Politics

9th May 2023

JOCKLAND RESULTS
An ODE as from 3000AD
by
Owen Dudley Edwards

Scotland's foremost Irish historian and Ireland's finest Jockstorian, Owen Dudley Edwards, finds a textless chronicle of the farcical and chaotic politics of Jockland in the 2020s. It's to be sung swiftly, though it's no song of Solomon. The rulers from Laputa assume they have (in the jargon of the period) 'taken back control', but none of them can actually determine where Jockland is, or if it even exists ...
31st January 2023

UK-SCOTTISH POLITICS in a UK-IRISH CENTENARY by Owen Dudley Edwards

From the sophistry of the Saorstat to the solecism of Saor Alba - what, if any, are the parallels between Irish Revolutionary relations with the UK, and the relations between the current crop of Scottish and UK politicians? Owen Dudley Edwards addresses an independent question.
27th January 2023

TOM NAIRN: THE WORK reviews by Mitch Miller & Johnny Rodger

Who was Tom Nairn? One of the great political thinkers of his age, we mark his passing away with an introductory examination of his work - almost a Nairn For Beginners. These reviews/summaries of some of his most important works are excerpted from Tartan Pimps, a 2010 book by Mitch Miller and Johnny Rodger, which examined how the new Scottish politics were written into being.
27th January 2023

AN INTRODUCTION TO TOM NAIRN The Enchanted Nat by Mitch Miller & Johnny Rodger

Who was Tom Nairn? One of the great political thinkers of his age, we mark his passing away with an introduction to his thought. This piece is excerpted from Tartan Pimps, a 2010 book by Mitch Miller and Johnny Rodger, which examined how the new Scottish politics were written into being. Some of the parliamentary politics here have aged a bit -Nairn's thought has not.
19th November 2022

Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence by Gerry Hassan reviewed by RICHARD FINLAY

'Sometimes it feels like all the possible takes on the independence debate have already been 'well rehearsed'. Can the debate be refreshed and also gain some new subtlety and complexity? Richard Finlay assesses Gerry Hassan's new book-length contribution and is optimistic about its possible influence.
11th October 2022

THE QUIET REVOLUTION
by
BURKE and McLEAN

'What did you do, dad, on the 19th of September 2022?' -The People of South Lanarkshire did not rest on that day - Burke and McLean (not Edmund and John, but Raymond and Richard) egged them on to the respectful end, while the Queen of England was laid to rest.
5th July 2022

JOBS FOR THE BOYS:
‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ 40 years on
Neil Cooper

BBC4 will be showing Alan Bleasdale's Liverpool-set 1980's series Boys from the Blackstuff starting Wednesday July 6th. It's an important anniversary of the work -but why and how did Liverpool theatre, film and TV become an almost institutionalised lingua franca for British working class expression and struggle from the 1980s on? What is it about the culture of that city that made it such a working class touchstone? Neil Cooper looks into the Merseyside context of Bleasdale's writing and gives us a fully researched and detailed examination of the history and legacy of the great work done.
18th June 2022

INSTITUTION
by
Owen Dudley Edwards

What is the constitution of an institution? Who decides in and for an institution? What happens when an institution rejects us, or when we destroy an institution? Owen Dudley Edwards meditates ...
22nd April 2022

POSTING MAY DAY: The story of International Workers’ Day through Trade Union Posters by LORNA MILLER

The Story of May Day as the celebration of International Workers Day, and specifically the organisation of the Glasgow May Day festivities over the last few years, is told by artist and political cartoonist Lorna Miller in a wonderful insight into her work in creation of posters for Glasgow Trades Council.