“Governments working together to regulate the production of greenhouse gases is our planet’s best, perhaps only, only hope. To get there, we need these issues to be in the spotlight. More power to your elbow, Greta.”
Culture
What’s the Orange Order’s future?
“I was at a talk the other week by the Orange Order Historian Dr David Hume. It is a measure of how far we have come as a society that there was a talk about the Orange Order in the James Connolly Centre on the Falls Road.
Declaration of Arbroath: no political cherry-picking!
“…the declaration’s authors had little desire to see an Anglo-Scottish union centuries later, nor had a high opinion of popular sovereignty. Democracy too was an alien concept at this time. This was a document written for the elites, by the elites.”
Gulliver’s foot and art’s redemptive power
“One by one aspects of what the CFS did were closed down or were taken back under the aegis of the council. The times changed. Austerity, unemployment, and drugs bit hard here. The Festival Society gradually declined, and so did the sense of community.”
Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes off
“Successive governments have used policing to control the population to prevent political turmoil, eroding the legitimacy of law enforcement along the way. And yet, the police are extremely hostile to reform…” – and riddled with racist far right feelings
Conspiracy theories: no panic!
“What we see here is that rates of agreement haven’t fundamentally changed over time, apart for when it comes to climate change, and in this case views that it is a hoax have in fact dropped. This only goes to show that we need to be careful about any moral panic that is attributed to the internet, and especially social media activity making situations worse.”
Sunshine on Rachel House
Fund-raising is a constant fact of life for a charity providing high quality, multi-disciplinary “life and death affirming” care for a growing number of children and families facing the reality of life with life-shortening conditions. Medical advances mean longer lives for more children with terminal illnesses (recent CHAS research estimates more than 16,000 children aged 0-21 are in need of specialist care).
Glasgow’s LEZ kills off Sylvia
Glasgow, with low car ownership, has inaugurated its low emission zone so how have drivers and pedestrians for that matter reacted? Surprisingly positively finds Jackie Kemp.
Rolling stone of destiny
Fate of the Stone of Destiny – and the UK. Same old ‘tartan gesture politics’? or meaningful role in Charles III coronation?
The rules of the road in the Highlands
“Sometimes at night, when the rain is coming down like iron spikes and the road is as dark as a werewolf’s armpit I feel that the brown signs directing you to local services are a sick joke. The signs don’t contain any information as to distance, so you could come off and find it is a 20-minute drive..”