Six ways Scotland could bring Scottish energy into Scottish public hands using the powers of devolution: www.commonweal.scot/policies/how...
Head of Policy & Research at Common Weal Wrote a book: tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures Main social media at Mastodon: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot Donate to CW: https://commonweal.scot/donate/ My personal blog: https://thecommongreen.scot/
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Six ways Scotland could bring Scottish energy into Scottish public hands using the powers of devolution: www.commonweal.scot/policies/how...
CW Magazine Repost Nigel Farage joins a disturbingly long list of UK politicians who are trying to win votes with promises of stripping other people of their human rights. If they win, nothing stops them taking away your rights too.
Again - the reason that the Good Friday Agreement locks in the ECHR is that the UK had repeatedly been held accountable by the European Court of Human Rights for human rights breaches during the Troubles - while national courts had failed to do so, even upholding miscarriages of justice
Today in "Headlines that wouldn't exist if we had a Universal Basic Income". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dear Jack Straw and Policy Exchange Which human rights currently protected by ECHR do you wish would stop applying to you, personally? www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag...
"Fleeing a war or political oppression? Come to Britain! We'll protect you. But only if you leave your kids behind..."
New blog post: The Shrinking of the Scottish Lion arcofprosperity.org/the-shrinkin... #indyref2
Apparently “leading” lawyers and “experts” say that the Good Friday Agreement is no obstacle to UK leaving ECHR. Me, being neither, merely sets out what the Good Friday Agreement expressly says. davidallengreen.com/2023/07/why-...
Starmer is so stupid. He's actually feeding the hysteria. It's the complete opposite of what any competent politician would do, which is to change the story. It's like he wants to be booted out of office 🤡
In fact the judgment does not turn on the ECHR (according to the summary)
My article in this week's Common Weal magazine. The moment you strip someone else of their human rights, you also strip yourself of your own. www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag...
Feel free, having left a little corner of the world a little better than you found it. May the next hermit do the same - for if we all do, worlds can change.
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
Just a week ago, we warned that SNIB was overly focused (sic) on tech companies and wasn't doing enough foundational lending to things like social housing and public energy. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
One of the laser companies I used to work at has gone bust, imperilling the loans given to it by SNIB. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2542158...
NEW Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power By me Substack: emptycity.substack.com/p/yes-an-inc... Personal blog: davidallengreen.com/2025/08/yes-...
There is no conceivable interpretation of the law of war in which a camera set up nearby legitimizes a mass casualty double tap strike on a protected civilian site like a hospital. The fact that Israel is citing it as if it meets some standard should, by itself, trigger a halt in weapons to Israel.
4-day 32-hour weeks work just like universal basic income works, and we should do both of them.
Windows is just a worse user experience than Linux now. Gnome is every bit as slick as OSX. Uncle Gabe fixed gaming. The remaining software gap is the Adobe suite and some pro audio software. If you're not using those you'd be happier on Linux.
It took me a couple of decades of occasional failed attempts (largely around gaming) to get onto Linux but yup, as of this year (and a Windows update that failed so badly it broke my product key) I'm there now and I can't see a way back now I'm here.
Reminder: Scotland already has the powers under devolution to bring Scottish energy generation into public ownership which would allow Scotland - not multinational megacorps and foreign public companies - to benefit from Scotland's energy. Here's how to do it: www.commonweal.scot/policies/how...
If you missed the premiere of this week's podcast last night on causes of and solutions to the housing crisis, no worries, you can catch up here. If you prefer to listen on the go, the audio version will be out on Friday wherever you get your podcasts! youtu.be/NF_jxJhFtcM?...
Really good video essay here by @tomnicholas.bsky.social on the rise of Farage and the rightward radicalisation of Starmer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=okOE...
Here’s my 5 min video as invited by the Scottish Government’s land commission… about Scotland’s Future. I describe the differences land reform makes to communities — housing, enterprise, energy & empowerment — then recite The Forge, a poem on belonging to place (published by @luathpress.bsky.social)
Hi Simon. Aye. I'm a big fan of modern kit houses (both the flat-pack and the off-site build ones) as a means of driving energy efficiency and ease of build especially for individuals and communities. I'd be keen on getting one myself if I can get hold of a bit of land and make the finances work!
My interview with @scottishindypod.bsky.social about the housing crisis will be out in less than an hour. Sorry I won't be around to answer questions live but if you have any, leave a comment below and I'll get back to you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF_j...
I remember that scene in that film "Free Windy", where the whale jumped out of the water, over the seawall and the kid protagonist and BLAM, straight into a turbine blade.
A Farage government will actually ask the Irish government, and the nationalist community in Northern Ireland, to agree to give up the ECHR provisions in the Good Friday Agreement.
Two points worth noting on the Farage stuff today. 1. The Tories have completely ceded the August opportunity to get publicity when govt slows down to Reform. Nothing to suggest they're not headed fast towards oblivion. 2. Labour look even more lost than before. Paralysed with indecision and fear.
🚨 The UK Govt told the BBC it had approved 40 Gaza students to study in the UK before it told any of the students. The issue? There are 80 waiting for a decision, all now 'desperately' waiting to see if the media reports mean them. Full story: www.thenational.scot/news/2541763...
My challenge to MPs tempted to support this remains. Which rights currently within ECHR do you, personally, no longer wish to benefit from the protection of?
Farage is all in with the very definition of Wilhoit's Law. "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect." www.thenational.scot/news/2541432...
Join in the comments at our premiere at 8pm tomorrow, or catch up later!
So, like, even if there hadn't been two Supreme Court decisons in living memory directly holding that flag burning is protected under the First Amendment, *new criminal laws cannot be created by executive order.*
'Capitalists have always hated “free markets”. What they want are cartels and monopolies. This is how we get the situation where, for example, virtually all luxury sunglasses – regardless of their “brand” – are owned by the same company.' @thecommongreen.scot, via Common Weal
One for your viewing diaries - tomorrow you'll get to see my interview on @scottishindypod.bsky.social on how to fix the housing crisis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF_j...
BREAKING: Four journalists, including a freelancer who worked with AP, are among eight killed by an Israeli strike on southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital.
My article in this week's Common Weal Magazine Private equity ate my cats' lunch. What this tells us about modern Capitalism. www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag...
My article in this week's Common Weal Magazine Private equity ate my cats' lunch. What this tells us about modern Capitalism. www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag...
See the above comment about being several second sons out of line...
Yeah. It's a little Game of Thrones.
Another astonishing headline.
Pretty much, though I'm more than a few second children away from the line by this point. That, and my father would presumably have dibs before me. :D en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of...
The old family hasn't lived here for a few centuries but maybe I should crowdfund to buy it back piecemeal.... XD
My article in The National this week: What a trip to Skye taught me about the national injustice happening in Scotland's dash for renewable energy. www.thenational.scot/politics/254...
Counter-proposal: All MPs to include in their Register of Interests a list of all the websites where they have verified their own age and ID.
You may recall the president launched a memecoin, $TRUMP, upon inauguration (despite saying he was not “a big fan” of crypto in his first term). Then in April he offered the top 220 investors a private dinner with him. Since then, the Trump coin’s value has sunk 88%. trib.al/o46Kau6
Common Weal Daily Briefing Losses at the Scottish National Investment Bank are mounting - largely for the reasons we warned they would. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
"Asylum seekers should not be allowed to work!" "Asylum workers should not be subsidised at the public expense!" - and loop.
My article in this week's Common Weal Magazine. How GERS will be used to make Scotland pay for Starmer's wars. www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag...
It's like he went on a journey very similar to that taken by the man who would become The Buddha and learned the exact opposite lesson. www.bbc.com/news/videos/...
NEW: The wealthiest 2% of Scottish households have more wealth than the poorest 50% combined. New data published today reveals the extent of Scotland’s vast wealth inequality. 🧵
One of the guiding lessons I was taught when I started my PhD was that the qualification granted the ability to respond - with the authority as a recognised expert in your chosen field - to any question with the answer "I don't know."
“President Donald Trump has expanded his military campaign against the United States…” is the only way we knew how to start this piece.
BREAKING: David Lammy broke the law when he went fishing with JD Vance at Chevening He faces a fine of up to £2500 for fishing without a licence
Wanting to deport someone who, as it later turned out during their appeal, wasn't a criminal and was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Yes. That would be terrible. May it never happen to you.
Was this really Nessie-sary?
Starmer appears to support deporting people accused of crimes before the full process of justice has been followed to its conclusion.
Merry #GERSmas everybody. www.gov.scot/publications... My rundown of this year's figures will be in this week's Common Weal magazine. Subscribe at: www.commonweal.scot/subscribe Until then, enjoy the very predictable media coverage.
It is inherently absurd to proscribe a group as terrorists based on acts the public doesn't know about. Terrorism *by definition* involves violence intended to intimidate a civilian population. How can the target population be terrorised by acts they know nothing about? www.bbc.com/news/article...
Question for my MP followers: Were you informed of the "full nature" of this group before the proscription vote? Or did you vote on a Bill without being fully informed? www.bbc.com/news/article...
27 years ago, two years after the introduction of effective HIV treatment, the Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco’s lesbian and gay community newspaper, ran ‘No Obits’ as its headline. It was the first edition not to report an AIDS death in almost 15 years.
Merry #GERSmas!
An example of what we were talking about yesterday, Craig @thecommongreen.scot @scottishindypod.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Precisely this! Our homes are woefully unprepared not just for the current climate but also for the changing climate to come.
I stand by my claim here: That while it is possible for the UK to maintain a civilian nuclear sector without nuclear weapons, it is not possible to maintain weapons without a civilian sector and that THAT is the main driver of the push for new reactors. thecommongreen.scot/2025/05/01/t...
The UK Government wants to "tackle a culture of risk aversion" in the nuclear industry to try to speed up reactor construction. www.gov.uk/government/n...
But you wouldn’t steal a car? arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
This is from a person who literally wrote the book on solar power finance. "When I started this job I hoped to be part of a solution for maybe 1% of global electricity." Meanwhile....approximately 10% in 2024. It's happening faster than anyone expected.
Another story for the "Inwards Investment means Outwards Profit Extraction" files. www.commonweal.scot/policies/pro...
Same. The outermost bounds of my level of restraint lies in being able to not buy a bag of Haribo or, if bought, to not open one. But an open bag of Haribo and an empty bag of Haribo are essentially the same thing.
#TACO
The government's criteria for who will be able to apply for asylum under its "one in one out policy" would be farcical if it wasn't so cruel. Stage 2 is negated in many cases by stage 1. This is a system designed to prevent people getting to somewhere feel safe and are able to rebuild their lives 1/
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
New YouGov polling. A monumental failure of our political class to educate, a monumental failure of our media to report fairly, for a generation
This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen. By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza
BREAKING: Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will not seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament in 2026 Story to follow
US nuclear weapons with three times the power of the Hiroshima bomb have just been transported to England, new evidence suggests. The government doesn’t want the public to know. Here’s how Nukewatch UK tracked the bombs’ journey. www.declassifieduk.org/the-inside-s...
The photograph that the Israeli government does not want you to see. Taken from the air by journalist colleague @Heidiphotos
Seen my first "changing the Senedd voting system has empowered the far right" take in the wild, it's great that marshmallow brained morons have absorbed one of the key untruths used to oppose PR to the degree they are continuing to use it even after Reform have passed the FPTP tipping point
Ok that time may have just arrived
The 5,600 hectare Griffin Forestry Estate in Perthshire has been sold to Gresham House FF VI LLP for £145 million. With mature forestry and 68 wind turbines, it is probably the most expensive rural estate to have been sold in modern times. andywightman.scot/2025/08/grif...
If the finance companies did not want to be liable for hidden commissions, then they should not have paid hidden commissions. Hard to believe they did not know of this legal risk when the payments were made. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The Scottish Government should nationalise this factory and use it to roll out a strategic mass transit programme for the Local Authorities. Build them as many electric/hydrogen buses as they can eat. Instead, they've led "foreign direct investment" suck a critical Scottish sector dry again.
I'm not that old, apparently! But aye. I'll be on the Scot Indy Podcast next month to talk about how to fix housing.
Billionaires who've already won Capitalism - What now? What of the rest of us? thecommongreen.scot/2025/07/27/s...
"This is where the idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) becomes not just an economic policy, but a public health intervention. By ensuring that every person has access to the material essentials, food, shelter, warmth, and rest, UBI creates the conditions for community life to thrive."
Imagine a world where the publicly-owned Scottish National Energy Company hired Samuel L. Jackson to promote our offshore wind energy (and our food). Alas, Sweden beat us to it.
There's always money for bombs - even when there isn't.
The High Court has granted permission for a judicial review to be brought against the Home Secretary's decision to proscribe Palestine Action. news.sky.com/story/palest...
Something absolutely bizarre happened to me yesterday that I simply have to share. It involves a Republican politician in the US called Cheryl Bean and a character from Midsomer Murders. Let me explain ...
Missed this excellent chart from @financialtimes.com showing both the UK’s collapse in productivity growth since the Financial Crisis and the OBR’s continuing over-optimism. www.ft.com/content/7841...
Repost from The National So you've won Capitalism: An Open Letter to the Billionaires.
Read the full story here: www.thenational.scot/news/2535070...
The kind of praise £180,000 buys you.
"So, you've won Capitalism" - My open letter to the Billionaires in @scotnational.bsky.social today. www.thenational.scot/politics/253...
Protesters have planned a demonstration slamming the Scottish Government's £180,000 cash award to a golf tournament being held at Trump's Aberdeenshire golf course
There's a realistic chance we get to a position where Wikipedia is blocked while official government accounts are posting on a site that created MechaHitler AI
