Browse content similar to 20/05/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon and welcome to the Sunday politics. Our top story | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
called a blind agreement to promote jobs and growth and keep a Greece | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
Andy Euro zone. Was anything decided by D G eight which will | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
make the slightest difference? �1,200 per year and rising. What | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
will the Government do about household fuel bills? The police | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
federation accuses the Theresa May of been on the precipice of | :01:11. | :01:21. | |
:01:21. | :01:28. | ||
destroying the police service. The RAF's toxic legacy in Scotland. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
First, radioactive contamination, now we discover concerns about | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
chemical weapons dumped on public land. And we are live in Washington | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
to assess the potential fall-out from the Euro zone crisis and what | :01:40. | :01:50. | |
:01:50. | :01:50. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1602 seconds | :01:50. | :28:32. | |
Air is a complete red herring. You're talking about fairness, yet | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
some officers will lose 30% up their spending power. A wiry been | :28:38. | :28:48. | |
:28:48. | :28:50. | ||
treated differently? -- why are we? These reforms do not change the | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
overall pay bill. It is a system recognising that officers doing the | :28:54. | :29:00. | |
most important jobs are paid accordingly. The system right now | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
increases pay every year regardless of skills. | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
Even if these reforms are implemented in full will the police | :29:09. | :29:16. | |
still not have one of the best deals on pay and pensions? | :29:16. | :29:24. | |
You have to look at their job but we do. | :29:24. | :29:34. | |
:29:34. | :29:35. | ||
But is that true? Or yes, but we are astonished at the low priority. | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
Social services and education have been hit as well and we're having | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
to pick up the pieces. Public safety is being put at risk. That | :29:43. | :29:52. | |
is the bottom line. That is not true. You will continue | :29:52. | :30:02. | |
to earn 15% more than other emergency services. An average of | :30:02. | :30:12. | |
:30:12. | :30:15. | ||
two-and-a-half �1,000 pair here. -- �2,500 pair here. | :30:15. | :30:23. | |
People will be worried that you are cutting the numbers. | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
The question is what is happening on the frontline. All the parties | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
admit that we have to make savings and that numbers would go down. But | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
at the moment we have 6,000 officers on restricted duties, the | :30:36. | :30:42. | |
number doubling in the last eight years. | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
I need to make a final point that the Government knows it has been | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
caught out. Overseas Development has been increased by 34%, why are | :30:53. | :31:01. | |
you putting British public safety at risk? | :31:01. | :31:11. | |
:31:11. | :31:12. | ||
We have to leave at there. What about as bows? | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
We will replace the system with a better one that enables injunctions | :31:16. | :31:24. | |
to be obtained earlier. Better tools for the police. | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
Things like that have been lost because of what is going on | :31:28. | :31:35. | |
elsewhere. Welcome to Sunday politics Scotland. | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
Coming up: chemical weapons and radioactive waste. Has the public | :31:40. | :31:46. | |
been kept in the dark about radiation at an RAF Kinloss. What | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
will the effect of the Euro zone crisis be when it washes up in | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
Scotland? And affordable housing shortages put an end to the | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
purchasing of council houses introduced by Margaret Thatcher. | :31:57. | :32:04. | |
But is it about to make a comeback? And an alternative treatment for | :32:04. | :32:12. | |
alcoholics from Canada. It is a difficult concept to wrap | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
your brain around. What is going on with care in our | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
communities? And well the torch relay get you excited about the | :32:22. | :32:30. | |
Documents obtained by BBC Scotland show that the authorities knew that | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
the public could be at risk from chemical weapons buried near the | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
RAF base at Kinross. It is already the focus of an investigation by | :32:39. | :32:47. | |
the Scottish Environment Agency. Our Environment Correspondent has | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
been investigating and joins me now. You reported the risk of | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
radioactive contamination outside the base. That is now being | :32:57. | :33:05. | |
investigated. Yet you have discovered another toxic legacy. | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
Yes, potential radioactive contamination inside and outside | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
the base is under investigation but we can also reveal that the | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
authorities at the base knew about the dangers posed by chemical | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
weapons on public land. We have obtained a land quality assessment | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
dating back to 2004. It was carried out ahead of construction more for | :33:29. | :33:38. | |
:33:39. | :33:55. | ||
a new water treatment project. It The land quality assessment goes on | :33:55. | :34:01. | |
to say that the authorities at Kinross believe there was a | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
potential for radioactive contamination to be present in the | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
ground and warns any personnel involved in the investigation work | :34:08. | :34:15. | |
that it had the potential to put them at risk. I have been told that | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
staff War nuclear, chemical, and biological protection suits. | :34:20. | :34:28. | |
Clearly the threat was taken This mustard agent could be buried | :34:28. | :34:38. | |
Yes, a colourless, or Islay agent which creates Severe Barnes and | :34:38. | :34:48. | |
:34:48. | :34:54. | ||
destroys body tissue. -- severe burns. It can release active | :34:54. | :35:00. | |
sulphur mustard. It is worth noting that the UK abandoned its offensive | :35:00. | :35:10. | |
chemical weapons programmes in 1956. In 2004, based test pits where up | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
duck and there was no traces of contamination found - was that | :35:16. | :35:26. | |
:35:26. | :35:26. | ||
conclusive? No trace of chemical weapons was | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
bound but the authors of the report believe that anomalies were not | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
investigated and admits that in some areas it was not possible to | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
conduct the geophysical Survey, as they called it. That statement, I | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
suspect, will not reassure the public. It is worth pointing out | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
there we have been told that material contaminated with radium | :35:49. | :35:58. | |
was removed from the site during the work in 2004. | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
There is legitimate public interest here of - how forthcoming have the | :36:03. | :36:11. | |
MoD been? They are released a statement | :36:11. | :36:21. | |
:36:21. | :36:42. | ||
Two key questions remain. How do management systems remain in place | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
if land is sold and the new owners are unaware of potential dangers? | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
And where the relevant authorities in Scotland informed of the | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
situation at the base by the Ministry of Defence back in 2004? | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
The Scottish Government has already written to the Ministry of Defence | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
demanding full disclosure. Pressure is mounting on the ministry to | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
release more information about potential environmental threats at | :37:08. | :37:15. | |
base is not just Team Scotland but across the United Kingdom. -- bases | :37:15. | :37:25. | |
not just here in Scotland. I have joined now by a representative of | :37:25. | :37:27. | |
the defence select committee at Westminster. How does to commit -- | :37:27. | :37:35. | |
how much does the committee know about what is going on? | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
We know and absolutely nothing about these deeply worrying | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
revelations. There is an arrogance about the Ministry of Defence that | :37:43. | :37:50. | |
is not new but must be tackled once and for all. | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
A report came out in 1958 informing the Government Act that time that | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
there was a problem with radium in the ground and that records must be | :37:59. | :38:04. | |
kept and passed on to subsequent landowners, do you think there is a | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
due diligence as you or do you think the Ministry of Defence has | :38:07. | :38:13. | |
been an act of like obstructive? There is a culture in the Ministry | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
of Defence of withholding information from the public and | :38:17. | :38:25. | |
successive governments. That must end. | :38:25. | :38:35. | |
:38:35. | :38:37. | ||
Issue of concern about potential liability? -- as you're? | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
There is a culture, that somehow the Ministry of Defence knows | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
better than its regulators. We need an option statement from the | :38:46. | :38:54. | |
Government that spells out who knew what and when. When did they inform | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
the Scottish regulators? When did gain formal authorities? When did | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
the informed Scottish ministers? That must be done as soon as | :39:03. | :39:12. | |
possible. What kind of confidence can the | :39:12. | :39:22. | |
:39:22. | :39:22. | ||
public have given how this has been handled so far? | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
The only way trust can be restored as if the Ministry of Defence gets | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
in front of this and spells out what it believes are the | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
liabilities on the site and the realistic health risks. Rather than | :39:35. | :39:44. | |
:39:45. | :39:46. | ||
the BBC doing the job for them of digging up information. | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
You mention the BBC, could Parliament have been more vigilant | :39:49. | :39:59. | |
:39:59. | :39:59. | ||
here? With the best will in the world | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
Committee members were not around when the 1958 reports were coming | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
out. It is not practical for ministers and politicians to | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
perform that level of due diligence. The Ministry of Defence has a | :40:11. | :40:20. | |
culture of secrecy and that must end. | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
The G8 summit ended with apparently conflicting objectives. The | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
Americans call for growth whilst German said that austerity measures | :40:30. | :40:39. | |
must remain in place. How safe can you be from the fall-out? One of | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
the jewels in the crown of the Scottish tourist industry here on | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
the Aberdeen coast. It may be the weather for these fellows but last | :40:48. | :40:58. | |
year 72,000 people visited. They came from all over Europe, | :40:58. | :41:08. | |
:41:08. | :41:08. | ||
everywhere, really. If the euro currency continues to | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
devalue that is good news for foreign holidaymakers who will get | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
more bang from the account. But the downside of a strong, expensive | :41:17. | :41:23. | |
pound, is that visitors are put off coming here from Europe. To this | :41:23. | :41:29. | |
spend an estimated �4 billion in Scotland every year. -- to wrists. | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
It would not just be this industry which would be affected by the Euro | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
zone crisis, exports would also suffer. Scottish salmon has a | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
lucrative market in Europe. The whisky industry might fare better, | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
it has a huge market outside the euro-zone. Oil and gas is also a | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
global business. But a dip in oil prices is being put down to | :41:57. | :42:06. | |
concerns about a drop in demand for -- from Europe. Perhaps the biggest | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
danger for the United Kingdom and Scottish economy as a volatility. | :42:12. | :42:22. | |
:42:22. | :42:24. | ||
Uncertainty in the markets is always expensive. | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
Barry Porter has got a very early from Washington to join us. We are | :42:29. | :42:39. | |
:42:39. | :42:41. | ||
outside the euro, but how concerned There are two scenarios. One is | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
that the Greeks remain inside the euro. Even with that scenario, the | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
pressure is on the euro, as your correspondent said, and it will | :42:51. | :42:58. | |
make it a fairly depressed currency. It lowered demand in the UK and in | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
Scotland in particular. There is then the possibility the Greeks are | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
forced out of the euro and then the situation will become worse. That | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
will remove uncertainty about the future of the euro and Greece but | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
it transfers the uncertainty to the situations in Spain and Portugal | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
and so on. Under either scenario, I think the prospects are for a rough | :43:24. | :43:30. | |
period ahead. Which areas in Scotland are most vulnerable? | :43:30. | :43:36. | |
are obviously some that are more are linked into the value of the | :43:36. | :43:46. | |
:43:46. | :43:49. | ||
currency and those are issues like to Islam -- tourism, and that will | :43:49. | :43:55. | |
discourage visitors to Spain, Portugal and other areas like that. | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
The food industry is also vulnerable. I would have a more | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
optimistic view on two sectors. First of all, even though the dip | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
in a while prices will not have helped the oil export industry, and | :44:09. | :44:15. | |
the long term nobody sees oil prices dropping. Any kind of | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
international incident relating to the Middle East can quickly reverse | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
any decline like we have seen in the last few weeks. The oil | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
industry is not likely to be particularly badly affected. The | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
Scottish financial sector remains in a better shape than its | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
counterparts in Europe to handle the a repercussions of further | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
uncertainty and problems within the euro. Given that the G8 does not | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
seem to have come up with anything constructive other than President | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
Obama saying there should be growth and Angela Merkel saying we have to | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
stick to plans to cut the deficit, do you think the Greeks have to | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
accept the package they have been offered or do you think Germany and | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
others have to rethink what is happening? This is a very difficult | :45:04. | :45:11. | |
issue. I think the only two things that economists generally would | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
broadly agree on are the following. First, everyone realises that the | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
debt cannot go on and the way that it is. The issue is how quickly you | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
can really cut it back. Even an institution like my former employer, | :45:26. | :45:33. | |
the IMF, even their saying one needs to be restrained about how | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
fast you try to cut back. I think that has been one dimension on | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
which everyone can now except that there needs to be some moderation | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
otherwise there really is a risk of a self-defeating contraction of the | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
economy, because there is insufficient demand. The second | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
thing people can understand is that the real tragedy of this increase | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
in debt is that this was not a debt that was increased as a result of | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
productive investment but as a result of the misbehaviour of banks | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
over a period of time. The more that one can now find some means | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
the public spending to come up with the infrastructure investments and | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
things of that nature, the better it is going to be. That is probably | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
a message that there will be some agreement on it even between | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
President Obama and Angela Merkel. They have to both cut the deficit | :46:26. | :46:31. | |
but not too quickly. At the same time, you have to stimulate their | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
economies which has done quite successfully in the United States | :46:36. | :46:44. | |
to supply it employment and keep the economy so regenerating. What | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
would be you're the view of the Westminster government, are the | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
cutting back to fast and too much? That is a difficult question to | :46:54. | :46:59. | |
answer but I would put it this way. It was obviously a setback for the | :47:00. | :47:02. | |
present government when the economy appeared to head back into | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
recession. I would think if there were a further quarter of negative | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
growth or even zero growth, then the pressures will start to mount | :47:11. | :47:17. | |
to review simply the rate at which this fiscal consolidation is taking | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
place. No one doubts that fiscal consolidation is necessary, that is | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
indisputable. There are some real structural problems that need to be | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
addressed in the UK economy on this basis. I think there may be some | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
greater pressure towards the end of this year if the economy does not | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
show signs of revival over the next few months. To get back to the euro | :47:39. | :47:45. | |
crisis, how helpful word David Cameron's comets that the eurozone | :47:45. | :47:52. | |
had to make-up or break-up at this stage? -- comets. There is a real | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
fundamental problem and an economy like Greece and I can understand | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
his remarks. The truth is that economy is not productive at | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
present wage rates and that the present exchange rate. If you're | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
not able to change this and Greece remains within the euro, then you | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
have no choice but to go through a long protracted period of wage | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
restraint. Whether that can be handled politically and pieces are | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
very difficult question. -- in Greece. | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
Could the right to buy, a key and highly controversial housing policy | :48:26. | :48:32. | |
of the Thatcher era, be making a come back in East Lothian. The new | :48:32. | :48:34. | |
Conservative and Labour coalition have agreed what they call a | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
modernised right to buy .The previous SNP and Liberal Democrat | :48:37. | :48:47. | |
administration didn't want anything to do with it. | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
Owning your own home was at the centre of Margaret thatcher's | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
social revolution. It is now 27 years since she travelled here to | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
celebrate the millionth house sale under the right-to-buy scheme which | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
gave people the opportunity to purchase their council houses at a | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
low cost. This woman rents a house from the council but she says she's | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
one of the lucky ones. The right- to-buy let it East Lothian's | :49:15. | :49:21. | |
housing stock being have leading to pressurised waiting lists. Had it | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
been a private let as friends of mine have had to do, it would have | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
been so expensive I could not have afforded it. This is my fear, that | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
what will happen is, with more and more privatisation, they are going | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
to cherry-pick the people that make the most money and the poor and | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
vulnerable will not have a home at all. The modernised right-to-buy | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
was abolished in the 2010 Housing Act. One year later, East Lothian | :49:49. | :49:58. | |
was canst -- granted pressurised area status. The Conservatives | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
pledged to reverse that in their manifesto. If you're a council | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
tenant and have the chance to buy your home, you can buy it at a far | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
lower cost than on the open market. It is relatively affordable for a | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
lot of people. The council banks their money for a house and an -- | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
and then reinvest that very speedily. Housing became a | :50:20. | :50:25. | |
predominant issue during the election campaign with the SNP | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
campaigning on the record of housebuilding helped by �4.4 | :50:29. | :50:38. | |
million from the Scottish government. We had a concern. There | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
was no houses built in the previous five years of the previous and | :50:41. | :50:47. | |
penetration. Reassurance right-to- buy is the issue of losing house | :50:47. | :50:57. | |
has just built. -- previous administration. The new Labour and | :50:57. | :50:59. | |
Conservative Coalition is calling for more Scottish government help | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
to allow it to access affordable land to build more homes and help | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
kick-start the local economy. available land in East Lothian is | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
under the control of major Housing builders who are suffering under | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
the financial climate. If the Government was prepared to | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
reintroduce the community land that are any measure where councils | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
could get access to additional land, that would be a huge help. East | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
Lothian has already announced it will not been meeting the 2012 | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
homelessness target and the issue is making front-page news. Homeless | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
this has increased considerably over the last 10 years. There has | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
been a 65% increase in the number of homelessness applications to the | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
council over the last decade. There have been on average 2100 | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
applications for homelessness to the local authority on average each | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
year. It boosting the availability of affordable housing is a key | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
priority for the new council. that is done remains to be seen. | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
With me in Glasgow is the housing and transport minister, MSP Keith | :52:05. | :52:07. | |
Brown. And for Scottish Labour, their housing spokesperson, Elaine | :52:08. | :52:16. | |
Murray MSP. Can we be clear about Labour's | :52:16. | :52:22. | |
policy is on the right to buy? 2010 at the not abolish the | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
modernised right-to-buy. It abolished it for certain categories, | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
new tenants, new builds. The people who already had the modernised | :52:31. | :52:38. | |
right-to-buy continue to have it. East Lothian had applied for | :52:39. | :52:41. | |
privileged status which allowed them to suspend the modernised | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
right-to-buy for a period of time. They're talking about a revolting | :52:46. | :52:53. | |
that suspension. In the East Lothian, only 18 houses were sold | :52:53. | :53:00. | |
under the modernised right-to-buy. Most houses have been sold under | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
the preserve right to buy. Going forward, in East Lothian, do they | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
want to see tenants in new-build have the right to buy and the | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
future? What the Tories are saying is that they want to report the | :53:16. | :53:26. | |
:53:26. | :53:29. | ||
suspension. Us that Labour policy is well? -- revoke. The council can | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
make that decision, either to impose the suspension of the right | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
to buy it or revoke it. That is a decision for the local authority to | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
make. As it Labour Party policy that any new-build in Scotland | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
should be open to right to buy? is not. You do not see a | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
contradiction? I do not see a contradiction because in East | :53:52. | :54:00. | |
Lothian they would not be water sell-off new builds? What we have | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
is a Labour Party in East Lothian facilitating with the Conservatives | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
a return to Thatcherite policy. East Lothian is highly pressured. | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
This will not help them until we have heard about the pressure and | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
the waiting lists and that will have the effect of reducing the | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
available stock. I do not understand this because Alleyne | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
Murray and myself both recently voted against the Conservatives he | :54:25. | :54:31. | |
was advocating that policy. I do not have understand how at the | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
Labour Party can say something at a national level and the exact | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
opposite in East Lothian. They are proposing to lift the suspension of | :54:39. | :54:45. | |
their modernised right abide which affected 18 properties since it | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
came into effect. You take the point that that is a constant | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
effect. You cannot or ride the Housing Act. The fact is there is a | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
suspension of the right-to-buy for five years in East Lothian. The | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
Labour Party and the Conservatives have the ability to lift that. If | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
it was true one year ago that when East Lothian apply to us that they | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
had an excess of demand over supply, what has changed now and for the | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
Labour Party and the Tories to going to the sidelines to bring | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
back a Thatcherite policy? Let's look at that point then. Whatever | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
the legalities of what may or may not be an Egle and the future, if | :55:25. | :55:30. | |
all the evidence is that there is a big housing shortage there, why is | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
this policy appropriate? Labour councillors did not support the | :55:35. | :55:38. | |
suspension of the right to buy in 2010 anyway because they did not | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
think it would achieve anything. We're talking about East Lothian. | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
In East Lothian, they did not support it because they did not | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
think it would make any difference because they had only sold 18 | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
houses under the modernised right- to-buy. There were worried that | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
people who had be preserved right- to-buy might feel that their | :55:59. | :56:05. | |
entitlement was under threat and then try to use it. The next just | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
clarify the consequences here. What do you think will be the | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
consequences of what this Coalition is proposing now? I do not think it | :56:13. | :56:19. | |
will make a great deal of difference. Since the 2001 Act came | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
into effect, 1000 council houses have been sold under the preserve | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
right-to-buy and that is the right to buy that is not being affected. | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
That is the one with the big biscuit. If it will make little | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
difference, why is it being done in the first place? This will have the | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
effect of reducing the available stock off housing and East Lothian. | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
Why would you do this if your policy is to sell houses off? It | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
will have an effect on the available land in East Lothian -- | :56:50. | :56:56. | |
land for housing in East Lothian. They will struggle to hit but the | :56:56. | :57:00. | |
2012 or homeless this target and this will not help it at all. | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
there are also an argument that more up focus should be placed on | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
private sector housing because there are often massive problems | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
there which does not ever get abreast across any of the | :57:11. | :57:19. | |
council's? In terms of legislation? In terms of responses. Perhaps a | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
needs to be better implementation of the existing legislation and the | :57:22. | :57:29. | |
standards of these accommodation and then its upper level to. There | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
has been legislation in the Scottish Parliament or the years. | :57:33. | :57:39. | |
Do you think it has been adequately enforced? A I think it will get -- | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
change from one council to another council. Is that acceptable? It is | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
not acceptable if legislation is not at here to but that is an issue | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
for local authorities to make sure it is enforced. In terms of the | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
sort of consultations that are out there and where housing policy may | :57:56. | :58:02. | |
go, what should be looking for in the future? We are in a process | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
just now where we have limited the right to buy and given councils | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
further discretion but I think there is more to be done. Over the | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
next few weeks, there is more consultation coming out over the | :58:14. | :58:19. | |
right to buy. That hinges on people's rights and Landlord's | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
obligations. East Lothian had a very progressive council which was | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
buying back housing stock of the private market because it was good | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
quality housing. This is the exact reverse of that policy and my fear | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
is that at the other council in Scotland is making great strides | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
towards hitting their 2012 targets and had great concerns over the | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
effect this will have an East Lothian. This has been blown out of | :58:42. | :58:48. | |
all proportion. 18 houses were sold since 2002 when the modernised | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
right-to-buy came into effect. It is not going to make a massive | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
difference and I think this is all about the fact the SNP are unhappy | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
they did not do better in East Lothian. Before we leave, could you | :59:03. | :59:07. | |
consultation lead to further restrictions on the right to buy? | :59:07. | :59:11. | |
Those will be some of the questions we are looking at, whether we | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
should further restrict the right to buy. We said that in her | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
manifesto so that is something we will look at. We'll take on board | :59:19. | :59:23. | |
the views of people and if it will make little difference, why is it | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
the case the Labour Party and the Conservatives are bringing back the | :59:27. | :59:37. | |
This week the Scottish Government confirmed it wants to set a minimum | :59:37. | :59:42. | |
price for alcohol off 50 pence per unit. In Canada, a form of minimum | :59:43. | :59:48. | |
pricing has been in place for more than 20 years. But the country is | :59:48. | :59:56. | |
also using alternative measures to address drinking problems. Canada | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
has a state monopoly on alcohol. Here in Ontario it is sold by | :00:02. | :00:09. | |
government owned stores. Each state sets a minimum price for alcohol | :00:09. | :00:16. | |
and the signs are that it helps. Every time there is an increase in | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
the minimum price or world consumption goes down. There is | :00:19. | :00:29. | |
also a reduction to hospital visits. -- overall consumption. | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Minimum pricing is part of a wider strategy adopted by the Canadian | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
government aiming to cut down the estimated �7 billion spent on | :00:37. | :00:47. | |
:00:47. | :00:49. | ||
health care and lost productivity. We came up with 41 consensus | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
recommended -- recommendations. They are now in play and a shipping | :00:54. | :01:04. | |
:01:04. | :01:05. | ||
alcohol policy here in Canada. For three arrows, on the half-hour, | :01:05. | :01:12. | |
the receive a proportion of wine. - - Three Arrows. It is determined by | :01:12. | :01:19. | |
a medical model. Than us and doctors help make a decision. -- | :01:19. | :01:26. | |
the nurses. Homeless shelters have | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
traditionally banned alcohol on their premises but this programme | :01:29. | :01:36. | |
uses it as a treatment. We provide alcohol to people with | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
an addiction which is a hard concept to wrap your brain around. | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
The traditional method is a recovery model which is abstinence | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
based. The programme has proved effective | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
when it comes to improving the health of alcoholics and reducing | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
the encounters with police and medical staff. | :01:57. | :02:06. | |
I was drinking $100 per day. Now I wake up in the morning and have a | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
nice hot shower. I am not shaking and puking. | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
We are reducing the harm to the individual person. Managing | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
addiction in a way whereby they're not living on the street, drinking | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
moonshine, they are drinking more soluble liquids that will not have | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
such a medical detriment to their body. It also works on a local | :02:30. | :02:37. | |
level. We reduce the number of panhandling alcoholics in the | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
community, committing crimes to feed their expensive addiction. And | :02:42. | :02:51. | |
then a societal level we're Across the country, new initiatives | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
have been piloted to reduce alcohol-related harm. With | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
Scotland's relation of alcohol in focus, is there more we can learn | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
from alternative approaches to addiction that can be applied here | :03:03. | :03:10. | |
at home? Provision of care has been in the | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
headlines this week following a story of our us about a man in | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
Aberdeen who had 106 different carers in the year. What is the | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
issue here? We reported on Friday about Janette, | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
who cared for her husband Ken, until his death last week. During | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
the last year of his life he had 106 different people through the | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
door. The issue is not the quality of care, it is the sheer number of | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
people coming in and out of the house. They were involved in | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
intimate care, on dressing, peeving, toileting. His wife says that | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
having that number of people doing intimate things to her husband has | :03:57. | :04:05. | |
stripped him of his dignity. The main thing is dignity. You | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
always come back to it. These people have lost everything. The | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
only thing they are left with his dignity. If you strip that away you | :04:14. | :04:21. | |
are just disposing of them, taking their last thing from them. | :04:21. | :04:30. | |
This has touched a nerve with the Core we have been deluged with | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
personal stories. Many of them echo the experience of Janette. A couple | :04:36. | :04:46. | |
:04:46. | :05:12. | ||
It is obviously a very difficult time for people if you get to a | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
stage whereby you need help with care. How is the process so poster | :05:16. | :05:26. | |
:05:26. | :05:27. | ||
work? -- supposed. In some cases you will be given a | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
care package provided by employees of the council. Anecdotally, from | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
Nicole, it seems that in that situation there is less of a | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
turnover of staff. -- from the information I have received. It is | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
when agencies becoming fork that there tends to be a high turnover | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
of staff. The alternative is being put in control of your own budget, | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
which is called self directed care. Not all councils tell you about it | :05:59. | :06:09. | |
:06:09. | :06:19. | ||
There is a Bill going through the Scottish Parliament at the moment | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
which will force councils to tell you that this option is available | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
and make it your right to have it but that has not yet gone through. | :06:31. | :06:39. | |
With us now, Professor June Andrews from Stirling University, you | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
obviously have expertise -- expertise with a specific type of | :06:42. | :06:50. | |
client. What sort of options are made available to people? And how | :06:50. | :06:57. | |
much information do they get about what is out there? | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
We hear information that supports watch your viewers have said. It is | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
hoped that this legislation will make it easier for people to get | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
the proper information. In general, there are told, you can get what is | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
given by the council, or what is on offer from the council, delivered | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
by a company recruited by them. So how informed of people about the | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
choices they are going to make? Is it always clear what consequences | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
will be of a certain package? When you have dementia, it is | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
always the case that a number of cases will be bad for you. It is | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
not always clear that those people choosing the care know what is best | :07:41. | :07:50. | |
for cases of dementia. They are forced into taking what is on offer. | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
Are there competing and conflicting interests when it comes to people | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
providing the Care and the information being given as part of | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
this process? Yes, one of your correspondent said | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
that the council were not keen on putting forward the idea of the | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
person having their own budgets. You can see the conflict of | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
interest, it implies that what the council is offering is not good | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
enough and that is some sense it might involve some risk to the | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
Council of to services have been run in parallel. The one already | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
being provided by the council under one per person ones with their own | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
resources. If but the very important thing, particularly with | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
dementia, this is the last months and years of some bodies life. | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
Having somebody care for you at home give Sue protection against | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
institutionalisation. Whatever is offered must be satisfactory to the | :08:45. | :08:55. | |
:08:55. | :08:55. | ||
cables. -- cables. Could contract the Clear and better | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
enforced? It is proven clinically that you should not have large | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
numbers of people coming in for individuals with dementia who might | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
find that frightening. At really important point. The | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
implication of what was said before was that the council care was | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
better than company care. But if the council said so limited times | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
and low budgets with the company and does not stipulate that the | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
number of carers should be limited, these things will happen. | :09:29. | :09:36. | |
What will make the biggest difference? | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
If the people setting the contracts they really understood dementia and | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
what makes a difference to people with dementia. Whether that be | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
council people or individual families and carers. If they have | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
the right information in terms of what will make the biggest | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
difference for the person we're not trying to support and care for. | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
So, self directed care, the best thing? | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
If the person is anxious to manage a budget being held by the council | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
but offering the person support, that is a good compromise. But the | :10:12. | :10:19. | |
most important thing is that people have influence over what is spent. | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
Lots of people very affected by this and more so in the future, | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
presumably? Yes, and the argument gets | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
polarised, it is very important to remember that the person with | :10:32. | :10:41. | |
dementia is at heart of this. 68 days and counting. We're not | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
talking about the publication of the Scottish Government referendum | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
responses - we're talking about the Olympics. Are you excited? Will you | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
be glued to the television? Or are you feeling left out and under | :10:54. | :11:02. | |
whelmed? It is one of the final landmarks in the countdown to the | :11:02. | :11:09. | |
opening ceremony. The arrival of the Olympic flame. A carefully | :11:09. | :11:17. | |
choreographed affair involving royalty. Behind all the fanfare, a | :11:17. | :11:27. | |
:11:27. | :11:28. | ||
serious game. -- game. Organisers hope this will ignite enthusiasm up | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
and down the country. Promoting the games as I United Kingdom event, | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
not just for London. But will be Johnny be enough to convince the | :11:39. | :11:49. | |
:11:49. | :11:55. | ||
doubters? -- the journey. The Scottish Legg will begin on day | :11:55. | :12:02. | |
20 off the track across the UK. It will visit iconic sides like the | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
birthplace of Robert Burns. It will then head north before taking to | :12:08. | :12:15. | |
the air for visits to Orkney, Shetland, and Lewis. It then travel | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
south through Aberdeen and Dundee and makes its way to Edinburgh | :12:19. | :12:29. | |
:12:29. | :12:30. | ||
Castle. Organisers claim it will come within one hour of 95% of the | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
population. Glasgow is in the midst of preparing to host the | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
Commonwealth Games in two years. New venues, a tangible sign of a | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
lasting benefits that the Games will provide. Selling the legacy of | :12:45. | :12:52. | |
the London Games here however is a bigger challenge. More than 100 | :12:52. | :12:59. | |
Scottish companies have secured contracts related to the Olympics. | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
Several projects inspired by the games are encouraging youngsters to | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
get involved in sport. The torch relay: do provide lessons to those | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
organising the Commonwealth Games and provide an opportunity to | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
showcase Scotland, but will it bring about the same excitement as | :13:18. | :13:28. | |
:13:28. | :13:29. | ||
this? Or will the event for ever eaten set up as London's games? -- | :13:29. | :13:38. | |
for ever be considered. I am now joined by two sports writer. My | :13:38. | :13:46. | |
briefing notes say, do not mention fireworks - you get agitated? | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
Opening ceremonies, more on than fireworks. The idea of spending �80 | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
million in the age of austerity to set a small stadium on fire. That | :13:57. | :14:04. | |
gets me on edge! I am all for the Olympics, I just cannot stand the | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
build up. Delusions of grandeur that people carry all around | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
Britain at the moment. I am like a cad that is going on holiday, | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
asking, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Once we are there, I | :14:21. | :14:29. | |
will be fine! What is the Scottish dynamic here? | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
It has been lost on me. I love sport but this business about the | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
Olympic flame arriving - I have this idea of a plane arriving at | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
Prestwick and somebody taking out a lighter and lighting it, saying, if | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
this as sacred! I just do not get into it. I just found out the other | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
day that the flame is going through my local village, but it means not | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
much to me. I love the Olympics, but the idea of the Olympic flame | :14:59. | :15:09. | |
:15:09. | :15:10. | ||
with a Celt, I do not get it. Why are they doing it? | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
Hype. They only have 10 weeks to build up a great mass of interest | :15:15. | :15:22. | |
in this soap opera in Lieke. They have to satisfy sponsors. They have | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
to convince sponsors it is at the forefront of everybody's mind. That | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
is all it is, just hype. When the real stuff starts you will get | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
stories of substance, people overcoming odds, a great failures, | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
the awfulness of failure, the great successes, and things like that, | :15:42. | :15:52. | |
:15:52. | :15:54. | ||
but this at the moment, it is just I don't want is to be like a couple | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
of old cynical journalists. Little children will be excited to allow | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
it into the street and see the flame passing through their town or | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
village but it is a subjective thing. When people mention the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
Olympic flame going through Scotland, I fail to get excited | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
about it. What about the events themselves? Is there any evidence | :16:15. | :16:23. | |
at all that the Olympic events have an effect, in terms of legacy, on | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
the things that children get engaged in it down the line? | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
thing is to take it further than that. Interest is not a problem and | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
interest is never a problem. It is keeping them in sport that is the | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
problem and giving them facilities to continue in sport. Everybody | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
loves going out to play tennis during the British tennis season | :16:46. | :16:53. | |
which encompasses two weeks in June. There are no great facilities for | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
people to continue. At does have an effect. The idea is that before we | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
had facilities, poverty created great sportsman, especially in | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
football. The argument now is we need facilities to produce football. | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
When Scotland had a vintage generation of footballers, it was | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
social deprivation that produced that. It is strange in a way but in | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
the modern world you do need facilities. In terms of legacy, how | :17:21. | :17:28. | |
many times have you and I said, at child said I saw Jimmy Connors | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
winning Wimbledon on Andy Murray doing this or that and they took | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
inspiration from it. In terms of legacy, sportsmen claim they were | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
inspired by things happening at Olympic Games or Ryder Cups, but | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
whether it is true or not, may see it all the time. I may well regret | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
this, as it not the case that footballers are now playing to a | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
far higher standard of the game in football? The game is faster, more | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
skilful than it was, but we have gone down at in the world level and | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
a lot of areas which is why Andy Murray is such a beacon of hope for | :18:05. | :18:11. | |
us. The Commonwealth Games, is the fact they're coming to Scotland | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
making us more or indifferent? gives us the facilities we were | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
talking about earlier and there will be facilities left as an | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
aftermath to the Commonwealth Games. Thank you both. Graeme will be | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
turning his face from the Olympic flame as it goes past! | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
Documents obtained by the BBC show the authorities at RAF Kinloss in | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
Moray knew the public could be at risk from chemical weapons buried | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
in the area. The air bases the focus of a new investigation into | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
radioactive contamination. That is linked to the use of glow-in-the- | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
dark paint in World War II aircraft. The Minister air-defence the there | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
is no indication of significant risk. | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
It has been announced the yes campaign for the independence | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
referendum will launch in Edinburgh this week. The SNP said will be the | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
biggest ever community campaign. Representatives will sign a yes | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
declaration in the capital on Friday. Alastair Darling has | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
confirmed reports he has met with the Conservatives and Liberal | :19:18. | :19:25. | |
Democrats. That is part of a pro- union campaign launched over the | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
next few weeks. There will be a campaign to say we're better | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
remaining within the UK. It will also involve the -- involved people | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
of all political parties and people of no party affiliation. Hearts | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
will prepared -- a Paris through Edinburgh and an open-top bus later | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
as they celebrate their one in the Scottish Cup final. It will head | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
from the city centre to their home ground so fans can glimpse the | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
trophy. Fans are already gathering to join | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
in the celebrations and see the winning team. The parade will start | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
at the City Chambers and head up past the castle and towards the | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
west of the city where there will be more supporters waiting. The | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
victory bus was decorated last night and the organisers had to | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
wait until the final result to know which colour to use. We now know | :20:17. | :20:27. | |
:20:27. | :20:34. | ||
The weather has settled down and it will be a sunny afternoon for much | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
of Scotland. Cloud coming and going across inland areas but not | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
spoiling anything. Cloud towards the outer Hebrides but it will be | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
warm in the sunshine across western Scotland. Cooler along the east | :20:49. | :20:59. | |
:20:59. | :21:00. | ||
coast and winds will be mainly Our next scheduled a it is at | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
6:15pm. In a moment, we will discuss the big events coming up | :21:04. | :21:14. | |
:21:14. | :21:16. | ||
this week at Holyrood. First, a look back at the week in 60 seconds. | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
Nicholas Budgen announced alcohol will cost at least 50p a unit, a | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
level she says is necessary to tackle the nation's relationship | :21:24. | :21:32. | |
with Prince. The jobless total in Scotland fell | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
by 10,000 to 221,000. A cross-party group of MPs launched | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
a campaign to protect the existing army structure and Scotland ahead | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
of proposed Ministry of Defence cuts. | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
The UK Government has published its consultation on the independence | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
referendum and the Prime Minister says he is not bothered about the | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
timing. The First Minister's parliamentary | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
aide was forced to apologise to Parliament after failing to turn up | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
to answer tabled questions. She had been having lunch with the First | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
Minister. I realise that this is not the first time I have done this | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
and I understand the gravity of the matter. The fault is entirely mine, | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
I lost track of time. Looks like the big political story | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
next week will be the launch of the yes campaign. | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
I'm joined by the SNP blogger Kate Higgins who writes under the name | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
BurdsEyeView. Alongside Labour cyber commentator, the lawyer Ian | :22:36. | :22:45. | |
Smart. Thank you both for coming in. The yes campaign launches, where | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
does it go? I have written today that I do not think you should | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
launch a poll on Friday. The government should be focused on the | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
bigger things that were happening in the world right now, | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
particularly in the eurozone, and people should be given the | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
opportunity to see what they voted for last May, which was a for a | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
competent government. There is no rush here apart from what is in the | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
SNP timetable. Then they need to take a moment to consider whether | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
or not the acting in their own interests are in the interests of | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
the people of Scotland. What do you think? I can see why they might | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
want to get on with the yes campaign but they do not think the | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
timing is right. Some of the commentary around after the local | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
government elections suggested the government -- juggernaut had come | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
to a shuddering halt. That was a bit unfair but there was a | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
suggestion people were trying to cut the SNP down to size a little | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
bit and get them to focus on the people's priorities. That was one | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
of the interpretations, that people do not want any more to do with the | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
constitution for a while. We thought you were confident and we | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
continue to support that but once the focus away from the | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
constitution. Do you think that is true? Are there is a certain that | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
illogicality and the government position. If they are so concerned | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
about independence, why not get on with it? We cannot say it is all- | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
important but then we cannot get on with it for two-and-a-half years. I | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
agree with Kate. There is the apocryphal story that the Press and | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
Journal reported when the Titanic sank that an Aberdeen man was lost | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
at sea. In the midst of these huge international events, there is an | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
Aberdeen man lost at sea tone to it a lot of this, that the focus is to | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
launch a campaign for a referendum that is more than two years away. | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
With such a massive question, do you not have to give people a | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
considerable amount of time to hear the arguments and reach their | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
conclusions? I don't think anybody suggest that we rush it but we have | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
just had this discussion of the long lead-in to the Olympics. That | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
is only a matter of a couple of months now it and we're still 38 | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
months away from this. What exactly is the campaign going to consist | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
of? A number of minor celebrities standing beside a First Minister | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
saying the support independence? We know that! You get frustrated with | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
the process rather than what the Government is delivering. Could the | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
run out of steam? I think the debate is so polarised between yes | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
and No And everybody realise we need to get it on to the middle | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
ground. We need to get answers to some very big questions and those | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
of us on the outside looking in would prefer it at the politicians | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
could leave some of the partisan ideas at the door and have a | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
serious debate about the pros and cons of independence or of staying | :26:00. | :26:06. | |
where we are. But they need to factor in what happens with what | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
kind of devolution and extra powers we could have if we do not go the | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
whole way with independence. I think independence is what we | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
should aim for but let's have a reasoned debate and a way that is | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
inclusive and draws people in. We agree, we do not need 30 months of | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
it and it is more likely to create apathy a rather than excitement. | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
we look at what has been happening for the Health Secretary this week, | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
it has been a difficult week, but it highlights again this is donate | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
their brief. Is it right that anything wrong with the NHS has | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
landed at the Health Secretary's door? Harold MacMillan pointed out | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
the problem with politics is a events. The matter of whose fault | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
it is that there is a shortage of blankets in your car hospital, it | :27:00. | :27:06. | |
is not Nicola Sturgeon I am sure he asked for fewer blankets. It is the | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
only way in which people can hold a degree of accountability for things | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
like that going wrong. She has just unfortunately been left holding the | :27:16. | :27:23. | |
baby. It is the nightmare before? Justice might be it. As a lawyer, | :27:23. | :27:32. | |
you might say that! Do you think, the headline set is all Nicola | :27:32. | :27:38. | |
Sturgeon's fault, but it is an uncomfortable week and also with | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
July McCubbin. A number of ministers and the SNP Government | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
have played above their game and the Health Secretary is one of them. | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
She has been in command of her brief until now and I think she has | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
actually reacted to some or all of the stories coming in and a | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
commanding way. She has ordered a review and she'll take action after | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
the findings of some of those areas. It is an unfortunate set of | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
circumstances but I think there are two things. The answer, as we have | :28:13. | :28:21. | |
seen, is not to continue to throw money at it. She has ensured that | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
it has plenty of resources and pointed out it is not always at the | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
right thing to do. Some significant breaking news coming in. | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
Confirmation that the Lockerbie bomb or, the man convicted of the | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
Lockerbie bombing, has died. Abdel Basset are Megrahi has died, the | :28:39. | :28:46. | |
report coming in. We're just hearing about that at | :28:46. | :28:56. | |
:28:56. | :29:00. | ||
the moment. We're still awaiting confirmation about the death of Ali | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
abdelbaset Al-Megrahi. He was in hospital last month for a blood | :29:06. | :29:08. | |
transfusion and we're just waiting to get that fully confirmed and | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
will bring that to you as soon as we can. | :29:12. | :29:16. |