Neither climate change nor the Miners Strike are laughing matters, yet Boris Johnson with his usual buffoonery crassly sought to make light of them. His comments were also not only hugely disrespectful but historically inaccurate. Margaret Thatcher’s attack upon the mining communities was nothing to do with global warming but everything to do with smashing the trade union movement. The… Read more »
The re-elected SNP administration’s first hundred days are fast approaching, and they’re resembling a Government in power, but with no idea for what purpose. Normally that honeymoon period’s viewed as critical for making your mark and setting political direction. To be fair as incumbents there’s perhaps slightly less need. But given that there’s new faces in office and the country’s… Read more »
The closure of the McVitties factory in East End Glasgow’s an unmitigated disaster for the area. Poverty and unemployment already abound and this worsens it. Decades ago I recall the Golden Wonder site in Broxburn similarly shutting and likewise damaging Broxburn. Jim Sillars and I did a photo call at the closed site, placing Red Roses on the locked gates. … Read more »
As the Afghan horror unfolds before our eyes, I’m minded of Spinoza’s comment that “if you want the present to be different from the past, study the past”. From Alexander the Great, through the British Empire to the Soviet Union, history’s littered with failed military interventions in that forsaken land. Tragically, that wasn’t heeded and it’s poor Afghanis paying the… Read more »
Boris Johnson’s pit closure comments last week were crass, distasteful and a distortion of history. East Lothian communities were shattered by the brutality of Thatcher’s war on the miners and many have never recovered. Where there had been employment and pride, came unemployment and despair, along with social problems like drugs and alcohol. Remember the Tories planned and prepared for… Read more »
Reacting to the latest Drug related deaths statistics published today (Friday) which show that the number of people who died in 2020 was 1,339 the Former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, the ALBA MP for East Lothian said: “These statistics show that Scotland is losing the ‘War on Drugs’. Every one of these deaths is a human tragedy and the… Read more »
Parliaments final week before recess was a rerun of what had gone the week before. Then the debate had been about international aid, this time it was on Immigration and Asylum seekers. Once again, the views of Scots and the needs of Scottish society and its economy were ignored. No one was suggesting that immigration laws aren’t required. Every nation… Read more »
Coronavirus is going to come at a price. For sure its been shown that governments can print money and old orthodoxies or even mantras have been exposed as false. Much of what Corbyn was accused of, not just profligacy but apparently economic insanity, has been done. But still there’s financial challenges, and taxes’ll have to rise. It’s whose to bear… Read more »
The fiasco on Scotland’s ferries continues and still seems far from a safe harbour. It’s consequences felt not just on the island communities served by them, but in the industrial communities that should be benefitting from constructing them. Instead a tourist season’s ruined in the former and the threat of closure looms over the latter. It’s not just a shambles,… Read more »
I’m fascinated by ferries. I suppose it’s because every summer I spent holidays with grandparents on Lewis. For me a break doesn’t start unless there’s a sail, no matter how short. It also means I take an interest in the affairs of CalMac even though I don’t live in a community where they’re a lifeline service. I’m old enough to… Read more »