Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
Last week the Scottish Government published The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. The legislation aims to reduce the re-traumatisation of victims and witnesses in the justice system and to address long-standing concerns about the approach to the most serious sexual offences. See: Putting victims and witnesses at heart of justice system – gov.scot […]
When Ungagged asked me to write about trans rights again I took a deep breath, knowing what the consequences are likely to be for my Twitter notifications! But I wrote about this topic in March 2019 for Ungagged, expressing a wish that the debate would become more respectful. Instead, it has got much worse. See: […]
An election is coming and December 12th will be polling day. The last time there was a general election in December was so long ago that women did not even have the vote. So why are we doing it? What imperative is so great that it over-rides the very real disadvantages of an election campaign […]
On Labour’s travails A week, as they say, is a long time in politics and there must be many Scottish Labour members out there wishing the past week had never happened. It all started when John McDonnell made it clear that a UK Labour Government would not stand in the way of a second independence […]
https://ungagged.podbean.com/mf/play/8ahs9m/June_pod_pt1_Mixdown2.mp3 Available FREE on iTunes and Podbean We have 5 pieces for you: From Liz Olson who talks about immigration in the UK and is titled “Goodbye you bigoted woman – The tears of Theresa May’s victims should get far more attention that her’s did”. Mhairi Hunter muses on Trump’s State Visit to the UK, Philip Hammond’s seeming […]
On Thursday (30/5/19) Lib Dem leadership candidate Jo Swinson commented that unequal access to university was due to a lack of investment in early intervention and lack of aspiration from young people, who don’t think that university is for them. She cited a town in her constituency where she claimed 80% of young people went […]
I tried a thought experiment today. I tried to feel sorry for Theresa May. I tried to understand her as a woman and as a human being who has – by any reckoning – been through a torrid time, ending in very public humiliation. It wasn’t easy. Primarily, of course, it wasn’t easy because of […]
This week I signed a letter supporting trans rights which led, inevitably, to a couple of fairly lively days on twitter. Twitter is very much the wrong forum on which to discuss such a polarised issue, so I was pleased when Ungagged asked me to write about this subject as it allows me to expand […]
A reply to Rise founder, Jonathon Shafi. Last week political activist and co-founder of the Radical Independence Campaign Jonathon Shafi tweeted that the SNP were preparing to sell out on nuclear weapons. This was based on the fact that the SNP’s Defence Spokesperson Stewart McDonald was – in Jonathan’s view – insufficiently vocal in opposing […]
Available FREE on iTunes and Podbean Welcome to part two of Ungagged’s podcast based loosely around the Karl Liebknecht.” quote, “The basic law of capitalism is you or I, not both you and I.” On this episode, Paul Sheridan lead singer of The Wakes tells us, “Profit before people, coca cola is it!, The talented Debra Torrance tells […]