27/11/2011 The Politics Show Scotland

This week on the Politics Show. It promises to be one of the biggest

strikes in British history but have both sides made avoidable

disruption inevitable? We'll ask the TUC General Secretary why he's

determined to press ahead with Wednesday's walkout over public

sector pensions when talks seemed to be making progress. And Francis

Maude, one of the ministers leading the negotiations, joins us to

answer charges that his rhetoric has inflamed, rather than calmed,

the dispute. And what about Labour? We'll ask Shadow Chief Secretary

Rachel Reeves if her party will support the day of action. A yes or

no answer will do. On the Politics Show Scotland, the impact of the

public sector strikes here and what can realistically be achieved.

Empty run down houses are in the government's sights.

We are with the Hudson Bay boys who carved out new lives in the

Canadian Arctic. And some Hollywood glamour as the

superstar Alan Cumming talks about the relationship between Scottish

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1713 seconds

Our bigger supporters are members who pay through subscriptions and

donations to Labour Party. The trade unions give us that money.

That is the lead a that the members of trade unions pay. It is not

quite an answer to that question. That is the decision, at to pay it

in the political levy from the trade unions. I am proud of that

relationship and the Labour Party was formed by the trade unions

movement. That is part of our tradition. On the economy, at the

wider UK economy, yd think it is that if the Government is making

such a mess of this, that the public do not trust Labour on a

tiger. Under hour watch, there was a recession and we have already

said we should have done more in terms of banking regulation. 18

months into this government, we're seeing the effects of their

policies. They have cut public spending at such a rate and it is

risking a double-dip recession here in the UK. You talk about the

failure of banking regulations. Do you not also need to say, we spent

too much? Up until 2008, the Conservatives were backing us.

not asking about them, I am asking if you thought Labour spent too

much? We reduced debt enough time in office up from 42-36%. During

the financial crisis, we made the decision to bring forward spending,

to cut taxes, and to try to a void at a global recession becoming a

global depression. It stop unemployment going up to 2.5 per

cent. They were the right decisions. You alternative plan, the five-

point plan for jobs, involves more borrowing. You have not said the

cost of it? Over all, my question is, what makes you think the

markets will except more borrowing when they have not done so in Spain

or Greece? That is a massive gamble. The reality is that the Government

or borrowing at more than planned because of the cost of the failure

of their economic policies. There are more people out of work so we

are paying more on benefits and getting less in taxes. We are

saying that with these targeted measures to get growth back on

track, the economy will get moving and helpers reduce debt in a

sustainable way. At the moment, we are borrowing more because the

economic failures. Going back to the States, we were looking at the

eccentricity of the straight vote which involves the strike having to

take place within 20 days of the vote. Do you agree with that?

Francis Maude said, the UN could do something definitely to keep that

mandate available, but they have decided to take strike action on

Wednesday because of the strength of feeling about this issue.

think that the 15 minute idea with a constructive proposal? I don't,

what I am saying it is that if he can keep the mandate by just taking

small action, on this occasion, the unions feel so strongly that that

is not on the table. Surely it may be a good idea because if the

negotiations are close to agreement, they could do something like that?

It does not sound like they are. The fact that they have not spoken

since the beginning of the months suggests they are a long way off

the deal. That is unfortunate because people who rely on public

services will see huge disruptions that could be avoided if the

Government was sitting down with people and the public sector. They

could do that this week rather than going on the television and saying

they might withdraw. You do seem to suggest in your answer, and I am

interested in this, that some sort of minimum talking strike action,

whether in the middle of the night with rail workers or whatever,

would have been a way forward that would have allowed talks to

continue? What Jacqui is saying it is is the 20 delimit appropriate?

There are ways to keep that mandate going which fall short of post-

fight actions but the unions have balloted on strike action and then

going ahead because they feel they have not been listened to. Thank

you very much. Good afternoon and welcome to the

Politics Show Scotland. Coming up on today's programme. We'll have

more on those strikes on Wednesday. We'll be asking the unions what

they'll achieve, and asking businesses how damaging they'll be.

Can run-down, empty homes like this help solve Scotland's housing

shortage? The Housing Minister is here. In the 1960s and '70s, with

few job opportunities in Scotland, a generation of young men left home

to find work abroad. We'll meet the Hudson's Bay Boys,

who built new lives in the Canadian Arctic. I don't care how desperate

the times are. If you really want to work hard at something and have

something in your mind, you can achieve that goal.

Also we'll get details of new proposals for a law to give

terminally ill people the right to chose when to die.

And the international mega-star, Alan Cumming, gives us his take on

Scottish culture. In America, politics is almost a hobby. It is

once a very four years, everyone goes nuts for it. Here, it is part

of our parlance. Part of how it we engage with each other. But first

here's the lunchtime news with Andrew Kerr.

Good afternoon. New legislation, which will allow a person to be

tried twice for the same crime, will come into force from tomorrow.

For centuries, suspects have been protected by the ancient principle

of double jeopardy, but the law has been modernised to permit

exceptions. The Justice Secretary Kenny Macaskill says the reforms

bring the system into the 21st century. We preserve double

jeopardy. It for not be routine and it will very much be the exception,

but if new evidence comes to light that could not have been discovered

before, because of new technology, I think it is important that

justice is done. The company behind a fireworks

display in Oban which lasted just 50 seconds is putting on another

show tonight, free of charge. Edinburgh-based Pyro 1

inadvertently created a spectacular internet sensation when its

November display came to a swift end thanks to a technical glitch.

Called Obang, this evening's homage After a stormy conditions last

night, the wind will ease down today. Some of the showers will be

heavy with one of two getting into Dumfries and Galloway, but much of

southern and eastern Scotland will be dry. A cold or fail to today -

eight or nine Celsius at best. That's the forecast. That's all for

now, I'm back with our next update at 6:20 here on BBC One Scotland.

Now I'll hand you back to Isabel Now I'll hand you back to Isabel

As we've been hearing, Wednesday looks set to be the biggest day of

industrial action since the 1970s. 30 unions across the UK are taking

part in the action and the likely extent of the disruption is

starting to become clear. Our Local Government Correspondent Jamie

McIvor has the latest on how it will affect Scotland. This

situation is still developing a but listening this strike is not called

off, we already know what most schools will be closed and a lot of

local services like libraries and sports centres could be hit.

Councils say they will try to make sure the most vulnerable will not

suffer. Hospitals will be open the door some appointments have been

postponed. There will be some impact on transport. Airports will

be open but action by passport staff could lead to big delays and

disruption. In Glasgow, local transport will be badly hit as the

Underground is shut. Some claim mistake could cost the UK economy

�500 million. Others are rubbish this, saying loss will be quickly

made up. The equivalent of an extra Bank Holiday already of Severe

weather. What is the day of action about? Specifically, pensions. It

is not about the wider concern of is not about the wider concern of

unions or some walkers over cutbacks, salary freezes and job

losses. It is hard to divorce the issues completely however. The

Government wants to make changes to public sector pension schemes which

mean people pay more towards their pensions and in some cases work

longer. It says anyone due to retire within the next 10 years

will still receive the same pension they would have got before. Here,

some part of the public sector under the control of Holyrood. The

Scottish government say they do not agree with the idea of replacing --

increasing employee contributions but they do not have any choice at

the moment. Wednesday will see the sort of co-ordinated industrial

action not witnessed for a long time. The UK Government is adamant

pensions need to be reformed. People are living for a long after

they retire and Westminster insists money is tight with the need to cut

money is tight with the need to cut Joining me now in the studio is

General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Grahame

Smith, and from Dundee, David Watt, Chief Executive of the Institute of

Directors. Thank you for coming in. Given that negotiations are ongoing

and senior union officials have insisted the Government has moved

do that, as this irresponsible? Negotiations are not ongoing. The

last time the Government spoke was all in its 2nd November. They have

been carrying out a propaganda programme since. No talks at all?

No talks between the government and trades unions directly. Talks with

each individual scheme have happened but that goes on all the

time. These negotiations have been frustrating -- been frustrated by

it the fact the Government have not been clear on what its proposals

are. That makes it difficult to reach agreement. Talks are not

ongoing. Given the confusion, have the unions taking on the enormity

of what they're doing and the way the general public are reacting?

Let's be clear on that. You speak about the unions but it is a

millions a public sector workers who have voted in ballots to take

industrial action because they feel very strongly. They see a gross

injustice in not only being asked to work longer and being told that

the benefits when they retire or less, but having imposed on them

attacks on the epee of 3.2 per cent which has been dressed up as a

pensions contribution the but is not a pensions increase. It is a

tax on their pay. What do you think will be the general reaction to

this and the impact on business? They will not be a great deal of

public support. Many are already in a situation that Graeme has

outlined, we all understand the pension situation as it is

understood -- happening to everybody. They forecast the laser

12 hours for people coming into Heathrow, which is terrifying.

Schools being closed causes all businesses significant problem so

there is a real concern and a genuine cost to it. Whether this is

�500 million I am not sure, but there will be disruption from

travel, public holidays, and so obviously a significant cost to

business. What do you think of the political tone and a lot this? Some

commentators have said the unions have rushed into this too quickly.

Others, Ed Miliband for example, says that Westminster seems to

relish this confrontation. The Scottish government say they are

not willing to implement the increasing contributions but were

immediately told that money would come out of the block grant. What

do you think of the tone of negotiations? Politicians all have

to realise there is an inevitability about cutting public

sector contributions -- pensions and increasing contributions. There

are still none contributed fixed benefit pensions in existence. That

is not sustainable and needs to be sorted out. The basic premise, of

not enough money in the pension pot, is being increasingly challenged.

You do not accept that? I know there are some pension pots in

individual parts of the public sector which are self-funding, but

that is not guaranteed. The bottom line is the tax payers take up that

shortfall. I think there should have been longer negotiation.

he is saying is not the case. There are no reasons this has to take

place. Local-government schemes in Scotland are very successful and

takes in �300 million more a year than it pays out. The NHS has a

surplus, the teachers' scheme has taken in more since it started and

it has paid out. Negotiations took place under the last game for

government to deal with contribution increases. -- Labour

government. But there are ceilings placed on what the taxpayer will

contribute to public sector pensions so these issues have been

dealt with. The real issue here is that the UK Government is imposing

a tax on the pay of public sector workers of 3.2 per cent, not

imposed on anyone else but the rest up as a pension increase. That is

to tackle the deficit. Nothing There are 156,000 households on

household waiting lists in Scotland. Meanwhile, 25,000 homes are lying

empty. Could these properties be brought back into use to help solve

the housing shortage? That is at the idea behind the Empty Homes

Partnership led by Shelter Scotland, set up last year to help local

authorities trace the owners of empty properties and turn them into

affordable housing. In a few days' time, Scotland will hold its first

Empty Homes Conference. But finding the owners of the homes is no easy

task. 21-year-old Stacey is the only

resident in this block of flats. She says it is dangerous and the

conditions are making her ill. door and upstairs have all been

broken into. It is a living nightmare. I have got asthma and

hypertension. I'm constantly down at the hospital with it. It is

causing my blood pressure to go higher. She rents privately and is

desperate to move into better accommodation but is one of 500

people on that the waiting list at her local housing association. Its

director says that it is frustrating to have empty housing

on the estate when people need homes. There are about 40

properties lying empty, that is 40 families that could be rehomed. In

terms of the wider picture, there is not a lot of house building

going on because of the financial crisis. It makes more sense to find

two properties lying vacant, renovate them and bring them back

and give them to other people to give them houses. Kenny is working

with Shelter Scotland's partnership. She is working with 22 of the 33

local authorities in Scotland. work with local authorities and

housing associations to give them good practice from elsewhere in the

United Kingdom where they do good used bringing empty homes back into

use. We have had less of this in Scotland in the past 10 years or so.

It is about contacting the owners, and negotiating. It is estimated it

costs between 6025 �1,000 to refurbish an empty home. The

average cost of building is around �100,000. It is an attractive

choice of four councils looking to provide affordable housing. But are

they the homes people want? What it will do is provide a wider stock of

housing available for letting and now that councils are obliged to

sell off properties to occupiers, it will provide a more stable

measure to the national housing stock, that houses are -- that

housing associations and other landlords will have available.

Developers cannot sell them and cannot get rid of them for a number

of years, these houses tend not to be suited to bigger households, and

they do not work well with a family of seven children. The progress is

not always straightforward. years we have been trying on and

off to find out who the owners are and to do something about this

situation. The garden is open to the environment, it can be used for

fly-tipping. I believe it has been set fire to at least once. Clearly,

would you like to live next door to that? I do not blame anyone that is

not happy with this situation. As I say, the time to get half it is now.

But just how tough can councils in Scotland be? They do not have the

same power as councils in England which can seize empty properties

after six months. The Scottish government is consulting on whether

to give new powers to raise council tax on empty properties. But will

this be enough to persuade landlords to turn derelict

properties into homes people want to live in?

We have the housing minister Keith Brown. Good afternoon. You have

looked at a number of ways of tackling this. The first one is to

allow councils to charge an additional levy and reduce

discounts on empty properties, that provides a real incentive to bring

them back into in -- productive use. They can be unsightly and are not

being used by families who could use them. So there is a 90%

discount at the moment is there? could be 50%. There would be a levy

which would double the council tax rate on those properties. It would

not be in any body's interest to leave houses lying empty for a long

period of time. We have an initiative in South Esher, trailing

this out to see whether allowing people to take on the interest free

loans to improve properties that require that, we would like to see

that rolled out. That is almost like rewarding negligent property

developers and property owners because they get money to do up

their property and then there is no guarantee that they will sustain

the quality of that building. idea is not to play to the self-

interest of particular landlords but to say that some properties are

in a very poor condition and that they are really struggling to get

grants to upgrade the property. We want to help in that situation. The

benefits of that other two were starting to get council tax back,

you may get a sale on that, that could be used on the improvements

for other properties. The end result will be instead of having

empty properties you will have those available to rent or buy.

Councils do have the ability and have a greater ability to borrow

than the Scottish government does. Borrowing to produce economic

assets, we think is right and proper. Borrowing to produce more

jobs because you can get more repair and maintenance work through

this, is again a proper to do in terms of economic uncertainty. If

you create an economic asset, that is one legitimate use of borrowing.

One way we can start to turn this around and improve growth is if for

example the UK Government were to announce on Tuesday that they would

reduce VAT on home improvement to 5%, as we have been calling on them

to do. Empty housing has been targeted for about a year, nobody

is clear on how many have been brought back into use. Would it not

be a good idea to have a legal compulsion on this? We are

consulting on some of these issues and getting an update by the

conference you mentioned on Tuesday, we will get feedback from the

different partners. Our feeling is that that would not work. We want

to work with house-owners and local authorities. But you will consider

the compulsory element? The UK Government very often copy what we

have done in terms of housing, we keep an open mind but currently the

one to work towards more collaboration.

In the 1960s and 70s with fewer job opportunities in Scotland, a

generation of young men left turn to find work abroad. Many of these

men joined the Hudson's Bay Company. The stories of a group of Scotsmen

who formed a new life in the Arctic is the subject of a new documentary,

the Hudson's Bay Boys boys. They have been talking to Gilly

Mathieson. These men are Hudson's Bay Boys,

who as teenagers had few opportunities and gave up

everything to make a new life in the Canadian Arctic. They were

among thousands of Scots who for 300 years went to work for the

Hudson space company. In 1976 there was no job for John Graham on the

family farm and so he answered the call of the wild. I responded to an

advertisement in the newspaper. It was 11am on September 17th and the

temperature was minus two Celsius. The weather was a lot nicer than

the win that I had left in Scotland a couple of days beforehand. There

really was, at the age of 19, nothing really was a shock, you

went there with eyes wide open. Really prepared for anything.

Todd did not see a future for himself in Scotland, at the age of

17, he also joined the Hudson's Bay Company, are waving in the western

Arctic in the middle of winter. arrive here and it was very

desolate. So it was a real shock, it takes your breath away. It's the

Hudson's Bay Company was started in 1670 and began trading with the

native people of the Canadian Arctic. They exchanged supplies for

furs. But to the Inuit communities, as they were often much more. Jim

Dayell became a Bay Boy, but was also part doctor, dentist and fed.

We found clothing, food, or the needs of the community for a year.

The medical work, the dental work, the midwifery, looking after dogs,

giving them rabies shots, all the extra curricula. There was a vast

amount really. By the end of the 20th century, Scots made up half of

their workforce. But the seal trade crashed and the impact was

catastrophic. Suicide rates have rocketed. It was the beginning of

the end for the Bay Boy way of life. The hunters did not know what was

going on with the anti-fur market here in Europe. The bottom line is

that from being a thriving industry, it put those same folks on welfare

overnight. It was so dramatic, it went from people living are

reasonably well, it was a tough life, going trapping, that is a

tough life, but it was a life they had lived all their lives, all of a

sudden it collapsed. Separated by thousands of miles, many of the

Scots has left the company but stayed in the Arctic to forge new

careers, working alongside a the in the Ritz, it to build new

communities. This morning has been really exciting. It feels good.

back in Scotland ahead of the screening of a new documentary,

what can the new generation of school leavers learn from the Bay

Boys' experience? There was an inherent understanding that she

cannot live off mum and dad. But if you smoke cigarettes, pay for them

yourself. Get up and do it. I just thought it was part of life, then.

You did not hang on, you step out. I do not care how desperate the

Times are, if you want to work hard at something, you have got

something in your mind, you are going to achieve that goal. I was

estimated to work in aviation but I paid my dues, I paid my five years

service to the Hudson's Bay Company, learnt good work habits, getting up

early in the morning, being at work on time, putting in an honest day's

work. If you work hard, opportunity will present itself to you as it

did with me. The Scots have now stopped coming to the Arctic to

work with the Hudson's Bay Company, but this generation show that with

positive attitude and determination to succeed in tough economic times,

opportunity can be created even in the most harsh conditions.

You can see more on that story, the Hudson's Bay Boys in a documentary

on Wednesday night at 9:00pm on BBC The independent MSP Margo MacDonald

was re-elected to parliament on a commitment to have the right to

choose when to die set up in law. Her End of Life Assistance bill was

heavily defeated on a free vote. Ms Macdonald is now in a new

consultation process arguing the key element, of giving legal

protection to people who assist in suicides, has widespread public

support. She joins us from Edinburgh and here with me in

Glasgow is the medical ethics professor Sheila Maclean. Thank you

both for coming in. Margo MacDonald, how will what you're bringing

forward now differ from what was defeated before? I think we learned

a great deal from the first time round the course. One of the things

I am absolutely adamant about is that this is a rights issue. It is

the writer of the individual to have determination over the last

act of that person's life. They are as responsible for it as for all

the other actions of their life. How would it work in practice?

difference this time is that last time we thought it was best, for

reasons I will explain if you wish, for it to be medical professionals

who were asked for assistance by the small group of people who may

well choose to end their life before nature does. This time, we

have gone out to consultation and we have asked, should it not simply

be medical professionals? Is it possible you could have a friend at

the end of somebody who is trained or registered or licensed to help

you. There would be no dubiety about it. It would be illegal for

anyone to ask for help. Those are the big differences from last time.

We are also playing with the idea - considering Seriously - of going to

your doctor and thinking ahead. Thinking that I may reach the stage

where life becomes intolerable, because I know I have a

degenerative process of conditions. -- progressive. I may think I am

lucky and see this out without dignity, and that is what people

feel more than pain. The reason I thought about this and is because

they will be a small number of people who wish to take advantage

of this law. There will be perhaps a this sort of percentage of people

willing to help them as we find another communities. Because we are

a country with an uneven spread of population, it may be a better

management tool if you had the same idea ahead of time so that if

somebody does go to the doctor and say it is now intolerable. They

have advanced directives and living wills. How far do the goal and

could use structure safeguards along those lines? The interesting

thing about advanced directives in Scotland is there not legislated

for. Although the presumption is the ban statement would be followed

that is not necessarily true. Encapsulating something similar in

Scotland seems to be a step forward and has already been done in

England and Wales. The difference with the advanced directive is that

what you're suggesting is that once you become ill and are no longer

competent to make that decision, they do not then it's not teach you

for pneumonia or something. What Margo MacDonald is looking for is

something more proactive, which would allow a positive decision in

advance that you would at a certain point want to die. That would take

the current notion of advanced directives a further set for words.

Is that you impression that there is greater support from the public

and we see in the political process? That evidence is probably

anecdotal full stop of 1000 people that were interviewed in Scotland

by a surveyor I carried out, they carried -- supported it two to one.

This is not hard evidence but is as hard as you're likely to get. It is

health professionals and politicians who appear to be

reluctant along with they based organisations. We are running out

of time but would you write in to any proposal the right for people

to change their minds? Of course. It is the person who decides and

only the person and we can all change our minds as often as we

like. If that is respected it shows the law was walking. Up thank-you

indeed. -- is working. The multi-award-winning

international star of movies and theatre, Alan Cumming, has been in

Glasgow this weekend discussing his distinctively Scottish performance

style and theatre's particular role here. He's not used to bad reviews

but he took a bit of a pasting from opposition parties for an election

video supporting the SNP, although he isn't resident here and can't

vote. The actor's response is that he is entitled to his opinion. He's

a big supporter of the National Theatre of Scotland, and in

yesterday's event he was examining the impact of our culture being

seeped in variety, music hall and panto. In the Kings, with National

Theatre director Vicky Featherstone, he said he was delighted to be

involved. I want to be here. Nobody forced me

and they have come because I feel that as an actor and a person I am

very informed by my Scottishness and the tradition of performance in

Scotland, which is very much open and connecting to the audience and

has its roots in variety and pantomime. What is the difference?

What are the elements of this its particular Scottish? A few things.

There is an openness and an engagement with the audience, a

lack of a fourth wall. You are letting the audience understand

that you know they can see you and there is an archness to that

because you're looking at performance and a different way.

There is a thing about spectacle. We used songs and jokes are as a

way of telling the story. The other thing that really fascinates me is

that politics is not removed. It is all part of the same pot. We can

engage in a political way through humour and songs and through a

variety of means like that. Political theatre has grown out of

that. Do you think there is something specific about the

dynamic between politics and public life and theatre in Scotland that

is specific to Scotland? I do. We talk about politics much more than

the people in other countries do. In America, politics is almost a

hobby. It is something that once every four villas and everybody

goes nuts for it. Here, it is part of our parlance. -- four ears.

is the role of the theatre in that engagement? What is interesting

about that is that I feel that Scotland is a demotic country.

There is no real sense of elitism here, so the theatre has to be

relevant to the people of Scotland. Theatre here is not putting posh

plays on posh stages that make people feel stupid. It is about

ownership of the work. The theatre tradition in Scotland is a

relatively young compared to other countries. What is exciting about

that is that has come from a variety and stories that need to be

told and communicated. Leading on from that, you don't Black Watch

recently and did some work with veterans. You think theatre could

have a practical role? We are a publicly-funded organisations and

even if we wear it, people we work with believe Scott -- theatre

should be relevant in contemporary life. If we're putting on classics,

we still feel it is important to be told now, not as a museum piece.

The only theatre in our lives and terms of understanding stories and

oppositions in the world and asking big questions is a relevant, but it

has to be entertaining. Political theatre can become a problem...

a are you looking at me when you say problems? When I said

entertaining! Banned political theatre became agitation for its

own sake and it went into a slight slump because of that. With we're

getting to now it is a really good new place. Do you think the

cultural scene in Scotland is more vibrant than it has been?

Absolutely. When I came back to do a play in 2007, I had not worked in

Scotland for a long time. Since devolution, there has been a huge

change in the way that not only Scotland is perceived, but how it

project itself onto the world stage. There is a confidence and almost a

thing that we cannot only blame everything on England any more.

Coming back to work that time, it was palpable. It was very exciting.

With this last election, I felt it was about re-engaging that kind of

confidence and spirit. Can I add to that, but if you look at this

situation in Scotland over the last year compared to the situation in

England, there is no question that in Scotland the importance of

culture and the confidence of culture is absolutely part of this

nation being forward thinking. In England, the support for the arts

and philosophically at financially has been decimated by the Tory

government. Our colleagues in England look jealously at us now.

Not only in England but other countries. Scotland has the grim

reality of the financial situation but the support is extraordinary.

The arts is prioritised in a really good way. Being here, it is

sometimes hard to stand outside of it and see what the great thing is

happening because it is happening and is normal. With the benefit of

not living here, I have been able to do that and that is truly

amazing. And so for some analysis on this week's stories and a look

ahead to next, we have the Columnist and Theatre Critic, Joyce

McMillan and from the Times, the journalist Lorraine Davidson. In

terms of what is happening with the stakes, even if you support the

objectives, is the strategy right? I do not think so but I am 100% in

support. I despise the argument that because people on the private

sector do not have good pensions, the public sector should be just as

bad. In that sense, there are striking for all of us. They do not

want to live up in the sort of place where sex are banned. --

Stakes. Having said that, I would rather that instead of Stakes on

Wednesday we were looking at a festival of public service where

more imaginative things were been done. -- strikes. If the public is

not 100% behind this, does it not been much traction? Are not of the

public understand that there was a banking crisis caused by excess and

the banking industry. People being made to pay the price are the

people at the bottom end of the scale often with modest public

sector pensions. The coalition government has been tried to speak

in a very 1970s way about unions and the rights they have and gold-

plated public sector pensions. Most in Scotland and we have more -- a

much higher lead on a public sector work in Scotland, do not recognise

this. Most do not recognise that kind of debate that is taking place.

I think it is very foolish to use the word is responsible at all in

relation to this. -- are responsible. We have seen more

egregious examples of this. Most public sector workers are showing a

high level of responsibility of the day in their life and a one-day

strike! In using the word are responsible, Ed Miliband is playing

the Tory tune and it is very foolish. He has not worked out what

side he is on in this and his putting. The unions are trying to

betray him as at the Winter of discontent and so Ed Miliband has

stuck. Labour in Scotland have been more sensible and had decided what

say they are on and are sticking with it. Ed Miliband is not going

to take the credit for being tough. David Cameron is going to do that.

Ed Miliband is left in the middle floundering about. Looking at the

assisted suicide pill, would you have reservations? I do. I have

immense sympathy and respect for Margo MacDonald. Everyone can

understand her position. She has got a good political battle on Miss,

but I do not think we live in a society which has the kind of

respect for elderly people that you could be confident you were making

those decisions to end their lives on a good basis. So many have made

to feel a burden and badly cared for at home. We have seen horrific

reports in England but also in Scotland about the way people are

cared for. There are made to feel a burden and if you introduced a

legal option, people would be volunteering in very large numbers.

I do not think we should be going down that route. We should not give