No Time for Final 'Brick for Brick'

Whoops another SNP pledge has already run out of time to be completed.

Having promised to match the Labour/Lib Dem executive school building programme 'brick for brick', having scraped PPP/PFI whilst dithering over Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), there is no time left. The school building has stalled since May 2007 when the Nats took control but the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) says that the minimum time from commission to completion of a new school was 3 years in East Lothian but the average was three and a half.

The Nationalist Government has promised to commission its first new schools by later this year but as of yet with no SFT the question has to be where is this funding coming from. So when will they be able to go ahead with laying its first brick before it even thinks it can match as promised?

Therefore there is not enough time for the SNP to get any new school commissioned and built before the next elections in 2011. So we have another SNP fail.

Can We Afford this Effrontery?

Apparently the Nat Government has effectively turned down £13bn from Westminster aimed to get PFI projects such as schools and hospitals off the ground when the private sector element is not forthcoming.

It clearly is one problem when there is a recession that private companies clam up in new capital investment if they can and focus on things that currently exist. However, as the SNPs Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) has failed to materialise after 21 months and because of their opposition and cessation to the previous PFI model on which SFT is based. There has yet to be a single SFT .

The Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said:

"The UK-wide temporary fund means PFI projects in Scotland can be considered for support on the same terms as UK departments. The Scottish Futures Trust has yet to procure a single project which might be eligible.

"The Scottish Government needs to stop putting its dogmatic position before Scotland's interests when it comes to PFI. We need to get Scotland building again if we are going to get through the recession and it would make sense for Scottish ministers to reconsider their opposition as soon as possible."

Not a single project! Just what are they playing at? When can we expect something to kick off? Also what does this mean should they gain their wish for Independence will be also see Scotland stall while the lacking infrastructure is uhmed and ahhed about?

Jeremy Purvis the Lib Dem finance spokesperson added:

"This shows very clearly that the SNP has brought to a halt the pipeline of projects vital for Scotland to work through a recession.

"In 2006-7 there were over £1 billion worth of PPP/PFI and NPD contracts awarded in Scotland; now this is down to less than a third of that, with catastrophic timing."

The Nats tried to divert attention by saying the bail-out was "proof positive" that the PFI model was the "economics of the madhouse". Rather ironic use of words at least they was some sort of "house" being build even if the system did need refining, but the do nothingness of SFT really is a madhouse especially with the First Minister himself ranting on about the need to invest money in Scotland to secure Scottish jobs.

The stubbornness of the Nationalist mule to make everything in their own image and cut down things that were in place before a working replacement is in place together with trying to ignore that Scotland is still part of a larger entity is the real economics of the madhouse.

Two Knights. So What?

We're Knights of the Round Table,
We dance when ere we're able,
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.*

From Monty Phyton and the Holy Grail and Spamalot

Well it really takes the biscuit when Nats Jeff have to compare the knights heading up the respective Commission/Futures Trust on either side of the debate.

Jeff goes out of his way to disparage the achievement of Sir Kenneth Calman. Yes unlike Sir Angus Grossart he is not involved in the world of business or economics but that hardly means he is not qualified to pass a dispassionate eye over the future of our country. Sir Kenneth has been Chair of Cancer Research in Scotland, Chief Medical Officer both for the UK Dept of Health and here in Scotland as well as holding senior posts at both Durham and now Glasgow Universities. He's also currently President of the Boys Brigade.

Sir Angus is a lawyer turned merchant banker, now Vice Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Has been Chairman of the National Gallaries of Scotland, as well as being Chairman of the Fine Arts Society and Lyon and Turnbill auctioneers.

Both seem able to carry out carry out cognitive function at the highest level, both have experience of leadership, both have shown a diversity in interests. I don't think it does anyone justice to accuse someone appointed to chair a review that they may not agree with of being an inferior product to the one that they do. Not when the evidence is there that both have strengths.

*I have to admit before writing and researching this piece fully I'd used this quote before reading here "[Sir Angus's] interest in architecture has taken him far afield, from Crusader castles in Syria to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu in Peru" pure coincidence I assure you.