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Learnfromthepast

Listed below are comments made by Learnfromthepast between Monday, 4th August 2008 and Wednesday, 19th November 2008.

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Falling fish stocks 08:30am on 19 Nov 2008 One lesson I have learnt form working in the oil industry is to assign responsibility to those that have a passion for the job. Accountability is for those who are supposed to be able to balance conflicting views and information and come up with a coherent policy and "measurable" objectives.

The EU has neither, when the UK joined the common market our seas were the envy of the europeans. Look at them now! The biomass is at an all time low, some say 10% of what it was 30 years ago. Todays fishermen do not know this as they are not of that era. This is very important!

So the EU is an incompetent fisheries manager, no argument there from me.You just need to see what we did to the Grand banks and then the Greenland halibut.

However could we be any better? I say yes, simply because the fisheries industry is a core industry for Scotland (certainly not for Westminister) and therfore the passion is local and should be administered as such.
Loadsa luck, pal 1:26pm on 06 Aug 2008 Local Taxes? Who needs them?

Does anyone actually know what we actually pay the local councils for? I mean really know?

It seems to me that the london government demands ever increasing "services" to be provided but no one has got a grip on the reality of the cost of provision. Politically, I suspect they do; hoisting these onto the local councils allows them to increase the tax burden indirectly with out any direct repercussions. Nice trick Gordon! I see your doing it with the NHS dentists too! Money we pay in NI to you to provide this service now costs me a pretty penny to receive them. No chance to offset this cost against revenues received from us all, is there Gordon!

Strip down the local councils to the size of a board of directors and use private contractors to provide the services. Not a new idea but let me talk this one through. Firstly I am sure we are all agreed that local councillors are a bit lacking in the old skill of arithmetic (see Aberdeen for a prime example). Contractors have to budget their services as is the norm or they would go bust.
This relieves the current crop of poor councillors of this mammoth task. In addition all future councillors should be "Trained" in the job that they aspire to. Not a bad idea if I say so myself! I need to be trained and educated and to gather relevant experience in order to hold down my current job and be ready for promotion when it inevitably comes around.

What is wrong with expecting the same of our councillors?

Only then should we have a truely local tax, until then I would be more inclined for a centrally set tax levy for local services. I suggest a consumption or local sales tax. Bit like Canada in fact!
Out of the loop - into the noose 12:43pm on 04 Aug 2008 Brian,

Nice blog! I cannot help but think Tom McCabe needs a little more indepth thinking. To have a Scottish dimention to the Labour party is a reasonable aspiration, however the UK party structure needs reform for this to come about. It is a bit like the chicken and egg syndrome, for Westminister would need to be restructured and brought into the 21st century as well, which one gets done first?

I am a supporter of the SNP and have no fear of Independence, however I suspect that many supporters of Independence would like to salvage something from the Union if at all possible. The current crop of Unionists will I fear enable the Independence of my country. By sticking with a 300 year old union as if it was given by God himself makes it inevitable. Could we, the Scottish people, review the Union? Enact changes to it? After all it has only taken ten years for Labour to initiate a review the devolution settlement, but they have never thought it prudent to put the spotlight on the Union, Why?

Let me hazard a guess, Socialism in all its forms has a core element of dictatorship.

Labour are therefore happy with the present setup as it enables a political dictatorship of the smaller "partner" in the Union. Nothing more, nothing less. Any challenge to the status quo is therefor an anathma and the person promulgating such a course of action is fair game. Tom, you had better watch for that political noose, your so called friends do not have the courage to move forward and allow the Scottish people a say on the Unions future. But they will make you a side show!

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