The problem with having to file copy over a week in advance of publication day means that sometimes what I write in this column can be superseded by events. So, I have to choose between voicing outdated opinions or making wild speculative predictions. Or both. So, I’m going with the wildly speculative this time around. […]
Though Charles Dickens did not say ‘It was not the best of times. It was not quite the worst of times’ as he began his novel, A Tale of Two Cities (1859), this is what it feels like for the left after 6 May 2021 elections for the sixth Scottish Parliament. After months of electioneering […]
Looking behind the election facts and figures, James Mitchell reveals the continuing, underlying dynamics of politics in Scotland. There is always something in any election to justify the claim that it was unique and the 2021 Holyrood election has many claims. It was fought against the backdrop of a pandemic. Turnout was the highest on […]
Gerry Hassan sees the 2021 election in a longer lens to assess the current state of Scottish democracy and point up some ways forward. Scottish politics are defined by many factors – fourteen years of SNP dominance, seven years of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, and the arrogance of Westminster. But underlying these factors at […]
Carol Mochan says there’s a mountain of political leg work needed but that it can be done. Scotland’s status as a devolved nation worthy of its place on the world stage is in no doubt after yet another well contested election. But the most recent campaign did little to evidence the life changing debates going […]
Maggie Chapman looks back on not just a quantitative but also qualitative shift for the Scottish Greens. The Holyrood 2021 election reflected a number of trends that we have seen in previous elections, but gives significant hope for workers’ rights, a just transition, a second referendum and the left in Scottish politics. The first trend […]
Chris Stephens says the populace is behind the SNP’s prospectus for a socially just independent Scotland. Seven days after Scotland went to the polls to elect the most diverse parliament in its history and on the morning that new and re-elected MSPs were being sworn in, Home Office removals officers were carrying out a dawn […]
Given that the work-in started fifty years ago in June 1971, we are pleased to showcase the work of Derek McKechnie on the back cover (above). Derek McKechnie explains why he created the UCS work-in image on the back cover. ‘My parents grew up during the 1970s in Glasgow to working class families and both […]
Surveying the political landscape, Linda Somerville asks: what will it mean for workers and the working-class? Hailed by the media as the most important election yet for the Scottish Parliament, the 6 May plebiscite will, indeed, go down in history. Holding a national election while mainland Scotland was still living under significant restrictions was certainly […]
Kenny MacAskill looks back at Alba’s debut campaign and forward to its future. Sometimes in politics, as in life, the concept can be correct but circumstances and timing are wrong. And so, it was to prove for Alba in the Holyrood election. That an SNP vote on the list would be wasted and let in […]