Tag Archives: scotsman

LibLink..Tavish Scott: Our difficult decisions easier than in US

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 18th April 2013 - 9:15 am

Tavish Scott, Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland, writes in today’s Scotsman contrasting the battle over gun control in the US to the consultation in Scotland over licensing of airguns.

Of the situation in the States in the wake of the awful Sandy Hook shootings last Christmas, Tavish writes:

But Obama senses a moment. The Connecticut shooting was so awful that pressure on Washington lawmakers is now intense. Last week, the president met Sandy Hook families who lost children and then flew them in Air Force 1 to Washington DC. These parents then met lawmakers on Capitol Hill. They asked for mandatory background

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Posted in News | Also tagged airgun consultation, gun control, Scotland, tavish scott and us | 6 Comments

LibLink… Danny Alexander: Coalition tackling housing crisis

By NewsHound | Wed 17th April 2013 - 3:27 pm

Danny Alexander writes in today’s Scotsman about the benefit reduction which has become colloquially known as the Bedroom Tax.

He argues that the Coalition had to take action after Labour mismanagement and failure to build houses:

However, they may not know that Labour also left a legacy whereby hundreds of thousands of families in Scotland are waiting for a house that is big enough for their family to live in. The government has a responsibility to make sure that we change housing benefit rules in a careful, sensitive and managed way. But we also have a responsibility to those families.

Housing benefit is

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged bedroom tax and Danny Alexander | 15 Comments

LibLink: David Steel…New type of Union needed

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th April 2013 - 2:36 pm

The Scotsman carries an extract from David Steel’s Presidential Address to the David Hume institute in which he talks about the need for constitutional reform of the whole UK to give real power to its constituent parts. I was particularly struck by this passage where he talks about distribution, not devolution, of power:

Many of my former constituents would quite comfortably consider themselves a Borderer first and then a Scotsman. And the same incidentally applies for Borderers born south of the Tweed in Northumberland in relation to Englishness. Politicians at their peril dictate identity and culture. People can quite comfortably consider

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged constitutional reform, david hume institute, david steel and Scotland | 12 Comments

LibLink…Christine Jardine: Referendum drowns out more pressing issues

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 28th March 2013 - 10:58 am

Former Downing Street insider Christine Jardine, now back in Scotland and selected as a Liberal Democrat Euro-candidate, highlights in the Scotsman how more urgent problems are being forgotten as Scotland gears up for the Independence Referendum.

While all the attention is on 18th September 2014, Christine reminds us that there is some serious stuff going on now:

Traditionally, conferences, like the SNP’s recent gathering in Inverness, are where policy announcements are made, government plans set out and ministers take the opportunity to highlight their successes in the full glare of the media spotlight. But not this time. This time I waited in

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged christine jardine, Scotland, Scottish independence referendum and snp | Leave a comment

LibLink…Tavish Scott MSP: Eastleigh could be a fresh start

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th March 2013 - 12:48 pm

In the post Eastleigh celebratory glow, Shetland MSP used his Scotsman column to issue a sharp challenge on the economy and welfare reform to Liberal Democrat MPs.

First, he praised the party for the way we had come together to win against the odds.

A personal party scandal was badly handled from beginning to end. The Tory press scented blood and threw themselves at the Lib Dems.

But the Lib Dem by-election machine still has a kick. A win was needed and secured. Morale is on the up and belief returns. This will grow if Lib Dem Westminster MPs now get really stuck

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged tavish scott | 1 Comment

LibLink…Tavish Scott…SNP’s mistakes will be their downfall

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 28th February 2013 - 3:30 pm

Writing in today’s Scotsman, Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland lists a number of mistakes made by the SNP Government in Scotland. The one most in the news at the moment is Audit Scotland’s report and concerns about the number of people marked socially unavailable for treatment which enabled them to be removed from the waiting times target.

On that scandal, Tavish said:

It is now clear that health boards across Scotland were under enormous government pressure to meet waiting list targets. In 2007, the new health secretary declared that she would end the previous government’s waiting-time fiddle. Nicola Sturgeon did. The

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged tavish scott | Leave a comment

LibLink…Tavish Scott: Community councils empower the people

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 23rd February 2013 - 11:55 am

One of the big themes in Scottish politics in recent years has been the Labour and SNP impulse to centralise anything that stands still for long enough. The SNP Government, against all good advice and much opinion, recently merged Scotland’s 8 police forces into one.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats under Willie Rennie’s leadership have been emphasising giving power to local communities. Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland writes in the Scotsman about how giving more power to community councils could help deliver the sorts of services communities need, including schools.He cites the example of a plan to close a secondary school …

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged community councils, Local government, rural communities, Scotland and tavish scott | 2 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine… Stop pressuring our children to be perfect

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 1st January 2013 - 11:15 am

It’s New Year and every single magazine aimed at women and girls will inevitably be full of the latest crash diet. Whether it’s claiming you’ll lose a stone in seven days, or banning carbs or suggesting you base your diet on cabbage soup or eggs, we are told that we should get rid of the excesses of the Festive Season as soon as possible with often drastic measures.

Jo Swinson recently wrote an open letter to magazine

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged body image, christine jardine and Jo Swinson | 6 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine..A coffee with a sweeter taste

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 11:27 am

Christine Jardine was until this Summer a Liberal Democrat Special Adviser at the heart of Government. She is now back working full time in politics in Scotland and writing occasionally for the Scotsman.

This week she’s turned her attention to the fact that large corporations like Starbucks don’t pay tax in the UK and reflects on the good that local, independent coffee shops bring to the community:

As I sat there enjoying my Americano, eyeing up the chocolate cake and cinnamon swirls, I began to think about the value that the entrepreneur behind the counter had brought to my community.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged christine jardine, economy, small business and tax | Leave a comment

LibLink: Tavish Scott says college row marks a turning point for the SNP

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 15th November 2012 - 1:30 pm

Tavish Scott has written a column for the Scotsman criticising the SNP Government for abuse of power and neutering the Holyrood Parliament. His comments come in the wake of a row about the Education Secretary Mike Russell effectively engineered the resignation of the Chairman of Stow College in Glasgow. Kirk Ramsay had been a vociferous critic of Russell’s cuts in the sector.

The story so far:

Ramsay records Russell’s on-the-record remarks at a meeting with about 80 people present at which the Cabinet Secretary was discussing his plans for the Further Education sector. He did so because he suffers from Tinnitus and …

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged further education, kirk ramsay, mike russell, Scotland, snp and tavish scott | 7 Comments

Lib Link: Christine Jardine – Scottish Lib Dems on the ropes but definitely not down and out

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th July 2012 - 11:55 am

Christine Jardine was until recently the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ very own CJ inside Downing Street as special adviser on Scottish affairs. She’s now returning to full time politics in Scotland and is looking towards Westminster and Holyrood elections in 2015 and 2015. She’s started off by writing in yesterday’s Scotsman about what she sees as the way forward for the party in Scotland.

She puts forward a robust defence of the calm professionalism of our ministers, MPs and advisers and argues that we activists need to get out on the doorsteps and take the message of their achievements directly to the voters.

For

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged christine jardine, Scotland and scottish liberal democrats | 5 Comments

Former MP John Barrett talks about his Cancer – and how screening saved his life

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st December 2011 - 12:55 pm

I know that many party members across the country will be concerned to hear that popular former Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP John Barrett has recently had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his colon. He’s decided to talk about his experience in order to persuade others not just to leave the screening kit the NHS sends to over 50s to one side gathering dust, but to make sure they use it.

He spoke to the Scotsman about what he’s gone through and his forthcoming chemotherapy. It’s obviously been a huge shock and upheaval, but he’s recovering well from the operation

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Posted in News | Also tagged cancer and john barrett | 1 Comment

Backing for electoral reform in the Scotsman and The Observer

By Mark Pack | Sun 20th February 2011 - 12:55 pm

A leader in The Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday backs a Yes vote in May’s referendum:

The fact that it is AV on offer and not one of the other systems is the product of three specific factors: the offer on PR made by the last Labour government to woo the Lib Dems; the arithmetic of the general election result; and the mechanics of the deal between David Cameron and Nick Clegg that delivered the coalition administration. It is the product of specific circumstances. It is also the only game in town. In the world of realpolitik an academic debate

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Posted in News | Also tagged andrew rawnsley, av referendum and electoral reform | 10 Comments

Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Tag Archives: scotsman

LibLink..Tavish Scott: Our difficult decisions easier than in US

LibLink… Danny Alexander: Coalition tackling housing crisis

LibLink: David Steel…New type of Union needed

LibLink…Christine Jardine: Referendum drowns out more pressing issues

LibLink…Tavish Scott MSP: Eastleigh could be a fresh start

LibLink…Tavish Scott…SNP’s mistakes will be their downfall

LibLink…Tavish Scott: Community councils empower the people

LibLink: Christine Jardine… Stop pressuring our children to be perfect

LibLink: Christine Jardine..A coffee with a sweeter taste

LibLink: Tavish Scott says college row marks a turning point for the SNP

Lib Link: Christine Jardine – Scottish Lib Dems on the ropes but definitely not down and out

Former MP John Barrett talks about his Cancer – and how screening saved his life

Backing for electoral reform in the Scotsman and The Observer

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Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Tag Archives: scotsman

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