MAgazine
Programme for Government 2025 - In Review
A review of this year’s Programme for Government and some suggestions for “tweaks” we could have seen.
That’s so woke: time for a language of emancipation
The far right pose a threat in Scotland too, and we can’t be complacent by saying ‘independence will save us’ especially if the independence we offer is built on the economics which have given rise to the far right, i.e. austerity and the sustainable growth commission.
In an era of psychos we must learn from sociopathy
Sociopathy is both a real condition and also a perfect metaphor for our institutions. We need to learn from one to understand the other
The fragility of peace
Poor Show Swinney
John Swinney believes, falsely, that increasing social security payments for poor parents will discourage them from working.
Accent bias - What it actually means
They should ban that sort of thing!
Bans save lives - but they also ruin lives. To get them right we need an ethical and moral framework that helps us to understand the difference.
Our identities are tearing us apart
A major study has shown that between left and right we share little identity in common now, but that that is also true within the left. Without collective identity can we reverse polarisation?
The trouble with Erdoğan
For many people in the West, Turkish President’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s support for Palestine has bought him a lot of good will. Sadly, this comes from ignorance and is certainly not merited.
Fair Pay For All
The Scottish Government should add a clause to their Fair Work Framework to limit the maximum pay of executives in companies that wish to claim Fair Work accreditation.
Work To Live
Rather than ask how a UBI would improve life, we could ask what it would look like if someone tried to study the impact of taking a UBI away from us.
So what is possible now?
Global politics is all over the place and the old orthodoxies seem to be dead. So what might unorthodox economic policy for Scotland look like?
It’s Scotland’s Economy - Or Is It?
Scotland is losing billions of pounds a year to profit extraction. Why is the Scottish Government encouraging even more?
Deal or no deal
Generations promised stability, prosperity, and opportunity now faces a reality of insecure work, unaffordable housing, and a system stacked against them. What exactly are we offering the young people of today?
Learning from “Greens in Government™”
As we move forward, we must ensure that we are at the centre of decisions, that there remains a left-wing voice in Holyrood, and that we are not tempted by the neoliberal forces of even Scotland’s establishment if we are to return to power.
Who will speak for the seas?
The sea may look eternal and untouchable but human activity is doing enormous damage to our oceans. The Ocean Rights Coalition is calling for the oceans to be granted legal personality so that they can be properly protected.
Scotland Vs USA - Abortion rights
How on earth have we reached the point where the Vice President of the United States of America is continually interfering in policing and the law around protest in Scotland? It’s not an accident, it’s a concerted plan.
This moment is filled with so much hope
Among the chaos and the dark tone of world politics, there is actually rather a lot of reason to feel hope. Things getting better is a long way from guaranteed, but the chances diminish more if we don’t imagine they could be better.
Help us lob a molotov cocktail at failure
The scale of failure in Scotland now has gone well beyond concerning into really alarming territory. We can’t go on like this, but to create a manifesto of change we’ll need help…
Tariffs For Penguins
Despite boasts to the contrary, Keir Starmer was unable to achieve a better trade deal with America than the one Trump gave to an island of penguins.
