In 1968 a Labour MP sat down to co-author a pamphlet entitled ‘Don’t Butcher Scotland’s Future’ – a strident rebuke to the nascent force of Scottish nationalism. This was a moment when ‘hammering the nats’ became a key part of a good Scottish Labour man’s vocation, and the young Jim Sillars would prove to be no slacker in this regard. The ensuing transformation of Sillars into … [Read more...] about Road to recovery bypasses Red Morningside
City or Symbol? Dundee and perils of regeneration
What can one building achieve for a city? How does a remarkable structure reflect and define the identity of a sprawling and eclectic urban space?Last year Scotland witnessed two events revealing the significance of these questions. In Glasgow, there was lamentation at the desolation of its School of Art, while Dundee saw a great wave of triumph at the completion of the … [Read more...] about City or Symbol? Dundee and perils of regeneration
Brexit, the people and the politics of loss
Where does the mind of the prime minister wander to when what little sleep she is afforded just refuses to arrive?Is there an essential place, a composite of some abstract idea of what Britain is and who the British are, where her thoughts come to rest? Their lives so different, their smell so strange, their concerns so vapid compared to those of high office. … [Read more...] about Brexit, the people and the politics of loss
Solidarity in a neutral Scotland
To find the repressive machinery of the state you happen to live in marshalled against you is a terrifying prospect.Most of us will never know what it means to find the passport that allows you to travel freely, the norms you live by suddenly inverted, and all those minute details of freedom that we take for granted, gone.It’s a very particular form of terror to know … [Read more...] about Solidarity in a neutral Scotland
Expiring Capital – on leaving Edinburgh
Squint your eyes when looking at Edinburgh from most angles and you can still, despite the uniquely layered density of spires and rooftops, imagine it empty of people, prehistoric.What Edinburgh has meant in the past is writ large everywhere, usually with a Victorian confidence about such matters. What Edinburgh means right now is debated but still discernible. What … [Read more...] about Expiring Capital – on leaving Edinburgh