Scotland – Page 13 – Slugger O'Toole

“Rangers has become a magnet for every chancer in town….”

Mick Fealty on January 19, 2015, 10:49 pm

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Great piece from John McDermott in the FT (worth the registration)… The club, like the nation, had a comfortable dual identity as both Scottish and British. At its most famous game, the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup victory over FC Dynamo Moscow, fans sporting kilts and Robert Burns T-shirts waved the Union Jack alongside the Lion Rampant, Scotland’s royal flag. “There was then an unquestioning acceptance of a strong Scotland within an overarching Britishness,” says Graham Walker, a renowned historian …

Spreading the word in the Irish language requires a new beginning

Brian Walker on January 18, 2015, 12:57 pm

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I thought I’d tiptoe into the minefield of the “Irish Language Act”, an area where the massed ranks of persuadables risk getting wasted by the zealots, but here goes. Concubhar is right, there should be a mature discussion. I’m one of those who shrugged off Gregory Campbell’s leaden humour and hoped that most language supporters felt secure enough to do likewise. I can be as mildly irritated by Sinn Fein’s little chants of Irish phrases as I am at one with …

Testament of Youth (QFT 16-29 January) – powerful on-screen adaptation of Vera Brittain’s extraordinary WW1 memoir

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 14, 2015, 9:05 am

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Most war films focus on the lives of those who join up, concentrating on the action at the front. Yet many more people are left behind at home than enter the military. Testament Of Youth quite brilliantly captures the life of Vera Brittain (played by Alicia Vikander), an intelligent and boundary-pushing young woman who in 1914 dreamt of becoming a writer and fought with her father (Dominic West) in their rural middle-class Buxton home to be allowed to sit the …

Causes and cures for the Accident and Emergency crisis: a data perspective

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on January 13, 2015, 11:06 pm

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There have been a number of excellent pieces on Slugger recently regarding Northern Ireland’s A&E crisis. A lot of suggestions have been put forward for how to tackle the crisis, and a lot of reasons have been put forward for why performance, in particular against the four hour waiting time target, has deteriorated in recent years. I have been sourcing data to see how some of these ideas stack up. Too many bureaucrats and not enough doctors It has been …

“my offence at your satire of [thing I care about] is so great that you must be censored”

Mick Fealty on January 13, 2015, 11:39 am

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So, there’s official censorship (which these days, outside questions of national security) scarcely exists in the west. And then there’s unofficial censorship (you publish that and our advertisers/backers would be very displeased). There’s also whistleblowing (no one in the sector will ever work with you again), and there’s downright intimidation (I’ll put your lights out/windows in). All of these activities limit not only free speech but the very diversity and pluralism that real democracy (power to and from the people) …

Is the TUV a major party? Consultations from Ofcom & BBC Trust open on which parties should be offered Election Broadcasts

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 8, 2015, 4:30 pm

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Ofcom has launched a consultation around this year’s list of “major parties” that will be offered at least two Party Election Broadcasts on non-BBC TV and radio channels (ITV, STV, UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Classic FM, Talksport and Absolute Radio) ahead of May’s General Election (and the English local government elections the same day). The current major party list includes: In Great Britain, the Conservative Party; the Labour Party; and the Liberal Democrats. In Scotland and Wales respectively, the …

Today London, perhaps it’s time for another naming of parts.

Mick Fealty on January 6, 2015, 1:57 pm

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No further comment, but to quote Alex Massie in obvious frustration with an elite London commentariat that seems to understand less and less of how the wider country works… We’ve just had two years of intensive constitutional politics. Time enough, you’d think, for even London-based politicians and commentators to work out how British politics actually works. But if you think that you’d be wrong. Very wrong. Consider out old friend the Barnett Formula. Antiquated and not entirely fit for purpose – …

Scotland must solve its own business case if ‘Yes’ is to win an #IndyRef2

Mick Fealty on January 5, 2015, 10:13 am

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I admit there were a few occasions when I thought I’d stuck my neck out a little too far after I’d solemnly declared the Scottish #IndyRef to be over in February. It wasn’t of course and, as I also predicted at the time, it has brought in a lot of new business to the SNP, and neatly decapitated Scottish Labour into the bargain. The paradox of the currency question is that it had two immediate but contrary effects when it crystalised back then. Most …

The People’s Referendum: Why Scotland Will Never Be the Same Again (Peter Geoghegan)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 31, 2014, 5:53 pm

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The last book I completed reading in 2014 also turned out to be my favourite of the year. Peter Geoghegan’s The People’s Referendum has been published recently and tells the story of his journey through Scotland and further afield getting under the skin of the independence campaign in the run up to September’s referendum. In Geoghegan’s own words: … the independence referendum changed not just Scottish politics but the nation’s people, its sense of itself and its future. This is …

Oil price drop would have forced an indy Scotland to borrow 6% of national output

Mick Fealty on December 22, 2014, 3:46 pm

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So as we go paddling towards some form of resolution to our budget crisis, the FT has some, er, good news for thwarted Scottish Nationalists, on foot of a simulation of oil revenues by the Office for Budget Responsibility… Had Scotland voted Yes to independence, it would now be looking at oil revenues of £1.25bn instead of £6.9bn in 2016-17 — its first year as a new country — while facing a deficit of close to 6 per cent of national income, …

#SluggerSoapBox: In praise of Bob Purdie 1940 – 2014…

Soapbox on December 18, 2014, 9:36 am

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From Stephen Howe who is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, having previously taught for many years at Ruskin College Oxford and worked at the New Statesman. Irish writings include the 2000 book Ireland and Empire, and contributions to Irish Political Studies, Irish Historical Studies, and the new Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History. Bob (Robert McGovern) Purdie has died, in his hometown of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on 30 November. He was 74. Many people in Northern Ireland, …

“Can Scottish Labour, under Murphy, learn to think big?”

Mick Fealty on December 15, 2014, 11:25 am

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So Jim Murphy, a machine politician from his very earliest days in the NUS, takes over the helm at Scottish Labour. He has an unenviable task ahead of him. The Yes campaign may have won the #IndyRef battle but the unionist parties now show every sign of terminal weakness in their war for the future of the Union. Of all the popular and rising parties on these island, the SNP has the highest base polling figure. Salmond has skillfully combined opportunism and populism …

Alex Salmond plans to return to Westminster

David McCann on December 7, 2014, 1:54 pm

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If the good people of East Sussex think I’m as big a danger to the Westminster Parliament as Guy Fawkes, then they’re right. Alex Salmond Scotland’s former First Minister, Alex Salmond is attempting to make a return to the Westminster Parliament in May 2015. Salmond who has always enjoyed the House of Commons, will likely play a key role mentoring and building what is expected to be a much larger SNP parliamentary party. He has said he will not be …

Brown bows out-what is his legacy?

David McCann on December 1, 2014, 2:37 pm

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Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has announced today he is stepping down at the next election. He was the leader that steered us through the financial crisis, borrowed and spent money like there was no tomorrow. Yet to most people he was completely unsuited for the job of Prime Minister. Indeed, when articles like this from the Independent “Six things Gordon Brown did that weren’t a complete disaster” are on the front pages you have to wonder how his time …

Has Sturgeon thrown a spanner in the works over Corporation Tax?

David McCann on November 30, 2014, 5:02 pm

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There is increasing speculation that the Chancellor, George Osbourne is to announce that Corporation Tax powers will be devolved to Northern Ireland. All of the main parties here support the move, so you would think it would be relatively simple to do it. However, the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Stugeon might have just thrown a spanner in the works for that plan as she told SKY News this morning .@NicolaSturgeon: if Northern Ireland gets power over Corporation Tax then these …

New powers for Scotland threaten constitutional crisis for the UK

Brian Walker on November 29, 2014, 11:37 am

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David Cameron’s claim that the Smith report will create “a stronger Union “ rings hollow when set against his insistence that the case for English votes on English laws is “ unanswerable,” If it means that English MPs should have a veto on any measure they don’t like that a future Labour government proposes, it will create a constitutional crisis . Equally hollow sounding is Scottish Labour’s praise for a good deal from Smith on the transfer of income tax powers …

Barnett formula bonus won’t last

Brian Walker on November 18, 2014, 12:13 pm

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The present and future cuts may seem tough – and they are – but here I belatedly post the good news from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), s that they could be much worse, were it not for a” flaw “ in the Barnett formula for allocating the block grant. The calculations presented in this paper suggest that these flaws have resulted in Scotland receiving around £400 million more and Northern Ireland around £130 million more in funding this …

#OpenGovNI: Why a loose, distributed and eclectic network is vital… [updated with audio and video]

David McCann on November 7, 2014, 10:39 am

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A key irony noted by Tim Hughes of Involve is that conversations about Open Government can very quickly become wonky and technical, and as a consequence begin to close out the ordinary citizen with techno jargon and insider speak. Wednesday’s launch of the Open Government Network Northern Ireland at Malone House in Belfast was moderately successful in broadening their catch beyond ‘the usual suspects’. [Listen back to the speeches and watch the keynotes.] Keynote speaker was Finance Minister, Simon Hamilton admitted there has been a …

SNP surge dominates Scottish Labour

David McCann on October 31, 2014, 3:47 pm

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As the race for the Scottish leadership gets underway two new polls indicate that the SNP could take 20 plus from Labour at next years Westminster election basically imploding Miliband’s 35% strategy. (This is to basically win off the back of disaffected Lib Dems). The latest polls put the SNP in a commanding lead over Labour IPSOS/MORI SNP on 52% Labour on just 23%, the Scottish Conservatives on 10% Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens both on 6%. YouGov SNP-43% Labour-27% …

Federalism – Wherefore The Union?

Kilsally on October 27, 2014, 5:07 pm

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I have long been of the view that a federal UK would be the eventual outworking of devolution. Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, has been calling for a constitutional convention for the last few years. Scottish Conservative Murdo Fraser outlined his thoughts on Slugger earlier this year. Why Murdo Fraser is right to promote UK federalism as a constitutional solution – my latest column in The Scotsman http://t.co/dGZzwNNVG7 — Brian Monteith (@TheBluetrot) July 1, 2014 UKIP Deputy leader Paul Nuttal …