SNP trade minister Ivan McKee evocatively called them a “shiny squirrel” while Nicola Sturgeon noted they were widely associated with “low-cost, low-wage, low-value opportunities”. Fortunately, the Scottish Government aren’t proposing “freeports” but “green ports”…

Source Direct: As Free as a Green Port


For the final Source Direct of 2020, I am fulfilling a reader request and considering a dystopian project arising from the Brexiteer faction, the Free Ports scheme announced by the UK Treasury last year. What are Free Ports and what are their implications for Scotland?

Britannia Unchained, Caledonia Unleashed




“Whether our future builds on rediscovered human and ecological values and community connections, as so many hope, will depend on what we do now – not after the pandemic is over, when it will be too late. We don’t want to go back to ‘their normal’, but the alternative might be a whole lot worse.”

Sarah Glynn: After the deluge