On:
In: Stephen Bird

In a recent piece for The Atlantic, “How the UK Became One Of The Poorest Countries in Western Europe”*, Derek Thomson wrote ” When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it hit hard, smashing the engine of Britain’s economic ascent. Wary of rising deficits, the British government pursued a policy of austerity, fretting about debt rather than productivity or aggregate demand. The results were disastrous. Real wages fell for six straight years. Facing what the writer Fintan O’Toole called “the dull anxiety of declining living standards,” conservative pols sniffed out a bogeyman to blame for this slow-motion catastrophe. They served up to anxious voters a menu of scaryRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

An article appeared in the local press recently about the council mooting an idea for reducing the size of the general waste bins for households by almost half.  Currently larger households and those with certain medical needs have an increased bin capacity and smaller households have a smaller one; this proposal would see all households reduce to the size of the small households.  The pros were that it would encourage householders to increase their recycling rate and be more careful with what they recycle as they would not be able to just chuck it in the bin like it is currently presumed they do.  TheRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

I wonder where Maggie Chapman lives. I know she has worked on the West coast, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. I read she likes exploring Scotland in her leisure time, but does she have any actual experience of daily living using the A96? From Inverurie to Aberdeen it is a doddle with the dualled road. From Inverurie to Inverness it is very often a nightmare. Being rural, we have to travel far for appointments. For those of us who live a few miles from the A96 corridor public transport becomes complicated and does not join up. When we went to Fochabers institute to look at the proposalsRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

I’m not sure what planet they are on, but as they sit and congratulate themselves on reinvention yet again thousands sit freezing and hungry. Watching The Omen tonight it mentions “the devils child will rise up in the world of politics.”  The question is, which one? There are many components to the destruction the Tories have inflicted on us all. Power, greed, revolution, diversion and – much worse – sheer blind ignorance. To turn their backs on the deprived in the country, and in the last few weeks the number has multiplied,  without even questioning the incomprehensible mini budget which set the balls rolling towardsRead More →