PINSTRIPE
Despite what the Government tries to tell us Scotland's infrastructure is in a mess.
The main Glasgow to Edinburgh railway line was recently closed, again, because of a landslip - would a more comprehensive inspection and maintenance programme have prevented that? - very probably.
On many roads, even major ones, cats eyes are gone, white lines virtually invisible and crunching potholes now an everyday fact of life - it was not always like that.
Don't even get me started on the pathetic response to the endless closures because of rockfalls on the A83. What would the Swiss do? - put a roof over the road. What do we do? - resurface the old single-track road so that we can set up a convoy system when the main road is closed again.
Unfortunately, it is not just infrastructure which is in a sorry state but also the sort of operational public services which are part of the fabric of a decent society. Education and Health actually are - despite what the public thinks - pretty well funded. What about bin collections though? - what used to be once a week is now once a fortnight at best - the rats love it. What about policing? Has your village got a local bobby? - I doubt it. If you suffer a “routine” burglary do you actually expect police resources to be allocated to solve the case? - not any more.
There is a general problem with public services and infrastructure which - instead of bleating about Brexit or plotting the next destabilising referendum - the Scottish Government should address with vigour and make some hard decisions in order to solve real issues.
What should not be done is another raid on everybody's wallets through higher taxation - that cowardly road has proven again and again that in the long run all it does is reduce investment, innovation and economic growth.
Here's some ideas to make public spending go further.
First, end as many freebies as possible. Once you reach 60 you ride in a bus at taxpayers' expense - why? In Scotland people with Blue Badges park for free in public car parks - in England they generally get one hour extra free - the first is nice but is the second fairer? Is it really right that nobody pays for prescriptions ?
Second, tackle the public sector pay and pensions problem. Give all public servants across the board a 10% pay rise now - but in return they must cease accruing further rights under final salary pension schemes and move to money purchase schemes like the private sector.
Third, roll back the health and safety culture a notch - not to create a free-for-all but to remove the paralysing effect on common sense and activity which knowing any incident will be judged by someone with a PhD in hindsight causes . Find people guilty where they have been clearly reckless rather than when they failed to be an effective Nanny. I appreciate the Scottish Government does not have all the powers it needs to do this but it could point the way.
Fourth, review every form which any public servant has to fill in and get rid of it if you can. Wonder why it takes so long to see your doctor? - part of the reason is she's filling in forms. Why won't teachers run activities outside class anymore? - partly it is fear of liability and partly it is endless paperwork. If we accept that every now and again something will go wrong, then we would have a lot more time to do the right things.
I live in hope of action.
Pinstripe is a senior member of Scotland's financial services community.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here