Gordon Brown had a good idea. But it won't fix the problem he created
GORDON Brown has given Rachel Reeves a sensible suggestion: increase taxes on the mighty gambling industry.
Brown supports the proposal from the Institute for Public Policy Research, which would help to plug the two-child benefit cap and alleviate the appalling levels of child poverty we face.
The former Labour leader thinks they should stand up to this industry, really show them who's boss, all in the name of doing some good for society.
In a sense, he isn't wrong. The gambling industry isn't taxed enough. It also isn't fined as much as it should be – and it's woefully under-regulated.
If we were being truly radical, we could follow the lead of some Scandinavian countries and nationalise all gambling, which would allow us to plough profits directly into doing good. That would also create benefits beyond monetary gain, such as a system capable of tracking and intervening in cases of gambling addiction.
READ MORE: Is Gordon Brown right that Scottish child poverty 'worse every day'?
However, such a move would require being unfazed by the gambling lobby – something Brown would know little about.
While he comments on the meagre taxation the gambling industry faces and the good that revenue could achieve, Brown fails to mention the deregulation his government oversaw, the harm it caused, and the fact that in many cases it will have contributed to child poverty.
He ignores the stark inequality between children growing up in deprivation and the gambling companies and executives who have grown their fortunes exponentially since he gave them a mighty boost.
As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Brown presided over a shake-up of the gambling industry like never before. Tony Blair claimed there was 'no evidence' the changes would lead to gambling addiction (another example of Blair getting his evidence wrong) and even used Blackpool as an example of a place that could benefit from regeneration. Because nothing says 'revitalisation' quite like more gambling.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown pictured together during the New Labour yearsWhat followed was an explosion of betting shops and casinos across the country, alongside aggressive television advertising pumped directly into people's living rooms. But perhaps the most significant escalation came with the arrival of smartphones in our pockets: the online gambling boom.
Since the liberalisation of gambling laws, the UK gambling market has become one of the largest in the world relative to its population. Thank you, Tony and Gordon.
Almost half the UK population places at least one bet a month. Despite Blair's flippant assurance that this relaxation of gambling laws wouldn't cause addiction, he was dead wrong.
I saw a betting advert the other month. I don't know if you're like me, but when it comes to this kind of thing on TV, I usually switch off, make a cup of tea, and ignore it. But my god, this one caught my attention, for all the wrong reasons.
It showed people in different situations doing mundane tasks: one waiting for a bus, another building flat-pack furniture. The entire message was: in those moments, why not place a bet? Does that not feed directly into addiction?
They were effectively saying: 'This isn't really about enjoyment – just do it out of boredom or habit.'
READ MORE: Labour took more than £1m in donations and gifts from gambling firms
Apparently that was fine, because our gambling regulations are not fit for purpose.
One of the most recent large-scale studies estimates that 2.5% of the UK population has some form of gambling problem, and the NHS has seen a rise in those seeking help. Gambling ruins lives; people lose their homes, their jobs, their families, and in some cases their lives.
Betting companies are sometimes called out on this. Either they get a slap on the wrist or endure a short bout of bad publicity – but they don't care.
Paddy Power, a company worth tens of billions, was fined a mere £280,000 for failing to carry out sufficient checks on problem gamblers. They even actively encouraged one addicted customer to stay longer and spend more on their premises. A decision that cost the individual their jobs, access to their children, and their home.
There are countless horror stories of gambling companies employing the most exploitative strategies imaginable to extract as much money as possible from vulnerable gamblers.
This is the direct result of commercial lobbyists shaping government policy, rather than the other way around. They feebly present 'investment' as an excuse, when in reality industries like these extract wealth, they don't create it. That's why there are four entries on the top 100 UK Rich List linked to gambling, with a combined fortune of £23.1 billion.
Brown certainly has a point when it comes to taxing gambling more heavily, but the monster that is the UK gambling industry is partly his creation.
The harm it has caused for decades lies at the door of his former government, and the betting companies are still reaping the rewards of the legislation he helped to pass.
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STV News
2 hours ago
- STV News
Nicola Sturgeon tells all about famous names in British politics
Nicola Sturgeon has told all about her experiences with some of the most famous names in British politics in her new memoir, Frankly. Sturgeon was Scotland's longest-serving first minister, having spent more than eight years in the role until she stepped down in 2023. She crossed paths with five UK Prime Ministers during her time in office, led the SNP to victory in eight elections, and led the country through the global Covid-19 pandemic. She has been an MSP since the formation of Scottish Parliament in 1999, but in March she announced she would step back from frontline politics at the 2026 election. In her new memoir, Frankly, which was released on Thursday, Sturgeon tells all about the famous people she's interacted with over the years. Here's what she had to say. Sturgeon spoke very highly about the late Queen Elizabeth II, despite calling herself a republican 'at heart and by instinct'. She said the Queen was an 'extraordinary and incredible' woman who 'loved a bit of gossip', and 'always wanted to hear the stories behind the political headlines'. 'I imagine that every leader who interacted privately with the Queen came to believe that their relationship with her was special. That was one of her qualities,' Sturgeon wrote. Sturgeon met with the Queen biannually, and said she was 'always relaxed and chatty'. 'Conversation would range far and wide. She was incredibly well informed about everything, from the very local to the truly global. Chatting to her was like being given a private window onto all the big events and key personalities of twentieth century history. It was remarkable.' During a meeting at Balmoral Castle, Sturgeon said the Queen also immediately asked for gossip about the Alex Salmond sex allegations weeks after the misconduct claims emerged. 'She wasn't being trivial in any way, but it was clear that she wanted to know more of what was going on,' Sturgeon said. She added: 'There was a mystique around her that no other member of the royal family comes close to having.' Sturgeon said almost all of her interactions with members of the Royal Family had been positive, except for one. Sturgeon said she 'had cause to feel slightly aggrieved' towards Prince William back in 2021. The former first minister said she attended a private meeting with Prince William in 2021, which she described as 'cordial', but emphasised that the pair did not discuss Scottish independence or politics. Sturgeon discovered a few days later that the Prince later held an unpublicised meeting with Gordon Brown. She said the nature of the meeting, in the wake of the former prime minister setting up an 'anti-independence think tank' had 'inevitably raised questions'. She called the explanation from Prince William's office 'disingenuous'. The Prince explained that he had wanted to talk to politicians from across the political spectrum, but Sturgeon said it 'wasn't right' to suggest his discussion with her had provided any balance since they had not discussed politics at all. Sturgeon spoke highly of the famous 007 actor in her memoir, and recounted meeting him amid her bid for SNP leadership in 2014. The former first minister said Sir Sean, who was a long time supporter of the SNP and Scottish independence, 'had charisma in spades'. 'He was physically imposing and even at 74 as he was then, he was strikingly attractive,' Sturgeon said. 'The famous voice with its highly distinctive timbre sounded exactly the same in person as it did on the screen.' In a strange twist, Sir Sean offered Sturgeon tips on sounding more 'authoritative' while speaking. 'Suddenly there I was under the instruction of 007 himself pacing up and down the library of the new club with a folded piece of paper between my teeth, repeating sentences chosen, it seemed for their particular combination of syllables consonants and vowels,' she wrote. 'My lesson in voice projection from Sir Sean Connery and the laughter we shared in the process is an experience I won't forget,' she wrote. She later recalled answering a call from an unknown number after her first outing at First Minister's Questions. 'I immediately thought I was being pranked by someone doing a Sean Connery impression. I wasn't. It was the man himself, still in Edinburgh, saying that he had just watched me on TV and thought the tone and depth of my voice had been perfect. I took that as a win,' she wrote. The Harry Potter author has repeatedly criticised Sturgeon for the SNP government's controversial gender recognition reforms, and Sturgeon wrote that one of Rowling's stunts 'wounded [her] deeply'. In 2022, Rowling shared a photograph of herself wearing a T-shirt calling Sturgeon a 'destroyer of women's rights'. Sturgeon said it was 'entirely legitimate' for people to argue against the gender reform proposals, but said the tactics deployed by some 'suggested that there was another agenda at work'. 'There are many examples I could cite, but the one that attracted the most attention, not surprisingly, was JK Rowling's donning of a T-shirt bearing the slogan: 'Sturgeon, destroyer of women's rights',' she wrote. 'I obviously don't know what her intentions were, but it seems blindingly obvious that a stunt like that was never going to elevate the debate or illuminate the issues at the heart of it.' 'It certainly marked the point at which rational debate became impossible and any hope of finding common ground disappeared.' She added: 'There are few issues I care more about than protecting and advancing women's rights, so to hear myself described as a destroyer of them wounds me deeply.' Sturgeon said David Cameron was 'by some margin the Prime Minister [she] found easiest to deal with'. The former first minister said he 'always appeared to bear the burdens of office quite lightly', but that her relationship with him was 'cordial and constructive'. 'David Cameron was the first of five prime ministers I interacted with during my time in office,' Sturgeon wrote. 'In terms of background and political outlook, he and I had little in common. 'However, by some margin, he was the prime minister I found easiest to deal with. He had an effortless charm, burnished at Eton no doubt, and despite our differences, I liked him. She added: 'Indeed, given some of the characters who came after, I would later feel quite nostalgic about my interactions with Cameron.' Sturgeon said it was 'impossible' to build any genuine rapport with Theresa May. Sturgeon recalled an 'awkward' meeting with the former prime minister where she made a point of admiring the stylish shoes May was wearing. 'Instead of the few moments of ice breaking chat about shoes I had hoped for, a look of horror crossed her face,' Sturgeon wrote. 'For what seemed like an eternity, she said absolutely nothing, staring down at the folder on her lap as if looking for the appropriate 'line to take'.' Sturgeon said the ordeal was 'so awkward' that she vowed never to repeat the exercise. The former first minister said she met May on several other occasions and had 'countless' phone calls, but said the 'these conversations were for [May], no more than a tick box exercise'. 'It was all so frustrating. I felt that instinctively we should have been able to forge a closer relationship,' Sturgeon said. Sturgeon said May lost her sympathy when she went 'too far' in trying to appease the 'treacherous charlatans in her own ranks'. Sturgeon called former prime minister Boris Johnson 'an embarrassment' in her book. She recalled meeting Johnson, who was still the mayor of London, for the first time when he asked her what would it take to 'buy you lot in the SNP off? Would full fiscal autonomy shut you up?'' 'I replied that on the right terms, full fiscal autonomy would certainly be welcome, a step in the right direction, but that it wouldn't 'buy us off' because we believed in independence,' Sturgeon wrote. 'I could sense him struggling to process this strange notion of politicians who actually believed in something!' In the midst of the Covid-19 global pandemic, Sturgeon said Johnson was an 'embarrassment' that seemed 'disengaged and disinterested'. Sturgeon said the former prime minister 'parachuted in for an hour or so in the middle of the second week and was not seen again'. 'It was an abdication of responsibility,' she wrote. 'Whenever he did grace us with his presence, I would be taken aback all over again by how unserious he was.' Sturgeon did not have much time to interact with Rishi Sunak as prime minister, but said she was 'shocked' by how out of touch he was. 'The main opportunity I had to get to know him was at a private dinner he and I had in Inverness in January 2023,' Sturgeon wrote. 'I was shocked by how removed he seemed from the concerns and preoccupations of ordinary people on issues like the cost of living crisis.' Sturgeon had little say about Liz Truss' 'short and ill-fated premiership'. The only interaction she had with Truss was during King Charles' accession ceremony. 'Our communication amounted to barely more than a hello, but it was enough to convince me that building rapport between us would have been an uphill task. Thankfully it was never required,' Sturgeon said. Sturgeon said Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage was 'odious' and 'very insecure'. Ahead of a televised election debate in 2015, Sturgeon said Farage told someone 'quite loudly' about how much alcohol he had consumed. 'I have met him in the flesh only a handful of times and while I found him ever bit as obvious in person as he appeared on TV, it also seemed to me that underneath the bombast is a brittle, fragile ego,' she wrote. 'He seems very insecure, especially around women.' Sturgeon said she never warmed to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn despite meeting him a few times. 'He exuded the same aura of aloofness and sneering superiority that I have detected in many men on the far left over the years, particularly around women,' she wrote. Nicola Sturgeon said a ten-minute phone call with Donald Trump 'must rank amongst the most absurd' moments of her entire time as first minister. She said the phone call, which took place between Trump's election in 2016 and his inauguration in January 2017, was one of two interactions she had with the US President 'The ten minutes or so that followed must rank amongst the most absurd of my entire time in office,' Sturgeon wrote. The US President invited her to the White House and railed against Scotland's 'obsession' with wind power, the former first minister said. Sturgeon described Donald Trump's defeated political rival, Hillary Clinton, as 'someone [she] had looked up to for a long time'. Sturgeon added she was 'sorry' Clinton wasn't elected as the first female US president. 'When the US finally does elect its first female president – which at the time of writing feels further away than ever – she will owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Hillary Clinton. I am just sorry it couldn't have been her,' Sturgeon wrote. Sturgeon's former friend and mentor turned political rival, Alex Salmond, features heavily in her memoir, and there's a whole chapter dedicated to their complex relationship. Sturgeon insisted she was not the one who had leaked the outcome of the Scottish government investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Salmond to the press. She claimed Salmond, or someone close to him, may have leaked the details himself. Sturgeon also accused Salmond of attempting to 'cast himself as the victim' and being 'prepared to traumatise, time and again, the women at the centre of it all'. She added that Salmond would rather have seen the SNP 'destroyed' than have it succeed without him. 'I was clearly public enemy number one. For a while, I told myself that the bonds between us would be stronger than his thirst for revenge,' she wrote. 'Eventually, though, I had to face the fact that he was determined to destroy me. 'I was now engaged in mortal political combat with someone I knew to be both ruthless and highly effective. 'It was a difficult reality to reconcile myself to. So too was losing him as a friend. I went through what I can only describe as a grieving process. 'For a time after we stopped speaking, I would have conversations with him in my head about politics and the issues of the day. 'I had occasional, but always vivid, dreams in which we were still on good terms. I would wake up from these feeling utterly bereft.' Sturgeon also claims in her book that Salmond had admitted to her that the 'substance' of one of the sexual harassment complaints had been true. The former Alba Party leader was acquitted of all charges relating to the allegations at court in 2020, while a judicial review found the Scottish Government's own investigation of him was tainted with apparent bias. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish Government urged to back RAAC homeowners' campaign
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Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
The first casualty of war is truth
Bruce Whitehead On Monday morning the news was sinking in of the killing of six journalists in Gaza as they reported on Israel's relentless war on a largely civilian territory occupied by starving families. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... I am sick of writing about atrocities in Gaza. In 2009 I drove there with humanitarian aid collected by Scottish Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith groups, after up to 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died when Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – recently invited onto British TV news programmes as a 'moderate' – breached a six-month ceasefire by ordering the killing of seven Hamas fighters. With a dozen vehicles we travelled through eastern Europe to deliver first aid, food, toys and healthcare supplies to areas of Gaza City flattened by Israeli bombs. As a journalist I witnessed the effects of bombardment on innocent civilians which killed an estimated 300 children. Crushed concrete buildings, donkey carts picking their way through mounds of rubble. 16 years on, western journalists are barred from Gaza, so it's impossible to verify Israel's claims about the conflict on the ground. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With the deaths of Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa and freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi – sheltering in a cloth tent near a hospital – Israel has almost snuffed out the last source of evidence of its genocidal campaign. The BBC still has its own freelancers sending footage of the slaughter of starving Palestinians in food queues, but surely they too are in mortal peril. I have called on my union, the National Union of Journalists, to demand that the Foreign Minister David Lammy summon the Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely for a formal British diplomatic protest. Many of my former BBC and ITN colleagues work for Al Jazeera, and this is the latest in a long and shameful tale of targeted Israeli raids on journalists. In May I paid tribute on behalf of the NUJ to all journalists killed at work, at Workers' Memorial Day in Princes Street Gardens. My words then are appropriate today: 'The deaths of journalists remind us yet again that the first casualty of war is Truth.'
