I do not yet know what to make of what happened in Brussels last week and what the consequences will be for the UK as a result My feelings are these: 1. I think the EU has failed to reach an agreement that will solve the current financial crisis. I think this agreement will fail [...]
About Gavin Hamilton
Gavin Hamilton has been a Liberal and Liberal Democrat activist for nearly 30 years both north and south of the border. A former party agent, Gavin is now a LibDem blogger. After studying modern history he has pursued a career in financial services marketing and internal communications.
Edinburgh, London, Paris, Munich – everyone talk about – the Euro!
Today Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met for make or break talks to save the Euro. If they implement what they have agreed the Eurozone will become essentially both a monetary and a fiscal union. If they fail, the enormous debt mountains threaten to bury the currency, along with several countries and with it perhaps [...]
Happy St Andrew’s Day
So it is St Andrew’s Day and some of us on the centre and centre-left of Scottish politics wanted to launch a blog to discuss politics and more. St Andrew’s Day falls in the most turbulent times this year. Today is the day of a massive public sector strike – nominally over pensions but probably [...]
We need to develop policies for lifelong learning
The whole university fees issue continues to be a hot issue as they take shape. Recently the Scottish universities have been announcing what fees they will charge students from the rest of the UK and non EU foreign students. This has of course put into focus the absurd situation where we are charging students from [...]
Tribute to 9/11 – our capacity to meet a challenge may well be limitless…
“We did not expect, nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people’s strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arise. … The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They’re our students, and our teachers, and our parents and our friends. [...]
Pensions – employers don’t do social welfare anymore!
Post war Britain developed a parallel system of pensions providing Final Salary schemes for the public sector and larger companies along with growing state provision. It was a good system – if you worked for a large organisation. By the end of the 1960s 53% of the workforce was in an occupational pension scheme. However, [...]