Time for reflection
Like many people, I've spent much of today asleep. The day after results night is always a strange one - a day of jubilation, or a day of disappointment. For…
Lessons for Labour (and the left)
It should have been Labour's year. Only 12 months ago, Scots turned out in droves to send Gordon Brown back to Downing Street. Yet today, it looks like Iain Gray's…
Reading the Election Runes before the Polling Booths Open
This piece started as a comment on Mike Small’s article, ‘A liminal moment’, on the Bella website, but then got too ridiculously long to go in as a comment!] Elections…
Great Green Elections 1 – Mark Ballard elected Rector of Edinburgh University 2006
The upcoming Scottish and Welsh elections offer us the chance to look back at some great Green election successes in the past. Of course, Greens, as a fairly new electoral…
Tories don’t want a snap election – why I disagree with Jackie Ashley
Jackie Ashley has written an interesting piece arguing that the Tories may well want a snap general election this year. This is why I disagree. But I should be clear…
Students win in Scotland through Power of Protest
Jim Hacker, the fictional Prime Minister in “Yes Prime Minister” at one point says grandiosely of the electorate “It's the people's will. I am their leader; I must follow them.”…
Class Activism
I wanted to write a response to the previous article about the anti cuts movement because frankly, I'm obsessed with class (I can't even make a curry without wittering on…
On class and the anti-cuts movement
The class war has spread to the 'anti-cuts' movement. I suppose it was inevitable. After decades of watching wages stagnate, and economic inequality widen, the chickens are now coming home…
General Strike?
Never let anyone tell you that millions of people withdrawing their labour can't change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. That's what Margaret Mead said, isn't…
Greens Set the Agenda for Scottish Coalition Government
The Scottish Greens today set out their ‘red lines’ for any coalition. These lines are policies that the party won’t cross to enter government. it's almost certain the next Scottish…