In Depth:  Graeme Shanks

Graeme Shanks

'Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms’. Those were the chilling and frank words of Alex Salmond in the recent BBC documentary¹ exploring the breakdown of the long-term political partnership between him and Nicola Sturgeon.

She in turn spoke about the uneasy feeling that she lives with, when considering that some of the best moments of her life feature the man with whom she is now at odds. Certainly no love lost in this textbook impasse.

Graeme Shanks

Working nine to five? What a way to make a living. Working life has moved on a lot since Dolly Parton first released her catchy and timeless 1980s hit, 9 To 5. Indeed, fast forward a few generations and it would appear that flexibility has trumped security as the key thing that Gen Z’ers are prioritising when it comes to employment.^[1]

Have you noticed that recruitment firms are now fronting their adverts with their ability to perfectly match people to a job that fits with their lifestyle? Have you read about the companies experimenting with a four-day week, complete with flexible start and finish times, a nine-day fortnight, and compressed hours?^[2] The desire for flexibility with our employment, it would seem, is here to stay.

Graeme Shanks

There’s been a word doing the rounds up here in Scotland recently. I wonder if you have noticed it - or even caught it (wherever you live)! Optimism. That was the strapline to the well crafted adverts for the drink Irn-Bru that were plastered up and down the country in the run up to the men’s football European Championships.

As a nation we embraced the message. Let’s toast to the future being brighter than the past and believe that this time round things might turn out differently. Did they? Well, as we watched Scotland fail to qualify from the group stages of the tournament, it didn’t take long for my can of Irn Bru to taste of tartan tears and for optimism to turn to realism.