A load of rubbish

Gerry Hassan is correct. Scotland has a real problem with litter. Writing on Glasgow he says:

The most obvious manifestation of this is the run-down, tatty nature of so much of the city: the litter, vandalism, and graffiti.

But apparently it's better in Dundee because it's smaller and has more civic pride. I note too that Dundee has a minority Labour-controlled council whereas Glasgow is virtually a one-party state.

As Hassan comments:

Let's be blunt: there is a contemporary Scottish sentiment which likes to avoid individual responsibility and see problems as the fault of others. This allows us to be self-righteous, blame others, and wax ourselves into a terrible rage, without ever having to think about doing something or our own actions. Attractive? I think not

This problem is worst in Labour-dominated Glasgow but by no means confined to that city.

People's Alliance

Previously known as the New Party for Britain, the new "centre-right" party has now emerged as the People's Alliance. The party will be contesting the Scottish election on 1st May. What is interesting is that the Alliance has now dropped its expected policy of abolishing the Scottish parliament but rather:

The Alliance, the new centre-right force set up to contest this year’s elections, had been expected to propose the scrapping of the devolution settlement. Instead it will advocate keeping the Scottish Parliament but getting rid of Scottish MPs.

... Under the party’s plans, there would be 56 MSPs who would use the Scottish Parliament as they do now to decide domestic policy, but then travel to London to take part in debates and vote on reserved matters, such as defence and foreign affairs.

I think that this is a great improvement on their previous policy. I don't think that there is any chance that Scots would support the abolition of the Edinburgh legislature, but there is great anger at the ever-rising cost of governance. Whether the PA will get anywhere remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I do welcome the emergence of radical proposals to reduce the size of Scotland's political class.

New links added

When I started this blog just under a year ago almost all of the links in the Freedom section were to American sites. Since then, I have added several British sites as they came on line or became known to me. Here are some further additions:

Junius
Stephen Pollard
A Letter from the Olde Countrie
Slugger O'Toole
Harry's Place
PC Watch
British Spin

All fine blogs - please have a look.

Full fiscal freedom - for schools?

Here's some good news. It's becoming noticed that government-run schools aren't too efficient:

HEADTEACHERS are paying council staff up to £250 for an electrical socket to be fitted - more than five times the going rate - because they don’t have real control over school funds, it was claimed yesterday.

Schools should be in control of their own finances and the way to achieve that is to privatise education completely.

As one of the headteachers said:

He added: "If a lad in first year passes wind in class, disrupting the lesson, he needs sorting out in 20 seconds. He does not need a gastro-enterologist, a psychologist and four social workers to discuss his life options."

Exactly!

The state is not your friend and it shouldn't be your teacher.

What other kind is there?

The design for the rebuilding of the fire-damaged area in Edinburgh's Old Town has been unveiled. We are told that:

The scheme envisages a range of uses, including offices, nightclubs, residential space and possibly affordable housing.

Hang on a moment; what is "affordable housing"?

If someone is going to live in these homes it follows that they are affordable. I have a horrible feeling that these houses will be subsidised by the taxpayer so as to make them "affordable" to the lucky residents, thus making other things not affordable to those who pay for their own homes.

If it's Saturday, this must be Scotland

Zenko Kajiyama thought that he was on the bus to Edinburgh airport.

He wasn't:

... instead, he found himself touring the city's pubs and clubs on a luxury double- decker party bus.

The bus had been booked for a mobile birthday party:

"They lifted my bags onto the bus, sat me down and I was very pleased with myself. But then the bus stopped and everyone went into a bar. "I thought that was strange, but I was enjoying myself too much. They all asked me to join in their party.

Mr Kajiyama didn't realise that he was on the wrong bus because he had "much difficulty understanding how people speak in Edinburgh". Just as well he wasn't in Glasgow, Dundee another city or he'd never get back to Tokyo.

Water, water everywhere and hardly a drop to sell

Alex Bell says that the next world war will be about water:

Water as a reason for war arose because it's the only genuinely essential liquid to be found in wells, many of which are said to be running dry.

Like other environmental problems, what is needed is a proper application of property rights in water resources. Despite Mr Bell claiming that there is a water shortage, he goes on to say:

At the Johannesburg environment summit last year, Wateraid, a pressure group, claimed rectifying much of the world's water could be tackled at the cost of $25bn. Homeland security for the US has a new budget of $40bn. You could fix the world's tap for less than 1% of the US annual defence budget.

So money could fix most of the problem - paid for by the capitalist US, of course. And how come America has so much money to spend on defence? It's because the US more-or-less recognises property rights and that is the only way for countries to prosper. So, instead of bailing out failed socialist regimes, let's send them some books on basic free market economics, with a copy for Mr Bell.

Read this site

I have discovered a good site covering Scottish politics that is run by Colin Beveridge. Fellow aviation enthusiasts will also find it interesting.

I support Labour

I bet that got your attention! There is reason for this apparent madness.

In today's Mail on Sunday (no links), it is reported that the Scottish parliament has passed 40 pieces of new legislation in its four years of existence. 23 of these news laws "came from the portfolios" of the two Liberal Democrat ministers. The eight Labour ministers managed to produce a miserable 17 new laws. The Liberal Democrats are boasting about this.

Labour: more liberal than the Liberals - can I sell that slogan to Jack McConnell?

There is an alternative

John Adamson, a Cambridge academic, writes about the government-mandated dumbing-down of his university. Rightly, he is angry. Like others, he observes that the biggest problem is the underperformance of the state school system. Does he have a solution?

There are two possible solutions. The first is obvious: reforming (and refunding) the state-run schooling system so that it can compete realistically with the independent sector - a remedy that the Treasury has neither the political will nor perhaps the imagination to attempt. The second is the fake: fixing the statistics - forcing the universities to take an even larger number of working-class candidates so that the nation's education deficit - the huge potential our state schools squander every year - does not look quite as disastrous as it really is. This, of course, is as cynical as it is meretricious: fiddling the accounts, Enron-style, to make a bankrupt business look as though it works.

I don't think that either of these "solutions" will do. What is needed is to get the state out of the education business altogether. State education is an oxymoron.

A difference of opinion

Here are two letters about Edinburgh University's new admission policy. Steven Wilkinson, an Edinburgh graduate, writes:

As a University of Edinburgh graduate, I ought to be pleased that the university has decided retrospectively that the fact I attended a state school near Edinburgh, and that I was the first in my family to attend university, ought to have entitled me to some preference in admissions. But I am far from pleased, since this policy strikes at the heart of the principle of merit.

He spoils his case by saying that he "ought" to be pleased by the new policy, but otherwise gives good reasons why this policy will cause harm.

Jim Gallagher supports the new rules:

As a first-year student at the University of Edinburgh, I think the new admissions policy is fantastic and should be adopted by many other institutions.

When and if Mr Gallagher graduates, I wonder what he would say if a potential employer refuses to hire him on the grounds that a non-graduate "could have done even better if educated to the same level" and is therefore more worthy of a job.

Entrepreneurial universities

Our still-elitist universities are doing well in commerce:

Although Scotland has only 9 per cent of the UK population, it generates 14 per cent of spin-out companies from university departments, grants 15 per cent of business licences and files 11 per cent of patents.

Furthermore:

" We already know that pound for pound we are significantly more efficient at turning university research into economic benefit than even the world-renowned American Ivy League universities, and this is further encouragement."

This is good news. I wonder how much better things would be if our universities could operate completely free of political control.

Parking chaos

The Edinburgh City Council is planning to expand the controlled parking area in the city centre. The situation now is ridiculous:

Currently there are more than 10,000 permits for only 7000 spaces and there is no doubt that this causes a great deal of ill-feeling. Most residents would ask that the council revise this ratio.

People who pay a fee for parking near their own homes have a 30% chance of being unable to find a space. We know what the Labour party would say if a private company operated such a scam. Ultimately, the solution is to privatise the road network

Depressing news

This letter from George Lindsay is spot-on:

The only employment growth area is in the public sector, where 33 per cent of the working popu-lation is now employed (that is, every two private sector employees are supporting one public sector employee).

Over 40% of men in Dundee are classified as long-term unemployed. I believe that the figure in Glasgow is over 20%. "Stalin's Granny" is proud that the public sector is thriving. Doesn't she realise that Scotland's huge public sector is the cause of our low growth economic rate? Of course not. The Scotsman today tells us that only eight out of 129 MSPs have any business experience. It's all too depressing.

Gordon gets a new date

The Nationalists are upset about the delayed UK budget:

Alex Salmond, the Scottish National Party’s leader at Westminster, told MPs that moving the statement to 9 April would be an abuse of democracy as it will fall during the campaign for the Scottish Parliament.

The Tories think that the reason for the delay is to "bury the statement by delivering it a day before parliament breaks up for Easter".

But the SNP has a different angle. Delaying the budget:

is a cynical ploy at best, an abuse of democracy at worst, designed to give Labour an unfair political advantage during the elections for the Scottish Parliament.

I rather agree with Alf Young's analysis. The Nationalists are afraid that the budget will be given in the aftermath of an Allied victory in Iraq and a few weeks before the Scottish elections. By opposing the Kosovo bombing, the SNP lost votes in the first election for the Scottish parliament. To make the same mistake twice would look like carelessness. Of course, we don't yet know if they have made a mistake.

Clever stuff

Yes, it's official: the ads at the top of this page are "targeted". Apparently, they are generated by words in the actual postings, not by the blog's title.

Can you afford to be green?

This letter is from the Convenor of the Executive of the Scottish Green Party. Mr Corbett calls for the election of more "Green" MSPs who would be "interested in progressive causes such as the peace movement or social enterprise".

"Social enterprise." Isn't that the sort of thing that socialists and communists are always going on about? I think it is. How wonderful to note that Mr Corbett lives in Ann Street, and as we all know:

Particularly famous is Ann Street, which the poet Sir John Betjeman claimed was "the most attractive street in Britain" and which is now one of Edinburgh's most exclusive addresses.

This reminds me of the Socialist Party of Great Britain who used to assure me at Speakers' Corner in London that, once socialism had been achieved, anyone could have a Rolls Royce at no cost.

I'll settle for that house in Ann Street.

Spend, spend, spend

Now we see what happens when politicians aren't held properly accountable for their spending:

AN INDEPENDENT public sector watchdog has been urged to conduct a full investigation into the financial management of Scottish Enterprise, the troubled economic development agency.

Annabel Goldie, the deputy leader of the Scottish Tories and their economy spokeswoman, wants an inquiry to be carried out by Robert Black, the Auditor General for Scotland.

Ms Goldie said: "I am very concerned about the recent media disclosures concerning Scottish Enterprise alleging slippage of programmes, laxity of management and unexpectedly high levels of consultancy fees."

But what are required are the abolition of Scottish Enterprise (sic) and the return of money to the taxpayer, in particular by reducing business taxes. That way lays real enterprise.

More on "fiscal freedom"

The debate on the tax-powers of the Scottish parliament continues:

William Frame, a 44-year-old benefactor of the Conservative party and prominent Edinburgh property developer, called for a full debate on fiscal autonomy for Scotland and claimed the present system was a failure.

He described Scotland's economic performance as "pathetic" and said: "We have a system where all we are doing is waiting for out bit of cake from Westminster. They give us money and we decide how to spend it. There must be a better way for Scotland spending what we get

The Scottish parliament must be responsible for collecting as well as spending money. This policy is being promoted by the nationalists but I would like to see it adopted by the Scottish Conservatives. They have their spring conference in Glasgow on Friday - a good opportunity to embrace a policy that would force politicians to be less spendthrift.

Including the "wrong" sort of visitor

Labour's policy of introducing free admission to museums hasn't quite worked out as planned:

The dropping of admission charges, a key plank of Labour’s social inclusion agenda, has brought many more people through museum doors, but most are from middle and upper socio-economic groups, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

But yesterday it was claimed that many of the new visitors were the very people who could afford to pay. "Although it’s good to see such increases in visitor numbers, it’s disappointing not to see a good social mix," said visitor association director Robin Broke.

Well, there's a surprise. Labour thinks that the "working classes" can be "included" by providing them with free access to culture. Of course, it's actually the other way round: those who are interested in museums and culture are no longer "working class". Needless to say, I am using the term "class" in the way the Labour party does. A correct usage would ascribe the term "working class" to all who earn their living in the free market and "exploiting class" to those who live at the expense of the taxpayer.

The power to tax

Full fiscal freedom is back on the agenda. The idea is that the Scottish parliament be responsible for collecting all taxes in Scotland and then remitting an appropriate amount to London for common UK services. At the moment, taxes are collected by Westminster, which then sends the Scottish parliament its spending money. I accept that most of our MSPs have no conception of the economic or financial facts of life and that initially they would use the tax power unwisely, to put it mildly! Nevertheless, I see no way of making them act responsibly other than by them having to justify their tax policies to the electorate.

Own goal

Labour's election campaign, such as it is, is coming off the rails:

A CONFIDENTIAL Labour document admits the SNP’s economic message is "clearer, stronger and more consistent" than its own, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.....The stark warning by Judith Begg, a former election candidate who worked with Wendy Alexander while enterprise minister, highlights deep anxiety in Labour circles as the party prepares for the May 1 contest

This couldn't possibly be the same Judith Begg who has about two letters a week published in the Scotsman attacking the SNP's economic policy and praising that of Labour, could it? I rather think that it is. Presumably her word processor will be on hold for a week or two.

Edinburgh favoured over Glasgow?

I don't believe that the arts should be subsidised by government.

There are calls for Glasgow to get a better deal than it receives under the current arrangements:

Currently, although 30% of the one million items in Glasgow's collection are of international importance, the council receives no direct contribution from government towards its annual £17m running costs. By contrast, the national museums, galleries and libraries in Edinburgh receive more than £30m.

The nine most popular of Glasgow's museums also attract two million visitors each year -- 800,000 from overseas -- while the Edinburgh nationals attract fewer than 500,000.

Privatise the lot, I say. But in the meantime I agree that Glasgow is being treated unfairly and, yes, I am writing from Edinburgh!

Another useful idiot

Communism killed 100 million people. But the Sunday Herald's Allan Burnett says of Stalin:

... by demonising him we risk becoming complacent about the West's own crimes against humanity

We in the West are guilty, proclaims Burnett:

Terrible as Stalin was, his demonisation risks blunting our understanding of 20th century history. At worst, it can result in life under the tsars being regarded as some kind of lost golden age. Moreover, it risks making us complacent about the historical struggle for liberty and justice in our own society. .

Well, compared to the Soviet Union, life under the tsars was a golden age. Liberty and justice "in our own society" came by reducing the power of the state, not by expanding it. But people like Burnett will never learn that lesson.