I know Alex Salmond was in the news for some other reasons last week, but he also spent some time interviewing me. This was the programme that resulted, on the economy and Scottish independence:
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I watched the programme and enjoyed it very much. We could do with a lot more programmes like this. As you mentioned Alex’s other appearance I have attached the video of his evidence. You will need to set aside around 6 hrs to watch it but I would suggest your understanding of Scottish politics will benefit from the experience.
https://scotlandspeaks.com/salmondspeaks-live-at-the-holyrood-enquiry
I haven’t got six hours
Excellent, very enjoyable thanks Richard & you addressed a few issues there that are usually barely touched upon. Your usual clear and concise delivery too, of course!
Thanks
That is a very concentrated exposition of many issues, fluently put. I hope there are many who beat their path to your door for further elucidation based on it.
It’s also very good to see the rapport you have with Alex and smile’s from both of you.
I am heartened by that episode, thanks.
Thanks
As a small aside although Prof Richard Werner did indeed coin the phrase Quantitative Easing, what he proposed was actually entirely different to what the Japanese did and also what the rest of the world enacted later.
What he proposed was that the govt should borrow from the banks directly ,this would give secure assets to the banks in return for reserves, with which they would then lend into the economy. Werner protests that what has transpired as QE we now know was “not what his policy was about”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24614016
I do like a lot of what Werner says about banking, but this is not a solution for the UK unless we actually get to break up our own High St banks. What Werner wants is lots of smaller banks or public owned/regional run banks that lend locally, very much like his own homeland of Germany’s Sparkessen banking system. In the UK the top 5 banks own over 80 % of deposits and have become far too big to regulate and supervise effectively. This does not happen in Germany, which also largely avoided a domestic banking crash in 2008.
https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/sparkassen-savings-banks-germany/
On the Scotland in the EFTA/EU point. I believe an independent Scotland would have to join EFTA as this would give it access to the Single Market it has lost as a result of Brexit. The EFTA solution was originally designed as a stepping stone into full EU membership. But it has actually evolved into a permanent parking space for the few EFTA member nations who do not want to be full part of the EU or Euro but still crucially get access to the Single Market. It does actually have some influence on EU rules having pre consultations with Brussels on EU laws and having its own dispute mechanism and own EFTA court to resolve disputes with the EU. This court has real powers. Iceland for example won the right to impose capital controls on other EU depositors after its 2009 banking crash, against the EU’s own rules.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2013/0128/364945-iceland-bank-court/
This of course would result in a hard border with England and possibly NI. But it would open a bigger border with the EU. In the event of a EU-UK FTA this would eventually become less of a problem. But that might take another 15 years or so ,which is the normal FTA timescale.
Thanks