Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
When will the penny drop that No-one is entitled to our votes, that we need politicians with an ear to the ground, not the right wing. When I think of the years 2013/14 I think of one of those Penny Pusher machines from amusement arcades, representative of voters and members tumbling like freed coins from […]
Richie Venton is an activist and writer, and is a founder member of the Scottish Socialist Party. He is the Workplace and unions organiser of the party. He was the central organise of the Merseyside socialists who led a victorious mass movement against Thatcher’s government in the ’80’s, which won huge reforms for the people […]
Did you hear about the 3 wells? Well, well, well. I do apologise, that is objectively the worst joke in my otherwise exceptional collection, if not indeed the English speaking world. Thank you Granny Moustache, it was one of her two favourites. But it is apposite for objectively the worst and most pish boiling week […]
An apparition emerges from the wings. He strokes his chin, flexes his will to win once more and shoulders the door of democracy. He does not hide his grotesque face, nor his intention to burn down any trace of unlawful entry. Power-driven waste is his vanity. He looks the world in the eye, his […]
Not a week goes by in Scottish politics when the decision to vote No in 2014 does not rear its ugly head. November 2023, the Scottish Broadcasting Company reports growing unrest south of the border. Massive crowds are gathering daily outside Westminster, demanding an end to Tory rule, following emergency legislation allowing the General Election […]
Only a referendum is going to fairly represent the people in terms of votes. Humza Yousaf has previously indicated his preference for building the movement until it’s impossible to ignore us. We don’t hold all the cards there though and nothing is guaranteed, so if a majority of seats at the next election is enough […]
We call it QueueAnon, this wonderful fountain of freedom hitherto unknown, a snaking virtue of fellow patriots, knees bending to the virtues of the throne. Three days to bathe in our rightful place, in worship of her glorious majesty bowing our grateful head for the life of this deity In the guiding light of […]
The obstacles to our independence are not all about media-led rabid unionism, or floating voters. We have a problem within the movement, something really toxic. It resembles a kind of auto-immune disease, a drive to eat away at the host and make barren the soil it depends on; the movement itself. The dreaded anniversary of […]
The issue of monarchism v republicanism is not a side issue, something that can be left for later while we grapple with the economics or even the principle of self determination. It’s at the heart of the matter, the glue that bind us with the union, that seals us into our class system, poisons and […]
My friend, Philip Richard Knobinson (writes under the silly name of Prick) has invited me to write a weekly column for Ungagged as I live in and rarely leave Scotland? I’m of the left and know that Independence is the only direction the Tories and their press; New Labour and their tories are leading us […]