The NATO row is not a distraction
Some people have argued that the NATO row is obscure and pointless. But this policy will potentially define Scotland’s future and define what kind of political party the SNP is. These things matter.
News
Expedience should neither help the law nor protect it
The Scottish system of justice needs to be looked at. We should stat with Lockerbie and work our way forwards from there. Until we do we should not consider piecemeal changes to the very meaning of justice.
Read More »Expedience should neither help the law nor protect it
Bye bye NATO, hello spooks
It looks like an anti-NATO victory over possible SNP policy change. This shows the left that it has genuine power, but we need to realise that this puts Scotland on the front line of London’s drive to ensure military hegemony.
All the way back to the start in the jobs con
The real value of jobs is in distributing wealth around society, not in providing a fig-leaf for the same business elite which trashed the economy. Low-pay, part-time, insecure jobs are nothing to celebrate and politicians should not get away with it.
Now Scottish Labour has to decide if it has changed
Nostalgic for the tuition fees debate? Thought not. So why is Labour straying back into its old hunting ground of bashing universal provision? The Party really needs to think about whether it has changed.
Read More »Now Scottish Labour has to decide if it has changed
New Postgraduate Course: Global Environmental Challenges
Global Environment Challenges — what are they; what to do? We know humanity faces a range of complex and interrelated challenges: global warming, ecosystem disruption, biodiversity loss, and for many, increasing difficulty in meeting basic human… Read More »New Postgraduate Course: Global Environmental Challenges
Minimum pricing in a minimum society
It is possible both to argue that minimum pricing for alcohol is entirely right but that it is just only if we see it as part of a proper social contract. If the governing classes keep imposing policies on the poor but never for the poor, what we get is ‘minimum society’.
It may be power not politics, but it’s still a dangerous game
The power motive in the local government carve-up seems to be misunderstood, but the outcome is still a dangerous game for a LabourParty which has been revelling in the SNP’s own dangerous games.
Read More »It may be power not politics, but it’s still a dangerous game
STV stinks (the electoral system, not the TV station)
An electoral system that ‘gives’ you councillors you don’t really want via a barely-proportional system no-one understands, and one that seems to favour candidates who come first alphabetically and can easily result in councillors with little link to you or your concerns cannot be a good system. The Single Transferrable Vote should be replaced, and with haste.
Read More »STV stinks (the electoral system, not the TV station)
It’s not the people who are broken
The ‘political class’ has got to give up on its lazy recourse of blaming ‘apathy’ for low turnout. People turn out when they think they can make a difference. In most communities they know they can’t. So blame the system, not the people.