Realpolitik and Bella Caledonia present ‘FED – Ideas Worth Sustaining’, a one-day program of talks, discussions, and, most importantly, ideas. FED takes its cue from July’s TEDGlobal Edinburgh conference – but while TED… Read More
by Kevin Williamson Many years ago I was interviewed for a national newspaper by one of its senior journalists. The interview took place in Glasgow, on a Saturday morning prior to an Old… Read More
At the beginning of March 2011, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, expressed his surprise to the British Treasury Select Committee (in the ‘Thatcher Room’ of all places), that there had not been more public anger in response to the financial crisis. In this respect, the muted response in Scotland to the crisis is little different to that in the other nations of Britain. But what is at least as surprising is that there has not been more public anger in Scotland at the absence of a Tory mandate to govern Scotland. We are, after all, talking about a government that was rejected by almost 85 per cent of Scottish voters and that won barely 2 per cent of seats in Scotland at the last British general election.
With the news that everything the protestors at the Pollock Free State – said was true all along we feature Rosie Kane from her new blog: “Tomorrow evening a whole bunch of smiling… Read More
The only way to describe recent developments in Greece is to refer to a peaceful popular insurrection that has led to an open political crisis. The mass gatherings at city squares at the centres of all major Greek cities continue to gather momentum. Since the 25th of May, Athens and most Greek cities have experienced some of the biggest mass rallies in recent history. It is a unique experience of social mobilization. It is also a highly original form of protest, which combines mass rallies with a democratic process of discussion through mass people’s assemblies.
By Mike Small Two football stories jump out this week – both share the common feature about a real lack of democracy in the game. One is about a club run by a… Read More
On July 11, TEDGlobal will host its first conference in Edinburgh. ‘The Stuff of Life’ is the theme: for just $6,000 you can listen to Philip Blond wax lyrical on the Big Society,… Read More
The early 21st century is marked by a profusion of initiatives that bring people together to discuss and explore big questions. It amounts to a great river of change – but to realise its potential the movement needs a formal designation, says Keith Kahn-Harris.
Kenneth Hermse argues that the key to winning independence is to broaden the aim of what we mean by it and to reach out beyond party politics, to the disenfranchised, terminally bored and disaffected that make up half the voting public…
By Doug the Dug I’ve been mulling over why the Labour party has failed in its efforts to stop the rise of the SNP since the Scottish Parliament was instituted in 1999 and… Read More
In the early days of Bella, Mr Williamson had an idea for a feature called ‘Letter Bombs’ – all the letters that national newspapers refused to publish. ‘All the news unfit to print’,… Read More
This is Natalie Jeremijenko on the art of eco-mindshift, from Pat Kane’s new Radical Animal site. Natalie Jeremijenko is an artist/engineer whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. She… Read More
By Michael Greenwell Brian Taylor of BBC politics fame had a seemingly off-record quote about the startlingly obvious yesterday… Firstly, a UK minister told me, with considerable emphasis, that the government at Westminster… Read More
By Michael Gardiner Mike Small’s Bella piece of 6 June is bang on when it describes Kevin McKenna’s Observer piece of the previous day as a pitiful piece of Uncle Tom unionism (though… Read More
Jeremy Rifkin on the connection between linux, music sharing, nuclear energy, peak uranium and the ‘decentralisation of everything’. This is the ‘business case’ for the death of the nuclear industry. Post-Fukushima it’s as… Read More
“It’s been part of the background noise for over half a century, warnings about resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, soil erosion or climate change. But impacts were always on the imaginative horizon. Sometime, far enough into the future to be re-assuring to a species that evolved with a clear preference for the short-term…”
It has taken a bit of a battering in the press in recent months, as it goes through a transition period, but a lot of it is undeserved, says Kevin Williamson. Here are… Read More
It’s difficult to know how to respond to Kevin McKenna’s weekend piece of writing in the Observer ‘If We Buy Taransay We Can Save the Union’ (Sun June 5 2011). It’s certainly a nadir for the Observer / Guardian newspaper and a departure into a form of Uncle Tom journalism for Kevin McKenna.
By Mhairi McAlpine They say that nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. Over the next five years, if the UK government has its way, public sector spending cuts can be… Read More
