Simon Barrow is a freelance consultant and researcher for Scottish CND. He is former director of Ekklesia, a think tank on beliefs, ethics and public policy. He has co-edited and co-written five books on Scottish and UK politics. Miriam Brett is a Co-Director of Future Economy Scotland. Colin Brown is the Scottish Executive Council Member […]
2026 has seen droughts cover England, and fires sweep across the Cairngorms. Again, the climate movement has been shouting that it is time to realise the dangers of climate change, and seize opportunities we have to make a difference. Every year wasted is a historic failure. Whose failure is this? What does it mean for […]
How the Scottish Government closes the looming fiscal gap is apolitical choice. Miriam Brett argues that climate breakdowndramatically increases spending needs and actively steeringthe economy towards a just transition is not only necessary, butScotland’s greatest opportunity. Scotland sits at the precipice of a challenging fiscal landscape, necessitating an urgent array of difficult decisions for the […]
Fossil Fuel lobbyists and the far-right have channelled North Sea discontent into a toxic nostalgia for the good old days. Ewan Gibbs shows how this cannot hide the inevitable decline of oil and gas Oil and gas have re-emerged as dominant themes of Scottish political debate on a scale perhaps not seen since the heady […]
After ten years of working on the Just Transition Partnership,Matthew Crighton reflects that we cannot solve our majorenvironmental problems without changing the economic systemwhich is driving them. When the STUC General Council in 2016 agreed to the proposal from Friends of the Earth Scotland (FOES) to establish a partnership around “the industrial changes needed to […]
Liz Murray looks at the crossroads between private equity and community power that Scotland faces when building and repowering its windfarms – and why democratic ownership of our energy infrastructure must power any Just Transition worthy of its name. Since it opened in 2008, Whitelee windfarm – the UK’s largest on shore wind farm, just […]
In this interview by Cailean Gallagher and Stephen Smellie, Chris Hamilton sets out how the disappointments and failures after the Grangemouth Oil Refinery Closure has impacted workers, community, and any prospects of working together with the climate movement. The Just Transition Partnership was established in 2016 bringing together Friends of the Earth Scotland with the […]
How does it feel to be invited to discuss the Just Transition in Whitehall? After a decade working offshore, Mike Sarnecki reflectson his experience challenging London’s civil servants, and what it would look like for workers to really be involved in the transition. Earlier this year, my colleagues from Platform and I travelled to London […]
What are the experiences of those working to build unity between environmentalists and the labour movement? Matthew Crighton surveys a diverse range of activists, and shows how the alliance is more urgent than ever. In 2015, Eurig Scandrett and I asked ‘Can green and red unite?’ in SLR issue 89 which we co-edited on the […]
As European governments invest billions in arms and weapons for growth, skilled labour and industry, Simon Barrow shows how this new “military Keynesianism” won’t develop good jobs but it will drive climate breakdown. As geopolitical tensions flare globally, western governments are pivoting sharply toward rearmament. Defence budgets are swelling, state mandates are shifting towards military […]