“Tomorrow’s Holyrood election – for which more than 4.2 million people have registered to vote, the highest number yet recorded – has arguably frustrated Scotland’s politicians at least as much as the public on whom their futures depend.”
Covid-19
“If we are to design a NCS worthy of the name, it is essential that the full truth about that disaster is made public, including the role of central government, private sector providers and the relationship between the two. The revelations of the last two weeks represent some tentative steps in the right direction.”
Nick Kempe: Would the Scottish Government’s proposals for a National Care Service have averted the death toll in our care homes?
“As our national and international conversations turns increasingly towards post-Covid recovery, we will dwell less on what has traumatised us and more on what might heal us. Of course, this is where it gets tricky.”
Sean Bell: What does a post-Covid recovery for our mental health look like?
IPPR Scotland have produced a report calling on the Scottish government to reform council tax, re-evaluating house values and billing 0.75% of a home’s value.
Council Tax Reform: Who Should Pay for Covid Recovery?
“Unfortunately, this culture of big business-politics cross-pollination, and at times straightforward grift, has also landed in Scotland.”
Analysis: From Westminster to Holyrood, the corporate lobby is out of control
“The saddest thing about attempts to batter Northern Ireland’s distinctive and prolonged traumas into a Brexit-shaped argument groove, is the implication that things would be grand if only the boat hadn’t been rocked: we should seek to maintain the present ludicrous settlement, which has seen poverty and alienation flourish.”
David Jamieson: Northern Ireland isn’t a character in your Brexit drama
“If Scotland is to be a place to live a good life in a good society, we should take the lessons of mutual support groups and the new fluidity of governance offered by the pandemic upheaval. We’ve seen the power when people come together – when communities are shaped by us and for us, all done at a local level.”
Willie Sullivan: Only real local democracy can rebuild our communities
“How did US citizens, all supposedly libertarian somewhere deep down, learn to love Federal bucks, and what does it mean for us?”
