Ben Jackson, The Case for Scottish Independence: A History of Nationalist Political Thought in Modern Scotland, Cambridge University Press, pp179, £18.99, 9781108883733 Reviewed by Colin Fox. The intellectual case for Scottish Independence and how it evolved over the past 50 years is the subject of this new book from Cambridge University Press. It claims somewhat […]
Victor Serge, Notebooks: 1936-1947, New York Review Books, 2019, £14, pp651, 9781681372709 Reviewed by Sean Sheehan. No one writing from personal experience has expressed more political joy for the achievement of the 1917 Russian Revolution and elegiac regret for its aftermath than Victor Serge. Born in Belgium to impoverished Russian exiles, it was in Paris […]
VLADIMIR McTAVISH – A KICK UP THE TABLOIDS Despite starting the year under lockdown, and despite the disaster that is Brexit and the uncertainty of quite how catastrophic it will prove to be, many are entering 2021 in the hope that it will be a better year for Scotland, the UK and the planet. Most […]
Living la vida loca lockdown Boris Johnson, for his Tory government, proclaims how ‘incredibly generous’ it is being to those affected by the impact of the lockdown restrictions. Not only is this a barefaced lie – with the added pizzazz that you’d think it was his own (and not taxpayers’) money being ‘given’ out – […]
Roz Foyer introduces the Scottish Trades Union Congress’s response to the COVID calamity. We face the biggest economic crisis in living memory. The immediate cause may have been Covid-19, but the virus drew its strength from a generation of injustices. Coronavirus may not technically discriminate on class lines – but its effects are clearly exacerbated […]
Joe Cullinane explains what North Ayrshire council is doing to roll back the neo-liberal tide. We are in the midst of the biggest economic and social crisis of our lifetimes. Coronavirus has exposed the fragilities of our prevailing economic model which for decades has been based on extraction rather than production. An economic system where […]
Arthur West makes the case for a non-nuclear future ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections. During the Covid 19 crisis Scottish CND (SCND) and the wider peace movement have been organising online meetings and discussions. During these, activists have expressed the view that the crisis has probably resulted in the case for abolishing nuclear weapons […]
Mhairi Snowden stress tests our human rights practice and finds our governments wanting. If COVID-19 has been a fundamental test for our societies as Michele Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has insisted it is, how have we done? How have human rights and dignity been respected, protected and fulfilled during the pandemic? At […]
In his new pamphlet, James Mitchell highlights the complexities we must comprehend for mature discussion. Debate over Scotland’s constitutional future is stuck in a rut. Public opinion is roughly even on whether Scotland should be independent. Small movements in these polls are fought for in a form of trench warfare. The constitutional question dominates and […]
Katrina Faccenda says the roadblock must be removed so socialist policies can become attractive again. The fightback against the latest attacks on Richard Leonard, Scottish Labour leader, has energised the party’s left activists. The Campaign for Socialism (CfS) organised one of our biggest events in years to rally people behind Richard and more importantly to […]