MAgazine
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.
Second rate policing
From children in need, to profit margins
Trump’s Trade Tariffs
Trump’s trade tariffs are as high as they’ve been in the USA for almost a century.
Inside the campaign to tax the poor
Here we go again - the Scottish establishment is back demanding that students pay the price for how universities have been run in recent decades. The one thing they won’t seem to countenance is putting their hands in their own pockets.
Nooks and the widening crannies in Scotland’s care system
Netflix drama series, Adolescence, is genius television which treats its subject with subtlety and addresses the subject’s complexity with passion. Why do some people seem to have believed the takeaways were so reductive and simple?
Demolishing Our Future Again
What the demolition of the Wyndford towers tells us about our approach to construction, community and the climate.
Adolescence - It takes a village
For the second week in a row, I’ll be discussing the merits of Stephen Graham. By now, I’m sure you’ve either heard about or watched his new hit Netflix drama series, Adolescence.
Police Officer Numbers In Scotland
Police Officer numbers in Scotland.
A bankrupt university is a serious warning
The climate crisis is fairly clean cut for most of us. We need to stop the emissions and cut down on fossil fuel reliance. Scotland is fairly unique, as a country it omits a lot of carbon but additionally it has a very well established oil and gas industry.
The arts have a class problem
The climate crisis is fairly clean cut for most of us. We need to stop the emissions and cut down on fossil fuel reliance. Scotland is fairly unique, as a country it omits a lot of carbon but additionally it has a very well established oil and gas industry.
Disabling People
The UK Labour Government is doing to disabled people what the Conservatives didn’t think they could get away with.
Graph of the Week - Community Benefit from renewables
Community owned energy projects earn, on average, 34 times as much for their communities as privately owned projects do.
Covid - Five Years On
Craig’s personal reflections on his work at Common Weal five years ago during the Covid pandemic.
The transformative power of women as architects of peace, security, and justice
The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons convened from 3 to 7 March 2025, in New York City. In the face of rising nuclear tensions and increasing misogyny globally, the Treaty has never been more important. A strong Scottish civil society contingency attended this year, including UN House Scotland, Scottish CND, Secure Scotland and Scottish Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
A politics of empathy is hard - but very powerful
We talk about empathy in politics as if it is the easy choice and the real work is the ‘difficult decisions’ which entire lack empathy. It is entirely the other way round - and we desperately need a politics of empathy.
A Different Justice
The climate crisis is fairly clean cut for most of us. We need to stop the emissions and cut down on fossil fuel reliance. Scotland is fairly unique, as a country it omits a lot of carbon but additionally it has a very well established oil and gas industry.
Graph of the Week - Carbon Capture Pricing
The current price of fossil fuels compared to the added cost of capturing their pollution and the unpaid costs of not capturing emissions.
Britain’s aid shame
Graph of the Week - 14/March/2025