Outlaw King (2018), director: David Mackenzie Reviewed by Jackie Bergson Hailing from Scotland, David Mackenzie contextualises his film about Robert the Bruce’s rise to becoming the chief successful figure in Scotland’s fiercest battles for independence with backdrops of medieval turmoil and political savagery. Outlaw King – possibly unavoidably comparable with multiple award-winning Braveheart (1995) – […]
Tom Devine, The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900, Allen Lane, 2018, 9780241304105 Reviewed by Sean Sheehan The dispossession of people from the Highlands and rural Lowlands of Scotland cannot be dissociated from the emergence of the country as a modern nation. This is the baseline for the importance invested by Devine in […]
Greg Albo, Leo Panitch and Alan Zuege (eds.) Class, Party, Revolution: A Socialist Register Reader, Haymarket Books, 1608469190, £20.99 Reviewed by Robin Jones Current events invariably colour one’s interpretation of political texts but, for this reader, recent months of both British and world politics have not only coloured my reading, but invaded, confused and frustrated […]
Happy New Year. The start of January is always a relief to me, as it signals that the sheer living Hell of Christmas is out of the way for at least eleven months. The December party season is without doubt the worst time of year to earn one’s living as a stand-up comedian. Playing to […]
Editorial This was an issue of Scottish Left Review we could not put off any longer. Since the referendum in June 2016, we have covered the decision of Britain to leave the EU and its attendant prospects every so often and with one or two articles. But until now we have not made it the […]
George Kerevan sets out his socialist position in the context of the contradictions of capitalism WHAT position should socialists advance regarding optimal trade arrangements with the rest of Europe, in the event Britain does quit the EU? Let’s leave aside the tactical debate on the efficacy of a second Brexit vote, or the fraught arguments […]
Jim Sillars say capital rules the roost in the EU so the only way is out In requesting views on preferred options ‘after Britain has left the EU’, the editor has almost asked for the impossible as no one knows what Brexit will mean until a deal is struck and we can study the details. […]
Neil Findlay articulates Labour’s position The next few weeks and months will see the culmination of a forty-year civil war amongst Tories. From the days of Heath taking us into the Common Market, Thatcher signing the Single European Act, Major the Maastricht treaty and Cameron’s referendum dilemma, each has faced a hostile onslaught of criticism […]
Molly Scott Cato makes the case for stopping a disaster by having a ‘People’s Vote’ ‘Brexit means Brexit’ declared Theresa May. Though what exactly Brexit means depends, of course, on who you speak to. What is clear is that there is no version which commands majority support in Parliament, let alone any version that is […]
Mick Whelan lays out why his union supported Brexit and what it expects from the negotiations ASLEF backed Brexit – the campaign to leave the European Union – in the referendum in Britain in 2016. Not because we wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Nigel Farage – a man memorably described by The Economist […]