Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
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 […]
The UK is broken, and I can’t see how it can ever be fixed. Like Humpty Dumpty, all the constitutional monarch’s horses and all the constitutional monarch’s men can’t put it together again (other animals and sexes are also available) (as are other governing systems, if not actually right here, right now…) Even if, by […]
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 […]
I’ll start with a confession. I am a big fan of British state occasions – openings of parliament, royal weddings, state funerals and sundry solemn occasions. I love them. The British Establishment does them incredibly well, from the hushed tones of the reverential commentators to the throngs lining London’s beautiful streets, to the Red Arrow […]
Why Brexit cannot and must not take place on the 29th of March, 2019 Breaking News – Theresa May’s ‘deal’ has just been defeated in the House of Commons by 432 votes to 202!!! However you voted in the referendum, whatever you think about the merits or failings of the EU, everyone please just stop and think. […]
Happy Christmas all. I hope all of your seasonal wishes come true. The best, most festive wish for me, would be for the left in Scotland to update and announce again to the world its demand for a secular, fair and independent Scotland, fighting for and within a fair, equitable Europe. I know this isn’t […]
Ungagged asked me to write something about the current UK political rollercoaster so here goes. Though where do you even begin? For me it actually feels more like being trapped in a giant kaleidoscope with a new political pattern emerging almost every day. Yet nothing really changes.In a way UK politics has been held […]
As I flick from watching Liverpool handle a European competition in a far finer manner than Theresa May and the Tory Party to comments on social media, I am shocked, befuddled and amazed at the lack of any political insight by Members of Parliament of opposition parties. The call by the likes of Ian […]
John McDonnell MP sparked a political row when he said he would find it hard to be friends with a Tory because of the impact of Tory policies on his constituents. I completely understand why he said it and I agree with him. This something we aren’t really supposed to say, so let me explain […]
Four years ago, today, reality collided into our very beings as we realised that despite all the canvassing, meetings and conversations, most Scottish voters had preferred to stay part of the United Kingdom than for Scotland to become an independent country. Despite the grief felt by many, there was a genuine optimism that a new […]