Grahame Smith argues the Parliament has made a good start but has unfinished business. In his iconic speech at the formal opening of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999, Donald Dewar described the Scottish Parliament as: ‘Not an end [but] a means to greater ends’. The devolution of power to Scotland and the reopening […]
Pat Kelly recalls the struggle for a Scottish Assembly and how it shaped the Parliament we have today. In his speech at the official opening of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999, Donald Dewar encapsulated the feelings of the country when he declared: ‘For me, for any Scot, today is a proud moment; a […]
Pauline Bryan argues Brexit could be an opportunity to remake Britain in a federal mould Sometimes when you ask for directions, you’re told: ‘I wouldn’t start from here’. That may be the best response when considering the British constitution. Not having a codified constitution may have some advantages – it has allowed changes to be […]
Maggie Chapman believes new opportunities are now presenting themselves In the 1980s, communist stalwart, Joe Slovo, set out a two-stage transition for politics in South Africa. First, a national democratic revolution. Then a socialist revolution. This theory is of relevance to our politics in Scotland. We have witnessed over five years something that comes close […]
Peter Kelly says policies without powers behind them are coming up short in progress against poverty There are currently more than one million people locked in poverty in Scotland, a number that has been slowly rising over the last few years. If the predictions are correct, then we can expect this to increase further still. […]
Graeme Brown reviews progress on housing and homelessness since 1999 1999 seems both close and very distant now. It’s hard to recall the days when housing debate for Scotland, at a parliamentary level, used to be squeezed into an annual 90-minute slot and the very, very occasional piece of legislation. By the time the Scottish […]
Carole Ewart says it didn’t take an FoI request to work out all is not well in the new, open Scotland Rarely do politicians tell you what they really think of freedom of information (FoI) as it’s poor form to criticise a key way for the public to hold politicians to account. However, Tony Blair […]
Mick Cash argues opportunities have been missed but the struggle is not yet over Debates around the history of the Scottish Parliament often raise the question of powers, whether it has enough, and how it has used the powers it does have. With regard to the transport and offshore sector there has been a lot […]
Lilian Macer lays out what must happen to improve social care and the lot of social care workers Today in Scotland, we see a rising tide of demand for social care services, driven by demographic changes and advances in medical technologies as people are living longer, and linked to their needs becoming more complex. This […]
‘Late Night Girl’ tells of the bullying behaviour at work she suffered and how she is fighting back. My story with Pret-A-Manger is very complex and long. Only in hindsight, do I think I understand the extent of what I’ve been through and how systemic the problem of workplace bullying in profit driven companies can […]