David Maddox: Lubrication and fetishes make the Holyrood world go round

It must be something about the Nationalists, because two MSP motions of late have added a little colour to the humdrum of Holyrood debate. Livingston MSP Angela Constance has declared an interest in lubricants, while her West of Scotland colleague Bill Wilson wants an end to fetishism.

But before the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" stuff goes further these motions are on the economy rather than any (ahem!) outside interests

Ms Constance's motion is actually congratulating a firm in her constituency called Specialist Lubricants which has carried out some pioneering work and developed eco-friendly packaging. It has just won a massive contract with Tetra Pak, so has not only helped to save the environment but made loads of money in the process, which goes to prove that capitalism and environmentalism are not mutually exclusive.

Mr Wilson meanwhile has latched on to an academic paper by economics professors Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, which calls for an end to GDP fetishism. It believes that measuring economic success through gross domestic product alone ignores work/ life balance and happiness.

This could be dismissed as leftwing nonsense, but, interestingly, this approach has been accepted by the right of centre French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It should be said though that Green MSP Patrick Harvie was there first and made a call for a national "happiness indicator" when he became his party's co-convener (joint leader in normal parlance).

Anyway here are the motions for your perusal:

Angela Constance (Livingston) (SNP): Congratulations to Livingston Firm Specialists Lubricants S3M-04825: That the Parliament commends Livingston-based Specialist Lubricants for its pioneering eco-friendly packaging solution that has led to a multi-million pound contract with the global packaging firm Tetra Pak; acknowledges the importance of its development of a more environmentally friendly solution to the traditional soap and water based lubricants systems; pays tribute to the pioneering development work that has resulted in a product that has been proven to save millions of gallons of water each year in bottling facilities worldwide, and wishes the company and its workforce well in future developments and expansion of its customer base as a result of this contract with Tetra Pak.

*S3M-4867 Bill Wilson: Ending the GDP Fetish: That the Parliament welcomes the recent report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, contributed to by economics professors Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, which calls for an end to "GDP fetishism"; believes that an economic approach focused on ever-increasing GDP to the detriment of other factors is unsustainable and has been disastrous for the wellbeing of individuals and the environment; agrees with the report that a new indicator of progress is needed, one that considers issues such as environmental protection and work/life balance as well as economic output, to rate a country’s ability to maintain the sustainable happiness of its inhabitants; notes that, were such methodology to be used, and, as a result, GDP took into account outcomes and not just financial inputs, the United States of America’s apparently large economic lead over France in terms of its GDP would be greatly reduced due to France’s high-quality health service, welfare system and long holidays, all of which contribute to the wellbeing of its inhabitants; commends French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his response to the report, not least his statement that "the [present economic] crisis doesn’t only make us free to imagine other models, another future, another world. It obliges us to do so", and his instruction to France’s national statistics body, Insee, to update its methods in accordance with the report’s recommendations, and calls on the Scottish and UK Governments urgently to follow his lead and to encourage other countries to do so.

Gerri Peev: Murphy tunes in to fantasy panel

Back in December, Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, announced he would convene a panel of economic and academic experts to come up with solutions for the recession in Scotland. This would be a group of people in tune with the problems on the ground, rather than the types to write letters to newspapers, he said.

He promised to come up with a cast list by January. It is now March 18, the official jobless figure for the UK is 2 million and the IMF has warned Britain will weather the recession worse than any other industrialised nation

David Mundell, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, grilled Murphy over this at Scottish Questions today, asking for the reason the delay on naming the experts.

"I am sure that the 1,000 additional people in the dole queues of Scotland this month, and their families, will very be interested to hear the Secretary of State’s solutions. In December, he announced that he was putting together a council of economic advisers, who would be named in January. Since then, we have heard nothing. What is the reason for that delay? Is he trying to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor, who used to vaunt the fact that Sir Fred Goodwin represented Scotland in the Chancellor’s high-level group on financial services? Does the Secretary of State think that his Government no longer need economic advice, or is it perhaps that nobody wants to be associated with his group?"

Murphy hit back: "I made no such announcement, then or since. The announcement that I made was about how to get those involved in academia and campaigning together with experts in poverty to ensure that the poorest could see a way through this recession, so that there would not be a generational legacy as a consequence of that, as there was after previous Tory recessions."

According to Mr Murphy's own speech given at the time, however, (a summary of which was in The Scotsman), he said: "I am announcing this morning that I will establish a new Scottish panel to advise and inform my work in the Government. I will invite experts, advice and voluntary organisations to join this important group. The expertise and local knowledge it will draw on will help our understanding of the specific nature of the impact of the situation facing individuals and families, and how the Government can continue to do what we can to help and support people through the tough times ahead."

So what was wrong with Mundell's questioning? According to sources (or should that be pedants) close to the Scottish Secretary, it was the use of the word "council".

OK, panel it is then. So how many times has this panel met? Er, none, according to the Scotland Office. The first meeting is on March 30 in Glasgow, when an unnamed group of "four or five" academics will meet. I was told that the Secretary does in fact meet individual experts frequently "rather than convening in a formal panel".

Perhaps it would have been better not to publicise something which does not exist and was probably never going to happen then?

David Maddox: A question of values

While much of the world has been gripped by the events leading up to the inauguration of the USA's first black president, most of the rest have been engrossed in the week's other the big story - Manchester City's offer to buy a young Brazilian called Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, otherwise known as Kaka (pictured), a former world footballer of the year, for £108 million from AC Milan.
So what better time for a delegation of journalists from the Italian region of Lombardy (capital city: Milan) to visit the Scottish Parliament? There is no shortage of football mad MSPs, so when they arrive on Thursday they will no doubt have to field some questions about this subject of world importance.
But the saga does raise some interesting questions about values - both monetary and political. Not least because Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of AC Milan, dashed back from the Gaza Peace summit to deal with the world record breaking transfer deal and to try to placate angry Rossoneri (AC Milan fans).
While Edinburgh recently saw hundreds on the streets protesting about Israel's bombardment of Gaza, hundreds protested for the last two nights in Milan about Kaka's possible departure. It's a question of priorities and serves as a lesson to never under-estimate the powerful mix of football, sport and politics.
However, the affair poses the inevitable question of what £108 million would be worth. After all spending so much on a luxury does seem a bit distasteful in the current economic climate.
Kaka is well known for his devout Christian faith so the Church of Scotland may be pleased it could just afford him with its annual collection plate take of £108 million (2007 figures).
The sum would also build around 20 primary schools or one seventeenth of a new Forth Bridge.
Manchester City were apparently proposing to pay the 26-year-old £26 million a year. So one Kaka is roughly the equivalent of 945 teachers (based on current average pay), assuming there were any jobs for them in Scotland, or 455 MSPs (let's face it 129 are more than enough!), 290 GPs, 345 dentists or 27 failed banking chiefs (based on former HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby's basic salary).
But, while these analogies are always drawn when the latest story about an exhorbatant transfer fee for a footballer comes around, we have to remember that we still live in a market economy, even if our banks are being nationalised, and it is the market (which is morally neutral) that decides the value of jobs.
No doubt, though, in the ever decreasing circles of the debate in Scotland over how to fund capital projects, the SNP would approve of Manchester City's plan to buy an asset using direct capital receipts from an oil fund. No PFI or borrowing here.
As I finish this blog, I hear the heartening (for a Milan fan rather than a Man City one) news that Kaka and the AC Milan officials have decided to go with their hearts and, unusually in football, not follow the ridiculous sums of money. The deal with Manchester City is off, but no doubt the young man can comfort himself with his £9 million annual salary set to increase to £12 million by 2013.
And just to underline the importance of sport to the careers of politicians, Mr Berlusconi has announced the details on national television, most of which he owns anyway.

Gerri Peev: Brown must bank on long term rate rise

ON a regional tour this week of just about everywhere except Scotland, the PM has said he is “determined during this period of time that inflation is low, interest rates will be low and that’s the best way of stimulating the economy.”

Leaving aside the fact that investors are scared away by low rates, the PM has to be careful not to promise too much on the interest rate front from an independent Bank of England.

More importantly, one only has to look across the pond to read the runes (or should that be ruins) to see that rates could go up perhaps sooner that many would like.

The Congressional Budget Office (stay with me) forecasts that America's debt will reach a whopping $1.186 trillion this year. This does NOT take into account the massive $775 million stimulus package the Obama administration will unleash to try and kickstart the economy.

The President-elect warned today: “Unless we take decisive action, even after our economy pulls out of its slide, trillion dollar deficits will be a reality for years to come.”

What does this mean? Well high debt levels put pressure on inflation, in turn encouraging policy makers to raise rates.

If Brown prolongs the election for too long, he could be entering a contest with high costs of borrowing as the background. He has been warned.

Gerri Peev: Darling calls for Dave to bring it on

ALISTAIR Darling has just given an entertaining speech at the Press Gallery lunch (yes really, he can be cutting). But just after he disarmed everyone with a barrage of jokes, including one about driving past RBS HQ and thinking: "I own that" (no actually, Chancellor, WE own that), he launched into a full-scale assault.

His attack was unsurprisingly on David Cameron who has been equally vocal in tearing strips of Gordon Brown's borrowing binge but a little more silent on his great plan. The Tory leader this morning called for an immediate general election to give voters a choice. And the Chancellor seemed to square up to him.

He contrasted Barack Obama's election slogan of "yes we can" to the Conservatives "no we can't" and said the dividing lines for the electorate would be clear ahead of the next election...But before we could start booking our places on the party battle buses, he stressed the government was getting on with tackling the economic crisis rather than plotting an election campaign.

Hamish Macdonell - post-budget slumbers

THERE have been better debates in the Scottish Parliament than this afternoon's on the pre-budget report - more than a week after the fact.
John Swinney churned out numbers for the SNP, Andy Kerr bolted through his speech as if he was in a race to get it finished and although Derek Brownlee for the Tories was as rousing and caustic as he could be, he suffered the worst indignity of all.
Just when he was at his loudest and most passionate, one of his fellow MSPs fell soundly asleep.
It would be un-gallant to mention the member's name because it could be said that he showed remarkably good taste, falling asleep just when Mr Brownlee had reached his umteenth almost identical attack on Gordon Brown.