costitutions . Much of what the panelist said and their papers were not unusual but the star as far as I was concerned was Ailsa McKay from Glasgow Caledonian and she put forward her concept of CBI, Citizen’s Basic Income – everyone should be entitled to a basic income whether ‘in work’ or not – other benefits would be abolished.
Her full paper is at

http://www.davidhumeinstitute.com/images/stories/Research/McKay.pdf

A shortened version is in todays (Wednesday’s) Scotsman.
But what isn’t is her clarion call to decide first on a Vision for Scotland and only then write the Constitution – you could see her emotion as she spoke. And as to her response to questions where she lambasted the present gender inequality, Lesley would have been proud.