Claim and Counter Claim
The newspapers today are full of claims and counter claims - about the impact of the government's spending review.
Some papers claim that the middle classes will lose out as a result of spending cuts - others that the less well of will bear brunt, presumably due to the planned changes in the welfare budget.
The Herald, for example, says that Scottish spending will be reduced by about 10% in real terms - while the UK total is cut by about 11%.
While in the background, special interest groups - including the trade unions - claim doomsday has finally arrived - and that we're all going to hell in a handcart!
Well the reality is likely to be slightly different - even though the impact of spending cuts on a personal level is likely to be painful - for some at least.
Because the reality is that public spending in Scotland effectively doubled over ten years - from £15 billion to begin with to well over £30 billion now.
And during that decade - council budgets also doubled in size - so a cut of 10% or so - over four years - is hardly the end of civilisation.
What it does throw up is some awkward questions, for example:
"How come councils in Scotland received all this extra money and yet still failed to keep their promises to deliver equal pay?"
"How come the unions are all up in arms over 'cuts' - threatening strikes and 'street protests' even - when for years women council workers in Scotland were routinely earning £3.00 an hour less than their male colleagues?"
Life is full of unfairnesses - some big, some small - the key thing is to be consistent about challenging them - and not to turn a blind eye to those that are difficult or embarrassing.
Some papers claim that the middle classes will lose out as a result of spending cuts - others that the less well of will bear brunt, presumably due to the planned changes in the welfare budget.
The Herald, for example, says that Scottish spending will be reduced by about 10% in real terms - while the UK total is cut by about 11%.
While in the background, special interest groups - including the trade unions - claim doomsday has finally arrived - and that we're all going to hell in a handcart!
Well the reality is likely to be slightly different - even though the impact of spending cuts on a personal level is likely to be painful - for some at least.
Because the reality is that public spending in Scotland effectively doubled over ten years - from £15 billion to begin with to well over £30 billion now.
And during that decade - council budgets also doubled in size - so a cut of 10% or so - over four years - is hardly the end of civilisation.
What it does throw up is some awkward questions, for example:
"How come councils in Scotland received all this extra money and yet still failed to keep their promises to deliver equal pay?"
"How come the unions are all up in arms over 'cuts' - threatening strikes and 'street protests' even - when for years women council workers in Scotland were routinely earning £3.00 an hour less than their male colleagues?"
Life is full of unfairnesses - some big, some small - the key thing is to be consistent about challenging them - and not to turn a blind eye to those that are difficult or embarrassing.
