Just finished reading Blossom by Lesley Riddoch. It’s an account of Lesley’s investigations into various aspects of Scottish life over the years and her analysis of what needs to happen to allow the people of Scotland to flourish. The topics that she covers could easily have dragged the book down into the “worthy but dull”…
This is a good video from Jon Krajack, exploding the myth that government debt and deficits are a problem. If you follow it to the end you’ll discover that without government deficits there would be no private sector surplus – no savings for you and me, no spare money for business investment. You’ll also find…
Scotland’s Future: Business As Usual (More Or Less)
I have just ploughed my way through the first four chapters of Scotland’s Future, the Scottish Government’s white paper which argues the case for voting “yes” in next year’s referendum on Scottish independence, and outlines the Scottish National Party’s “priorities for action” should they be voted back into government after Scotland becomes independent. I confess…
Radical Independence Conference 2013: Ranting, Rambling, And Not Very Radical.
Yesterday was spent attending the Radical Independence Conference 2013 in Glasgow, organised by the Radical Independence Campaign which employs the slogan “Another Scotland Is Possible”. We were a thousand strong, packed into a big room in the Marriott Hotel where we were addressed by a series of very able and persuasive speakers all of whom…
Not only is Help To Buy stupid in terms of pumping up the housing debt bubble (as explained here), it’s also an expensive alternative to renting, according to this analysis by pricedout.org.uk. Apparently you’re better off renting than being an average first time buyer using Help To Buy.
Rights Or Obligations: Which Is It Going To Be, Scotland?
I have just watched this interview in which Ross Ashcroft of the Renegade Economist talks to author and film-maker David Malone about democracy, economics and more. There’s a lot of good stuff in it but one idea struck me as something really special. David Malone argues that the idea of individual rights – human, constitutional, whatever…
Useless Politicians: Frustrated And Angry At Brian Taylor’s Big Debate
I wasted a couple of hours today at the live broadcast of Brian Taylor’s Big Debate from Portree on the Isle of Skye. The man himself is a class act – warm, welcoming, and witty – putting both audience and panel at ease. On the panel were three MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) who…
Russell Brand Ate My Hamster!
A couple of weeks ago, prompted by lots of activity on facebook, I published this article about Russell Brand’s recent interview with Jeremy Paxman. A few days later I published this one about how our insane system of money-as-debt is slowly driving our economy off a cliff. The Russell Brand article has been viewed by…
Russell Brand And The Tooting Popular Front
Over the last couple of days my Facebook page has been plastered with posts and comments about Russell Brand’s interview with Jeremy Paxman, which has left me a bit perplexed because there was nothing remotely illuminating in Russell’s rant. His frustration with our dysfunctional political and economic systems is genuine and understandable but if he had…
Swiss To Vote On Universal Basic Income: How About That For A Referendum, Scotland?
Last month I wrote a piece about the European Citizens’ Initiative for a universal basic income but I had no idea that there was an organisation campaigning for just such a thing in Switzerland until a friend sent me this link from Reuters which tells us that there will be a referendum on the proposal sometime…
Views From The Boatshed 