“Rich navigates this exceptionally fraught and emotionally charged terrain with great sensitivity. But on occasion his focus on making plain the nature of leftist anti-Semitism leads him to understate or omit some important elements of the Israeli-Palestine conflict that motivate Israel’s critics.”
Archives for October 2016
Europe’s future is Walloon – and Scottish?
“Since then, the economic crisis, the travails of the euro, and the destructive impacts of globalisation have blown that logic apart. Free trade – and its liberal corollary, the free movement of people – have lost their mass appeal. Nowhere is that more true than in Wallonia.”
Scotland’s disappearing low income students
“At the very least, the hyping in 2012 of a new of ‘minimum income’ which would benefit all low-income students looks increasingly to have been based on a shoogly set of assumptions about how quite a few of its target audience would respond.”
Mayism and the economics of nationalism
“It won’t work. May’s project will flounder. It cannot deliver the communitarian goals it strives for, and will damage Britain’s competitive position.” But: “In Scotland, things will keep going catastrophically nowhere.”
Winds of change at The Botanics
Inverleith House gallery is to close. Was art sacrificed in a sharper focus on commerce and community at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh?
Scotland in single market – or not
Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland should at least stay in the EU single market but: “the political and technical complexity of the proposal does raise the obvious question as to whether such a move is easier or more desirable, even in the short term, than full independence in the EU,” argues a leading expert.
Did England stumble, losing its way?
Reflections on a journey home to Scotland: “As well as being concerned for Scotland, I feel sad for England. If England has lost its way, if it has stumbled and may fall, if there is a battle afoot for its soul, then I don’t want for Scotland to view this merely as a good time to kick it in the crown jewels.”
Jimmy Shand or male adolescent anxiety
“Nobody really knows when they first heard, or heard of, Jimmy Shand. Like the force of gravity or your mother’s maiden name, you cannot recall a time before your awareness of his existence.” On ceilidhs, prom dances and growing up in Scotland.
Single market route to home rule
“We are going to put forward proposals, that we would hope that the UK Government would be prepared to listen to, that would allow Scotland to preserve its place in the single market and preserve aspects of its relationship with the EU.” Nicola Sturgeon opts for post-Brexit Home Rule – indy comes later…
Hidden story behind Scotland’s art
‘Scotland invented Highlandism because its own culture had been ignored by London and suppressed by many leading Scots in the years after Union. Rejecting it is siding with Irvine Welsh’s Rent Boy in Trainspotting saying “it’s shite being Scottish”.’