The editorial of Scottish Left Review (120, Nov-Dec 2020) ended with the statement: ‘As we go to print, Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from the Labour Party. The reason given was Corbyn’s statement that the problem of anti-Semitism in Labour has been ‘dramatically overstated for political reasons’, an observation shared by the SLR. It is […]
Lilian Macer looks back on a year of failings and flaws in the battle against COVID-19. Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new strain of coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China towards the end of 2019. Clinical presentation may range from mild-to-moderate illness to pneumonia or severe acute respiratory infection. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by […]
Nick Kempe outlines the key principles and values that must underpin the reform of care in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s ‘Independent Review of Adult Social Care’, conducted by Derek Feeley, is due to report at the end of January and will ‘include consideration of a National Care Service’ (NCS). The principles upon which such a […]
Brian Boyd and Henry Maitles lay out a wide-ranging critique of what is right and wrong in education. The Covid pandemic has as a side effect in that it highlights weaknesses and contradictions in structures and focuses on them. Nowhere is this more obvious than in school education. The exam fiasco during the summer highlighted […]
Roz Foyer ask whether the Scottish Government will pass or fail the test of paying up. Since the first lockdown, we’ve hailed our key workers as heroes. They are. We owe them a great amount of gratitude. While many of us were tucked up at home, working online, the workers in our food shops and […]
Mike Danson asks what sort of economic renewal and recovery do we want in Scotland. As countries and governments struggle with the impacts of COVID-19, the positions of the city-regions and nations within Britain have come under scrutiny. The very limited rights and powers of the mayors and councils in the north of England have […]
Sandy Hobbs finds the EHRC report to be deeply flawed, amounting to a politically inspired hatchet job. In October 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a report entitled ‘Investigation into Anti-semitism in the Labour Party’. Media coverage emphasised the ways in which the party appears in a bad light. In particular, the […]
Tommy Kane analyses changes inside Labour and calls for the left to stay, fight and win. When Keir Starmer won the Labour leadership, he did it on the back of a series of promises. Competence, he said, and unity. I will, he said, carry on where Jeremy Corbyn left off. He flashed his ten pledges […]
Kenny MacAskill reviews how the SNP will act after its leadership received a recent bloody lip. Where now for the SNP after its annual national conference in November? A virtual event is always likely to have the atmosphere of a football match without fans – interesting to watch but lacking the passion and intensity, never […]
Keir McKechnie reports on how AUOB is changing not just to meet the times but to shape them too. Support for the Union has never been more fragile. There have nearly 20 successive polls showing a majority in favour of independence. Parties favouring a break with Britain are on course to win a significant majority […]