“Theresa May’s refusal to bring a bill to the Commons or to publish a White Paper on Brexit has been an extraordinary rejection of basic democratic accountability and debate.” But: “84% of MPs at Westminster voted to set the UK on a rapid path to Brexit, with the Tory government of the day supported by the main Labour opposition.”
Archives for 2016
A day is a long time in EU politics
“His (van der Bellen’s) victory should certainly not be seen as an encouragement of those, in the UK and EU as a whole just as much as Austria, who hope that politics does not need radical change.” “Ironically, it might also be much too early to write off Renzi, or at least his reforms.”
Social cohesion and racism in Scotland
“Yet, reading the humbling stories of voluntary groups working hard to assist integration, I am shocked to see one Polish support group refer to the high suicide rate among Polish people in Scotland.” In the week of the Casey Report condemning UK governments’ failure to support intercultural social cohesion, Fay Young finds there is no room for complacency in Scotland.
Stop decommissioning, invest in renewables
“The renewables investment would generate substantially more sustainable jobs in areas like design, construction and operations and maintenance over the typical 25-year lifespan of a facility.” Why taxpayer-funded North Sea decommissioning is a bad idea.
The relentless present of the future
“One thing is certain: to look at the future and see nothing but an impassable end is destructive in itself. Because, in reality, we’ve always known how the world ends – the same way it starts – with you.” A young man’s take on what’s next…
This is not the end of America
Jackie Kemp takes advantage of her State-side perspective to examine why many Americans are prepared to give President-Elect Donald Trump a chance.
Discerning the light: a sceptic explores the history of religion
Former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway, whose complex relationship with his own Christian tradition makes him perhaps the quintessential sceptical Scot, explores the history of religion in a new book.
Trump: a silver lining for progressives?
“Trump’s triumph comes with a silver lining. It demonstrates that we are at a crossroads when change is inevitable, not just possible. But to ensure that it is not the type of change that humanity suffered from in the 1930s, we need movements to spring out and to forge a Progressive International to press passion and reason back into the service of humanism.”
Why MSM got it wrong on Trump/Brexit
“At a time when the media is being heavily criticised by all parties involved in these campaigns it must reinforce rigour, independence and challenge. To do otherwise leads swiftly back to the yellow journalism of the past.”
The triumph of Trumpocracy
Trump’s trriumph “portends the imminent destruction or disabling of the institutions on the Hill, both Senate and Congress, and the marginalisation – to the point of irrelevance or puppetry – of NGOs and institutions of civil society, including unions, that could provide advocacy and protection for many sections of the population.”