I didn’t know much about Macedonia. And I must admit I’d never heard of Ikechi Anya. But this week they have saved Scotland from the depths of despair. It was wonderful to watch this unlikely Glaswegian score his first international goal for Scotland against the mighty Macedonians on Tuesday evening.
It means that Scotland is no longer bottom of her group in the World Cup qualifying round. We are merely second bottom and 63rd in the world. But after our defeats by Belgium and England it has restored our spirits and given hope for better days ahead. Mind you, our 2:1 victory only came in the last minute with a Shaun Maloney miracle goal from a chance free-kick.
I have since found out that Macedonia is a small country tucked away in the hills between Greece and Albania. It’s one of Alex Salmond’s newly independent countries with hopes of joining the EU and lifting itself out of poverty.
John Swinney
Finance Secretary
This week’s Scottish budget from the SNP government – totalling £35 billion – was at first billed as “the independence budget” but that was mysteriously toned down to be simply the best that could be done in the circumstances. “As a result of Westminster decisions, I must present a budget constrained by significant cuts,” the finance secretary John Swinney told parliament.
So there’s a cut of £109m in real terms to the local authority budget. Colleges are to suffer further cuts. Public sector pay is to be held down to a 1 per cent increase – except for the lowest paid.
However, council tax is to remain frozen. University tuition fees and medical prescriptions are to remain abolished. Bus travel is to remain free for the over-60s. There’s some more money for housing and a £30m sports academy for Heriot Watt University. And, in defiance of the Westminster government, £20m is to be made available to local councils to mitigate the effects of the spare room charge or “bedroom tax.”
It’s all to be paid for by shaving £145m off the cost of the new Forth bridge and by an extra business tax on supermarkets. The opposition parties said it was indeed “an independence budget” crafted entirely around next year’s referendum and blaming Westminster for all the cuts. They said too that it would do little to stimulate the economy which this week suffered another disappointment with unemployment going up again to 7.4 per cent.
But whatever the opposition parties say, the budget will be agreed by parliament early in the New Year, thanks to the SNP majority. That majority will also see the referendum bill finally approved – it went through its first stage this week.
Edinburgh University
Back in the World’s Top Twenty
MSPs also found time to make a new rule that any of their number who land themselves in jail will automatically lose 90 per cent of their pay. The case in point here is Bill Walker who finally, last Saturday, resigned as MSP for Dunfermline after being convicted of 23 counts of assault on his three former wives and his step daughter. A by-election will be held in this marginal seat on 24th October and already there have been calls for all the main parties to chose women candidates.
As the students return to their studies this week, Edinburgh University is celebrating its highest ever rating in the QS league table of the world’s best universities. It’s ranked at 17th, not least because it has increased its research grant total to £300m this year. Glasgow University comes in at 51st and St Andrew’s at 83rd.
I wonder if any of them have done research into the best length for a Highland Games caber. The organisers of the Pitlochry Games are struggling to find the right challenge for their strong men. The 17ft pole they’ve been using so far is apparently too easy to toss – with most competitors managing to turn it over with monotonous regularity. They’ve now invested in a new caber, a foot longer and a little thicker. It won’t be long before someone calls for a European directive on caber size or else we are in for years of litigation in the international court of human rights.