MAgazine
Government must get its hands dirty
Common Weal could offer the incoming Scottish Government all the policy it needs, but its problem isn’t policy. Its problem is that it doesn’t have a theory of how government works so it doesn’t understand why it isn’t working just now.
The Iran War sounds a warning for All of Scotland’s Critical Minerals
It isn’t just oil that is being disrupted by the US’s war with Iran nor will it be the only future disruption so Scotland needs a more resilient economy with strategies that should extend to all critical minerals.
How the average person killed politics
The ‘moderate centre’ is where almost all politicians think elections are won, yet new research shows that no-one wants moderate parties. The gap between is exactly where democracy has been dying.
Hold on, wait for it...
Our third economic crisis in rapid succession and an unhinged USA mean the time is ripe for major change. But if it is going to be positive change, the left have some important lessons to learn.
How Scotland can play a role in working towards a peaceful world
To rebuild the rules-based peace across the world; we must enforce the rules-based peace in Scotland
Artemis II shows that we can choose hope
Humanity has chosen to go back to the Moon for the first time in half a century. Some will inevitably ask why, in a world of poverty, we do so. We must, because science and poverty are not a zero-sum trade.
It's time to be serious – Scotland needs partners
It seems like self-sabotage to have the chance of a major industrial plant in Scotland and to throw that chance away. It is time we were more aware of the reality of our position as a manufacturing nation and recognised that to develop, we can’t start from scratch.
May this be the last oil war
The US-Israel war against Iran should be the wake up call the world needs to make sure that it is the last Oil War.
A Strategy for Deliberative Democracy
Bill Johnston follows up his article from January on building the infrastructure we need to develop a truly deliberative democracy
A nation that can't take care of itself is a fool
If the economics of precarious supply chains and globalised risk is stuttering, what is the responsible thing for a nation state to do? The same as always – make sure it's people have what they need.
The economics which created our crisis can’t fix it
The latest war-driven global price panic is not an aberration but a constant state of being in the contemporary global economic. It is all so unstable that unless we take a new course, it will fall down sooner or later.
What does ‘The Traitors’ tell us about ourselves?
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.