Report to the People
Religion, Politics and Football
Who says religion, politics and football don’t mix?
Well, almost everyone, in fact. But, last week, undaunted by convention, the Scottish Parliament managed to serve up all three in an afternoon.
On Wednesday, following our starter of Time for Reflection from an Episcopalian Bishop who gave us a stern lecture on the importance of making tough decisions, we tucked in to the main course – consideration of the Budget Bill.
It is a good rule of thumb in politics that the more dull and boring a document, the greater its importance. And so it is with the Budget Bill. It is far from bedtime reading, but sets out the fundamental issue which is at the heart of any Parliament – how and where it spends its money.
The debate, however, was not about the dry technicalities or raw numbers – the millions or billions to which most of us find it hard to relate. As we are currently in an enviable position, increasing spending rather than cutting back, much debate surrounded where the extra funds should go.
As the Bishop had earlier reminded us, a choice between two good causes can be as hard as a choice between two bad ones. In my view, though, an argument which is only about how much you spend is over-simplistic. Far more important is how the money is spent. The focus must be on getting the money to the front line; putting it to work to improve people’s lives.
This shift, from inputs to outputs, is now taking place. The budget process will look more closely at what a sum of money achieves, rather than just how big it is. Put simply, the question will be "what bang do we get for our Buck?".
Of course you would have done well to find any reference to this in Thursday’s papers. Because, as those of you who weren’t sealed in quarantine with this stomach bug will know, we rounded off the day with a dessert of Euro 2008.
Any joint bid, which every side of the chamber has – at least in the past if not at the moment – supported, will be designed to bring the tourism and economic benefits to Scotland without saddling us with four expensive 30,000-seater stadiums we don’t need.
Such a bid would offer us the opportunity to work together and renew our ties with our Irish neighbours. This is a move which would bring us closer. A move which might, one day, mean that we think nothing of mixing religion, politics and football.
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