Tag: economics

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The knock-on consequences for the size of the Block Grants to devolved administrations and the resourcing of the NHS in Scotland

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By stewartb The recent National Audit Office report entitled ‘NHS Financial Management and Sustainability’ makes substantive comments on the state of NHS England and the challenges it faces due to financial settlements over many years now from Westminster governments. Of course it makes ZERO reference to the knock-on consequences for the size of the Block Grants to devolved administrations and the resourcing of the NHS in NI, Scotland and Wales. See https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/nhs-financial-management-and-sustainability-2024/ Just a few extracts from the NAO report help to reinforce the point for anyone willing to acknowledge how the Barnet Formula operates: The NAO explains that ‘over the decade … Continue reading The knock-on consequences for the size of the Block Grants to devolved administrations and the resourcing of the NHS in Scotland

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If Mrs Thatcher had not existed then Labour would have had to invent her

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By Legerwood If Mrs Thatcher had not existed then Labour would have had to invent her in order to hide their culpability in the demise of Scottish industry which started long before she became PM. Labour had two periods in power in the ’60s and ’70s but did not do anything to stop the closure of pits and shipyards or help the communities so badly affected by these closures. At the time of nationalisation of the coal mines by the Attlee Gov there were 225 mines across Central Scotland. By the time Mrs Thatcher became PM in 1979 there were … Continue reading If Mrs Thatcher had not existed then Labour would have had to invent her

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What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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Leah Gunn Barrett English Labour says the UK economy is growing at the slowest rate for two centuries.[1] Could it have to do with austerity, Brexit, chronic underinvestment, rampant corporate profiteering and high interest rates? And if so, what will a Labour government do?  Fresh from Davos, Rachel Reeves told a meeting in the City of London “every day, every month and every year of a Labour government, Labour will maintain its credibility with the markets and relationship with the City.”[2] Labour has made clear that it will coddle and appease financial markets which means austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no … Continue reading What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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By Alasdair Galloway Jill Stephenson, retired Prof of Modern German History at Edinburgh University, but for our purposes an indefatigable defender of the Union while equally contemptuous of Independence, has a letter in this morning’s Herald, which illustrates some important issues, not least the limitations of infantile Economics. I have to admit that I was concerned about Humza Yousaf’s use of Denmark, Finland and Ireland as comparators to illustrate Scotland’s potential if independent. The main point of contact between Scotland and these three countries seems to me to be population size, but beyond that comparisons become more difficult. For instance, … Continue reading Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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An Independent Scotland could use the power of its sovereign currency to improve people’s lives

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And is an excellent reason to leave the failing UK Leah Gunn Barrett The letter below was published in the December 30th edition of The Scotsman. In it, I respond to Jill Stephenson, a member of the Scotland in Union group of letter writers. She appears regularly in the unionist papers letters pages. A retired professor of modern German history, she should stick to history and steer clear of economics, a subject about which she knows very little. Jill Stephenson (Scotsman letters page, December 29th, 2023) again displays her economic ignorance.  First, why shouldn’t Scotland benefit from pandemic financial support as it’s … Continue reading An Independent Scotland could use the power of its sovereign currency to improve people’s lives

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The main reason nuclear power hasn’t ‘taken off’ – it’s not economic.

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Leah Gunn Barrett Nuclear costs 2.6 times more per unit than gas and 3.7 times more than wind.[1] Government subsidies and guarantees are needed because the nuclear industry is an open-ended liability. A nuclear plant has never been fully decommissioned and many believe it would cost more than the original construction. Second, nuclear power has facilitated, not stopped, the proliferation of nuclear weapons. India produced its first plutonium in a Canadian supplied reactor, exploding its first nuclear bomb in 1974. Nations like Iran are following suit.[2]  Third, accidents have dogged the industry from the beginning. In 1957 the Windscale reactor that … Continue reading The main reason nuclear power hasn’t ‘taken off’ – it’s not economic.

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English Labour has fully gone over to the dark side

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Leah Gunn Barrett English Labour has fully gone over to the dark side. Keir Starmer, praising Thatcher for bringing ‘meaningful change’ to the UK, shed the last bit of straggly wool trying to disguise the neoliberal wolf Labour has become.[1] Why anyone in Scotland would cast a vote for English Labour that promises more of Thatcher’s wanton destruction is mind-boggling.  Many won’t remember her trail of wreckage. It started with her economic ignorance. She foolishly believed a government’s finances were like a household’s so she slashed public investment in heavy industry – shipbuilding, steel, coal, engineering, and manufacturing – making it … Continue reading English Labour has fully gone over to the dark side