The Irresistible Rise Of The Edinburgh Party

REPORT: KEVIN WILLIAMSON The recent emergence of The Edinburgh Party has made the established political parties sit up and take notice.  Thus far The Edinburgh Party has steered clear of Continue reading →

What Hopes for Scotland in 2011?

“Why have a Parliament if we don’t use it to make possible what would be impossible without it? “

Support

Thanks to the great many of you who emailed us in support of an alternative press in Scotland. We’ve added a Support us page here with details of how you Continue reading →

2011 is a big year

Sometimes it takes a jolt to the system to realise that you can’t take someone’s consistent, innovative unsung work for granted. When Bella Caledonia was set up in 2007 myself Continue reading →

Envisioning Real Scotland

In collaboration with Newsnet Scotland we have commissioned a series of articles looking forward to the year ahead in Scotland: Hopes and Visions 2011. Read the first of these on Continue reading →

Lennon vs Bono

By Mark Engler Effective celebrity activists use their fame to bring attention and credibility to legitimate representatives of social movements. That, in a nutshell, is my standard of celebrity activism Continue reading →

Tommy’s Troubles

Six in a parliament should be remembered over four in a bed. Telling truth to power should be remembered over telling lies in court.

The Ethical Governor

This from John Butler a Glasgow based digital animator. John is fascinated by ‘the long war’ between humans and finance, which he sees today as people battle with processes such as Government cuts. Continue reading →

The Scotland Bill is Broken

It is not too much to say that the Calman income tax proposals could become Labour’s very own Poll Tax in Scotland.

Solstice Sunday

By Mhairi McGregor The papers are snowtastic this weekend, informing us helpfully that it’s er, been snowing. It had passed me by here in sunny Dee. But buried beneath the Continue reading →

Poverty Porn and the Broken Society

By Gerry Mooney and Lynn Hancock We are living in the deepest recession and economic crisis since the 1930s, yet for successive governments and for large sections of the media Continue reading →

Jody McIntyre and the Descent of the BBC

By Andrew Hardie Below we show an interview with Jody McIntyre, a disabled protestor who was attacked by the police. The interview borders on the comic as the interviewer seems Continue reading →

The Old Flamingo Ballroom

By Mike Small You won’t be able to read this article. The whole country’s ‘going gaelic’. It will be compulsory next. Of course it won’t really but it’s the sort Continue reading →

New Public Thinkers

by Mike Small In the week that the Tory-Liberals have signed the death-knell for democratic access to higher education in England, and on the day where Alex Salmond has responded Continue reading →

Mobs and Monarchs

By The Heckler On 29 October 1795, George III was on his way to open Parliament, when his carriage was surrounded by a crowd calling for ‘peace’, ‘bread’, ‘no war’ Continue reading →

Wikileaks 101

Wikileaks Julian Assange interviewed on TED by Chris Anderson, very good background on the project, how it works and a sense of Assange as a person (thanks to Mike for Continue reading →

Liar Liar Liar

Thanks to Murdo for this from THE Captain SKA…”Liberal values at the heart of British Government”

WikiLeaks Cables Reveal “Profound Hatred for Democracy”

Thanks to Troops Out for this: In a national broadcast exclusive interview world-renowned political dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speaks about the release of more than 250,000 secret U.S. State Continue reading →

La Flama de tot un Poble en Moviment

The Lip Dub for Independence is a self-evidently powerful demonstration of national solidarity intended to reach out to the world to let it know that Catalonia has survived as a nation despite Castilian efforts to suppress it and oppress it.

Ke Garne?

By Peter Thomson What to do? – as my Nepali friends would say. Sitting here in SW Scotland, dogs around my feet, Aga keeping me warm it crossed my mind Continue reading →

The Big Chill

By Joe Middleton In a way, Christmas has come early this year.  After all, every year we have “White Christmas”, “Let it Snow” and other such tinsel trash inflicted on Continue reading →

Gruniad’s Demise

By Mike Small The Guardian matters in a way that few other newspapers do. It’s got history, gravitas and crucially it cracked its online presence from the start and has Continue reading →

Important Announcement: An Independence Referendum Will Take Place On 5th May 2011

Britain doesn’t do referendums.  The idea of allowing the people to take democracy into their own hands, and make important decisions by themselves, like adults, is alien to the British Continue reading →

Building a Better Media for Scotland

Bella Caledonia and Newsnet are delighted to announce a new collaboration, where we will be commissioning new articles and sharing analysis and editorial content together. The next six months will Continue reading →

A Foreign Policy for Scotland

This is the speech on foreign policy to the Scottish Independence Convention conference on 7 November 2010 at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow by Osama Saeed: The spur that Continue reading →

Nat is a Feminist Issue

By Caitlin O’Hara That Scottish women are less likely to support independence (at the moment) was displayed once again by polls this week. Reading the Scotsman kicks up an anomaly, Continue reading →

The SVR Stooshie: should we be bothered?

As Mr Swinney said in the debate today, for us to be faced with a £7million bill for, essentially, making the SVR compatible with a system that the previous administration had already paid £12m for, and £50,000 per annum thereafter, begs more than a few questions!

Beyond the Stupid Economy

The real issue is not the relationship between sovereignty and prosperity but between prosperity and growth. Ireland’s real ‘crime’ was not to be independent, or to be part of Europe, it was to be obsessed with growth.

Maggie’s Jukebox

20 Years ago today the Tories turned on Margaret Thatcher as she had become a massive electoral legacy, much as Blair did 17 years later.  While few shed a tear Continue reading →

Scot Blog Survey

This from Go Lassie Go, please copy and post, we think it may be useful: Weber Shandwick is conducting a survey of the Scottish Blogosphere, which I feel will be Continue reading →