Go Lassie Go

Give them candy: local people want to reclaim Greenock's historic sugar sheds

I've driven by past these buildings all my life, but only yesterday did I learn that the Greenock Sugar Sheds anticipated the Bauhaus and reference John Ruskin's Italian medievalism. They are cathedrals of industry, an essential part of the historic James Watt Dock and the largest brick and cast iron warehouses surviving from Victorian Scotland. Greenock had scores of sugar refineries in the mid 19th century, and was the most important trading centre for the sweet stuff outside London. It is with some shame we remember that this industry was built on slavery, but it is also of some comfort to know that independent West Indian countries still sent sugar to Greenock until the late 20th century - until the subsidies to European sugar beet finally killed a Clydeside industry as well as damaging Caribbean economies.

The sugar sheds were saved from demolition by Historic Scotland and partner agencies after a fire in 2006. Local people got to experience the vast space themselves last month during the Tall Ships Race, when the sheds were opened up and transformed into a magical stage set for bands, theatre groups and artists. Audiences loved what they saw so much that they want to reclaim the sheds for community use - they had been earmarked as offices. They have launched a culturally savvy campaign on facebook together with a blog. It reminds you how much pride people take in their social history and the importance of a sense of place, and of the past, in urban regeneration. I write about the campaign today in my Scotsman column.

Time for some academic transparency?

Profs were once unworldly, but that was long ago

The Centre for Public Policy for the Regions gets a lot of attention in the Scottish media. Its tousle haired economist John McLaren is almost as familiar to viewers of Newsnight Scotland as Gordon Brewer himself. This weekend its report on the Scottish government's spending priorities in the budget got considerable attention.

The report suggested that the SNP was wrong to ring-fence health spending - just after the party launched its 2011 camapign with this very pledge. It also cast doubt on the SNP government's ability to fund big infrastructural projects using the non-profit mechanism they have created to replace PFI/PPP. This also echoed the attacks of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats.

So is this report a dispassionate piece of analysis by lofty academics who are above the dirty business of politics? Or should we should look again at the CPPR and ask how non-aligned some of its people really are. John McLaren, for example, was once an adviser to the Labour First Minister Donald Dewar - not something that is flagged up on television.

But it is the background of Jo Armstrong, McLaren's co-author of the weekend paper on Scottish public spending, that concerns me much more. Ms Armstrong was an adviser to another Labour First Minister, Jack McConnell. She is also a controversial figure with what many believe are strong ideological views in favour of liberalising public services. She has advocated the privatisation of Scottish Water. She has associations with those who have most to gain from a return to PFI/PPP - the cost of which has multiplied and delivered huge profits to banks and business consultants. She was involved in the establishment of the Glasgow Housing Association, an  organisation backed by the banks, who were given the city's entire housing stock but had the debt for that stock completely written off.

 I am indebted to an online directory called Powerbase, which attempts to chart the connections between lobbying/academia/consultancy/think tankery and politics.

Here is part of their fascinating entry on Jo Armstrong:

"Jo Armstrong has also involved herself in other areas of concern to the Scottish people. For instance the area of Public Private Partnerships (PPP'S) is one that she has written on. She appears to be a proponent of PPP despite evidence that they are a bad deal for the people of Scotland see refs below ^{[15] [16] [17] [18] [19]}.

She herself says that she has had,

'Key roles:

• advising on the development of partnerships and projects
• ensuring financial viability & acceptability to the private sector
• assuring value for money & public sector affordability'.

This advice has been given to both the Scottish Executive and the Royal Bank of Scotland; one of the main beneficiaries of PPP's. Her relationship with the Royal Bank of Scotland encompassed,

'The provision of analysis and advice in support of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Structured Finance deals covering

• PFI/PPPs for UK hospitals, roads, prisons and housing
• gas and coal-fired power projects worldwide
• oil, mineral and petrochemical installations world-wide
• leisure and hotel projects in the US and the UK' ^[20].

Despite this business relationship with the Royal Bank she also took on an, 'an initial review of the Scottish Executive’s experience of, and role in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Scotland reporting to the Scottish Cabinet through the Minister for Finance' ^[21]. "

Jo Armstrong, has also worked for the Fraser of Allander Institute, another academic organisation that appears to employ a disproportionate number of folk of a Scottish Labour persuasion...Now I am not saying that Ms Armstrong has done anything wrong. But I do believe that anyone presented with her work has a right to view it in the wider context of her career.

There is considerable personnel cross over between the Fraser of Allander, the CPPR, and the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution which was set up by the unionist parties to block moves to give Scotland more control of her own resources and economic decision making. The Calman Commission report forms the basis of the Scotland Bill, currently going through Westminster which the Scottish Government says would have resulted in Scotland losing £8bn in the first ten years of devolution.

For Example:

Jim Gallagher, the former civil servant who is believed to have written the Calman report and who has been appointed as expert adviser to the Holyrood Scotland Bill Committe is listed as an associate with the CPPR.

Wendy Alexander, who had the idea for the Calman Commission while Labour's leader in Holyrood and who now chairs The Scotland Bill committee has worked for the Fraser of Allander. As a minister in a previous Labour administration she pushed through the establishment  Glasgow Housing Association that Jo Armstrong worked on too

Brian Ashcroft, Wendy Alexander's husband, is a member of the CPPR and Fraser of Allander.

Julia Darby and Peter McGregor of the CPPR were two of six economists who signed a letter in The Scotsman yesterday claiming fiscal autonomy would not help the Scottish economy.

Julia Darby was also on the Calman expert group.

Of other letter signers Anton Muscatelli, Clemens Fuest and David Ulph were also members of the hand-picked expert group.

David Ulph is also an expert adviser to the Scotland Bill committee at Holyrood. Does he not believe that a conflict of interest might arise? How can he offer supposedly impartial advice on Scotland's fiscal future when his colours are nailed so firmly to the mast? A look at Ulph's CV also reveals that he was employed by HMRC until 2006. The Treasury and HMRC are among the strongest opponents of any move that decentralises power away from them.

I am sure there are many other academics whose impartiality is not perhaps as straightforward as is presented to the wider public. I am not saying that academics should not have political views - that would clearly be absurd. But we should at least know their background and their associates when listening to their contributions. (Just as we should know the backgrounds of journalists - I recently became an SNP candidate).  So Professors Andrew Hughes Hallett and Drew Scott were recently attacked by Wendy Alexander's committee because their research had been used by the SNP government to support the case for fiscal power. Contrast the way they were treated with this report in The Telegraph on evidence given at the same time by Iain McLean, of Oxford University, to the same committee. Professor McLean, another member of the Calman expert group, is not an economist but was allowed to talk at length on how the SNP's plans (not part of the committee's remit) would "substantially increase the risk of a financial black hole appearing". For good measure he defended the Scotland Bill plans not to include corporation tax and national insurance and dismissed oil revenues as "too volatile."

Nowhere in the report does it explain that Professor McLean is a very good friend to Labour and was a councillor in Oxford and Tyneside. (Though Professor McLean is himself open about this on his CV) Nor does any report on Prof McLean's evidence to the committee explain that Jim Gallagher (its expert adviser remember) has recently joined Prof McLean at Nuffield College.  I'm a told Gallagher found a welcome there after leaving the civil service shortly after the change of government last May.

Lastly, looking at the CVs of the economists on the CPPR, it is clear that "regional economics" is a bulging academic area. Many have moved from the regions of England, where they have developed their expertise. I don't think of Scotland as a region...but perhaps it suits others very well for it to be treated as such.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few examples:

Jim

NOTE: In the interests of transparency, I am an SNP candidate for the South of Scotland. But you probably knew that already. I also write for The Scotsman. My column will appear on Tuesday from now on. Tomorrow it looks some more at the economic choices on offer to Scotland and in particular how to fund capital spending.

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Shamed by Calum Cashley's detective work

Fellow blogger and councillor Calum Cashley has put me and other professional journalists to shame. Following on from the row about the New Year Message from Iain McMillan of CBI in Scotland, Calum has taken a very close look at the organisation. You will remember that McMillan mounted a highly partisan attack on the SNP government which many feel was more reflective of his own political views than the businesses he claims to speak for. Calum has done a power of work by scutinising the CBI in Scotland. How many Scottish businesses does it represent? Who are they? You might be surprised to find it is a tiny per centage of indigenous companies and members include quangoes paid for with public funds. He lists all the Scottish members he can find. Wouldn't it be interesting if someone followed up on his hard work and asked these companies if McMillan's New Year Message was a fair reflection of their views? Lots more detail in Calum's blog here

Does this man have the hardest job in Scotland?

 Gavin Mitchell has always stood out in his comic roles for the brilliantly written Kings Theatre  panto in Glasgow. But what a tough gig the Still Game barman had this year, when he was asked to fill the Doc Martens of Gerard Kelly, who died suddenly aged 51, almost before the curtain rose for the season. Kelly was the King's panto, as big a star as Stanley Baxter and Jack Milroybefore him - and as much a Scottish institution too. His catch-phrase "Hiya Pals" was carried on from Milroy and in this interview for Theatre News, Mitchell said he would continue it, as a tribute. I went to Snow White with my family yesterday and his character - Muddles the Jester - changed the wording slightly, presumably having read the mood of the cast and audience over the season. Mitchell has a difficult tightrope to walk. You have a theatre full of  excited Brownie packs, extended families and works outings all looking for good cheer...but painfully aware that a star has gone out. How to you reconcile the frivolity of panto with the reality of death? Mitchell didn't ignore it - referring to Kelly and his loss at the start of the show and repeating some of his famous lines by reminding the audience that "our very dear friend" had said them first. He even did so with the gag about the white feather that pops up to get the audience out of their seats for the sing-a-long. (The ladies will remember the adult punch line...) Before the final curtain, Mitchell, in Kelly's trademark lavy brush style wig, stepped forward to dedicate the performance to the great man, as he must have done dozens of times since Snow White opened. There were lumps in throats. But it was the right approach, paying homage then getting on with what Gerard Kelly would have wanted: the ritual celebration of Glaswegian silliness, self-deprecation and patter. We all laughed - and cried a bit too.

http://www.theatrescotland.com/Scottish-theatre-writing/Articles/Gavin-Mitchell-actor-interview.html

http://www.ambassadortickets.com/King's-Theatre

Hogmanay 2011: Stonehaven Fireballs in words and pictures, with a few opinions swung around too

We waited two hours in the bitter cold of Stonehaven High Street to ensure a good view of the fireball swingers who parade between the old clock tower and the harbour at the stroke of Midnight every Hogmanay/Ne'erday  - and have done for hundreds of years. The fireballs are the size of small creels (lobster pots), doubled wrapped in chicken wire then stuffed with oily rags - old jumpers sometimes. They are then attached to fence wire and swung above the head. While most of the participants were of the burly variety, there were quite a few women too - including one even shorter than me, who was nevertheless able to perform the full circular swing in a way that looked effortless. Most of the men wore kilts and others dressed up in carnival style - I liked the giant guy with the necklace of blue fairylights and another whose t-shirt had a build-in digital clock giving a countdown to the 2011. Centuries ago Hogmanay was a time when people dressed up and went guising, so the display was appropriate. 

It was exhilarating to be there, even as a spectator. Fire is elemental and exciting - its seductive warmth comes with menace and danger. It transforms the night, and the people around you. In our case the risk was real - our spot on the narrowest stretch of the street meant the fireballs gie close.  The combustible parade, which was preceded by pipes and drums, captured the old Scottish spirit of Yule and New Year, which in Scotland used to be called "The Daft Days". It was a time when a society restrained by rules, religion and grinding labour could go a wee bit crazy.  Fire was traditionally used in Winter Festivals to purify and drive away evil spirits - just like it destroyed germs and drove away wild animals. It also symbolses the sun, and the spirit of optimism that keeps telling us it won't always be this cold and dark.

The ringleader of a group of boisterous Aberdonians preferred a more contemporary comparison: "It's like the X-factor for big hairy Scotsmen!" He was perturbed by the absence of a soundtrack - the drummers being further up the street.  So he spent the next few moments rousing the street to yet another rendition of Flower of Scotland. They complied. But the combination of crackling fireballs and yelps of encouragement from the crowd somehow made the soundtrack more authentic. The comparison with X-Factor was flippant but not irrelevant. What greater contrast could there be to the manufactured, monocultural entertainment that now dominates our lives than this? The Stonehaven fireball swinging is rooted in a real community and still organised by local people - with considerable time and skill given the health and safety requirements of the 21st century.

But there is a little spark of the x-factor culture in the ceremony.  One of the veteran fireball men told the Press and Journal  the ceremony had almost died out by the early 1960s - until it began to attract spectators. The fishermen who originally performed it did so because of ritual and superstition. Now it is a carnival, attracting 10-12,000 a year - people from the town and surrounding area, emigres who have left the "auld toon" and returned, and an increasing number from further afield. The crowds this week included Scots like us but also lots of voices from England, The United States, France Germany and other parts of Europe. The tradition survives because it has become a compelling spectacle. there's an element od showbiz now that would not have been the case 100 years ago. But culture is a living, dynamic thing and to survive it must adapt. In the age of the i-pod, x-box and laptop, people crave cultural experiences that are real, not virtual. The like to come together with other human beings - this explains the growth in popularity of summer festivals. It made me wonder whether other Scottish communities could learn from Stonehaven and revive traditions that have been allowed to die out. My old book  Scottish Festivals, by Sheila Livingstone documents fire ceremonies all over Scotland. A few still exist. As well as Stonehaven, there is Burning the Clavie in Burghead, Up-Helly-aa in Shetland and the Biggar Bonfire. But according to Livingstone, there were bonfires at Wick. In 1655 ministers in Moray complained of the idolatrous practice of fishermen circulating torches around their boats. At Comrie there was a torchlit procession with folk dressed in fantastic costume. The Lighting and carrying of a tar barrel, which continues in Burghead,  was once an annual event in Campbeltown, where an old boat would also be filled with burning barrels and dragged on its keel. In Galloway, tar barrels were carried through Minigaff and Newton Stewart until the First World War. Participants in costume would cross the River Cree on horseback. In Dingwall a large crate was set alight and pulled to the Mercat Cross by a heavy horse - It was accompanied by a band using handmade instruments  - drums, whistles and tambourines, to drive away the evil spirits. 

We now have a Winter Festival in Scotland, From St Andrew's to Burns night. The cities have embraced the concept. Smaller towns have even more to gain. It saddens me to travel around Scotland's and see the decline of our once proud burghs. Vibrant cultural and commercial centres have become shells of their former selves. They are victims of out of town retailing, the drift of talent to the cities, the centralisation of services and businesses like banking - and the current recession of course. Yet they also suffer from a loss of confidence - in their desperation to appear cosmopolitan, they have lost faith in the unique locality that made them fascinating.

Stonehaven could teach similar sized towns a thing or two. The Fireball festival is a sign post for its other attractions - there were surfers in the bay on Ne-erday and the harbourside bars were packed. Quite a few will doubtless return in summer. I love the word glocalisation, the use of local culture and singularity to appeal to the wider world. Reviving local traditions, and inviting the rest of the world to watch, might relight a few home fires.

______________

Morning after postscript...small tourist flings a dead fireball on Ne'erday. Not as easy as it looks on the night... 

 

Sir Iain Noble: The man who gave banking a good name

Sad to hear of the death of Iain Noble, the merchant banker who spent much of his life and personal fortune promoting Gaelic culture and fostering enterprise in the Western highlands. He funded the Gaelic College on Skye, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, as well as many other local businesses that - backed through his boutique banking group. His was the good face of capitalism and certainly a man who gave banking a good name.

Ben Thomson, who knew Sir Iain and recently retired as the head of The Noble group said of him:

"He was always looking to see how he could help develop a sector or develop something new based in Scotland. 

"He was an inspiration to many about how you could develop Scottish companies. He was a great ideas man; he had lots of them, and threw himself into them all enthusiastically. Some of them were 50 years ahead of their time and still haven't come to see the light of day.

"He believed entirely in Scotland empowering itself ... that Scotland (would] thrive under its own steam."

There is a full report here in The Scotsman

 

Kevin the Teenager can never lead Scotland

Oh dear. Kevin the Teenager (aged 53 and a half) is over excited again. Iain Gray, according to an interview in Scotland on Sunday,thinks  he can win a personality contest with The First Minister Alex Salmond. Mmm, I guess it depends on what takes your fancy. If leaden delivery of scripted speeches is your bag, then I guess the Labour leader wins hands down. If a total lack of any ambition for your country gets you going, then look no further than the man who has nothing: no policies, no solutions, no positives.  The worst Gray seems able to throw at Salmond in the interview is an ill-advised photo-opp in a sun hat at the Commonwealth Games in India this year. Someone should tell him gently that, even in silly hats, Salmond is a more serious politician than he can ever hope to be. Indeed this is proved by the newspaper itself. While Gray splutters desperately about sunhats, elsewhere in Scotland on Sunday the SNP First Minister has written a column outlining his vision for Scotland's renewables industry and how it might take our economy to another level (100% of our energy from renewables by 2025)

My first and lasting impression of Iain Gray was when he spoke at a Fabian Society conference I attended several years ago. He opened his comments on the financial sector by saying he knew nothing about economics. Salmond is an economist by profession. This contrast wouldn't matter if Gray's lack of experience on such matters was compensated by charm, vision and ideas. Gray has none of these. He has risen without trace, assuming the leadership of the Scottish Party not because he was an inspiring figure, but because he was close to Gordon Brown and nobody else seemed up to much. So what if Salmond has a guid conceit of himself?  Isn't that what you want in a leader? Who would you rather have represent your country? Someone clever and forceful who  answered only to the people of Scotland, or someone lacking in knowledge, confidence and fluency who needed to check everything with his bosses in London?

Gray's interview in Scotland on Sunday today berates the SNP government on the spurious grounds that they should have created more construction jobs during the worst recession for generations. Bad timing, given that Scotland's unemployment figures are better than the UK as a whole and the SNP just announced the funding for a new Forth Crossing. Wasn't it the SNP who postponed Tory cuts and brought forward capital spending in order to stimulate construction in the Scottish economy? And wasn't it the case  that Labour in Holyrood was less than enthusiastic about this approach and at one point appeared to suggest that we should front load the cuts to "get them out of the way",so to speak? Might it not be the case that the SNP's determination to stimulate the economy is the reason for those encouraging employment figures? The last Labour government in Westminster also opposed giving the Scottish parliament workable borrowing powers to finance major construction projects.

If the Labour Party really care about creating jobs in Scotland, why are they so keen on a Tory Scotland Bill which gives us no powers to grow the economy and actually reduces the income of future Scottish governments, including any Gray aspires to lead? Then again, Gray knows little of economics. Like many frustrated teenagers, he is more comfortable with self-delusion. And like any adolescent who is defeated by cool reasoning, he is liable to erupt into petulant displays of rage for no good reason.

Stevenson's departure offers opportunity for women

It's better for the government that Stewart Stevenson has resigned, even if a lot of people out there - including me - thought it ridiculous to blame one man for the weather. The resignation letter said he had gone because of the failure to communicate with motorists, but we all know he's really gone because of his failure to communicate on Newsnight. As Iain MacWhirter said this morning on Newsweek Scotland, Stevenson just wasn't an "I feel your pain" sort of person. You can read his resignation letter and First Minister's acceptance here

The opposition will crow about getting a scalp - but may live to regret that. The resignation offers Alex Salmond the opportunity to replace an older, unmedia-friendly man with a bright young woman. Two candidates come to mind. Shirley-Anne Somerville and Angela Constance.

Somerville, who I believe is a new mother, is a politics and economics graduate who has worked in media relations for various organisations including the Royal College of Nursing. She's a member of Holyrood's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee and co-convenor of the cross party group on climate change, both of which fall into Stevenson's brief. (She has already commented on the resignation here) And she has done a great job of exposing the debacle of the Edinburgh trams. I cannot imagine her being caught out on Newsnight, where she is already a regular and confident performer. She is a member of Friends of the Earth and could get on swimmingly with the small Green Group in parliament, who, according to TwoDoctors, didn't find Stevenson particularly chummy.  Somerville also has an interest in gender issues such as domestic violence and equal opportunities, which will help in terms of the female vote. 

 Angela Constance is also a young mother who worked as a social worker in the state hospital of Carstairs before entering politics. A Livingston councillor before she was elected to Holyrood in 2007, she has less parliamentary experience than Somerville but is highly regarded. She is a member of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee and lists her hobbies as jogging and running marathons. Either woman would be a breath of fresh air and give the team a better gender balance.  One of the SNP's trump cards over the Labour opposition is the high quality of its front bench, something acknowledged by media commentators.  Stevenson's difficulties offered the opposition an opportunity to undermine this widely held view. Now he's gone and a weak link has disappeared with him.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 

____________________

Off piste on Arthur's Seat

 

Authorities have warned of an avalanche danger on Arthur's Seat

so I propably shouldn't be posting this. Still, doesn't Scotland's latest

piste look good fun! And so accessible for the airport...if

only the airport wasn't snowed in... I'm just envious because a thaw seems to

have started here in Glasgow. The cold hasn't lasted long enough for

outdoor skating on Bingham Pond, like last winter,

but we live in hope.

 

Snow show for schools. Safety first or just a duvet day?

 
My wee Mini Cooper navigated the river of brown sludge that is Great Western Road before nine this morning. Drivers needed to be particularly vigilant as they glided along. As well as all the usual hazards -black ice,  idiots with skyscrapers of snow atop their cars, there were very young teenagers everywhere. They cavorted on traffic islands and skytted across slippery roads the way kids do in the snow, oblivious to danger. Most Glasgow parents did not hear until 8.30 this morning that all the city's schools were to close. Many kids had already arrived. This included the children of the council's deputy leader who was a guest on Call Kaye and didn't sound too happy that his teenager was still not home. At least his director didn't discriminate. But is this the best planning Glasgow could manage? The schools were open Monday and Tuesday when the weather was even worse. If problems were identified yesterday officials had all night to make and publicise the decision. All the private schools in the city are open, along with hospitals, supermarkets, restaurants and everything else. The buses are running if you cannot drive and the main routes are gritted. When my daughter had a dance exam on Sunday afternoon, there was no way we could get the car out, so we wrapped up, loaded the pointe shoes et al into a baby bath sledge, trekked for nearly an hour till we got to Yorkhill. 

But it seems that some folk are made of less stern stuff than us ballet mums. Glasgow's sudden schools closures sounded like a bit of a duvet day to many of the listeners who called Kaye, especially the older people who remembered going to school "even when you had to brush snaw aff the lavvy seats"

Not sure I'd wish that on the kids. But Glasgow's decision exposes the pointlessness of having a large education bureacracy trying to justify its existence.What purpose do they serve?  Did the timing and manner of today's decision show the sort of leadership/managerial skills you expect from folk of six figure salaries? Why not leave it to individual head teachers  to make decisions about their own schools?

What is unforgiveable is the timing, which left many kids to make their own way home. Yet one of the reasons given for school closures is that the children and staff cannot make safe journeys. 

"Our decision to close schools was taken in the interests of the safety of both children and staff," said a council spokesperson.

"We announced the decision as quickly as possible once problems caused by the adverse weather came to light this morning."

They have only just noticed?!?

The spokesperson added: "The safety of children and staff must come first."

Aye right.