MAgazine
Let them play: Why Scotland needs a kindergarten stage
The second reason our food system is unreformable
In a previous article I argued that the food system we have is unreformable. Before I can explain how we can sort this system, we first need to understand why our food distribution system is unreformable too.
Information is still not free enough
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Scotland is still breaching your right to environmental justice
A UN Commission has found that Scotland remains in breach of your right to environmental justice. Here is why having adequate means of upholding your rights is as important as the rights themselves.
SNP Members back Common Weal’s public energy strategy (again)
The 2025 SNP Conference has backed a motion on public ownership of energy and a Just Transition for energy workers that deeply embeds several key policies advocated for by Common Weal, including a Scottish Public Energy Company.
The Energy Postcode Lottery? We already have one
Gordon Morgan from the Common Weal Energy Working Group discusses the recent decision by the UK Government to reject “zonal pricing” in light of a recent consultation into reform of the way that consumers are billed for electricity.
Don’t be scared of the game - learn the rules
People don’t understand monetary theory and so those that do can make it all sound impossibly difficult. It is not as difficult as it seems - once you learn that there are different games and different rules…
When did cruelty stop being embarrassing?
Escaping the bonds of bonds
The world has passed a tipping point and we can no longer see bond markets as facilitating democracy. They are an active threat to democracy and we need to disempower them.
Solidarity is dangerous
The power of the efforts to break the blockade of Gaza is seen as an act of futility by some. It isn’t; it’s an act of solidarity and it is powerful because of that.
An Illusionary Convention
John Swinney is proposing a ‘constitutional convention’, but what he is proposing is no such thing. Understanding the original Constitutional Convention offers a real way forward for independence.
Carbon Offsetting could never work
The results of a 25 year study into the practice of “carbon offsetting” have found that many projects fail for entirely foreseeable reasons and many of the projects that don’t, never correct the climate damage they were designed to offset.
The seduction of belonging
When ‘peace’ becomes a management strategy
The one Keir Starmer policy I want to see implemented in Scotland
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What about some peace through hope?
Since the Second World War our hopes for peace have been predicated on deterrence working. But it isn’t working, and if we offer only stick and no carrot, the future will be violent.
The military myth - and the alternative
The current rush to military build-up and nuclear power are based on complete myths. A rational response would have ruled out these moves on their own terms.
The Recession Hidden in Council Tax
How the unfairness at the heart of the Council Tax may be affecting you and how a disturbing rise in missed Council Tax payments may be a sign of a coming recession.
When justice pretends to be certain
The recent justice reforms treat juries as if they are expected or capable of somehow divining ‘the truth’ through an opaque system. A radical look at justice would ask what the pursuit of truth actually looked like.
If you want to end homelessness, give people a home
A new study from the Social Market Foundation presents the results of several Housing First pilot schemes, including one in Scotland, and finds that providing free housing to people suffering homelessness results in better outcomes than current services and is cheaper than not doing it.
