Local authorities on the brink

Published in Morning Star 18/3/14:
I once received a letter which said: "Like you, we believe local services are more important than frozen poultry."

I was mildly puzzled because I couldn't recall ever having made such a profound analysis.

It turns out it was a reply to something a colleague had sent out contrasting the local paper's silence about 1,500 council job cuts with its campaign against 547 job losses at a chicken factory.

Currency options: the facts behind the debate

The major hoo-ha about the pound in an independent Scotland has generated a mass of confusing debate. Thankfully the STUC’s ‘A JustScotland’ paper at last shines some light on what the real currency issues are.

What is clear is that no option for currency is without problems.  Here we try to distil some of the issues from the STUC report.

When looking at these options it is important to keep in mind that the status quo (without independence or enhanced devolution) brings its own problems and restrictions too.