Guy Stenhouse: The two tasks Swinney must take on to make a difference
When I saw John Swinney with his new cabinet on the steps of Bute House, two thoughts sprang to mind.
When I saw John Swinney with his new cabinet on the steps of Bute House, two thoughts sprang to mind.
People and policymakers who concentrate on STEM as the golden future implicitly recognise that we are currently in division two in these fields and believe we should try to force our way into division one. What they do not recognise is that the UK is already remarkably good at certain things but just things other than STEM.
The Scottish Government has developed a calamitous skill in producing daft legislation. That the Hate Crime Act would bring out every grievance crank, of which there are many, who would report anybody who had looked at them the wrong way to poor old Police Scotland, which had made the dreadful mistake of promising to investigate every report, was entirely predictable. Not just predictable but predicted, by many people, many times.
Guy Stenhouse: Scottish Government ferry consultation papers are a worthy but guaranteed failure The Scottish Government has recently launched two new consultation papers as part of its Islands Connectivity Plan. These are called Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan. More on these later.
The Scottish Government has not learnt from its past stupidities. The war on landlords continues with new variations of rent control proposed and a requirement to meet tighter energy performance targets long before owner occupiers have to do so.
Is there anybody who believes that councils in Scotland don't need more money?
Labour's pension cap plan penalises good investment decisions, worse, it leaves people in a position of uncertainty many years before they retire.
The UK Covid Inquiry sitting in Edinburgh has been revealing. The view that the Scottish Government did a better, more honest and transparent job than the UK Government of dealing with the Covid pandemic has been shown to be entirely untrue. The truth is both governments struggled as did those all around the world.
Juries don’t have targets to hit, they don’t get any money either way, or promotion or fame, they don’t get re-educated if they reach the wrong answer, they are not picked because they think a particular way, they just do their job and fade way.
The ministers in the present Scottish SNP-Green administration are, from top to bottom, of remarkably low calibre. Few have done anything of note
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