Politics

The Cost of MPs

 Steven Kellow    Politics

There has been widespread consternation at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s move to increase MPs salary 11% up to £74,000 for the next Parliamentary election.  I don’t think many people could justify such a massive pay rise in the current economic climate – especially in a week where our Chancellor is introducing billions of pounds worth of public service cuts and planning to raise the pension age earlier than previously planned. It’s always going to be a thorny issue; how much we pay the Members — Read more →

The Blueprint for Independence

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

Yesterday was another important milestone in the independence referendum campaign, as the Scottish Government launched their long-awaited white paper. Entitled “Scotland’s future: Your guide to an independent Scotland”; it sets out the SNP Government’s vision for the aftermath of a Yes vote in next year’s referendum.  If Scotland chooses independence next September, these are the terms that the current administration will be working towards achieving.  This is the both the SNP’s manifesto for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and the blueprint for Scottish independence. Some — Read more →

Auld-Fashioned Approach to Housing?

 Steven Kellow    Politics

On Monday morning a copy of Old Aberdeen Community Council’s November Issue of Auld Toon News dropped through the letterbox, the first time I recall seeing the magazine in my two months living in my Old Aberdeen flat.  This part of town is dominated by students, with 15,000 of us attending the University of Aberdeen.  So I was very surprised to see two out of eight pages of the Auld Toon News seeming to declare the growth in the number of students’, and the subsequent growth in the number of HMO (House — Read more →

The Independence Referendum: The Final Stretch

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

It’s not long now until the campaigning around the Scottish independence referendum kicks into high gear ahead of the vote next year on the 18th of September.  With the SNP conference underway in Perth, I thought I’d detail the the independence debate as it stands at the moment, and where I stand on certain key issues. Never before in my lifetime have I seen campaigning of any political nature such a long way before the polls, apart from US Presidential Elections. This is, undoubtedly, the — Read more →

Is the state entering a period of decline?

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

Download PDF The state, as a political entity, has existed since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, where European powers first agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty and that each state had the ultimate authority of their own given territory.  This entity is the building block of international relations, and the state is still the most important authority to consider when discussing the discipline.  In the last few centuries, and particularly in the last hundred years, globalisation has meant that the concept of supranationalism has — Read more →

Older Posts
Newer Posts