Matthew Crighton reviews some core messages from a climate conference and their relevance to debates in post-election Scotland and at COP26. The idea of a ‘Just Transition’ (JT) has moved from the fringes to centre stage since 2016 when Friends of the Earth Scotland and STUC set up the Just Transition Partnership. Having been a […]
Dave Moxham says it’s not so much the devil is in the detail but the visions are quite different. Up until relatively recently ‘Just Transition’ (JT) was a term used by a relatively narrow group of people in policy circles, unions and environmental campaigners. Over the past few years, the term has become more commonly […]
Maggie Chapman gives a frank and honest view on the Scottish Government and Scottish Greens deal. Some on the left have wondered about the Scottish Green Party’s (SGP) left credentials, but the day SNP and SGP members both accepted the Cooperation Agreement, Andrew Neil, in the Daily Mail, gave a high accolade: ‘Anti-monarchy, anti-Britain, anti-wealth, […]
Peter Lomas argues prime ministers hold dangerous amounts of undemocratic and unilateral powers. Questioned, at the G7 July summit, about the problematic status of Northern Ireland in the EU Withdrawal Agreement, Johnson hinted at ‘pragmatic solutions’. So far these have meant the UK government twice breaking the Agreement, in principle and in detail. Next step […]
Stephen Smellie gives personal reflections on UNISON’s newly elected national leadership. Glaswegian Christina McAnea was elected as general secretary of UNISON, the first woman to lead one of the big unions. Leither Gary Smith was elected as GMB general secretary. In UNITE, Sharon Graham was elected as the ‘left’ change candidate. The election of a […]
Raphael De Santos dissects GERS, arguing for managed expectations as the first steps on a longer path. Once we get past the arguments on a second Scottish referendum and the infighting within the independence movement, unionists’ focus will shift to the economy and finances. This was the Achilles’ Heel of the ‘Yes’ movement in 2014. […]
Chris McGachy recalls a time when music was a political force to be reckoned within workers’ struggles. Fifty years ago in the summer of 1971, John Lennon was putting the finishing touches to his global anthem, Imagine. At the same time, Heath’s Tory government announced the imminent end of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS). Within […]
Looking behind the election facts and figures, James Mitchell reveals the continuing, underlying dynamics of politics in Scotland. There is always something in any election to justify the claim that it was unique and the 2021 Holyrood election has many claims. It was fought against the backdrop of a pandemic. Turnout was the highest on […]
Gerry Hassan sees the 2021 election in a longer lens to assess the current state of Scottish democracy and point up some ways forward. Scottish politics are defined by many factors – fourteen years of SNP dominance, seven years of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, and the arrogance of Westminster. But underlying these factors at […]
Carol Mochan says there’s a mountain of political leg work needed but that it can be done. Scotland’s status as a devolved nation worthy of its place on the world stage is in no doubt after yet another well contested election. But the most recent campaign did little to evidence the life changing debates going […]