MAgazine
New security environment is a boost for independence, not a threat
The rapidly collapsing global order is now regularly cited as an argument against Scottish independence. Given that what is collapsing is a gross error by the British establishment, the truth is the other way round.
Watching ourselves: Labour, Blair, and the Return of the Panopticon
Scotland’s future is now clear; ambition or subordination
Over the devolution years Scotland’s leaders have become more and more cautious and have internalised more and more doubt about Scotland’s ability to try big things. In a world in turmoil, we either shake this affliction or we suffer.
Transparency means keeping politicians where we can see them
Democracy only works if we can see everything that a Government does at all times.
Happy to be an embarrassment
Common Weal has been regularly mocked for making arguments which are now mainstream. It is a reflection of Scotland’s stultifying problem of political orthodoxy and the failure to support and promote voices brave enough to ask difficult questions.
Cities for people first, tourists second
Rory Hamilton says his non-New Year’s resolution to carry something forward from 2025 into 2026 and to leave something behind in 2025 is no better embodied than in his moving from Edinburgh to Glasgow.
The problem isn’t poverty, it’s inequality
National service and the politics of who is expected to pay
Abduction as policy
politicians are living in 2005 when it comes to city centres
The failure of politics? You can't fix what you can't see
Policymakers are far too stuck in their own bubble to properly understand how their policies impact on people. Unless they learn to count what matters to real people rather than corporations, the fraying of democracy will continue.
Informed Citizens and Deliberative Democracy
Bill Johnston argues that politicians must keep their promise to use deliberative democratic techniques such as Citizens Assemblies to help strengthen decision-making in policy but also to strengthen our democracy itself by better empowering and informing citizens.
Scotland could lead the UK by upholding International Law
With the US no longer a demonstrably reliable ally and the UK demonstrably unable to stand up to them, Scotland should do what we can to protect ourselves from the recent shifts in geopolitics and act as a beacon for the upholding of international law.
What politics gets wrong about people
Farewell Auld Reekie, onwards the dear green place
Rory Hamilton says his non-New Year’s resolution to carry something forward from 2025 into 2026 and to leave something behind in 2025 is no better embodied than in his moving from Edinburgh to Glasgow.
Twelve Ideas for Scotland in a Progressive Europe
Twelve ideas for Scotland in a progressive Europe
Approaching 2026 with hope
This year has been a dark one, but I approach next year with hope because we’re now seeing how powerful we really are.
The only tired I am this Christmas
I am usually exhausted by the end of the year and in need of a Christmas break. This year I feel different - and there are a lot of reasons top be more hopeful about 2026 than it appears.
In 2025, nothing is as it was
It’s been a year of turmoil, in the world and in my head. But it leaves space for new ideas and it is those we must cultivate if we are to save democracy
