Irvine Welsh on ‘Scottish Independence and British Unity’
Bella Exclusive: Irvine Welsh essay on Scottish Independence and British Unity
Bella Exclusive: Irvine Welsh essay on Scottish Independence and British Unity
As it’s announced that ‘Director of Creative Development’ Venu Dhupa is ‘standing down’, Ruth Wishart looks at the future. If you had a taste for masochism there could have been Continue reading
But the question still remains. Do Scots run Scotland? It’s a subjective argument and a cultural one. That doesn’t make it any less important or real. Just much, much more sensitive.
A preview of Unstated: Writers on Scottish Independence, ed. Scott Hames This book (which I think and hope will enliven the whole debate) started in discussion between Bella Caledonia and Continue reading
A Letter from Pyongyang …
By Doug Daniel Independence supporters are often accused of seeing independence as a panacea for all Scotland’s ills. We are characterised as thinking that if Scotland could JUST become independent, Continue reading
This is an extract from the Wreford Watson Lecture given by Will Self at the University of Edinburgh this week/ Whatever anxieties I may feel, as an Englishman, about speaking Continue reading
In the second part of his Media Notes series Kevin Williamson reveals an unstated 3 point strategy of the NO camp; and the trap of the Scottish-British dichotomy. “Identity – Continue reading
The second in our series on campaigns and protest forms across the globe and how they might inform the Yes campaign. See the Casseroles, Montreal here. This isn’t to suggest Continue reading
A confident future is never built on fear but always on hope … Journalist, writer and broadcaster Ruth Wishart speaks at the Scottish Independence Rally on 22 Sept 2012 … Continue reading
By Mike Small This is about Raploch not Bannockburn. A reminder – if any was needed of why we need a better Scotland – was brought to us this week Continue reading
As Scotland’s greatest living polymath Alasdair Gray (Bella’s patron) changes his famous slogan to: ‘work as if you live in the early days of a better world’ we hear from Continue reading
By Mike Small The idea of Rangers as some sort of parable of our times is becoming compelling. A club riven by debt and mired in bad practice collapses under Continue reading
by Kevin Williamson Scotland’s 116 year wait to win a tennis Grand Slam is finally over. In a nail-biting 5 set victory over Novak Djokovic at Flushing Meadows in the Continue reading
What a great lineup for Gerry Hassan and Jean Urquhart’s Changin’ Scotland with Tom Nairn, Alan Bissett, Malcolm MacLean and more… CHANGIN SCOTLAND – NOVEMBER 2nd-4th2012 The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool Continue reading
What we need is a matrix of localisms, from Berwick to Berriedale. An inter-connected linkage of communities, each unique, each connected and each one a resistance to the homogenous soup of sameness which is globalisation.
By Callum McCormick By all accounts it has been a good couple of months for the Unionist campaign. Polls showing a decrease or at least no increase in support for Continue reading
By Gordon Asher and Leigh French The interest of the oppressors lie in changing the consciousness of the oppressed not the situation which oppresses them.” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Continue reading
by Irvine Welsh I’ve always considered myself belonging to the school of writers who should be read but not heard, so I don’t know what set of circumstances leads me Continue reading
Women may have won the vote but they still struggle to be heard. It’s been frustrating to watch mainly men, representing political parties, slog out the questions in a generally polarised, aggressive way. Not always – but it has certainly been the main prism through which the hugely important question of our country’s future has been directed through.
By Michael Greenwell I got up early this morning to watch what, from every angle you look at it, was a triumph. However, I am not going to say it Continue reading
By Doug Daniel The referendum in 2014 will be about much more than just whether political decisions affecting Scotland are made in Edinburgh or London. Well, in some ways this Continue reading
Part one of a new Bella series looking at innovation and forms of protest. Crowdsourcing ideas for the independence movement and exploring social media and social change. First up: Casseroles, Continue reading
by George Gunn The future of Scottish politics, the future of our little country, is like an un-spliced rope blowing flayed in the wind. It would take a rope worker of Continue reading
By Robin McAlpine “All fixed, fast frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. Continue reading
By Mike Small This was Cameron’s Cool Britannia, a moment where we could ignore the reality of Bullingdon Club Britain and pretend instead that we were led by Kenneth Branagh Continue reading
By Christopher Harvie I Whatever happened to … Professor Niall Ferguson, and this year’s Reith Lectures? ‘A bit of a damp squib’ reported my daughter Alison from think tank country. Continue reading
By Mike Small It’s worth getting a few things straight before kick-off. This isn’t about relegating Rangers FC. Rangers don’t exist anymore. This isn’t about Craig Whyte. Craig Whyte’s not Continue reading
It’s Back! By popular demand! In a Bella exclusive we can unveil the POSITIVE CASE FOR THE UNION! Having waited years for Darling, Lamont or Gordon Brown to step forward, Continue reading
By Ewan Morrison I’m standing before a vast crumbling structure surrounded by broken security fencing; A Danger-Keep-Out sign lies crushed and rusted on the tarmac of what was once an Continue reading