Mr Green sick with worry about the pensions crisis in BHS

WHERE'S JACKIE?

Jackie Baillie has gone against Labour's line on nuclear weapons on the basis that jobs in her constituency will be lost should the facilities at Faslane be closed down, or should they move to England or Wales.

Ms Baillie has put the number of jobs at risk variously at 13,000 and 11,000. The actual employers, the MoD put the number at 520. A small difference of no great import if you have a political agenda.

Ms Baillie has defied the party leadership over this and yet is standing for Labour at the election as a constituency member for Dumbarton,and a regional member for the West of Scotland. Of course as a constituency member it's not unreasonable for her to differ from the party line from time to time. Less so, perhaps, as a list member.

Co-incidentally, the number of job losses from the collapse of BHS is estimated to be around  11,000 across Ms Baillie's beloved united kingdom. And we all know that Labour espouses solidarity with the working classes all over England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. (Anyone know why not across the world?)

So will we see Jackie campaigning hard for the retention of British Home Stores across her united kingdom? Or are 11,000 workers (or 520 depending on your source) only worth her effort when they are tending the weapons of mass destruction that make Jackie Baillie's Britain great?

Aside from that, I think there are questions to answer. What do you think?

Philip Green, that great Monegasque tax payer, owned BHS until 1 year ago. 

I can safely say I've never bought anything (except breakfast) from them in my life, despite there being a huge store in Dundee. The reason? They are the kind of store your granddad might buy stuff from.

Given that he was a great entrepreneur with his finger on the pulse of retail in Britain, could he not see that the store was losing its place in the retail world? Why did he run the business into the ground?

He sold it to a group of financiers for £1 last year. They took money out of the business and failed to invest as they had promised.

Are they culpable? Did they never have any intention of making a go of the brand?

There is a massive black hole in the pensions fund. Should the tax payer         pick up this shortfall? Should the financiers? Given that Green owned the company so recently, should he be held partly responsible?

And, given that we have a Tory government, who will end up paying for this mess?