Analysis
What is a plebiscite election?
Since an intention to hold a ‘plebiscite election’ was announced, there has been a lot of confusion about what that means. What is it and how is it different from a normal election?
Who signed up to the squeeze?
The recent brutal Scottish Government budget is a direct result of a trap set by Westminster six years ago – a trap the Scottish Government walked into very willingly
Electricity – what will Scotland do with it all?
Decarbonising Scotland’s electricity is easy. The big question is, since we’ve got so much more of it that we actually need, what are we going to do with it all?
Clean heating ain’t easy – so make it good
One of the hardest issues to solve in decarbonising Scotland is heating. So what are the issues – and how do we get it right?
Why is Scotland’s shipbuilding going so wrong?
There are currently two political explanations of why the disastrous construction of ferries has gone so far off the rails – and neither of them is right. It’s all about the specification….
What does ‘private investment’ in retrofit mean?
The First Minister has been “lobbying London firms” to invest in housing retrofit in Scotland. What does this mean?
Does Scotland jail too many people?
New statistics show that Scotland is in disturbing company in the list of European nations with the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe
How to save government in Scotland
Poor delivery by government in Scotland is reducing confidence in the public realm. How can that be turned around?
How bad is the Scottish Government’s climate readiness?
An influential new report shows that in getting ready for climate change, Scotland has many more low-quality plans than high-quality plans and much more low-progress delivery than high-progress delivery
Five things a serious economic strategy would do
The list of things the dreadful Scottish Government economic strategy didn’t do is long. Here are five of them.
Scotland’s economic strategy; both woeful and worrying
The Scottish Government’s ten-year economic strategy has been published. It is a remarkably poor-quality document largely devoid of content, and yet still threatens a significant further lurch to the right in Scottish policy.
Is Scotland taking a different approach to ‘living with Covid’?
The tone of the Covid announcements on either side of the border are markedly different – but on closer inspection there is not much that is different other than a three-week delay in implementation