I totally agree with the above assertion from Katherine Trebeck However, in addition to enlisting “both policy makers and delivery agents”, I suggest that there is a need for members of the general public, especially dependent service users, to also step up to the needs of recalibration and re-prioritising public service provision and delivery.

How ready, able and willing are such members of the public to accept, still less participate in, a letting-go or ending of some core, or nearly core services, so that resources can be redeployed to more long-term prevention and reconstruction expenditures?

On another, almost contrary, point: Katherin Trebeck rightly cites inequality as a core drive of poverty and other socio-economic ills. I found it notable that the Christie Report and the Scottish Government’s recent regeneration ’strategy’ paper, for example, have very little (if anything?) of significance to say about unequal distribution of power in public services and the need to redress this weakness. Such a redress would have to entail a handover (and not mere devolution) of power and assets to entities outwith “both policy makers and delivery agents”.

Information to be provided, options and timescales need to be agreed in a mature manner without kneejerk reactions and over the top posturing.

But I must say that the arguments raised in this post is compelling.

Richard Desmond is a businessman and naturally capital gain is paramount, by 20.34% going direct to Health Services is a BIG incentive. And the National Lottery under Camelot is in desperate need of competition.
So as far as this 78 year old bankrupt pensioner is concerned, ‘more power to youe elbow Desmond.

Euilleam.

Personally, I feel that a large section of our society is disempowered by socio-economic (and other) inequalities. When people have no agency to improve their own lot; when they can never aspire to have the things and standard of living that others enjoy; can never look forward to things getting better – then all it needs is a tipping point and for that few hours or days, the group of disparate people that we label ‘rioters’, enjoy the sheer power of mass action – whether they are at the centre or on the sidelines of the action.

That is not to excuse such behaviour, but to make the comment that until such time as ‘mainstream society’ relinquishes some power and encourages diverse players to be involved in the ‘big society’, we will continue with tensions between our ‘bigger society’ and those in the ‘other’, ’smaller society’. Surely we want to aim for a society that goes beyond being ‘big’ to being ‘complete’

To get to the real causes we need to understand why normally rational people should should behave offensively when they are at football matches. We need to explain why people in some communities happily support sharing of campuses by Faith schools and non-denominational ones while those in other towns oppose this. Those of us from different religious traditions need to look honestly at our own experience and how this has influenced our attitudes. Faith schools and faith-based voluntary organisations have a very worthwhile role to play in helping us understand sectarianism and challenging any prejudices that we may have.

Average life expectacy there is about the same as parts of the East end of Glasgow.

For some in Scotland being a benefit junkie is a lifestyle choice and for others it’s not.

Many don’t have the life skills to get out of the myre and some are happy to go with the herd.

Here we go again another thinly disguised arguement against Catholic education (even though Islam gets a mention too showing mock balance).

Your logic infers that religion highlights differences and prejudice, would it not then make sense to outlaw religion?

But I suppose it would be wasteful not to take advantage of the hype, pander to the hard thinking and batter around knocking over freedom of choice instead of inforcing existing laws!

That can’t be so difficult surely?

Maybe that’s too easy or maybe you would care to answer why that’s not happened & why police authorities are not under more scrutiny.

As we know faith schools are accepted worldwide but questioned in Scotland whereas enforcing laws on illegal racist & sectarian singing is too hot to handle here but stamped on elsewhere (it would and has been hammered in England)

For me the most telling part of Roseanna Cunningham’s shamblesgate was Mr Pious policeman who smugly claimed that ‘if one person was prevented from committing a crime, the act would be worthwhile’!

That’s like a bad scene in Minority Report & best described as bonkers!

The same organisation who have whistled whilst the law stays almost pristine in it’s box wants a another law toy (& budget that comes with it) to play with!

The real problem as we have seen this week are the politicians and policemen, perhaps there is a way of blaming their errs of faith based education. Or maybe religion has nothing to do with their simply not being up to the job .

Apologies for typo’s non sequitor’s typing on tiny phone screen, two visible lines at a time

Cliches like baby’s & bathwater don’t even smudge the surface on that line!

It is often said that public sector employees are not to blame for the current economic crisis – excepting of course those who work for the Treasury, and related quangos, who were supposed to safeguard our financial systems.

That said, I know how the sector I work in is being ravaged by cuts which in turn is forcing changes to terms and conditions so it’s hard to see how public sector unions will raise much public support for strikes over this matter.

The reality is that football is a sport, not the freedom to get away with racism, assault (Mr Rooney), air guns (Mr Cole)!?! etc etc

However as that’s not going to happen I find it ironic that Rangers sign a reknowed dirty player who has not turned over a new leaf and depsite 3 rangers players being red carded in last week’s game, all the coverage is of Neil lennon pointing a finger at Ali McCoist.

And as Kenneth Roy editor of the Scottish Review has said:
I think Mr Spiers has got to the heart of the matter. The media themselves have an intense vested interest in the extreme behaviour that they simultaneously deplore. Money talks no louder than it does in sport and no louder in sport than it does in football. The main effect of Wednesday’s eruption will not be to change Scotland for the better, but to make the television rights for Old Firm matches more desirable than ever.

As long as I remember its my choice, and in return, if I have a problem like my boiler breaking then I get flexiblity. I get frustrated working with jobsworth people who clock watch, take back every minute of toil and then spend ages on non work tasks while they are meant to be working and still want the flexibility if they have a problem without making the time back! Its difficult for managers when team members have such different attitudes to work.

It’s a complicated system, tinkered with for decades, difficult to follow. Replacing it with one benefit may sound a wonderful & brave solution but this would be disadvantageous to so many, plus lose nuances of tailored support eg

* the removal of mobility component for people in care is atrocious concept – the whole point of the old Mobility Allowance was to recognise that people with disabilities have to pay more (due to our macro-environment and gov£ priorities) – MobAll helped them retain their dignity by let them choose best solutions for their individual needs to participate in their life – yes, mobility component of DLA & ESA sounds okay, better targetted. How do the ConDems match this now to devolving decisions etc?
* JSA – it is demeaning that despite paying NI myself, I am still considered an adjunct to my partner and should expect support there. Seen this become less & less over the years from UB40 (I used to work in vol sector, so short contracts & lots of unemployment de rigeur). Didn’t encourage me to sign on and jump thru mad hoops.

Have you ever seen the quality of life on benefits? The long-term effects of low income? – poorer people die earlier.

But lets not go down the compensation path. And lets not relax the rules for jury duty either!

Why should the man lose his vote, and the woman keep hers?

Mirroring the comment put forward by Diane, I too would like to see better monitoring of such community sentences – a 40% non-completion rate of such sentences is unacceptable.

It also seems as though courts are often quicker to use prison sentences in the case of offenders from deprived backgrounds, when in other cases they would use fines and community service…

He seems to live in a simple world where everything is black and white. His politics are thirty years out of date. Socialism is not relevant today, as class consciousness and real alternatives to capitalism simply do not exist. Challenging today’s capitalist paradigm is more needed than ever, but the politics of Solidarity and the SSP do not have the answers to understand contemporary society and prove a rational and persuasive alternative.

So that’s what these guys convicted for murder did, yeah?

I keep forgetting I’m reading an SCVO bulletin, and think I’m reading the Daily Mail.

We all have a choice of what we eat, the population as a whole is getting bigger with unhealthy eating. You cannot compare the healthy eating of a school to a psychiatric hospital there is not really a like for like is there after all kids go home and start eating unhealthy

Note obviously we comment as individuals since we would need organisational approval to do otherwise hence I cannot say that I work for ASH Scotland ;¬)