MAgazine
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.
Seamless services? Only on better foundations
Politicians often talk about seamless public services but don’t want to tackle the underlying problem - public sector data is a mess and it makes our services grind against each other where they should click.
The Ocean Can’t Wait - Scotland Must Lead the World
A new piece of legislation currently passing through the Scottish Parliament would make Scotland world-leading on environmental protection. If you care about the sea, you should back it.
If we don’t get ahead of the game we lose
The chattering classes continue to chatter but fail to reach conclusions. But more chatter is a luxury we can’t afford; we need answers, we need action and we need some savvy.
Common Weal Consultation Update - June 2025
An update covering some of the government consultations we’ve responded to so far this year.
Why a Scottish Currency Can’t Wait: Lessons from Keynes
German economist Jan Frederik Moos explains that the Scottish Government’s current position on an independent Scotland’s currency is simply wrong. Monetary independence is no the final stage in independence, it is the first.
Loch Lomond is a right, not an opportunity
To help the politicians understand why their actions over Flamingo Land have made so many people so angry, Tam Brotherstone explains what it really meant to a working class boy like him. It mean freedom, peace and tranquility - if only for a night.
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The Scottish Government continues to show bad faith when it comes to Freedom of Information, spending more time and effort to conceal information than it would take to simply comply with the spirit of the legislation.
What we are doing isn’t working - is it time for some utopia?
The one rule in politics is that all you can talk about is how you will change what is already there. But what if what is already there is so broken it will never work again?
Flamingoland: we have a system which itself is corrupt
An architect with 45 years of experience working in England cannot understand what he has seen in the Flamingoland decision. Perhaps it is time for direct democracy…
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.
Your Vote Matters
Frances Corr from Youth Voting Matters calls for young people in Scotland to be registered to vote from age 14.
I want to choose how I’m cared for when I get old
None of us know what our health will bring in the future. A Living Will can help ensure that we get the care we want no matter what happens to us.
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
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.
