May the force be with you
So, Scotland shall have a national police force - after all - if the weekend papers are to be believed.
The Scottish government has decided in principle that a single national force - instead of the current 8 - is the best way forward and will make the best use of scarce resources.
Now this makes obvious sense to most people - except the voice of Scottish local government of course - COSLA.
COSLA has allegedly been campaigning hard on a platform of 'no change' - for reasons that hardly anyone understands or finds convincing - except the Liberal Democrats and maybe a few union diehards.
What the defenders of the status quo cannot explain is - how come the London Met provides a police service to 32 London boroughs and nearly 12 million people?
Yet - according to some - Scotland needs 8 police forces to serve just over 5 million citizens - with over half being covered by just one force - Strathclyde.
The Scottish government says a single national polioce force will cost around £207 million to deliver over five years - but will save £390m over the same period - and £1.9bn over 15 years.
The 'no change' brigade say that a national force will cost rather than save public money - which sounds a bit bonkers - and the the present system is more accountable and democratic.
But as someone who lives in Glasgow and is covered presently by the giant Strathclyde Police Force - along with 2.5 million others - I can't honestly say that the 'no change' arguments make much sense.
And if small is so beautiful - why did we scrap the three old water authorities (North, East and West) 10 years ago - and create a new single service provider in Scottish Water?
To my mind accountability to local people can take many forms - and the present system which involves local councillors sitting on unelected joint (police) boards - is not the only way of skinning this particular cat.
The Scottish government has decided in principle that a single national force - instead of the current 8 - is the best way forward and will make the best use of scarce resources.
Now this makes obvious sense to most people - except the voice of Scottish local government of course - COSLA.
COSLA has allegedly been campaigning hard on a platform of 'no change' - for reasons that hardly anyone understands or finds convincing - except the Liberal Democrats and maybe a few union diehards.
What the defenders of the status quo cannot explain is - how come the London Met provides a police service to 32 London boroughs and nearly 12 million people?
Yet - according to some - Scotland needs 8 police forces to serve just over 5 million citizens - with over half being covered by just one force - Strathclyde.
The Scottish government says a single national polioce force will cost around £207 million to deliver over five years - but will save £390m over the same period - and £1.9bn over 15 years.
The 'no change' brigade say that a national force will cost rather than save public money - which sounds a bit bonkers - and the the present system is more accountable and democratic.
But as someone who lives in Glasgow and is covered presently by the giant Strathclyde Police Force - along with 2.5 million others - I can't honestly say that the 'no change' arguments make much sense.
And if small is so beautiful - why did we scrap the three old water authorities (North, East and West) 10 years ago - and create a new single service provider in Scottish Water?
To my mind accountability to local people can take many forms - and the present system which involves local councillors sitting on unelected joint (police) boards - is not the only way of skinning this particular cat.
