Jackie Williams highlights the differences and similarities the NHS faces on privatisation north and south of the border The dangers inherent in NHS trusts in England setting up wholly owned subsidiaries (WOSs) – in a bid to avoid tax – are increasingly apparent in terms of threats to patient services and jobs. Of this, we […]
Linda Somerville argues the left can productively utilise tech against capital if its knows how ‘Consumer software on our computers and mobile devices has transformed how people organise their lives and their interactions with each other, and it is the new expanded terrain on which organising succeeds or fails.’ Becky Bond and Zack Exley, Rules […]
Using his personal experience, longstanding activist, John Dennis, calls for the radical left to come together again We face an uncertain immediate political future in Britain with various possible Brexit outcomes and a general election likely quite soon. This means we should have an opportunity to start making moves towards reuniting the left in Scotland. […]
Ian Gasse reports on the relaunch of a valuable resource for all those concerning with the plight of workers’ struggles in Scotland This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of its first journal by the Scottish Labour History Society (SLHS). It is also a year in which the Society is launching a new […]
Peter Lomas examines the dynamics behind the Iranian nuclear programme The Iranian nuclear programme attracting so much controversy in the news is to all appearances a deliberate approach to the ‘threshold’ of weapons-capability. Focused on uranium enrichment, it is the object of international diplomacy in the shape of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action […]
Chris Holligan unearths how class divisions play out in our supposed meritocratic educational system This piece is stimulated by my experience holidaying in Elie this summer. Elie has a failed economy. Most of the properties are third or fourth homes. They are lived in for some of the summer period of the British public schools. […]
XY Chelsea, 2019, director: Tim Travers Hawkins Reviewed by Jackie Bergson Political and social relevance resounds sensitively and intensely within this documentary about whistle-blower, Chelsea Manning. XY Chelsea mainly arcs across the time between her release from prison in January 2017 and May 2019, when she was re-imprisoned for refusing to testify before the United […]
Willy Slavin, Life Is Not A Long Quiet River: A Memoir, Birlinn, £12. 99, 9781780275789 Reviewed by Donny O’Rourke I don’t know if Slavin is ‘prole-ier than thou’ but he’s certainly holier than most. This troublesome priest, who will be eighty in January not only takes Jesus seriously – he takes him literally. Father Slavin, […]
The James Connolly Reader, edited by Shaun Harkin, Haymarket Press, 2018, 9781608466467 Reviewed by Dave Sherry Born to Irish immigrants in an Edinburgh slum, Connolly was driven into the army through poverty at fourteen, being sent to serve in Ireland. When he learned his regiment was being transferred to India, he deserted and returned to […]
James McEnaney, A Scottish Journey: Personal Impressions of Modern Scotland, Luath, £9.99, 9781912147427 Reviewed by Maggie Chapman A lot has been written about the democratic foment of the Scottish independence referendum of 2014. This is not a book about that momentous period in our history. But it is firmly located in the Scotland created during […]