Malcolm Harvey assesses the likely outcome that we shall wake up to on 7 May 2021. Elections happen frequently in democracies; in multi-level polities, even more frequently. Years without elections seem unusual – and even when they occur, as in 2020, regular polling keeps the idea in our heads that an election is just around […]
Neil Findlay lays out the case for a third option in any future referendum. Tony Benn famously set out five questions of democracy and urged all of us to ask them of those in power: What power have you got; where did you get it from; in whose interests do you use it; to whom […]
Chris Sutherland unravels the class contours of privilege and power pervading a tiny town in Fife. The 2018 Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide, listing the worst performing universities for equality and social diversity, put St Andrews (StA) at 131 out of 132 universities, with Oxford and Cambridge competing for the bottom place. Writing […]
From her kitchen and computer, Annie Morgan thinks through the implications of mining and money for food and fairness As I cooked a bit tottie and chard from our community garden, I reflected on the refrain ‘Feed the World’. We recall our consciences being pricked some 35 years ago by Bob Geldof and an awareness […]
Derek McPherson tells a tale of corporate greed against the hoi polloi. British Gas (BG) is bound to comply with Schedule 5 of the Gas Act 1995, which constitutes an agreement between it and the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. This agreement commits BG to treat ‘propane estate’ customers, that is, gas […]
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 […]
Campbell Martin unravels the continuing battle for the soul of the SNP. In years to come, students of Scottish politics will look back on this time as ‘The Great SNP Enigma’. They will try to unravel how the SNP and party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, could have been achieving record-high support in opinion polls, yet a […]
Stephen Smellie surveys the field and asks whether change at the top will presage change beneath. Over the next 18 months UNISON, UNITE and GMB, our biggest unions, will be electing new general secretaries. Consequently, the landscape could dramatically change, or it could pretty much stay the same. All three ballots will have similar contexts […]
Natalia Equihua reports on continuing campaign to protect women from male violence. This 25 November marks 29 years since the 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence was first launched, a global campaign started by Rutgers University’s Center for Women’s Global Leadership to demand an end to violence against women and girls. It unifies the […]
Elaine Smith outlines the progress on her bill to enact the right into law. In Scottish Left Review (111, May/June 2019), I argued the Scottish Parliament emerged partially as a response to the rampant injustices inflicted upon Scotland during Thatcherism, and that it had not lived up to its potential as a left-leaning defence against […]