HOLYROOD INQUIRY
October 5, 2009
The inquiry into Scottish financial services at the Scottish Parliament continues, with the first celebrity of the process appearing last week in the person of Robert Peston (meaning no disrespect to Paul Chisnall of the BBA and Adrian Coles of the BSA, with whom I appeared before the Committee a couple of weeks ago, both of whom contributed powerfully to the Committee's deliberations). SFE's written submission to the Committee was bifurcated through the lens of Scottish politics. One journalist read it as somehow supporting the Union (that is, rejecting the idea of Scottish independence), while another read it as adopting precisely the opposite position (that is, favouring independence in some way). We guard our neutrality in matters of party politics closely, so this seems like a decent outcome - a score draw, I suppose. However, it does illustrate the way in which constitutional questions are brought to bear on all aspects of public debate in Scotland. There is a Manichean tendency to place everything in one of two boxes. It reminds me a little of Deng Xiaoping's famous comment, that it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, if it catches mice it is a good cat.
Owen
