Fabric of the Nation
Spending cuts may mean curtains for lots of public servants. But it's not curtains for me. Not selling curtains anyway.
Testing out the hypothesis that Scots struggle in sales, my efforts as a market trader have succeeded only in causing great mirth with colleagues.
You could see them for yourself on The State Scots Are In, broadcast last night on Â鶹Éç One Scotland, and available for a week on iPlayer.
In making the programme, I had rather more success in conducting an orchestra - not, admittedly, a common way of responding to deep budget cuts. But it's something that everyone ought to do at least once in their life.
As a rookie conductor, the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra blew me away with a blast of Shostakovich. On the rostrum, it feels like you're driving a battleship.
There was a serious point to all this, and you can read about the programme's findings.
If you're interested in the way in which the role of the state has grown, I'd strongly recommend the extended interviews you can also find online.
For instance, the interview with Professor Lindsay Paterson, an educationist/historian/polymath at Edinburgh University, is a fascinating broad-ranging analysis, which will teach you more than you'd think possible in 15 minutes.
Hullo, I'm Douglas Fraser, and I'm business and economy editor at Â鶹Éç Scotland. Welcome to my blog, where you can read my take on money matters, viewed from a Scottish perspective.
Comment number 1.
At 13th Oct 2010, Mona Growser wrote:Many people in other areas of the United Kingdom would like a high level of public services. But more public services mean more taxes. However, the mix of services could be different.
The current emphasis on fairness would dictate that if one part of the UK wants higher overall levels of public services, people there should pay more for them. And vice versa.
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