Opinion
There’s sadness this Christmas – but reason for hope too
It is harder than it should be to enjoy Christmas this year knowing how much suffering there is. But the humanity in how ordinary people are responding is a very good reason to have hope for the future.
The budget is a reason to wake up, not fall into despair
The Scottish Budget will bring grim news, but it is not the end of the story. Doing more of the same will fail, but there are entirely different directions to take
How the indy movement can be friends again
The divisions in the independence movement are over-stated. With some trust, some goodwill and a bit of work, we can achieve the movement building and the reconciliation which brings us together again.
Scotland’s humanity can rise above this moment
In the wind up to the Festive Season, we’re all looking for reasons to be cheerful. The initial response we’ve had to a big piece of work we did makes me believe that the seed of that cheer is easy to find. If you want to look for it.
Unity really is possible
It is a universally accepted fact that unity is no longer possible – except it’s wrong. There remains massive common cause for campaigners to draw on.
Six months to save Scotland
The illusion that we can accept Scottish Government failure because a referendum was round the corner must now come to an end – radical change must be forced upon it
Dear Gordon Brown, surely you now realise the UK isn’t reformable
A letter to Gordon Brown, a man sincere in his desire to reform the UK but unable to be honest that it isn’t possible in a country that is more collapsed empire than modern nation state
Finding hope in hard work
In which, against his better judgement, Robin tells a story about writing the new Common Weal book as a metaphor for how the independence movement can start to get out of the doldrums…
Reorientate Part 3: The work to be done
This is a democracy so if we’re not winning people over to independence we’re not winning. So why are we so obsessed with what we want and not what they want?
Reorientate Part 2: Street party in a blind alley
The independence movement has huffed and puffed for nearly a decade since the referendum, but has nothing real to show for it. This is the story of why that happened.
Reorientate Part One: When We Were Giants
To understand what a mess has been made of the cause of independence it is worth going back to the pre-devolution era to remind ourselves how they did it.
What the powerful really think
You think there is a broad political consensus in Scotland. Unfortunately the people who are actually running the country have their own consensus – and it’s quite different.