New think-tank places hope in pixies
We were intrigued by a story in Scotland On Sunday this morning, concerning the first output of a new “centre-left” group calling itself the Scotland Institute (which seems to have no website). The organisation’s debut report concludes that the “ideal” solution to the problem of poverty in Scotland is to elect “a UK-level government that is prepared to turn its back on the neo-liberal economic and social policies that have done so much damage and then a Scottish Government that can adapt that wider framework to meet the particular challenges faced in Scotland”, rather than for Scotland to become independent and elect an anti-neoliberal government of its own.
Mysteriously, however, the report neglects to identify just who this UK government “prepared to turn its back on the neo-liberal economic and social policies that have done so much damage” might potentially be. It can’t possibly be thinking of Labour, who in 13 years of Westminster power increased the gap between rich and poor, and upheld the neoliberal consensus so enthusiastically and dogmatically that Margaret Thatcher described Tony Blair as a “kindred spirit” (this at a time when there was still a Conservative PM in Downing Street and most of those on the left saw Blair as some sort of anti-Tory messiah) and her natural heir, while Norman Tebbit approvingly applied the same accolade to Gordon Brown.
We’re a bit concerned that an organisation we presume considers itself to be a source of serious grown-up analysis has concluded that the best solution to Scottish poverty is for Scots to somehow persuade everyone in the UK to vote for a political party that doesn’t actually exist. If it’s all the same to the Scotland Institute, we’ll continue to focus on addressing the issue via methods that aren’t entirely based on fairytales.
I don’t think this organisation has any legs and certainly no influence. Sounds like there are a couple of individuals who think they have some good ideas.
As to Labour, they did more damage than the Tories ever did. Manufacturing in the UK was decimated under Blair and Brown, Thatcher surprisingly did not have that much effect. But then her Government came up with the principles of PFI, something Osbourne is continuing with his £40b investment.
I think they have taken the website down as I’m sure I seen it advertising its staff/members from various academic institutions.
No mention of a website on the official announcement by its rather egotistical founder:
http://www.azeemibrahim.com/?p=1583
But with three Unionist politicians speaking at its launch against a solitary SNP MSP for independence, it seems pretty clear which way it’s likely to lean.
http://www.scotlandinstitute.com/
Website link above, however when searching on google it did not come up in the first page of results so I used the name of the individual who started the group with the name of the group.
What we have here is a very polished and “timely” report on the virtues of devo-max by a very polished consultant who runs a couple of firms who brief governments on various socio-political issues. The think tank has a number of members on the website http://www.scotlandinstitute.com/ and there is a link to the pdf report there.
I get the impression that that Mr Ibrahim is one of those consultants that one employs if you need to polish your battered reputation and reconnect with the electorate. The website is very new launching on the 29th June this year, just 5 days after Darling launches his own campaign.
The report does sort of brush over history quite a bit in it’s attempt to talk up devolution. In other words it is enthusing about the Union without mentioning it, offering the promise of increased powers, but if and only if you have a change of government at Westminster.
It is clearly talking up the Labour party without mentioning the labour party – because then it would lose the cover of being an apolitical organisation. Though going by this article it’s pretty clear where he stands – http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/azeem-ibrahim/scottish-independence-and-unanswered-questions_b_1224209.html – It’s pretty much the tired old arguments we’ve seen elsewhere.
So in closing I suspect this is a campaign tactic for the Unionists. Perhaps a little too clever for its own good.
“Former Chancellor of the Exchequer and keynote speaker the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP helped launch the Institute…”
Stops reading
One of their objectives is to;
‘To support an intelligent debate on Scotland’s constitutional future by providing timely evidence and rigorous analysis of the issues in the debate on Scottish Independence’
Well good luck getting any kind of intelligent debate with the unionists.
“http://www.scotlandinstitute.com/“
Good sleuthing, Jen.
Cheers for the link, James. Looks like there was a referendum on independence in 2001 and we didn’t hear about it.
“,,,, in the context of calls for independence from people suffering under repressive dictatorships around the world, it is hard to see the SNP’s demands as anything but sentimental, and even frivolous.”
Is this guy for real?
Who is funding this outfit?
If you do a whois on scotlandinstitute.com the registrant comes up as Azeem Ibrahim.
He may call himself a, “Scottish academic and philanthropist”, but the address is in Watford, England.
“Who is funding this outfit? “
According to the press release I linked to earlier, Mr Ibrahim is funding it himself.
@Cirsium
In 2004 he starts a bank called the european commerce and mercantile bank which manages accounts for wealthly clients. He also established a hedge fund under the ECM and then used this to establish his own foundation to fund community projects. he is a member of various advocacy groups and think tanks…but he seems to quite literally to have popped up from nowhere from about 2009 onwards.
When he is not doing all of the above, he is a member of the TA although the fluff piece i found for him at Yale World fellows page identifies him as a member of an “elite airborne reserve” – so that actually makes him a member of 4th para – A company which operates out of Finneston. Seems like a busy guy.
It would not surprise me to learn that he is bringing a lot of money to the table himself. i am now very keen to see the No camps list of financial backers
Mr Ibrahim is from Glasgow.
From an old Herald Article:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/from-a-glasgow-council-house-to-dinner-at-the-white-house-1.883472
”
From a Glasgow council house to dinner at the White House
COLETTE DOUGLAS HOME
News Focus: Azeem Ibrahim is a one-man powerhouse whose difficult childhood spurred him on to become one of the richest men in the UK ? aged only 32. By Colette Douglas Home
Can Azeem Ibrahim be real? I’m having trouble believing it and he’s sitting beside me. He’s a multi-millionaire with his own bank, and scholar with a doctorate from Cambridge University.
With a self-made fortune of £60m, he’s setting up charities all over the world. He is handsome, impeccably dressed and relentlessly courteous. He has a paediatrician wife called Hena and a baby daughter, Sophia, with whom he lives on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Did I mention that Azeem Ibrahim, who grew up in a council house in Glasgow, is 32 years old?
How has he achieved so much so young? Mohammed Ibrahim, his father, certainly motivated him, but not in the way you expect. When a supermarket opened near his grocer’s shop he went bankrupt. Within five years he had a heart attack and died. He was 56.
It left its mark on Azeem and changed his life. He tells me this after flying in from Washington following dinner at the White House with George W Bush. “I almost missed the flight,” he says “No-one is allowed to leave until the president does and no-one knew where the president was……..”
Seems to move in pretty exalted circles. And his public image also seems pretty decent.
He also appears to be the mover and shaker behind the Islamic Tartan.
Quite how his web site will pan out is interesting, but I’d like to think he could be persuaded!
@Morag. His type’s arguement that independance is only really needed for peoples/countries that are oppressed and poor that therefore Scottish independance should not be allowed/recognised tends to fall down when one points out that the very act of not recognising a democratic deficeit, indeed ignoring and marginalising it, makes it proponents opprossed and therefore worthy of independance……
More writings here including “Why We Must Keep Trident”
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/azeem-ibrahim
“More writings here including “Why We Must Keep Trident””
Ooh, excellent find. Looking forward to getting back to my usual investigative standards tomorrow now the Rangers business is finally over…
Hi Rev,
Love reading your stuff – keep it up please, helps keep my mind sane in this insane world. Here is another link for Azeem Ibrahim
http://ispu.org/people/Azeem-Ibrahim
“Here is another link for Azeem Ibrahim”
Cheers! I see his listed “Areas Of Expertise” don’t include Scotland…
This guy is a real cupcake – Looking through the back log of articles by Ibrahim on Conservative home we can also see that he supports:
EDUCATION
WANTS MIN£6K Fees paid for via a graduate Tax
BUT No Cap on Fees that can be charged
THE EUROZONE
He wrote in response to A. Darlings priase of new IMF chief, Christine Lagarde in an article where he says: “she helped create the situation that today has been described as the IMF ‘gambling for eurozone resurrection with other people’s money’ ” – before going on to imply that the EU is a bad idea that will end up in a ‘United States of Europe’ or all out failure of the Euro. All sounds very Tory thinking.
CRIME AND TERRORISM
He would like to bring back Treason so that all those who conspire against the state and are charged under terrorism offences be punished by life without the possibility of parole (since hanging has been stopped)
TAXATION
He believes in low corporation taxes (Fine as long as there are provisos)
Wants NI cut to ease the burden on employers – basically by offloading higher taxes onto employees
He also believes that stimulous packages will not revive the economy so are not worth it
TRIDENT
He believes we live in “a world in which reasons to retain Trident abound”, such as countries that know how to build them but havent done so, terrorists and Iran – with its missiles incapable of reaching us. And then just to ram home the point that hes a unionist he says “and then there is the message it sends. Downgrading our nuclear deterrent would send the clear message that Britain no longer cares about her international standing.”
CONVENTIONAL DEFENCE
Well here he states that we should be doing more to help the Americans and that “Many in the upper echelons of the US foreign policy establishment have noted our relative decline, and fear we are losing our stomach for fighting wars. Our refusal to respond to President Obama’s call to send any more than 700 troops to Afghanistan did not help in that regard.”
He believes we should Ring-fence defence funding as “Defence funding is more important than other departmental spending” and “if defence spending is ring-fenced, we may be able to continue to exercise our powerful beneficial world role, maintain our influence and respect, and above all, assure the future safety of the nation.” Now I do believe we can achieve that without invading other countries for £billions
NHS
“The NHS should be what Nye Bevan set it up to be: a safety net to ensure that nobody goes without healthcare, not the only provider of healthcare for everybody. We should see the rich taking private insurance as a socially useful saving of public resources” – Or in other words it should be a basic service for the poor (Medi-care) and you anly get good treatment if you have private insurance… just like in the USA
WELFARE
He had this rather charming insight to offer “I think many long-term unemployed people who are being paid welfare by the state actually can work. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show us what these people are claiming. By far the largest category was those claiming Incapacity Benefit. Between 1999 and 2008, that accounted for about 3 million people. The second largest two categories were lone parents and jobseekers, which accounted for about 1 million each. Then there was a smaller group of Carers and other disabled people.”
NATIONAL DEBT
He is a supporter of Austerity and taking all measures to maintain the UK AAA Credit Rating regardless of social costs
So basically he’s a Secret Tory Unionist in Impartial clothing
“So basically he’s a Secret Tory Unionist in Impartial clothing “
I liked the revelation that the long term unemployed “just couldn’t be bothered” to find work.
He is a director of the National Defence Association (Trident anyone???)
Recently appointed director and member of the policy board of the UK National Defence Association, a group that highlights the concerns of the British Armed Forces.
“The people involved in the project are all former UK defence chiefs including leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell and Lord David Owen. I am half the age of all of them and the only Muslim on the board as well. The state of the UK armed forces being under funded is an issue that I feel very passionate about. It’s something I am happy to be associated with,”
http://www.asianenterprise.biz/philanthropist-and-businessman-azeem-ibrahim/full.html
Made his money with a small IT company in London that he used to fund a Cobalt and Zinc commodities broker to the middle east and china.
This then funded an online Maritime insurance business that made him rich.
Runs a £100 Million hedge fund and has extensive links to London Trading
Testimonials
Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, (as Prime Minister) – July 2009
“ The work that you have undertaken and published is serious and high quality. The analysis and rigour you bought to this issue (social mobility) will provide a firm platform for actions by the professions and government over the years ahead”
Hon Madeleine Albright – US Secretary of State – October 2010
“ Your perspectives and insights were central to our discussion. Your contributions undoubtedly made this one of our most substantives dialogues to date”(Meeting of Foreign Ministers, Madrid).
Hon Michael Chertoff – US Secretary of State for Homeland Security – July 2010
“ Azeem’s expertise and efforts in the field of counter-radicalisation reflect an important element of modern security and counter-terrorism strategy”
Asst Chief Constable Colin McCashey – Association of Chief Police Officers Coordinator for Counter Terrorism– May 2011
“ As an acknowledged world renowned commentator on the threat from Al Qaida influenced extremism. The strength and conviction of your argument was very persuasive”
Evening Times – January 2009
“ The Prime Minister has made a very wise choice by appointing Azeem Ibrahim to help disadvantaged people. He is an example to people everywhere and a sound choice to help others become high-flyers. And if Gordon Brown can see his value, surely it’s about time Glasgow honoured this outstanding individual”
http://www.specialistspeakers.com/?p=2844
He’s a right charmer. Oh dear.
If this guy really is setting this up to block the independence movement then they have trouble coming as we can see from his writing that he walks the line between plausible and pure ideology – that may sucker some in. He is not as overt in his neo-liberal overtones and seems to have a great deal of experience in setting up think tanks such as this. Not to mention his reputation is impeccable.
In other words, one to watch out for.
The brief and shallow conclusions at the end of the report seem to come from a predetermined view of the status quo, devo max and independence with some strange notions of what independence would involve.
The report is worth reading however as the evidence would support a Scotland moving closer to Scandanavian policies to improve equality in society, advancing the gains already made in Scotland with limited powers. It does look a case of never mind the evidence ‘here is a conclusion we made earlier.’ That is dreadful academic practice which undermines the researcher. Azeem Ibrahim did not write the report but appears to have funded it, written the introduction and the press release from which the press took their cue.
So basically, he’s a posh, super-rich Tory boy scumbag who’s deciding he knows best, academic standards be damned. Ugh, not another one.
I personally think if he ever starts attracting a following, then we should just point out that he’s so far up the arses of the warmongering elite that he could give them a dental examination. I think people will decide for themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ8xvi8AP0c In the midst of all the cliched platitudes, spot Anas Sarwar in the back. The best bit is when he gets ushered off the podium at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXn5zzffm7w In this one he explains how he made his first profits from the privatisation of utilities by the Conservatives.
And like so many Oxford/Cambridge or Harvard/Yale ‘consultants’ near the top of our economy, he’s probably not half as good as he thinks he is or is made out to be. As this video demonstrating his keen grasp of management bullshit helpfully demonstrates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyjoU4RCOK0
Some of the comments above seem unfair. The report seems quite politically neutral and Ibraheem did have SNP Minister Jim Mather MSP speak at the launch as well:
http://www.scotlandinstitute.com/?post_type=press-release&p=255
It seems to me he has tried to keep the whole project politically independent and neutral as best as he could.
If you examine his extensive media profile he has received numerous awards for his work in promoting Scotland including the St Andrews Society Award, an Honourary Doctorate from Caledonian for community word not to mention the half dozen charities he set up in Scotland.
If he is genuinely politically neutral (not sure if he really is) then we need to work to win people like him over, and using terms like super-rich Tory, posh boy, scum-bag, cup-cake is not the way to do it.
Mac C:
The guy’s wholly in line with the serial Mass-Murdering War-Criminal habits, of “little’ Ol’ England, fer Christ’s sake.
So calling him a super-rich Tory, posh boy, scum-bag, cup-cake is WAY too kind.
He’s had dinner with, and so is pally-pally with the former World Terrorist-in-Chief, George W. Bush.
He’s a reserve member of the careless global-scale Jack-Booting British military.
He’s a very likely candidate for being guilty of accessory to War-Crimes.
He’s a Twat.
.