Mike Vickers' Blog

September 24, 2019

A Significant Victory for Democracy in the UK

I view this as a great victory of Parliament over the Executive.

‘Bring Back Control’ to Parliament, not to a cabal of Tory misfits.

Simon Jenkins in this afternoon’s Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/24/supreme-court-judgment-sounds-trumpet-failed-prime-minister.

He is somewhat sanguine in his final paragraph:

‘Whether that is sustainable in an era in which parliament and MPs are held in such low regard, in which the political parties are so fragmented and partisan, and in which the electoral system that creates the sovereign parliament is so slewed in its effects, has to be in doubt. The supreme court did not just sound the trumpet over a failed prime minister. It did the same over a failed constitutional order.’

I agree. Whether the UK will now embark on a written Constitution is still a matter of conjecture.
A trouble point remains; we still have the right wing media supported by capitalists on the make.

But I came to the Bill of Rights of 1688, late. I had misaligned it with the Glorious Revolution of 1689.
In the end the Bill of Rights was crucial to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
As an aside it was before the Act of Union of 1707.

August 14, 2019

The Westminster Government well passed it’s Sell By Date

Just read

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/14/uk-could-unilaterally-exit-eu-in-next-10-days-senior-tory-mp-says

And you will gather that the Westminster Government along wit is MPs and just wallowing in the mud.

It could be that there is no formal constitution so no firm ground or may be its just that the current crop of MPs are not just up to it.

Scotland needs to brake away so if MPs are considering unilateral leaving the EU, Scotland must consider unilaterally leaving the UK.

OK no Barnett Formula but even if formal agreement there is unlikely to be any equivalent.

Time for home brew Referendum and if Yes then Scotland should declare UDI.  Little Westminster could do – it hasn’t even the resources to send a gunboat up the Forth.

August 6, 2019

Ventilation and Sewage Problems at the new Sick Children’s Hospital Edinburgh – Codicil

Filed under: Politics, Scottish Government — derryvickers @ 9:21 pm

It now appears that Audit Scotland has been involved all along

https://www.scotsman.com/health/delayed-edinburgh-sick-kids-hospital-will-cost-an-extra-90-million-1-4978036

The findings reported do not change my overall view that the real problem lies with the design contractors and they must be called to account at least to ensure that they do not receive further NHS contracts.

As for Jeanne Freeman and the Scottish Government at large, they must be seriously crticised for not publicising previous Audit Scotland reports. But this looks to be typical of the SNP Government in working within a Cloud of secrecy.

August 5, 2019

Ventilation and Sewage Problems at the new Sick Children’s Hospital Edinburgh

Filed under: Politics, Scottish Government — derryvickers @ 9:07 pm

Much political angst is being written about design problems with the new / almost built new children’s’ hospital in Edinburgh and whether politicians are wholly to blame.

I accept that the buck on the Children’s Hospital stops in principle with Jeanne Freeman as it does with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow; nevertheless, the fundamental problems in both cases must rest with the architects and their design contractors for ventilation, air conditioning and sewage.

The problems at the Children’s Hospital are not new. I note back in august 2106

“The new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh was due to open in autumn 2017.

However, NHS Lothian now expects the date to be pushed back to spring 2018.

Dunne Group entered administration, followed by JB Brickwork going into provisional liquidation”.

If one wants an intermediary then we should be looking at the Scottish Government Officers responsible for drawing up Hospital Building contracts, how they specify them and monitoring these contracts once in place. In the case of the Royal Sick Children’s Hospital that work looks to have been subcontracted to a PFI: IHSL; a practice long since deprecated.

By al means call in Audit Scotland but please avoid making political capital out of the problems.

And let’s hope that there doesn’t have to be a demolition job. It will be remembered that the Holyrood Scottish Parliament was 4 times overbudget but is now a Scottish Show Piece.

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