Issue 120
Nov – Dec 2020
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Living la vida loca lockdown Boris Johnson, for his Tory government, proclaims how ‘incredibly generous’ it is being to those affected by the impact of the lockdown restrictions. Not only is this a barefaced lie – with the added pizzazz that you’d think it was his own (and not taxpayers’) money being ‘given’ out – […]
Roz Foyer introduces the Scottish Trades Union Congress’s response to the COVID calamity. We face the biggest economic crisis in living memory. The immediate cause may have been Covid-19, but the virus drew its strength from a generation of injustices. Coronavirus may not technically discriminate on class lines – but its effects are clearly exacerbated […]
Joe Cullinane explains what North Ayrshire council is doing to roll back the neo-liberal tide. We are in the midst of the biggest economic and social crisis of our lifetimes. Coronavirus has exposed the fragilities of our prevailing economic model which for decades has been based on extraction rather than production. An economic system where […]
Arthur West makes the case for a non-nuclear future ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections. During the Covid 19 crisis Scottish CND (SCND) and the wider peace movement have been organising online meetings and discussions. During these, activists have expressed the view that the crisis has probably resulted in the case for abolishing nuclear weapons […]
Mhairi Snowden stress tests our human rights practice and finds our governments wanting. If COVID-19 has been a fundamental test for our societies as Michele Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has insisted it is, how have we done? How have human rights and dignity been respected, protected and fulfilled during the pandemic? At […]
In his new pamphlet, James Mitchell highlights the complexities we must comprehend for mature discussion. Debate over Scotland’s constitutional future is stuck in a rut. Public opinion is roughly even on whether Scotland should be independent. Small movements in these polls are fought for in a form of trench warfare. The constitutional question dominates and […]
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 […]
Stuart Fairweather looks at the successful creation of the Dundee Action Forum and asks what next. Dundee Action Forum (DAF) was established in May of this year. There were two main reasons for this: one, a wish to coordinate campaigning and two, a recognition that the Covid-19 pandemic meant that things would need to be […]
Victor Grossman argues much was lost and not much gained by East Germans under the new Germany. Despite being the thirty-year anniversary of German unification, this year’s 3rd October speeches seemed more restrained, without balloons, laser shows and packed auditoriums. The blame lay largely on the virus but also reflected fears about the economy, the […]
Hiroshima (2005), produced and directed by Paul Wilmhurst Reviewed by Jackie Bergson. Premiered on British terrestrial television earlier this year, Hiroshima recounts and illuminates one of the most horrific war atrocities of the twentieth century. Beloved actor, the late John Hurt narrates in passionate detail; his rich, authoritative tones conveying absolute depth of commitment to […]
Lesley Riddoch, Huts: a place beyond – how to end our exile from nature, Luath, 2020, £9.99 Reviewed by Hamish Kirk. Looking back upon the heady days of 2014, I remember Riddoch’s book, Blossom, which engendered some debate and discussion. I hope Huts will do the same. She asks: ‘Why are attitudes to using the […]
Last issue, we featured two poems from history teacher, David McKinstry, who had been engaged in home schooling and dealing with the effects of COVID-19 on family and work. Here, we bring you several more. Love and Lockdown People love and are shrill By accident of proximity Fulfilling Napoleon’s observation That emotions like politics Are […]
We have now reached the beginning of the last two months of 2020. The world, at least my admittedly fairly unimportant part of it, looks remarkably similar to how it did at the end of the first two months of the year. Namely, there’s nothing going on right now, and on the horizon, I can […]