On 01/04/2010 16:33, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Wed, 31 Mar 2010, Eric wrote:

Tom Anderson wr

Devolution seems completely daft to me. Make the right decision, and
make it once.

Assuming that the right decision is the same one no matter where you
are looking from. Not really a very sensible assumption.

The right decision might be "X in Scotland, Y in England and Wales, and
Q in Berwick". That decision could be made nationally; you don't need
devolution to do that.

No.

These are different counties, with differing demographics, legal
systems, education systems, religions and so on. Before devolution this
meant that there was no such thing as a genuinely UK decision anyway and
the Scottish dimension had to be considered.

The difference in devolution isn't that there are now seperate decisions
in Scotland, on most matters there always were even if they were just in
the hands of a civil servant in (New) St Andrew's House juggling the
Scottish health budget for example.

The difference is that these seperate decisions are now made within a
democratic infrastructure closer to and accountable to those in Scotland.

Or do you mean that in England, they might think "X all over the UK" was
best, and in Scotland, "Y all over the UK" was best? I'm not impressed
by that case - it doesn't matter what people think, it matters what's
best, so let's just do that.

Evidence based policy is a good idea, and is more likely in a devolved
setup where PR is mysteriously tolerated by the ruling minorities who
control Westminster.

Hmm, remind me to debate this with you over a beer.

Alex.


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