Escher Politics

By Mike Small Under pressure from those who feel soiled by sharing a platform with the Tories (though oddly feel no problem in them running our country with no mandate) Continue reading →

Leveson Update

Last month every single party in the Commons gave its approval to a royal charter that will provide effective, independent regulation of the press without impinging in any way upon Continue reading →

CyberBrits and Spectator Sports

By Jamie Maxwell There was something depressingly predictable about the way George Osborne’s intervention in the independence debate last week provoked a spate of Scotland-focused editorials and comment pieces in Continue reading →

On Balance

Our broadcasters are letting us down … things have to change. A guest post by Mark Piggott on BARD2014. I was down in England last week where the Thatcher funeral Continue reading →

We need National Collective

By Kate Higgins So, the Augusta National Golf Club, that paean to tradition and bastion of all things traditionally WASP has decided to punish the 14 year old golf wunderkind, Continue reading →

The Scottish News Commons

What’s the future for journalism in Scotland? David Eyre has a big idea. There’s a big moor fire near Gairloch and the reporter from the local community radio station goes Continue reading →

In Solidarity with National Collective [Part 1]

RESISTANCE CHECKLIST: Resist whatever seems inevitable. Resist people who seem invincible. Resist the embrace of those who have lost. Resist the flattery of those who have won. Resist any idea Continue reading →

The Patriot Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher: symbol of liberty and strength. Changed Britain and the world for the better. May she rest in peace. – Rupert Murdoch ‏@rupertmurdoch By Mike Small As we enter Continue reading →

Bella’s Easter Break

The growing alternative media of citizen journalism is blossoming and is growing to shape the debate around self-determination: what it means and what it can become. But it needs a Continue reading →

Not a New Media but

By Mike Small What are we to make of the collapsing media structures and models? I am arguing for some new systems and maybe it’s time to set out how Continue reading →

Bad News

By Mike Small Job losses at The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday has been described by the Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop as ‘deeply disappointing’ papering over Stewart Stevenson’s hastily Continue reading →

Top 10 Unionist Myths – DEBUNKED – BANNED then RE-DEBUNKED

This is a simple video that lays out some basic arguments about the political debate. It’s been banned by the No campaign and taken off You Tube. Are these really Continue reading →

Real Freedom Sounds Like Many Voices

… freedom of the press is only one freedom and it does not offer blanket immunity to the media to trample over other fundamental rights…

For A’ That 18 – From Shetland To Cyprus (with Natalie McGarry)

For the 18th episode of the For A’ That podcast Andrew and I were joined once more by Natalie McGarry who is standing for the European Parliament this week. We discussed a rather unfair Continue reading →

McCluskey Brothers

We’ve seen what light touch regulation gets you in food (donkey burgers). We’ve seen what light touch regulation gets you in banking (Stephen Hester). We’ve seen decades of abuse by Continue reading →

Don’t Panic!

Is the No campaign losing the plot? The cacophony of scare stories about Scotland does seem to have tipped from the bizarre to the gently unhinged. A year ago The Continue reading →

Corrections and Clarifications

By Frances Lengel There was a correction in today’s Herald newspaper about their Faslane scare-story which acknowledged their 19k jobs total was ‘incorrect’ and headline ‘misleading’.  Just in case you Continue reading →

On to a New Media

The media in Scotland remains a travesty of poor quality, underfunded, grossly biased and deeply conservative broadcasting and print media. There’s not a newspaper in Scotland that is pro-independence. Our Continue reading →

Culloden via Tesco?

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 →

The Future of BBC in Scotland

By Alex Grant How good is BBC Scotland? Ask an Irish comedian. When the BBC Trust states “our job is to get the best out of the BBC for licence Continue reading →

BBC could turn crisis into a coup

by Lesley Riddoch Is the BBC out of the woods? BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten steadied nerves on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show with a candid if partial admission of systemic Continue reading →

That was then this is now then

by Ian Brotherhood The British Broadcasting Corporation will not survive ‘Savilegate’. Internal inquiries are ongoing. Reports will emerge in due course etc, but we’ve witnessed this process often enough: the Continue reading →

‘Social Media and Social Change’ at 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair

The  16TH EDINBURGH INDEPENDENT RADICAL BOOK FAIR  opened tonight at Out Of The Blue Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street, Leith and runs until Sunday 28th October.  As always its chocabloc full of Continue reading →

Our Media Our Democracy

By Ian Brotherhood This maybe isn’t the best time to be asking BBC Scotland if we could borrow some of its gear – they’ve got enough on their plate (as Continue reading →

Decontaminating The Union: Post-Industrial Landscapes And The British Psyche

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 →

From Bogota to the Broomielaw – SMWGLA

Follow the days events at Social Media Week Glasgow #SMWGLA events on otheir lovely blog,  here and see their photos on their Facebook page and the YouTube channel here. This Continue reading →

Definitely Maybe

By Mike Small Gideon was in Scotland yesterday complaining of economic uncertainty. No hint of irony, apparently. Media outlets were no doubt geared-up for a double-whammy of ‘authoritative Westminster Chancellor Continue reading →

Question Time

By Doug the Dug By the pricking of my thumbs, a wicked second question this way comes. With Michael Moore now calling for the SNP to agree to a single Continue reading →

Communiqué: A World in Crisis, A Media Silent

Assange Facts

Due to ongoing media distortion and the inability of the MSM to report this case adequately, we publish this from Occupy London…