Peter McColl looks back on the creation of the right’s dominance in the Irish republic in order to explain why independence did not mean revolution When, on the 24 April, Easter Sunday 1916 on Sackville Street, Dublin, a group of rebels seized the General Post Office, proclaiming an Irish Republic, one of the most prominent […]
Andrew Anderson looks at the lessons which must be learned from the case of Shetland for the rest of Scotland Shetland College was privatised on 1 August 2021. This was the first time in Scottish history a Further Education (FE) college has been transferred from public ownership and control into a private company limited by […]
Victor Grossman looks beyond Merkel’s party’s defeat to see how the left still lost out When the German election result became known on 26 September, there were cheers and tears. But the outcome in Europe’s strongest economy was no humdrum matter. The end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year-long premiership added a special twist. So, who raised […]
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Irish republic, Bill Bonnar asks questions about Scotland’s future It’s November 1921 in Inverness Town Hall. The British Cabinet are in the Highlands for a weekend of grouse shooting and have taken some time out to agree the final draft of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. […]
Gregor Gall says taking Scotrail into public ownership will test the SNP’s left credentials Industrial relations at Scotrail have been at their worst for many, many years, culminating in the proposed two-week strike by RMT union members during COP26. While this dispute was resolved and the strike did not go ahead, the underlying issues of […]
Though Raphael De Santos argues that while there’s no way to be a new Norway, there is still much scope for social advance Many in the Scottish independence movement point to Norway as a model of what an independent Scotland could become. Is this possible or desirable? Both countries are in northern Europe with large […]
Marsha Scott says strategic, resourced action tackling causes and symptoms is the only way forward Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) has welcomed the recent attention to violence against women and girls (VAWG) in media, criminal justice, and political spheres, but that welcome has been accompanied by a slightly jaundiced eye. We have been here before, as […]
Binoy Kampmark looks behind the stramash over selling nuclear subs to see a new cold war developing The formation on 15 September 2021 of a new security relationship, AUKUS, by Australia, UK and US sent ripples of shock through the Indo-Pacific. It ruffled the feathers of the French security establishment, who felt it appropriate to […]
Henry Maitles argues that Priti Patel’s ‘hostile environment’ is lamentably nothing new Current debates on refugees and attempts by Western governments to restrict asylum seekers are deeply depressing. Deaths in the Mediterranean and the Channel of the ‘boat people’ have become common while ever more ludicrous schemes – from wave machines to deserted oil rigs […]
Dave Watson identifies the dangerous attack on democracy and inadequate resourcing found in the Scottish Government’s proposals The Scottish Government published a consultation paper in August 2021 on creating a National Care Service (NCS) in Scotland. This followed from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, known as the Feeley Review, which published its findings […]