Why I superglued myself to the Royal Bank of Scotland

This article first appeared in The Scotsman on August 31st and is kindly cross-posted at the author’s request.
Scotland is a country deeply associated with standing up for the underdog and challenging injustice. This is reflected in steps to become a Fairtrade nation, to build closer links with Malawi, to invest in renewable [...]

Climate Camp – why RBS?

The camp for climate action came to Scotland this week.
To those wondering why so many people are angry with this bank, the answer is pretty simple: when it comes to climate change, RBS make it happen – and they do it with taxpayers’ bail-out money. RBS is Europe’s biggest financer of the fossil fuel extraction [...]

Climate change & cuts

In my recent “a-z of why cuts are mad“, “George Osborne: move over Keynes” and on our campaign site www.noshockdoctrine.org.uk, I give a number of reasons why I oppose cuts – unemployment, the need for fiscal stimulus, the value of public services, and the fact that government borrowing, from the other side of the balance [...]

The Labour Manifesto – sponsored by BUPA

It was presumably concern about whether party political events were allowed on NHS property that led Labour’s media team to tell BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the “Hospital site where Lab manifesto is being launched is still owned by the firm that built it so the party is not breaking any rules.”
But of course that explanation [...]

Why make RBS back small businesses, but not renewables?

There is much to write about yesterday’s budget, but I thought I would highlight just one paradox – one I genuinely don’t understand.
Alistair Darling announced a £1bn fund for low carbon projects. This green investment bank is designed to provide the stimulus which will encourage other lenders to also back renewable energy projects and the [...]

Green Party of England and Wales Conference Day 1: Science and Inequality

So, first day of conference, not always a lot to report from Thursday, it’s a half day and much of the time is the standing orders committee report but there were a couple of interesting points yesterday.
First of all, science. This is one area where, as has been well pointed out, a lot of people [...]

bailed-out RBS lead near billion pound deal for Uganda war zone oil company

Yesterday I posted a story about how we had just launched a legal action against the Treasury over their failure to stop RBS misusing public money. Right after I posted it, I heard about RBS’ latest deal, and wrote the below for our website. I can think of few worse uses for public money than [...]

Why we’re dragging the Treasury to court – again

As well as moonlighting here at Bright Green Scotland, I spend my day-job working for student network People & Planet campaigning on fossil fuel funding. Yesterday, we lodged legal proceedings against the Treasury, again. This is the latest stage in the fight to stop them allowing RBS to bankroll fossil fuel projects with public money.
Anyone [...]

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We are a collaborative blog with both regular and guest writers discussing news, politics and culture from a progressive Scottish perspective.

Editor-in-chief: Mark Ballard
Editors: Gary Dunion, Peter McColl, Adam Ramsay, Alasdair Thompson, Maggie Chapman

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