Latest news with #EssaysinHonour
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Soggy dribbles in finance, films, and diplomacy
There's something oddly thrilling about playing football in the park when it's raining heavily. You know it's not the ideal setting as every pass splashes water, every dribble slows down as the ball skids unpredictably across the soggy grass. But somehow, the game goes on. Strategy shifts. You focus more. Every movement demands improvisation. The mess, the friction, and the lost grip, it all becomes part of the play. Today's writeups hint at something similar. Institutions, industries, and individuals navigating a slippery, waterlogged pitch — trying to dribble ahead, adjusting each move to the terrain beneath. Let's dive in. Take India's state finances. A Crisil report shows revenue bouncing back slightly, with GST and liquor excise pulling their weight, but petroleum taxes dragging like waterlogged boots. Despite the slip-and-slide, states have kept their fiscal balance mostly intact. Yet deeper puddles remain: heavy dependence on the Centre and a debt-to-GDP ratio still high, notes our first editorial. Reform now means finding better studs: tighter GST compliance, digital tax trails, and predictable federal transfers. The game is on, but the pitch is far from ideal. In cinema too, the ball's taking unexpected turns. Aamir Khan's move to YouTube's pay-per-view model isn't just disruptive, it's democratic, highlights our second editorial. It bypasses uneven theatre access and expensive OTT subscriptions, bringing big films to small screens at Rs 100 or less. But success here hinges on how well creators learn to play on mobile-first grounds, use AI dubbing, and price smartly. If they can adapt, this could be the rain-slick breakthrough the film industry didn't know it needed. Meanwhile, on the foreign policy field, R Jagannathan argues India must stop kicking the ball around passively. Modi's rapport with world leaders may look good in photo-ops, but it hasn't kept adversaries from pushing forward. As geopolitical puddles deepen (Ukraine, Gaza, China), India must build influence through strategy, not symbolism. Think of it as learning to pass not just wide, but wise. And in corporate India, the Tata Trusts have moved early to back N Chandrasekaran, like a captain handing the armband before kick-off, writes Nivedita Mookerji. This preemptive support is not just procedural, it's tactical, especially as Tata Sons faces decisions on shareholding exits and RBI-mandated listings. It's a slippery pitch, and Tata seems determined to control the midfield. Lastly, L aveesh Bhandari reviews A World in Flux: India's Economic Priorities. Essays in Honour of Shankar Acharya, a collection of essays honouring Dr Shankar Acharya, thinkers reflect on economic playbooks past and future. While celebrating Acharya's policy genius, the book, edited by Amita Batra and A K Bhattacharya, also challenges today's players to update their formations for a world where climate, inequality, and politics increasingly shape the economy.
.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26auto%3Dwebp%26quality%3D75%26trim%3D230%2C118%2C268%2C135%26crop%3D&w=3840&q=100)
Scotsman
30-07-2025
- Scotsman
Sandie Peggie NHS Fife case: How persecution of nurse reveals SNP as modern-day witch-burners
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, 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... While doing some research for the Scottish history podcast which I co-host, called A Thistle With Thorns, I read a newly published academic work on 17th-century Scotland. 'The Scottish State and the Experience of Government, c1560-1707, Essays in Honour of Julian Goodare' brings together a collection of contributed pieces looking at the development of Scotland's institutions of government in the early modern period. Several articles address the phenomenon of Scottish witch hunts in those times. We know that King James VI and I had something of an obsession with witches; an interest which was taken up with enthusiasm by the Kirk and the Scottish authorities. Innocent women (and the victims were usually women) were dragged to the courts for their supposed dealings with the devil, although in practice their lifestyles and beliefs might just have been out of step with societal norms of the time. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We might think these episodes of witch hunting simply reflect a superstitious backward period in our nation's history, but more recent events suggest the judgmental strain amongst Scottish authorities against lone women brave enough to challenge the orthodoxy still exists. I refer, of course, to the case of Sandie Peggie, the Fife nurse of more than 30 years unblemished service, who was suspended by her employers in NHS Fife because she had the temerity to object to sharing a changing room with a biologically male trans woman, Dr Beth Upton. Nurse Sandie Peggie, right, seen with her solicitor Margaret Gribbon has been cleared of wrongdoing by NHS Fife's own disciplinary process (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) | National World Duty of care I attended the employment tribunal in Dundee last week to better understand for myself the issues at stake. And what I heard that day, and what has been reported in the media, continues to astonish me. What has come out in evidence thus far indicates that, from the very start, those in positions of leadership within NHS Fife were never interested in acting in an even-handed manner in considering Peggie's complaints, but rather immediately took Upton's side. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There appears to have been no proper duty of care by NHS Fife towards their nurse employee, or any consideration of her rights in the matter. What's worse, attempts were then made to smear Peggie's character, by suggesting she was transphobic, homophobic, and even racist. The list of management failures exposed by the tribunal thus far grows ever longer. A lengthy media statement issued by NHS Fife had to be withdrawn and rewritten several times, after the first wording appeared to blame Peggie's legal team for offensive messages being received by NHS Fife's staff. Simply astonishing We then had an unprecedented intervention by Scotland's Information Commissioner, David Hamilton, in relation to the health board's failure to comply with a decision notice around responses to a Freedom of Information request. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In a statement, he complained about 'the petulant tone of NHS Fife's latest statement' and went on to warn that he might have to report them to the Court of Session for contempt of court. To have a public body threatened with criminal charges in this way by another public servant is simply astonishing. READ MORE: War over pronouns breaks out at Sandie Peggie v Dr Beth Upton trans changing room tribunal In the background of all this is the fundamental question of why NHS Fife did not comply with the law in providing single-sex accommodation for staff. The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in the For Women Scotland case made it clear what the law said, in case that had been in any doubt previously, but the health board continues to dig a hole for itself in the stance it is taking at the tribunal. And this is after Peggie was cleared of any wrongdoing in an internal disciplinary process. Supporters of nurse Sandie Peggie protest outside the employment tribunal hearings in Dundee (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) | Lisa Ferguson Health board bosses must go NHS Fife has admitted their legal costs have exceeded £220,000, and the final total is expected to be at least double that. Unlike Peggie, whose legal costs are being funded by supporters, every penny being paid by NHS Fife in defending this action comes from the pockets of you and me, the Scottish taxpayers. We are paying for the egregious mistakes being made. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The positions of NHS Fife chief executive Carol Potter and the health board members are now simply untenable. They have presided over a situation where large sums of public money have been wasted in the mistreatment of someone who should have been a valued member of staff. They failed to comply with the law and may even be guilty of contempt of court. They should go now. The other astonishing aspect of this has been the pitiful silence, from Neil Gray, as Health Secretary, and John Swinney as First Minister – the individuals ultimately responsible for the actions of Scotland's public bodies. If Potter and the Fife NHS Board do not go voluntarily, then Swinney needs to call them in and sack them. On the SNP's watch For too long, failures in Scottish public life have gone unpunished, and the Peggie case is such an extreme example that the Scottish public sector will become a laughingstock if these individuals remain in office. There is a broader issue here for the Scottish public sector, and that is the question of policy capture by extreme trans activists, which led to public bodies accepting gender self-identification in practice even though it had never been put into legislation. Whether it is in the police, the prison service, the NHS or in education, women and girls have had their spaces invaded by biological males whilst those who raised a complaint were bullied and victimised. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This has all happened on Swinney's watch. As Deputy First Minister to Nicola Sturgeon, he was more than happy to see these policies applied. Now, thankfully, this case has exposed the weakness of his position, and his inexcusable failure to put things right. Never mind the Scottish Government making apologies for the witches persecuted 400 years ago, it should be starting today by ensuring brave women like Sandie Peggie get the justice they deserve.
