Time to ‘talk up’ Brown’s u-turns?
Send your spring pictures to robert.fairnie@trinitymirror.com I’m not sure it was his intention, but I have to admit to being entertained by Keith Brown’s latest contribution to your newspaper (`Let’s Stop Talking Down Our Country’, Observer, April 5, 2017) in which he proudly boasts of “talking Scotland up.”
It’s a pity his actions don’t measure up to his rhetoric. In the last three weeks, Mr Brown has had to apologise to the country for the failed £10billion Chinese investment in Scotland. This was a deal he claimed at various points didn’t exist, wasn’t in fact a deal or fell apart due to opposition parties (despite the fact it didn’t exist.)
In the same week, he also had to apologise to Parliament for a second delay of the Queensferry Crossing, now pencilled in to be nine months late – and counting. One £10billion error might be unlucky and an incomplete bridge unfortunate, but it doesn’t end there. Mr Brown has finally, after much advice (from Opposition parties no less), made an embarrassing u-turn on the centralisation of Highlands & Islands Enterprise.
After announcing its effective closure, it is alleged Mr Brown admitted he didn’t understand the workings of the body and after subsequent clarification has decided to reverse his decision.
So, failed £10 billion investment, a heavily delayed bridge and a u-turn on a core part of his portfolio that he doesn’t understand. `Doing Scotland down’ seems to be a more appropriate description of Mr Brown’s workings and perhaps goes someway to explaining why on his watch, our Scottish economy is shrinking in contrast to the rest of the UK.
Mr Brown also alleged that “fake news” is a phenomenon initiated by non-independence supporting parties. One national newspaper recently ran a headline `One Simple Question for Keith Brown… Do You Think We’re Thick?’ This was in response to his efforts to smear the highly respected independent CEBR (Centre for Economics and Business Research) which produced critical economic figures.
After trying some desperate economic spin, Mr Brown eventually reverted to his more favoured tactic of attacking the messenger, rather than the message. I suggest that if Mr Brown wishes to improve Scotland’s lot, he and his government try dealing with the real matters of education, health, the economy and policing and show the people of Scotland a little respect. This would of course necessitate another almighty u-turn given that his government hasn’t passed a single piece of legislation in over a year, but would count far more than his childish, vacuous claim of “talking Scotland up”.
Liam Dickson, Port St, Stirling