MAgazine
Three years of learning
Engineering a better parliament
Our politics always seems to solve a problem in the way - because our politicians tend to think in a particular way. We need politicians with a more varied approach to problem-solving if we want to fix our problems.
Private equity ate my cats’ lunch
How private equity ate my cats’ lunch and what it tells us about modern Capitalism.
Too late for gambling regrets Gordon
Gordon Brown is right that the gambling industry has become a money-printing blight on our society worth billions of pounds and should be taxed. Pity it was him that caused this to happen in the first place.
Moral Outrage - and rightly so
How to lose friends and alienate people
Politicians can't stop convincing themselves that working for commercial interests is actually working for the public good. The contradiction between what they think and what we think is undermining democracy.
Money for nothing is why we’re screwed
The expectation that every investment must automatically offer enormous returns has bent global economic policy round its fingers. But guaranteed returns are why the West is in so much trouble.
Don’t grandstand, plan
Many people would like the First Minister to take a stand with Donald Trump. This is not an effective stance - and there are much more effective actions which can be taken.
Rolling the dice with housing-again
Will Britain never understand the difference between making housing affordable and subsidising unaffordable housing to prop up the profits of developers? Apparently not...
Rolling the dice with housing-again
Will Britain never understand the difference between making housing affordable and subsidising unaffordable housing to prop up the profits of developers? Apparently not...
Scotland has no controlling intellect
Why does it feel like things in Scotland aren’t designed to work? It’s because they’re not designed to work by a person who cares, they’re designed to make profit by a bunch of people who don’t.
Lessons from New York
Democratic Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani comfortably beat out billionaire-backed billionaire Andrew Cuomo, by 56% to 44% in the final round after vote transfers. Unlike Cuomo, his campaign centred around clearly articulated demands that reflected the needs of the people of New York.
Scotland is not for sale Pt. I
Scotland may not be privatising the public realm with quite the zeal of Starmer’s Labour, but it is happening constantly nonetheless. A vision for a public good-driven democracy is needed.
Investing pensions in the UK economy
Jim Osborne calls attention to the UK Government’s proposal to compel pension companies to invest into the UK economy - that plan that could support the economy by at least several tens of billions of pounds.
Common Weal Consultation Update - June 2025
An update covering some of the government consultations we’ve responded to so far this year.
This is why the food system is unreformable
Our food system has become a system of corporate exploitation, addiction and early deaths. When every incentive points exactly the wrong way, you can’t tweak the system into shape.
Why we should listen to a car boss if we want a GP appointment
The Western world has had a dominant model of how to do things for 40 years and it is clearly failing while China has a different model which very clearly works. It is time we started learning.
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
