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Who Runs Edinburgh?

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  1. SRD
    Moderator

    Anyone else read Rory Scothorne "Edinburgh’s Festivalisation" in the LRB this week? https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n01/rory-scothorne/short-cuts

    It references McCrone's Who Runs Edinburgh? (2022) which I had entirely missed. Luckily a quick trip the shops by MrSrd means I got a copy for Christmas.

    McCrone's book is one of those books which is half academic and half aimed at a popular audience. Predictable historical chapters on the festival, schools, the university and trams. Some interesting angles / points. I got a bit tired of the same rehashed literary allusions by the end. The main theme is the importance of 'caste' / schools ties, but the answer to 'who runs' seems to be 'no one'?

    Seems to me that the focus on 'high politics' eg big developments misses out on the 'real politics' and a broader set of movers and shakers, which Scothorne's short piece does a better job of capturing -- the Cockburn Association for example. But also associational life in general. (as chdot says "how many chapters on Spokes?" :)).

    Some of McCrone's footnotes are more interesting than his main text, but then he goes and cites Edinburgh Live writing about the 'Moray Few' (and no, I don't think they meant that as social commentary).

    I was also unimpressed with his account of the congestion charge referendum, which he just passes over as 'too complex' so they lost.

    I'd like more on the politics of nursery school places, Gaelic medium education, the New Town's 'special rubbish;' school catchment boundaries, student housing, and (of course) transport.

    Why does the council accept the failure of utility companies to reinstate pavement?

    Why is the council perennially understaffed / outsourcing expertise?

    What about the way developers game the planning application system?

    What's the impact on the city of schools and churches being turned into posh flats? the increase in offshore investors buying flats off plan?

    We're told about the history of Edinvar and Castlerock but what's happened with social housing since then?

    The Gold brothers monopoly on the Royal Mile.

    The controversies about the privatisation of public space for festivals.

    The pathways and right of ways that 'disappear'.

    The impact of East/west Lothian sprawl on commuter travel.

    There's just so much more politics I want to know more about - proper data and informed analysis on all these things we spend ages arguing about.

    Who's going to write that book?

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. neddie
    Member

    You started a thread on it, so we’re halfway to a book already :-)

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    @ SRD all EXCELLENT/relevant Qs.

    Some slightly being addressed.

    Many Edinburgh Councils may have had more ‘control’ in the past.

    Thatcher’s destruction of the Regions in Scotland was a significant factor - much underacknowledged or understood.

    I’ve never really understood why the SNP SG is so antagonistic/dismissive when it comes to local government.

    Lab’s recent ‘don’t work with the SNP’ has made things worse - not least in Ed.

    Party Politics (and same party tribalism) is often a real problem.

    But I’m not gonna pretend that ‘independents’ or (previously) The Progressives are the answer.

    Clearly

    ‘We’ should run Edinburgh.

    There must be better ways than filling in endless consultations…

    ‘We’ made PoP happen and things like Bike Buses.

    And lots of things via Twitter and representations to CEC’s T&E (etc).

    ‘Just’ riding helps…

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. Yodhrin
    Member

    @chatdot I think frankly that the SNP - or party HQ at any rate - see pre-independence localism as a trojan horse intended to increase opportunities to bypass Holyrood with money direct from WM and to reduce the Scottish Government's responsibilities to the point where Holyrood really does become the "talking shop" older unionists often deride it as. And to be fair to them, while I don't agree quite a few top shelf unionists like Gordie Broon became great fans of localism - to the extent of "devolving" powers away from Holyrood to the existing Councils - in the wake of the referendum with pretty much those intentions.

    I was hoping the Greens would be able to nudge them a bit on stuff like council tax reform, smaller councils, land reform etc but it seems not so much.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    London mostly owned in the posh bits by Duke of Westminster types, Russian Oligarchs and Arab Sheikhs.

    Edinburgh?

    Masons?

    Bobby Dundas types?

    Bankers?

    Bit of a turf war ongoing in the criminal strata.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    @ g

    Clearly ownership is a big factor and will influence ‘running’, but on a ‘day to day services’ and ‘policies’ less clear.

    If we’re talking ‘rural’, different dynamics.

    Any figures on CEC land/ building ownership? (Area and value)

    Presumably, once, significant. Now, post ‘better’ council house sell-off, less so?

    Posted 1 year ago #

  7. SRD
    Moderator

    if I understand McCrone, he seems to be saying that even if the University is powerful, its more because people were students here (he must be deluded), not because of land or economic power. and -- I extrapolate -- even if the university does have economic power, they deploy that power in private clubs, dinner parties and so forth, not through any formal or overt process.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  8. Morningsider
    Member

    Man - that sounds like some particularly dreary New Town dinner party, where red trousered buffoons, sharp finance types, self declared political movers and shakers, and publicly-funded art renegades boom over each other at length about the real power behind the throne.

    I'm not saying there isn't an interesting story here - but from the brief description it sounds like the worst kind Edinburgh exceptionalism.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    @ SRD

    Well, in the past it exercised significant influence/control over large parts of the South Side with concrete consequences and plans for more - developments for itself and ‘commercial partnerships’.

    To some extent the money ran out and developers found other more attractive (ie potentially more profitable) things to knock down and replace.

    The Council played its part.

    Things changed. Some people and politicians wanted to change the assumptions around ‘slum clearance’, ‘comprehensive redevelopment’ etc.

    The expansion of the Royal Infirmary (the University was involved because of the ‘teaching hospital’ factor) to Tollcross was stopped. One significant campaign was by residents who wanted to stay in the “Lister Trust” block next to Heriot’s.

    Residents/campaign groups were set up across Central Edinburgh to oppose demolition and road building and call for housing improvements.

    There were many successes, helped by the fact that Housing Action Areas were created where owners - many long standing - were able to get 90% grants to improve internal facilities and do structural repairs if whole stairs agreed.

    Can’t see similar happening again.

    The ‘new threats’ include ever more student housing, which seem harder to successfully oppose.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  10. SRD
    Moderator

    he does discuss bio quarter and other stuff. what is missing is how actually decisions are made, who shapes them etc. It's left a bit black box-y.

    not just uni, but 'finance' etc all treated in much the same way.

    Maybe I need to re read the conclusion, but as an editor, I would have insisted that he write it so that readers knew the argument right from the start (or pretty close to it).

    Posted 1 year ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    “he does discuss bio quarter”

    I have really taken very little interest in that development.

    That whole area with the hospital etc would probably make a great study of vested interests and lost opportunities.

    In the past I took more interest in the next development along - Shawfair.

    There was even a joint company between CEC, Midlothian and ‘selected’ housebuilders - since dissolved.

    All sorts of plans and promises.

    Don’t know what percentage of the projected house numbers have (so far) been built (or if trains stopping at Shawfair Station would be able to cope with many passengers from the ‘new town’).

    Posted 1 year ago #

  12. Morningsider
    Member

    @SRD - that is so typical of a certain type of Edinburgh. The author simply assumes that readers will "know" or "understand" a point being made without explanation. The fact that the issue in question is some obscure facet of the governance of a small northern European city, of interest to a handful of people, would simply never occur to them. They know it, so everyone who counts surely knows it.

    The fact that the author, or person making the point, often doesn't know what they are talking about is neither here, nor there. They are making a point - so it must have merit.

    Anyway, let me tell you about the time I was in the pub with David McCrone, I should say that the pub was owned by...

    Posted 1 year ago #

  13. chdot
    Admin

    “that is so typical of a certain type of Edinburgh. The author simply assumes“

    ”

    Studying Edinburgh lets us draw lessons about cities in general, and their roles in the modern world.

    “

    https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-who-runs-edinburgh.html

    Posted 1 year ago #

  14. chdot
    Admin

    This is all/mostly true -

    “

    Councillors can no longer promise the stable, steady governance that used to characterise city politics: today’s council is a febrile five-way fight between Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Tories and Greens. Such competition has its advantages, but these are rarely on display when the council has so little power. A decade of funding cuts and decades more of centralisation have left it flailing. Its reliance on outside companies is not just an attempt to cut costs: it no longer has the capacity or experience required to run its own projects. The Scottish government’s decision to freeze rather than reform council tax next year won’t help.

    “

    https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n01/rory-scothorne/short-cuts

    Posted 1 year ago #

  15. SRD
    Moderator

    "The author simply assumes that readers will "know" or "understand" a point being made without explanation. "

    I've struggled with this. It does read as if written for people who 'know' Edinburgh, but I struggled to get any sense that the author lived in Edinburgh (except in the footnotes).

    That sounds weird. Obviously he knows Edinburgh but his narrative tone is somewhat distant. I guess that is on purpose? there are odd references to his partner's children being at schools, and to him being a member of the RSE.

    So, I think the 'narrator' voice is trying to be rather distant and academic on purpose. But you don't ever get a sense of him taking Edinburgh buses or trams, walking on the WoL etc. The most personal refs are to poetry and literature, most of which I found rather opaque and annoying.

    I don't want to sound too negative. He's a colleague (although we've never met). I'm sorry that I seem to have missed his only book launch last year.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    “I'm sorry that I seem to have missed his only book launch last year.“

    In a ligging sense??

    Posted 1 year ago #

  17. chdot
    Admin

    Soo Edin

    “

    WE ARE UNIQUE

    “

    https://www.unique-events.co.uk

    But essentially true!

    Posted 1 year ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    “

    David McCrone is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Edinburgh University. As an undergraduate in the late 1960s, he discovered sociology by accident and never looked back. He began as an urban sociologist, admiring the work of Max Weber, and co-wrote a book with Brian Elliott on The City. He benefited from being a sociologist in Scotland in times of social, political and cultural change, writing an early book called Understanding Scotland in 1992, and revised it extensively in 2001 as events and processes changed. In 2017 he published The New Sociology of Scotland, bringing together the evidence and arguments over thirty years.

    “

    https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/david-mccrone-FBA/

    Posted 1 year ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    Council trying hard not to own anything now, except schools and they have stuff like RAAC.

    Banks also keen to not own buildings

    University is a huge employer.

    Old school tie still a thing which is a shocking fact.

    I think Who runs Edinburgh ? Is a facile question and the answer No one. Is equally facile.

    Who owns the city is of more interest to me.

    Posted 1 year ago #

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