OPINION JIM SPENCE: Council secrecy over £1m lights bill for Dundee flats shares worrying trend with Sandie Peggie NHS Fife case.

What has transpired in Scotland, and in plain sight, has been far more devious and sneaky, but as powerful.”

Dundee City Council’s refusal to reveal a £1 million bill for flats in the city is additional proof of what I recently dubbed the’silent coup’.

This has happened in Scottish public life, where ordinary people feel increasingly disenfranchised and powerless.

The council’s allegations that it would be too expensive to divulge emails relating to a controversial bill for the costs of work in the Menzieshill apartments reflect the rising and undemocratic power imbalance between ordinary people and those in positions of authority over them.

When I said a coup had occurred, I didn’t mean one in which the military marched into a banana republic and seized power.

What has transpired in Scotland, and in plain sight, has been far more devious and sneaky, but as effective.

‘Drapes fully closed’

In Dundee and across the country, a class of elected and appointed officials has discreetly abandoned any notion that the public has the right to know what is going on under their watch.

Even worse, they appear to be genuinely offended by the boldness of anyone, whether a newspaper or a private citizen, daring to question or confront their tactics.

The ancient adage “sunlight is the best disinfectant” only applies when the drapes are drawn back to allow the rays in.

However, in Scottish public life, the drapes are progressively being drawn completely shut, preventing you and I from peering behind them into the murky world of decision making.

My comment to this effect on social media this week appeared to resonate with a large number of people who feel overlooked and ignored by those in positions of authority.

Annemarie Ward, CEO of Favour UK, which campaigns for persons suffering and recovering from addiction, took up on the message and shared it with a large audience in an articulate manner.

‘Underlying principle is the same’

She claimed that nothing better revealed the evidence of what was going on in Scotland than the Sandie Peggie case.

She stated that “instead of offering a practical solution” to the nurse’s discomfort in sharing a female changing room with a colleague who was born male, NHS Fife “reacted as if she was challenging sacred doctrine.”

Annemarie compared it to the approach taken in “the gender self-ID debate, the way critical race theory is smuggled into public life, and the harm-reduction dogma that insists addiction is a permanent identity rather than a condition that people can recover from.”

It may seem a reach for me to equate Dundee City Council’s failure to be truthful about the costs of flats in Menzieshill to concerns such as the Peggie case, self-ID, and other topics that have received national attention.

But the essential premise remains the same. The arrogant and dismissive attitude of people in positions of authority and power, which ignores the legitimate concerns and rights of the voiceless, is an increasing menace.

The failure to be conspicuous and upfront in dealing with the legitimate concerns and fears of those outside the charmed circle of power and influence – which includes the vast majority of us – is a toxic trait infecting public and civic life.

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