Latest news with #ShonaCraven
The National
15-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The National
Is it right that spending quality time with family is now a privilege?
But for a lot of families, especially over the summer holidays, it can bring dread. I know many people who are really struggling right now because the costs of just getting through the day are so high. Summer holidays mean extra meals, outings, childcare, the clothes that don't fit any more – the swimming gear and shorts are too small and tight. Replacing it all adds up quickly. Even when you try to do things on the cheap, sun cream, snacks, shoes, ice creams, and bus fares all take planning and money. Some people have the flexibility to take time off in the summer. Others don't, especially single parents. If you can't find childcare, you can't work. If you don't work, the bills stack up. Even in homes where both adults are working, I know people who are on Universal Credit just to keep things going. That's the reality for many families now. Summer compounds the issue. READ MORE: Meet the Scot who who suggested schoolchildren be given free milk And it's not just about money. There's a lot of pressure on parents to make things 'fun' over the summer. To give their kids memories. But that can be hard when you're running on empty both financially and emotionally. I know what it's like to be in a busy household where you're juggling the washing, the cleaning, the feeding, the tidying. Especially if you have children with additional needs, it can feel like you never stop. But at some point, we need to stop. We need to have space to enjoy being with our children, not just managing them. Is it right that having fun, spending quality time with friends and family, is now a privilege? Summer should be about connection, not just routine. Families and friends need time together. Children need play and laughter, not just boundaries and structure. Parents need to be able to breathe. That's why I think it's important we talk about holidays – and I don't just mean fancy flights or theme parks. READ MORE: Shona Craven: I spent the weekend beach-cleaning and it really is a race against time I mean having time away from the everyday stress. Being able to slow down. To enjoy a picnic, or a walk, or a day at the beach without panicking about every pound spent. These things shouldn't be a luxury. They should be part of what we consider a good life. To be fair, the Scottish Government has brought in support that does help families, such as the Scottish Child Payment, the Best Start Grant, school clothing grants, and the Carer's Allowance Supplement. These don't solve everything but they're helping families stay afloat, and in some cases giving a bit of breathing room during tough times. It's a different approach and one that recognises that poverty isn't a personal failure but something we can tackle together through good policy and compassion. I'm glad to live in a country that is choosing to build something better. That sees social security as a safety net, not a punishment. That is willing to say that kids deserve a joyful summer. Parents deserve rest. And that wellbeing isn't soft, it's essential. All of this is part of a bigger picture. The idea that people's need for happiness and family life should come before short-term profits. That's what a wellbeing economy means to me. It doesn't mean we don't care about business, but we recognise that thriving people are the foundation of a thriving economy. Having something to look forward to, some time out, joy, a break from stress, matters more than we often admit. It's what keeps us going. I do think there's a wider conversation to be had, because even with all the good intentions and strong policies, Scotland is still operating with limited powers. We don't control the minimum wage. We don't set the rules for Universal Credit. We can't make sure that every family in Scotland gets the consistent support it needs throughout the year. So much of what we do is about mitigating the effects of decisions made elsewhere. But imagine if we didn't have to do so much patching up. Imagine if we could build the kind of country we know we're capable of without tied hands. That's what independence is really about for me. It's about having the tools to create a country where no child dreads the summer holidays. Where no parent has to choose between earning and caring. Where wellbeing isn't wishful thinking it's built into everything we do. So yes, the sun is shining and Scotland is looking glorious. But let's not forget the families behind closed doors who are just trying to make it to bedtime. Scotland is already showing what's possible when we put people first. With full powers over welfare, employment and tax, we could stop just softening the blows and start creating real, lasting change. We build a stronger nation by putting people first, starting now. Choosing a different path from Westminster and delivering it here in Scotland, valuing the whole person, not just statistics.
The National
27-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
It is not surprising that young men are choosing to carry weapons
It also betrays a rather signature MSP ignorance of day-to-day reality in impoverished, usually but not exclusively inner-city, communities in the context of threadbare social services and and several decades of alienation from more wealthy and more healthy citizens. The public service depletion that contributes per force to the endemic decision by so many good young people to 'bear arms' is the complete evisceration of community policing that followed the establishment of a unitary police force in this country. Do people in political and social bubbles realise that a parallel justice and 'policing' system has emerged in the de facto absence of an adequately state-funded presence in daily life in many areas? Do they understand that some young men protect themselves and their loved ones by the carrying of, for the most part, deterrent weaponry? READ MORE: Shona Craven: Young people have the right to feel disillusioned A rudimentary 'justice' system has arisen in many areas to deal with criminal and antisocial behaviour in courts of summary street justice, as the police and by extension the state is not protecting either life or property with a properly funded, engaged and embraced community police service. If Holyrood is to save, and at the same time improve, lives in all areas of Scottish life, from health to education and law and order ,it must commit, across political boundaries, to secede from a neoliberal Westminster colonial stranglehold and subscribe wholeheartedly to the commonweal principle that charity and justice begin at home. Angela Constance's colleagues must provide a credible vision of justice in all areas of Scottish life and do the job their Scottish electorate are paying them to do without excuses and/or equivocation: seek radical constitutional change as their pre-eminent priority, and in the meantime have more cops with moral authority. Knives are a symptom of wounded lives that need radical surgery not sticking plasters! Dr Andrew Docherty Selkirk IT is time the running sore of Brexit was given the chance to heal. The self-inflicted damage that Brexit has done economically has really only benefitted other countries. The reality of the close interactions between economies and the illusion that one country can stand alone has been exposed. Trump's misguided tariff war has shown clearly just how interdependent even the biggest economy in the world is. Brexit significantly weakened London as a financial centre. Before Brexit the London Stock Exchange was $1.5 TRILLION larger than Paris. Post-Brexit, the Paris region is emerging as the powerhouse of the EU with more than a hundred US-originated companies creating more than 4000 jobs. READ MORE: Experts debunk Nigel Farage claim that scrapping net zero would save £40bn a year The market speculator insiders benefited initially from the UK Brexit upheaval just as Trump's cronies did in the US tariff debacle. The scenario: create confusion, exploit the resulting stock exchange fall, walk away with a large profit and look for another opportunity. The fallout in damaged economies and poorer families is not their concern; their next big profit is. The illusion that Brexit benefitted ordinary people and not the rich speculators is dead. Even Farage has moved on, attempting to ride on Donald Trump's coattails. Is he too a would-be dictator? People within Reform already have their doubts. Andrew Milroy Trowbridge, Kent AS details of the UK-EU trade deal become clearer, the UK Government, even by its own admission, has highlighted that the economic gains resulting from it will be marginal. At a recent meeting of G7 finance ministers in Canada, Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed the deal would add nearly £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040 and boost trade with the EU as Britain's single biggest trading partner. The UK Government estimates that material changes in areas covered, such as fisheries, food and energy, will increase GDP by 0.2% by 2040. Contrasting with this, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that Brexit will reduce the UK's long-term GDP by approximately 4% compared to remaining in the EU. The deal shows the UK clearly moving towards a relationship with the EU that is the worst of both worlds: formally sovereign, yet locked in ongoing negotiations and deeply enmeshed in EU frameworks across the entire economy. Moreover, these conditions also mean the UK can't strike a trade deal with the US involving food and agriculture unless there is no trans-shipment of goods, or unless the EU signs a trade deal with the US that solves this issue. Trade deals with the likes of India, the US and the EU simply limit the immense economic damage of Brexit to the UK economy, rather than bringing any benefits. Alex Orr Edinburgh
