Category Archives: Politics

“Murdo!” He Wrote

Posted on September 5, 2011 by davidsberry

We live in strange times. Wind the clock back a quarter century and Scotland was an unsightly pimple on the alabaster edifice of Thatcherism and about to get handbagged by the Sermon on the Mound.  To suggest then that the … Continue reading →

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Hats Off to Pat

Posted on September 4, 2011 by davidsberry

This blog has never been shy when it came to criticism. Given my SNP background, it may be expected that it would be particularly harsh with perceived faults in other parties. And, given decades of dominance of my beloved East … Continue reading →

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Let’s Kill All the Councils, Let’s Kill ‘Em Tonight!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by davidsberry

The Welsh Government seems to have got itself in hot water for treading where no other devolved administration has dared to tread—into the morass of local government reform. Given that England has been in a constant low-level turmoil for decades … Continue reading →

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This Month’s Oxter Award

Posted on August 30, 2011 by davidsberry

It’s the traditional political Silly Season when major politicians and those that hound them are generally off on some sun-baked beach, August is a month we have to cast about to find a decent candidate deserving opprobrium. Yet, there in Hootsmon on … Continue reading →

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All Roads Lead to Lisbon

Posted on August 27, 2011 by davidsberry

Since spending probably my best summer ever as a 23-year-old waiter in the Algarve, I have had a soft spot for Portugal, its people and especially its fading-grande-dame-but-still-a-babe capital, Lisbon. Down for just a week for my first visit in … Continue reading →

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Subtle as a Ram Raid

Posted on August 19, 2011 by davidsberry

The Hootsmon has its faults but today’s piece from David Maddox on government debt could not be more timely, coming, as it does, on the back of the worst day for the FTSE for three years. To say that investors … Continue reading →

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Nothing New Under the Sun

Posted on August 18, 2011 by davidsberry

Young whippersnappers with no memories of the sixties may think that ‘new’ politics—in which politicians live from spin and from answering any question but the one asked—derive from the Blair government and from hidden spin doctors like Alastair Campbell, forever … Continue reading →

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Not Such a Zoo: Still a Jungle

Posted on August 14, 2011 by davidsberry

In the August 2nd blog Are We Nuts Overpaying Monkeys?, some harsh views were expressed about senior council officials in general, although care was taken not to explicitly refer to any council and certainly not to impugn any individual. Nonetheless, … Continue reading →

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Hall of Shame: Update I

Posted on August 13, 2011 by davidsberry

On July 19th, we published our consolidated Hall of Shame list of those councillors in Scotland we felt had brought real shame to their public calling by improper, ignoble or otherwise reprehensible actions—whether they had admitted it or whether this … Continue reading →

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Being Blacked Out

Posted on August 8, 2011 by davidsberry

Regular readers will be used to controversy here—and I hope they believe it’s never just for the sake of it. But even those should hold on to their hats as we’re about to test tolerances in 21st century Britain. Only … Continue reading →

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