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All the First Minister's Men
 
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All the First Minister's Men (Paperback)

by Ian Hamilton (Foreword), David Black (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Birlinn Ltd (May 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841581674
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841581675
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,354,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

The attempt to create a modern Scottish Parliment building at Holyrood has been compared to the Sydney Opera House and the Millenium Dome but the reality is that it will almost certainly upstage both in terms of budget over-runs and the degradation of it's architectural vision. The cost of this building, now #250 million and rising, has come from the Scottish Exchequer. The author presents Holyrood as, at its heart, a system of denial. Between them, Tony Blair's government and a handful of Scottish civil servants were determined that the neoclassical parliment-in-waiting on Calton Hill was a shibboleth which had to be avoided at all costs. How did this happen and why? Who was to blame and who should bear the cost?


About the Author

Born and educated in Edinburgh (George Heriots School), David Black was the first chairman of the Southside Association and his role here included writing material for Gordon Brown's Rector's Working Party on Planning. His first book was published in 1972. He has also written for the Sunday Times, Observer, Scotland on Sunday, Herald, Spectator, TLS and Scottish Field on subjects ranging from planning and architecture and the fine arts through to a good drink guide for Virgin Publishing. It is a wonderful romp of a read. I defy any reader, except Tony Blair, not to give many a belly laugh at the record of how Labour re-branded itself. The chapter on Calton Hill should be made proud reading in every school. This book is a roaring record of muddle and deceit. Start turning the pages. You won't stop until you reach the end. - Ian Hamilton QC

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3.0 out of 5 stars No need for a public inquiry - just read this paperback., 24 Sep 2003
An insightful review of how Scotland has ended up with (or not, as the case currently be) a parliament building that was unwanted, in the wrong place and 1000% overbudget.

The author takes us back to the early days of New Labour, where everything had to be New, and how a new parliament building was forced on Scotland from Westminster. He describes the politcal reasons for the choice of location; the shady dealings in selecting the designer and architect; the real reasons for the total mismanagement of the project, and the continuing 'smoke and mirrors' over how much it will cost and when it will be finished.

There's a fair bit of repitition in this book - the few key points are re-iterated again and again across the chapters - and you get the impression that the same volume of information may be put over in a page of bullet points.

Here's hoping he does another edition when (if ?) the parliament building is ever finished to bring the shenanigans up to date.

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