How does indyref 2039 sound to you? Or indyref 2054? Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has sought to harden the UK Government’s position on opposing the right to decide on independence. Asked by the BBC if he was ruling out an indyref regardless of the Scottish Parliament election result, Jack said: “It’s no for a generation”. […]
Democracy
“If you put a hundred random members of the public in a room for a few weekends, what they produce really does badly expose the weakness of the political classes.”
Robin McAlpine: The big idea from ordinary people that could save Scottish democracy
“The centre is broken. Its aggressive, controlling hands squeezed harder and harder until the things being controlled couldn’t take it any more and began to crack. The price is paid by others.”
Robin McAlpine: The centre is broken – control did the the breaking
“The Biden presidency would undoubtedly be the choice of Wall Street. But it would also be the most direct form of rule by Wall Street.”
Analysis: Is Biden-style liberal capitalism the new vogue on the centre left?
Brazilian journalist and activist Nathália Urban looks at the sensational Bolivian election, where the left appears set to return to power less than one year after being deposed in a coup After suffering a coup d’état that cost more than 33 lives, left thousands of people injured, and forced important political figures like President Evo […]
Nathália Urban: Bolivia is a beacon of light for Latin America
At the end of this week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will outline plans for Scotland’s three-tier system for restrictions on covid-19. Then when MSPs return to the Scottish Parliament at the start of next week, the proposals will be scrutinised, debated and voted on. It’s the first time in quite awhile that there will be […]
Should the response to covid-19 be democratised?
“In the spectacle of the first presidential debate, two aged oligarchs battled incoherently over fractured constituencies in a broken economy.”
Analysis: It’s easy to laugh – but the US is the rotten heart of global ‘democracy’
“Like the Catalan movement, Scots may face an allied UK and European apparatus increasingly disrespectful of democracy and focused on the interests of the already institutionally dominant.”
Analysis: Repression in Catalonia is a Spanish tradition – but it has lessons for us as well
Who would be a Catalan President? Or at least, a pro-independence Catalan President? Look through the list of those who have served as president of Catalonia before and after the period of dictatorship under General Franco and you will find that just one served out their term in office, the rest were forced out by […]
Banned for banners: Torra’s absurd removal
The scale of the SQA mess is, I think, acknowledged by everyone. Of course governments get into policy messes all the time – it’s hardly a unique situation. But this government is producing far too many of them far too fast. The care home crisis, Nikegate, the early failures on Covid-19 control, the blended learning […]