Scotland isn’t playing by austerity rules, and the London media aren’t happy

In an excellent article published today on Open Democracy political analyst Gerry Hassan looks at some of the prevailing prejudices towards Scottish politics that exist among the stalwarts of the London-centric media.

The Scottish Parliament elections are if not in full swing, then reaching a certain tempo. This week has seen the launch of the Tory, Lib Dem and Labour manifestos, next week the SNP, and even the notorious Londoncentric media and political classes have twigged that there something is going in Scotland which they don’t like or understand.

Andrew Neil is a talented broadcaster and ‘The Daily Politics’ and ‘This Week’ both good TV and must watches for the Westminster classes. However, Neil comes with significant baggage, and on many occasions, his right wing, populist views of the world slip through: the state is too big, regulation too over-bearing, the public sector needs culling, and free market buccaneers like himself need to be liberated.  (Read more…)