At our report launch last month, one of our key speakers was Helen Mercer, whose expertise on Private Finance Initiative schemes made a huge contribution to our research. She talked to us about how we got into this mess and why this is a systemic problem caused by our governments, that can only be solved […]
We are so grateful that we were able to have Dexter Whitfield with us last month at the launch of our report, ‘Rethinking Private Financing’. The influence of his research can be seen all throughout it so it is an honour to be able to have one of the leading experts of this area come […]
The launch of our report Last month at the Scottish Parliament we launched our report ‘Rethinking Private Financing’, the culmination of work from Jubilee Scotland over the past year researching PPP & PFI schemes. You can download and read it here. The launch was hosted by Neil Findlay MSP, who spoke to us about how […]
In the midst of a windy day on the 29th of January 2016, the side of Oxgangs School in Edinburgh collapsed. A large section of the gable wall came crashing down with nine tonnes of bricks falling across the path below. An independent report concluded that it was “a matter of timing and luck” that […]
How much would you pay someone to put up a Christmas tree? We took to the streets of Edinburgh this week to ask people this to demonstrate the disproportionate costs that come with Private Finance Initiatives. Under a complex and unfair PFI contract, Alistair Darling had to pay £900 for the UK Treasury’s Xmas tree. This […]
This is a guest blog post written by Mark Borthwick. You can contact him via: MDBorthwick@gmail.com This piece refers to the English student loan system and when it refers to the government it is referring to the government at Westminster and not at Holyrood. Extract This blog post aims to illustrate how student loans work […]
This article was written by one of our volunteers, Elena Scarso, and edited by Jubilee Scotland. The 2008 financial crisis involved serious consequences for the whole Western world. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the southern side of Europe, historically the poorer than the northern countries, were the worst affected.Spain, Greece and Italy had […]
This article was written by Dr Scott Arthur. In 2006 Alex Salmond told Scotland that “PFI was a quick fix and a costly mistake”. If elected (he was), he was going to ensure “our public assets can be held in trust for the nation all without the unnecessary private profit that is part and parcel of […]
There are more slaves on the planet today, than there have ever been at any point in history. Ever. This does not even take into account those who operate under debt slavery – i.e. those who are not enslaved but have no means to get out of their situation – for example sweatshop workers. In […]
