These Islands is a forum for debate standing unabashedly for the view that more unites the people of the United Kingdom than divides them.
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The most serious failure of the SNP’s latest independence paper is that it completely ducks the question of how an independent Scotland would get its public finances onto a sustainable footing.
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“So the fiscal transfer of £12.9 billion in 2023-24 was really the best case (but wholly implausible) scenario for the size of the hole full fiscal autonomy would have created in the Scottish Government’s budget.”
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The UK Government should take seriously the Scottish Government’s request for full fiscal autonomy, and ask it to answer the following questions.
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As the salience of independence as an issue has declined, the SNP has enjoyed a bounce in the polls. This is not a coincidence. Independence as an abstract and distant concept is much more popular than the painful details.
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Insightful letter, published by @PrivateEyeNews
Cut out and keep for an aide-memoire on how to skewer one of Scottish nationalism’s favourite myths.
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Full video is here: piped.video/OxiNcfYO5q4?si=0iCf…
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Confirmation that HS2 generates full Barnett Consequentials for Scotland can be found in HM Treasury’s Statement of funding policy: Funding the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive. assets.publishing.service.go…
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Unfortunate, to say the least, that @Garygillespie42 (Scot Gov Chief Economist) did not know HS2 spending in England generates full Barnett Consequentials for Scotland. He really should be debunking misinformation, not fuelling it. (Clip from @Scotonomics1 Festival of Economics)
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Eddie Barnes, of @scottish_future (who also do an important job!)
Despite the best efforts of some MSPs, Holyrood is being out-muscled by an all-powerful government.
Column in today's Scottish Daily Mail.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article…
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“Trust is an essential ingredient of good government — trust in the integrity of ministers, trust in the information they give us, trust that, when mistakes are made, they are corrected.”
Leading article in yesterday’s @timesscotland
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“It’s not exactly surprising to discover the SNP trying to bury inconvenient information. The Scottish Government seems to find it impossible to be straight with voters about statistics, and that is having a corrosive effect on political debate in Scotland.”
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1/ These Islands exposes Neil Gray’s attempt to bury the revised statistic on Scotland’s share of Europe’s offshore wind potential. Coverage tonight on BBC Reporting Scotland. Part 1/2 of video.
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“Only the publication of a report by pro-union think-tank, These Islands, forced a u-turn.”
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“And it’s one to watch - it could be a slow burner. We might hear more of this next week.”
Humza Yousaf’s misleading of the Scottish Parliament, exposed by These Islands’ FOIs, covered on #bbcgms this morning.
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Over the last 24 hours, a paper trail uncovered by These Islands via Freedom of Information has developed into a significant story. Here is BBC Reporting Scotland’s coverage this evening.
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Leader in @TheScotsman today: 25% of Europe’s offshore wind falsehood is of huge significance, and Scot Gov has serious questions to answer.
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These Islands quoted by @IanMurrayMP during today’s opposition day debate on the economics of Scottish independence.
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Short thread of yesterday’s @ScotlandTonight debate on GERS, between These Islands chair @kevverage and @GraemeBlackett of @BottomLineScot
Part 1/5.
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Professor John Curtice and Kevin Hague on yesterday’s @BBCNewsnight, talking about Brexit, Scottish independence, and borders. @WhatScotsThink @whatukthinks @kevverage
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Full text of These Islands’ letter to @NicolaSturgeon, seeking urgent clarification of SNP policy on the state pension in an independent Scotland.
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The SNP-supporting National newspaper has written a front-page story questioning how These Islands is funded - as if a think tank raising funds is somehow news. (1/3)
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Chair of These Islands, @kevverage, appeared on the BBC News Channel today, debating the Scottish independence question with Shona Craven, columnist at @ScotNational piped.video/F70aJ8TBdNQ
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The SNP believes the constitutional question is the only one that really matters. The other parties are right to reject that, argues @kevverage.
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And @kevverage’s presentation, mentioned in John Lloyd’s piece, can be watched here: piped.video/miVQgJ6yvyg
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One of the highlights of These Islands’ recent conference in Newcastle was @ProfKatyShaw of @NorthumbriaUni. The video of her brilliant speech is here: piped.video/z3fAON59g4w
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Our second video from Newcastle is the speech @DLidington gave to wrap up the final day of the conference. David speaks about the importance of a contemporary, forward looking Union which resonates with ordinary voters. piped.video/YCV7MwPgwhM
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The first (of several) videos from the Newcastle conference: @kevverage presenting on Scotland’s finances, 22nd February 2020, at the Discovery Museum. piped.video/miVQgJ6yvyg
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Our final session in Newcastle: @DLidington (with John Lloyd) speaking about the importance of a contemporary, forward looking Union. The perfect way to bring These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future to a close.
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Wrapping up in Newcastle, @kevverage reflects on a successful conference, which brought 300 people together to ask: what is our story and how do we best tell it?
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In Newcastle yesterday, Professor Colin Kidd alongside @GerryHassan, @Ramsay59, and chair @iainmartin1. A very enjoyable panel on what a second referendum on Scottish independence might look like, with some genuinely different perspectives.
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The Constitutional Reform Group’s @AMCarwyn and Lord Salisbury, speaking yesterday at These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future in Newcastle, alongside @wendychambLD, @MarkReckless, @HCH_Hill, @ProfJimG, and panel chair @Kirkbytop.
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On stage in Newcastle, @Michael_Jary speaks about Britain’s Role on the World Stage, alongside @PhilippeAuclair, @D_G_Alexander, @PurvisTweed, @sophgaston and chair @martinkettle.
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Sir John Curtice speaks on the latest polling data at These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future, in Newcastle. @WhatScotsThink @whatukthinks
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Our economics panel in Newcastle: @kevverage, Ronald MacDonald, @Frances_Coppola, @Stradivari48, @angusarmstrong8, and chair @iainmartin1
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These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future. Day 2 in Newcastle kicks off with a panel on British Identity and Multiculturalism, featuring @JamesKanag, @TheSimonEvans, @sughra01, Joyce Quin, Chandrika Kaul, and @ayeshahazarika
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What The United Kingdom is Good For. @ProfKatyShaw makes a brilliant & moving speech arguing that our creative people must be part of the conversation.
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These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future. @kevverage moderates The Language of Debate panel in Newcastle, featuring @FionaMcleodHill, @blairmcdougall, @pamela_nash, @AlanRoden, @EddieBarnes23, and @willie_rennie
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At These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future in Newcastle, @willie_rennie speaks on The Language of Debate.
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Historian Clare Jackson, speaking alongside @neiledinburgh, @holland_tom, and John Lloyd at These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future in Newcastle.
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Our first panel: The English Regional Perspective. Featuring @AndyBurnhamGM, @RosieDuffield1, @ChiOnwurah, @francesweetman, and chaired by @SebastianEPayne
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Gordon Brown speaking to a packed crowd at the opening of These Islands: Our Past, Present, and Future, at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.
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The next Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, appeared before the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee in 2014. His remarks on sterlingisation chime with These Islands’ paper on the currency question: these-islands.co.uk/publicat…
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Next up is Professor Angus Armstrong. His talk has a similar theme to the conclusion of our paper: the social justice cost of Scotland establishing its own currency.
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Professor Ronnie MacDonald, speaking in Edinburgh this morning, echoes the analysis set out in These Islands’ detailed paper on the SNP’s currency headache: these-islands.co.uk/publicat…
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The SNP conference has chosen its poison, but the currency headache remains much the same. Our latest paper explains why.
these-islands.co.uk/publicat…
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