THE pursuit of a clear, unambiguous answer to a single referendum question started to look seductively appealing last week. Labour argued a devo-max option on the ballot paper would muddy the water. The Lib Dems said more than one question would create turmoil, confusion and ambiguity. What did it matter if a third of voters would be unable to support their preferred option? Clarity, not democracy, had become the new Holy Grail.
What a difference a weekend makes.
Is Simon Hughes right to (almost) call for an English Parliament? Speaking in Derby on Saturday, the senior Lib Dem said “it could be time for English devolution.” Within 24 hours he was slapped down by Nick Clegg on the Andrew Marr programme and Twitter debate was dominated by the other subjects discussed by the Lib Dem leader – a proposed “mansion tax,” benefit rebellion and demands for clarity about independence from Alex Salmond. The English Parliament idea had disappeared. This tells advocates of radical constitutional change in Britain all we need to know. The English simply aren’t up for it. Yet.
Do Scots want to raise all our own taxes? Are we ready to stop taking a share of the tax collected across the UK and rely instead on what we raise solely from our own economic activity? Do we want to reverse the flow of power and pay the UK for “shared services” from our own cash instead of waiting for the annual Westminster handout? Are we ready to assert all rights over North Sea oil and gas in the Scottish sector and pay London for use of the National Grid and an agreed sum for its initial investment? Is the Scottish tail sufficiently active, willing and well-developed to wag the Westminster dog?
WILL 2012 be the year Scotland’s management class transforms services by embracing social media? I can feel curiosity levels and hackles rising instantly – in equal measure. Yes, tweeting about the truly banal has become a new social norm. Yes, Rory Bremner might have won Strictly Come Dancing if lovers of satire were better at organising The Social Vote. And yes, there are far more pressing problems facing public service managers in 2012 like cuts, unemployment, climate change and matching welfare budgets with the way we live today – not the way our parents lived yesterday. Yet not a single “top priority” problem can be solved without a radically new approach to the potential for mass collaboration and personalisation of service offered by the internet and social media.
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It’s Scotland’s multiple sclerosis.
Not a catchy slogan. Yet with 10,500 sufferers north of the Border, MS is as peculiarly common to Scotland as those valuable oil and gas deposits. It has received far less attention even though higher rates of smoking, lower rates of oily fish consumption, lack of sunshine and consequent vitamin D deficiency mean Scotland has the highest mainland MS rates in the world.
Stand by for some surprises from Johann Lamont. The lacklustre “don’t rock the boat” style of her election campaign may be no guide to what happens next. It can’t be.
Admittedly, the omens are not good. Yes, the first leader of the whole Labour Party in Scotland was indeed part of the failed old guard she now decries. Yes, she won thanks to backing by the trade unions and an archaic voting system. Yes, that does create parallels with Ed Miliband and yes, since she’s female, that invites comparison with Wendy Alexander – though her “bring it on” referendum call has succeeded in outliving both herself and her nemesis Gordon Brown.
Never mind what Jeremy “foot in the mouth” Clarkson thinks about sparrows, cars or striking workers. Last week’s industrial action has prompted a genuine debate about affordability and fairness. It hasn’t prompted debate about plummeting levels of workers morale. It should.
“Plan A” risks choking off demand and delaying recovery, so too the “levelling down” of conditions in the workplace. Austerity-hit workers will soon believe that employment means nothing more than membership of a demotivated, drone-like, unproductive herd. Despite big words about investing in human capital, Britain is heading fast in the opposite direction – breaking faith on public sector pension agreements is just one sign.
What did wind turbines ever do to Bill Jamieson? The redoubtable Executive Editor of The Scotsman concluded last week that wind energy is based on “edifice economics, founded on sleight of hand taxation and powered by a gale of hope” which “will not keep Scotland’s lights on.”
Bill’s was an eloquent onslaught – but not the only one.
THE new leader of Scotland’s headmasters is fed up hearing about Finland. Neil Shaw, incoming president of School Leaders Scotland, has said under-achieving Scottish pupils are victims of a society “riven by inequality”, not victims of failing schools. And he has grown “weary” of comparisons with Finns who regularly top educational league tables. Toughen up, Mr Shaw. Comparison with Nordic neighbours isn’t about to disappear.
So Britain's poppy-wearing football players were victorious. Not only did each home nation’s team succeed in sporting “political” poppies on black armbands this weekend – they all succeeded in producing results.
Does this mean Britain’s highly publicised wrangle with Fifa was right? And was respect for Britain’s war dead really the main issue?
