John Swinney still has a lot to do in addressing under-performing public services

Daily Record

07-05-2025

John Swinney can congratulate himself on steadying the SNP but his record in Government is nothing to crow about.
The First Minister, who has been in the top job for a little over a year, still has a lot of work to do on our under-performing public services.
In yesterday's Programme for Government Mr Swinney outlined what he hopes to do in the coming 12 months leading up to the next Holyrood election.
And he has put the NHS at the heart of his plans. He is right to do so as the Health Service is on its knees.
Patients navigating the world of GPs and hospital appointments can expect delays and frustration at every turn.
And people are waiting too long for operations - sometimes even cancer treatment.
Other public services are also in crisis. The cost of public transport continues to rise, if you live in a part of the country where services are actually semi-reliable.
Drivers face bumping along potholed-filled roads while pedestrians trip over cracks in the pavements.
The SNP Government can point to years of Tory-imposed austerity at Westminster for making life a lot harder.
But there is now an entire generation of young Scots who cannot remember a time when the Nationalists weren't in charge at Holyrood.
The party has had more than enough time to implement the kind of large-scale reforms required to improve public services in the long-term.
But, as the long abandoned plans to scrap the outdated council tax system proves, the SNP often ducks difficult decisions.
Swinney is fortunate in his political opponents - for now, at least - and he remains on course to win next year's Holyrood election.
But he needs to know complacency isn't an option for the Scottish Government. A year out from the Holyrood election, it should be rolling up its sleeves, not standing back waiting for polling day.
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Trump tariff folly
Donald Trump's scattergun approach to running the world's most powerful nation continues to spread chaos.
This time he's taken aim at the movies in his apparent efforts to destroy anything good in the world.
His threat to place a 100pc tariff on any non-US made films is intended to appeal to his MAGA voters. But this knuckle-headed plan will provide little benefit to the US film industry.
It will, however, deliver a death blow to film-makers around the globe - who could struggle to get finance for films if they can't be economically screened in the US.
Scots star Brian Cox, never one to mince words, has described the move as an 'absolute disaster'.
While film and TV experts say it could deliver a 'knockout blow' to Scotland's growing film industry.
But what might swing US voters against the plan is the huge restriction it will place on what they can see.
UK-produced hits like Trainspotting, Four Weddings and a Funeral and even Paddington might never had made the silver screen if these tariffs had been in place.
Lets hope Trump brings the curtain down soon on this stupid plan.