THE demise of the economic research body Fiscal Affairs Scotland, headed by former Auditor General Bob Black, along with John McLaren and Jo Armstrong, due to lack of financial support is a serious black mark against Scotland’s reputation for evidence-based research, possibly greater than the perceived threat to university independence through “governance” changes.

Scotland does not have sufficient monitoring of its practical economic performance, a matter too serious to be left to the high-theoretical burblings of university economics departments, which fixate on complex econometric exercises designed to find space in US academic journals, but are of no more relevance to economic policy than astrophysics.

As Black put it: “In a matter of months, Scotland will have 40 per cent of the taxes which are raised in the country, objective analysis and commentary on taxation, spending and productivity.” So who could rescue this excellent organisation, to the tune of an annual £250,000 in subsidy? Wanted: a rich company or individual who cares about the wealth of this nation.

FOLLOWING the success of the Asia Scotland Institute, watch out for the launch of the (unaffiliated) Asia Bridges, by Graham Lean who is planning to return to Edinburgh after decades spent in Thailand and Singapore. His vision is of an agency that “helps to demystify the East and gives practical advice on some of the pitfalls of doing business there ... It provides unfiltered expertise and advice based on more than 30 years of living and working in Asia on strategy, risk, dispute resolution, and personal and cultural issues”.