We can't help feeling we should be exercised over the Scottish Tory election, but frankly, the party seems so hell bent on destroying itself one way or another that it’s impossible for even political nerds like us to maintain much enthusiasm for the details. The most interesting press contribution we’ve seen so far came from Kenny Farquharson in last week’s Scotland on Sunday; if Murdo Fraser wins, he thinks, and presumably, all goes according to plan, the formation of a new centre right party believing in devo-max will galvanise those of all parties who support this putative second option on the referendum ballot. This will deflect support away from a straight ‘Yes’ to independence. If Davidson /Carlaw/ Mitchell prevail, and persist with the hard unionist line, Farquharson reckoned the chances that Scotland will be independent by 2016 increase enormously. It’s probably more complex, but as an argument, it’s a good place to start. More interestingly, three other issues caught our attention in recent days. The first comes from the left-leaning New Statesman on coalition plans to abandon the traditional registration of voters by household and replace it with registration by individuals. This, says author Mehdi Hasan will result in thousands of voters being dis-enfranchised and we will become a ‘sick democracy’ with fewer voters and lower turnouts. And these disenfranchised voters are, according to Hasan, the young, the poor and ethnic minorities – all potentially Labour supporters. Labour is thus accusing the coalition of gerrymandering (as over constituency boundary changes that seek to equalise numbers). Coalition ministers say we don’t - and won’t - force people to vote, so why should they be forced to register? Academics and Ed Miliband say voting is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but a ‘civic duty’. Quite. It may be that having to make an effort to register accords the vote more significance; in time Labour fears may be confounded and the turnout actually rise. The second article that caught our eye came from the Guardian’s Public Leaders’ Network (yes, we really will have to get out more), lamenting the wasted opportunities for the civil service to learn from the variations in approach thrown up by the devolved administrations. None of the promised monitoring seems to have taken place – Audit Scotland and the Crerar report have been largely ignored south of the Border, yet, says the article’s author David Walker, there is much good work that could be adopted there – yet “for Whitehall and Westminster, their insularity seems if anything to be growing – in inverse relation to the theory and practice of public services in what always was and now more than ever is another country – Scotland”. No wonder Holyrood and Westminster seem so much at odds over implementing Calman if there is no meeting of minds among those charged with seeing it through. And lastly, a tale courtesy of the Adam Smith Institute blog demonstrating that red tape is alive and well. For sheer hair-tearing stupidity we have seen little to beat it. It involves the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, a local authority and 480 tortoises. Read and despair… |
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CategoriesAlex SalmondCharities Civil Service crime Crown Estates Devolution Devo-max ECHR Economy education employment energy foreign policy Holyrood Independence Labour monarchy North Sea oil Northern Ireland police political railways Red Tape Renewable energy republicanism Scottish Conservatives Scottish Nationalists Scottish Voice Solar energy terrorism transport Wales Welfare Westminster
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