Why Osborne blames immigrants for the jobs crisis
George Osborne is in a rather embarrassing position. His “Office of Budget Responsibility” (OBR) is claiming that there must be more immigration to the UK. The OBR claims that the…
From satanic mills to shopping malls: towards a new era of struggle against insecurity
An invitation In my last blog I argued that the left needed a theory of social change, and that the lack of one is at the heart of many of…
Feminism 101
EK McAlpine is taking part in the Fuck The Patriarchy Readathon in aid of Rape Crisis - donate here. My name is EK McAlpine and I am a strident feminist.…
Securitise the Queen
Image: Doug Wheller Brett Scott is a writer and consultant working in alternative finance and financial activism. He blogs at and tweets as Times of economic stress call for creative…
Women’s lifestyle magazines hate women
EK McAlpine discusses this issue in episode 5 of her podcast A Slice of Feminism, which you can listen to at the bottom of the page. I had everything for…
Fairness and equality for Scotland? Only with independence
I’ve been asked a lot about what my position on independence is. It’s not an issue I find particularly easy. I grew up in Belfast where constitutional debate is a…
Scottish Government must act to allow Portobello and Leith wind project to go ahead
Campaigners demand a solution to the turbine problem One of the most exciting things I’ve been involved with in my time in Edinburgh is the proposal for a community owned…
Where Next For Northern Ireland? The Agreement, 14 Years On
When I was ten years old, I remember being dragged out one evening by my parents to the local primary school in Dundonald, East Belfast. Uncooperative and grouchy, I had…
Great Green Campaigns: Scotland 2003
Was the Scottish Green Party’s Scottish Parliament election campaign in 2003 an example of a ‘great green campaign’? In many ways, no. We had very little money, few activists outside…
Why Scotland’s 2012 Local Government Elections are an opportunity to radicalise Government
The notion that government could be used to transform the power structures of society to the advantage of workers was at the heart of much twentieth century radical thought. And…