In Praise of Edinburgh and Labour

Let us go back to early 1980s Edinburgh - a bit of a sleepy small 'c' conservative place, despite the festival. And yet, not long after the first Labour administration was elected in 1984, things changed for the better, transforming the City and its economy into the International City that we have before us today.
And where better to start that with Terry Farrell and his plans for the new financial district at the West End which commenced in 1989.

Of course, that wasn't all that was happening - the South Gyle was opened up to massive new investment in the City.

And now.... all of this is at risk. Does anyone believe that Tesco Bank, Sainsbury's Bank, Virgin Money and the Green Bank amongst others would have located HO Operations in Edinburgh if Scotland had become a foreign country to those organisations' customers? At the first whiff of a yes vote even our 'indigenous' Banks are preparing to be off (and where HO goes, the rest will follow without doubt).

Real people, real jobs. And yet if you were to spell this out to the Nats what would their reaction be? They're simply not interested.