by Dan Paris

It’s worth reminding ourselves how we got here.  In the aftermath of the banking crisis, we approached a general election at a time when national debt was spiralling out of control.  The leader of the opposition, David Cameron, argued that in order to control the debt we needed to implement deeper cuts and to implement them more quickly than the cuts proposed by the Labour government. Labour and the Lib Dems argued that this approach risked jeopardising economic recovery.  Nick Clegg said, "There isn't a serious economist in the world who agrees with the Conservatives ... [that] we should pull the rug out from under the economy with immediate spending cuts."

Following on from our 'History of Scottish languages' series by Paul Kavanagh, Newsnet Scotland is happy to present a new series on Scottish languages myths written by the same author.  As Paul remarked in the introduction to the language history series, there is a knowledge vacuum in Scotland regarding our linguistic heritage and our languages.  Into a knowledge vacuum rush myths, stereotypes and misinformation.

Yet Scotland's languages are central to its culture.  Over a long period of time Scotland's languages have been relegated in importance and that has had a profound influence over Scottish self-confidence and the way Scots see themselves as a people.  This process has been driven by the spread of myths and misinformation about Scotland's languages, caused by the ignorance which is itself a product of a lack of education on the subject.  It is the intention of Newsnet Scotland to raise awareness of this matter through this series and beyond.  Each article on the series will be published on Sundays and will tackle one myth in particular.  Today we start the series with one of the most common and widespread myths, the myth that Scots is not actually a language at all.

To read our 10 part series on the 'History of Scotland Languages' click: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Last Sunday (13th) Scottish entrepreneur Brian Souter publicly pledged to match small donations to the SNP's election campaign fund pound-for-pound up to a maximum of £500, 000, and with a deadline of 30 March.

Within 6 days, claims the party, some 2,414 small donations have been received amounting to more than £100,000.

by Nick Pearce, Open Democracy

Gerry Hassan has written an insightful critique of a blog I posted last week following a trip to Edinburgh.  He generously credits the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) with being unique amongst think-tanks in taking an interest in the world beyond Westminster through our series of publications, Devolution in Practice, and the creation of IPPR North.  But he takes me to task for some of my observations and conclusions on Scottish politics.

I defer to Gerry’s greater knowledge and experience of these issues; mine is a view informed by far less insight and commitment than he possesses.  But he is wrong to interpret my contribution as one designed to “shore up a discredited Labour politics north of the border.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Indeed, the conservatism of contemporary Scottish politics, expressed in different ways by the SNP, Labour and Liberal Democrats, is my first point of departure and concern.  It ranks as one of the most pressing challenges the country faces, and it helps account for why Scotland has not witnessed a more extensive, enriching national renewal since devolution.