“By putting energy into fighting in unison, this deeply unequal Union might yet die a peaceful death that enables each nation to rise from the ashes strengthened, able to shake off the soot of medieval power-hoarding and class conflict in favour of progressive, local democracy.”
Scottish Government
Ahead of SNP annual conference tomorrow, Living Rent tenants’ union are delivering their Tenant Manifesto to the SNP’s party HQ in Edinburgh. They’re calling for proper rent controls, after the Scottish Parliament introduced Rent Pressure Zones in 2016 that councils have been unable to use, due to the cost of data collection requirements placed on them to […]
A strange conference in a strange moment for the SNP
“What we have learned over the past year is that the planet can be thrown into an upheaval without precedent, and the renter’s lot will remain an unchanging, unloved constant.”
Sean Bell: If the pandemic couldn’t break the stranglehold of landlords on Scotland, what will?
As furious statements from the trade unions go, the latest from the STUC on the demise of Bifab is right up there. “The Scottish Government trumpets its support for ‘Fair Work’ and ‘workers voice’ at every opportunity, but when it comes to key issues such as the future of hundreds of workers at BiFab they […]
‘Just Transition’ no more?
“Puppy farming is a shadow industry which can only function through public ignorance. Tragically, it does – in fact, it thrives, not least because that ignorance has become especially pronounced over the course of the Coronavirus pandemic.”
Sean Bell: Latest campaign against puppy farms demands we challenge our own ignorance
Who’d be a school teacher? The job sounds stressful enough at the best of times, but in the current context it must be very difficult indeed. Teaching classrooms full of masked secondary school students, not knowing from one day to the next whether students will be in class or at home isolating, all while worrying […]
Teachers would be right to strike
“We will get there – but if you think the next six months are some kind of cakewalk, or that the six months after that are going to be a doddle, you need to think again.”
Robin McAlpine: For independence supporters, the next 12 months will not be a walk in the park
“Findlay’s Devo Max option is wildly ill-conceived, taken from the perspective of his own political commitments to a more egalitarian, democratic and just society. His own Devo Max option is the perfect vehicle for elite interests.”
David Jamieson: ‘Devo Max’ might be the surest route to elite capture
“Those who ascribe sinister character to Scottish devolution say more about themselves than our current or future constitutional arrangement, and little of it is complimentary.”
Sean Bell: Boris Johnson fears political systems can determine political outcomes – with luck, we can prove him right
“We could create a National Pharmaceutical Company to secure the supply of essential medicines under greater public ownership and to help manufacture and deliver them to the world’s most vulnerable.”