Time for reflection
Like many people, I’ve spent much of today asleep. The day after results night is always a strange one – a day of jubilation, or a day of disappointment. For me, it’s normally a mixture of the two. And so it is this year. But after we’ve all caught up on sleep, had some proper [...]
Lessons for Labour (and the left)
It should have been Labour’s year. Only 12 months ago, Scots turned out in droves to send Gordon Brown back to Downing Street. Yet today, it looks like Iain Gray’s party is going to take a kicking. And frankly, they only have themselves to blame. In Wales, the main question for the party is whether [...]
A more civilised kind of politics is not ‘from another planet’
I had forgotten how civilised Scottish politics is. Last night, I was representing the Greens at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association hustings. Three years ago I stood on the same stage and argued with Harry Cole (and 2 others) about who should be next student president. If memory serves, it was a raucous affair – [...]
For Our Generation it’s the Greens or it’s Nothing
Our generation has taken a beating. Where the Thatcher government waged a thinly disguised class war, our generation has been under attack for the past 13 years. The anger we’ve seen from young people on our streets is an anger driven by the knowledge that we’ve been abandoned. We’ve been abandoned by a political class [...]
I Thought Things Were Already Bad….
photo by bob the lomond via flickr The title to this blogpost comes from a member of the public who lives in the East End of Glasgow. Its taken from the Herald, some time ago, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything else written that sums up how I feel about the situation our country [...]
UKIP and the Culture War
I was surprised to find that Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP MEP for Yorks and Humber had been running his re-election campaign on the basis of climate change denial. This seemed odd to me. I thought that UKIP were a party promoting withdrawal from the EU. But then you should never judge a party by its [...]
Why I hate the West Wing
I have a terrible confession to make. For someone who enjoys his politics, is intrigued by interpersonal interaction and has a, possibly undue, interest in public administration I hate the West Wing. I’m possibly the only person with this set of interests that can’t stand the programme. It’s not because I dislike the actors, the [...]
Lack of Care in Edinburgh’s Tendering
UPDATE: See my latest personal blogpost for an update on this – the Direct Payment rate of £15.04 has been scrapped too, in favour of further dialogue and discussion with service users and providers – MC In my role as the sole Green Councillor on the City of Edinburgh Council’s Finance and Resources Committee, I’ve [...]
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