“Why further powers for Scotland won’t happen” or “How Labour sleepwalked into a fatal Tory trap”
In the end it was Mark Ballard who called it right. “With a couple of weeks to go there’ll be a poll putting Yes in front, then Cameron will come…
Some thoughts on the independence referendum
With due apologies for the click bait style of this post, being awake for too much of the past 2 days makes coherent blogging difficult! 1. The results show that…
Glasgow blows up the post war dream
The news that Glasgow is to celebrate the Commonwealth Games coming to the city by blowing up the Red Road flats tells us a great deal. It tells us about…
Nelson Mandela: see the movement he personified as well as the great man
There’s not much that anyone can add to the massive outpouring of grief and admiration for Nelson Mandela. His status as the greatest secular saint of our era becomes clearer…
The Referendum Offers us the Opportunity to Win our Politics Back
With one year to go to the referendum, we are in a strange place. On the one hand, there are those who contend that the debate is alienating and boring.…
Greens: We are Committed to Defending Immigrants and Immigration
The debate in Britain is becoming more and more polarised on the issue of immigration. Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats are all vying with one another to appear more and…
Rail Renationalisation: Edinburgh meeting with Christian Wolmar
While I was first becoming interested in a serious way in politics there were lots of interesting things happening. I was very interested in the peace process in the north…
Osborne’s wrong but we need to consider a Scottish currency
George Osborne is in Glasgow today to lecture us on how independence would be a bad idea. This is, he argues, because the rest of the UK wouldn’t allow Scotland…
Thatcher funeral: time to stop the travesty of funeral poverty
The cost of Thatcher's funeral is an outrage, but it comes at a time when state funerals are needed much more often. Of course there's a certain irony about someone…
Chris Hani died 20 years ago today: why he’s still a hero
Twenty years ago today Chris Hani was murdered while returning to his house in Boksburg outside Johannesburg having bought the paper. He is virtually unknown in this country, and as…