Whether in recycling or energy policy, a deeper crisis in long-term thinking is apparent in Scotland. With the new Budget looming, MATT KERR wonders if we can move beyond shallow, headline-grabbing measures
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Governments' infantile responses to crisis are perturbing
The Covid-19 responses of Western governments have lacked focus or cohesion. That does not bode well for tackling climate change or the next pandemic, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
From mass protests to plummeting poll numbers on immigration and health policy, and from devastating cuts to Medicaid and Medicare to the anti-science upheaval at federal health agencies, the president’s agenda is radicalising voters against him, argues JOHN LISTER
Ahead of elections next year, Scottish Labour is seeking to jump-start its political fortunes – but without bringing wealth and wealth production under democratic control, the party’s future looks in doubt, says VINCE MILLS
In part IV of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY tells how austerity minister Francis Maude’s attempt to destroy the PCS Civil Service union totally backfired
Building is the solution for much of our housing crisis – and will also help to address poverty, ill health, and even anti-social behaviour and alienation, writes KENNY MacASKILL
MAT COWARD advocates cultivating blackberries, a growing in popularity crop for gardens and allotments
A YEARNING for instant gratification is usually associated with young children. They cannot think in the long term and have yet to develop impulse control. Postponement is unknown to them; they want to get everything as soon as possible.
We see the same tendency painfully at work in dealing with the Covid crisis in the West. Sanitary measures cannot be undone soon enough. Every now and then the end of the pandemic is announced. Last year premature easing in the fall and Christmas season inevitably led to new waves of contagion, resulting in tens of thousands of preventable deaths.
The explanation probably lies in the fact that our democracies are based on electoral success. A politician’s horizon does not extend beyond the next ballot, not a long-term goal.
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