The narrative of ‘I’ has become increasingly dominant as part of wider economic changes in Britain, where there has been a decline in productive exports and a rise in wealth extraction through mass consumption.
The potential environmental impacts of shale oil and gas extraction (SGE) by means of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) have been well explored by various groups concerned by this newly prominent technology but rather less well known by campaigners and activists are the economic impacts.
This report looks at key questions regarding the economic structure and impact of the SGE industry and the findings are detailed.
An analsys of the d devolution of social security powers to the Scottish Parliament in the Scotland Bill. Whilst the reforms have been represented as giving Scotland “one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world.” it is debatable that this is the case. In any federal system, powers lie by default with the states, not with central government. It is open to the states (and sometimes to local governments) to experiment and to innovate. Scotland will not be able to do this.
A review of the economic and political circumstances around a second independence referendum.
This is a largely factual explainer by the Institute for Government of the issues around a referendum and the results of its success.
This is the white paper subtitled: Scotland’s referendum on 18 September 2014 is a choice between two futures.
The findings from the People’s Gathering are organised into three broad themes: Sovereignty of the People – How do we return more power to the people? Defending our democracy – How do we stop vested interests having too much influence? How do we write the rules – How do we get the checks and balances our democracy needs?
It’s not possible to predict how much money a notionally independent Scotland might be able to spend in the future, and how this might compare with the amount spent per person in the rest of the UK at that time.
The GERS figures do not show that if Scotland were to become independent, each person in Scotland would become £2,000 worse off. The figure only refers to the current difference between revenue and spending in Scotland compared to the UK.
Investment in Scotland's R&D has evolved over the past few years. The challenges and opportunities for R&D in Scotland, and the future of R&D are reviewed.
This document provides an insight into the current research and innovation landscape in Scotland to inform discussions over how people across Scotland can have the opportunity to contribute to and share the benefits of R&D investment in the UK