Articles by Alasdair Thompson
Alasdair Thompson is a physics PhD student at Edinburgh University. For his day job he stares at a computer screen and wonders why his computer code won't correctly predict the behaviour of bacterial colonies then remembers it's probably because he has no real knowledge of programming or biology.
He spends most of his spare time hanging around with anarchists and socialists plotting the overthrow of capitalism - or something like that.
Over the nearly 8 years he's been a student at Edinburgh he's shut down arms companies and sat through long meetings on recycling for People and Planet, tried unsuccessfully to get Coke banned, more successfully helped make EUSA fair trade and zero waste, and recently stood in and around a lot of tax dodging businesses on Princes Street with Edinburgh Uncut.
He recently escaped being membership secretary for the Edinburgh Green Party and is a somewhat active member of his trade union, UCU.
http://twitter.com/agthompson
Edinburgh stores occupied to oppose workfare schemes
Posted on April 1, 2012 | 1 Comment
Demonstrators in Edinburgh took direct action on the 31st March Britain-wide day of action against workfare. Protestors occupied British Heart Foundation for an hour then invaded Poundstretcher – both heavily involved in the government’s compulsory “work-for-your-benefits” schemes. Marching into the British Heart Foundation’s large furniture store in Leith, demonstrators set up camp within the shop, displaying giant banners denouncing [...]
UCU votes to suspend action over pensions.
Posted on February 1, 2012 | No Comments
Yesterday the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) held a special conference to determine where we go next in our pensions dispute. For those who haven’t been following the intricacies of it all I’ll attempt to briefly lay out where we were going into this meeting. UCU represents academic and what’s known as academic related staff [...]
The Idea of Communism
Posted on January 16, 2012 | 5 Comments
“From Plato onwards, Communism is the only political idea worthy of a philosopher” – Alain Badiou “Do not be afraid, join us, come back! You’ve had your anti-communist fun, and you are pardoned for it – time to get serious again!” – Slavoj Žižek In the aftermath of the financial crisis, in the public exposure [...]
Dick of the Year – Scott Walker
Posted on December 26, 2011 | 1 Comment
It took me a while to think of who to nominate for 2011′s Dick of the Year award; there have been a lot of good candidates: Jeremy Clarkson, David Starkey, Jean Quan, Johann Hari, everyone who scabbed on N30, Occupy Glasgow,… But in the end I settled on (Governor of the Year) Scott Walker. Scott, for [...]
Don’t give up the pensions fight
Posted on December 19, 2011 | No Comments
Today Unison signed a heads of agreement with the government over changes to NHS pensions. The agreement still needs approval from Unison’s health committee (and potentially the membership directly) and the full details aren’t yet public, but the guardian report: Unison’s head of health, Christine McAnea, said the offer contained some concessions from the government, [...]
Occupy to Support the Strikes.
Posted on November 25, 2011 | 2 Comments
On November 23rd students at universities across the country occupied their institutions as part of a day of action called by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. Here we repost an initial statement from the Edinburgh Occupation. We are now occupying Appleton Tower, in support of the UCU strike on Wednesday November 30, against [...]
Which Side Are You On
Posted on November 16, 2011 | 15 Comments
In two weeks time the UK will see the biggest coordinated day of strike action in decades; as many as 26 different unions representing everyone from chiropodists to teachers to tax inspectors may be out on strike in reaction to the government’s plans to slash public sector pensions. Even the headteachers union (the NAHT) will [...]
Barbarism With and Without a Human Face: Dale Farm, Brighton and Liberal Racism.
Posted on October 21, 2011 | 5 Comments
“Leaving with supporters today is about our own dignity and our appreciation of the support we’ve received. We’re leaving together as one family, and we are proud of that- you can’t take away our dignity.” – Dale Farm resident Mary Sheridan Two days ago bailiffs and police moved into Dale Farm to brutally remove residents [...]
Kill electoralism, not the NHS
Posted on October 13, 2011 | 4 Comments
So that’s it then. It’s all over (bar the committee and third reading). The lords didn’t save the NHS. Despite all the petitions, all the tweets and hashtags, despite adopting lords and blocking bridges the amendment from lords Owen an Hennessy that could have derailed the bill fell by 330-262 votes. The Health and Social [...]
On Strikes, Action Short of a Strike and the Meaning of Solidarity.
Posted on October 10, 2011 | 2 Comments
Today staff in the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) begin a campaign of action short of a strike as the first phase of an attempt to force universities management back to the negotiating table over changes to pension plans. The dispute (which, earlier this year, already resulted in several days of strike action) concerns the [...]
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