Thursday 22 August 2002

You couldn't make it up!

A letter in today's Glasgow Herald starts off:
As authors of the academic report for the Scottish Socialist Party's Scottish service tax proposals...
Now, the Scottish Socialists are not stealth-tax-and-regulatory Tranzis of the Blair and Brown variety. No, these guys are the real McCoy. I quote from their manifesto:
The SSP is comitted to building a new, democratic socialist Scotland which will stand up (sic) the forces of globalisation, privatization (sic - note the US globalised spelling!) and capitalism. In the meantime we will fight for: * The bringing back into public ownership - under democratic workers' and community control and management - those industries, services and utilities privatised over the past 20 years. * The extension of public ownership to include other key sectors of the economy including North Sea oil, the big banks and financial institutions, and the major construction, transport, and manufacturing companies. * Confiscation of the assets of any company that pulls out of Scotland in search of more profitable environments; and legislation to force these companies to provide redundancy payments equivalent to two years salary to allow a reasonable time frame for retraining and redeployment. * The replacement of unelected boards of directors with democratically elected boards, made up of representatives of the workforce and the wider public.
So who are the authors of the pro-SSP academic report? Both are from Paisley University. The second name is Professor Mike Danson. The first:

Geoff Whittam senior lecturer in entrepreneurship!