The carnivore politics of the left

A LOT OF BILE is being expended on the Labour Party manifesto; much of it on its supposed costs.  There is no doubt that it does offer a great deal of manna from somewhere, and ...

A ‘Modest Proposal’ for economic growth Part 2: A shot in the arm

I EXPLAINED yesterday – in the first of my two part article – how Britain, Europe and the world are crippled by a legacy of massive debt overhang built on speculative investment and asset price ...

A Modest Proposal for economic growth – Part 1

Infrastructure investment without the pain

ONE OF THE BALEFUL LEGACIES of the financial crisis of 2008 has been a toxic legacy of debt, both public and private in the UK. When the ...

How to promote abundance in Scottish fishing

IN 1783 a Mr John Knox travelled around Scotland examining the local fisheries and fishing practices. He found coastal waters literally teeming with fish, and a fair amount of local knowledge that made great profit ...

What really happened at that Downing Street dinner?

LAST WEEK I found myself amid a company of academics, civil servants, financiers, industrialists, journalists, lawyers, ministers, parliamentarians and other political grandees, as well as think-tankers and trade negotiators. Running a rule over what was said ...

The outlook for the UK Consumer – not that bad!

NOTWITHSTANDING recent signs of slowing retail sales, the UK consumer has had a good financial crisis. While real wage growth has been consistently weak, since 2008, substantial cuts in the cost of borrowing, full employment, ...

Give Scottish business the tools for the job

MARK TWAIN famously said: “Prophesy is a good line of business but it is full of risks.” His comment will resonate with business leaders in Scotland who shudder every time they see a push for ...

Collectivist sales patter is not enough for the people of Scotland

FRANK ZAPPA once said, “Politics is involved with salesmanship. Government is involved with statesmanship”. Scotland, struggling with what its leadership has decided to call a government does not seem to have got this; the rhetoric ...

Remainers suffering seven stages of grief before reality bites

I HAVE always thought that the chances of successful Article 50 negotiations were less than 50-50: a good General Election victory for Theresa May will help strengthen her hand but that outcome is by no means certain; by December ...

Saving Perth City Hall – the twists and turns behind the council's efforts to demolish a cherished building

IN MY FIRST of this two-part history of the scandalous treatment of Perth City Hall I covered the disastrous competition that wasted the years from 2004 to 2010, as well as huge expenditure by ...

Designed to fail – the truth behind the sham competitions to redevelop Perth City Hall

IN SEPTEMBER 2004, Perth and Kinross Council published a brochure, launching a public competition to propose new uses for Perth City Hall, the great ‘B’-listed building to be declared redundant and closed upon completion of ...

Socialism is Scotland's enemy – not Brexit

WHAT ARE WE to make of the reports that Scotland’s growth rate went negative at the end of last year and we could be heading for a technical recession if this is repeated into 2017?