At one time it was common to write about the United Kingdom as the fruit of a steady expansion of the English Crown into the neighbouring territories. The subsequent politics of the resulting state was a matter of centre and periphery with all roads leading to London. Distinct histories of the smaller nations existed but strictly for local consumption. From the 1970s … [Read more...] about Making sense of politics in “these islands”
identity
Trans in fiction – and in court
The UK Supreme Court said that their ruling on biological sex as a distinct category in equality provision should not be interpreted as a defeat for trans people. Trans people have the right to live in dignity, free from harassment and discrimination, they ruled. Most of those who welcomed the judgement also made a point of saying that they support the rights of trans people to … [Read more...] about Trans in fiction – and in court
We’re allowing the Far Right to set the pace
Remigration on a mass scale is now salonfähig in the political lexicon of Allianz für Deutschland co-leader and Kanzlerkandidatin Alice Weidel - and her party as a whole. Repatriation of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of refugees/asylum-seekers inevitably recalls the 1933-39 period (before the war-time Final Solution) when thousands among the half a million Jews in … [Read more...] about We’re allowing the Far Right to set the pace
A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s “Mack”
Paris welcomed world leaders last weekend to celebrate the magnificent rebuild of Notre Dame, completed on a time scale many thought impossible. I was in Glasgow on Sunday visiting my uncle, and, sparked by indignation at its very different fate, we took a taxi to look at the burnt-out School of Art. What a contrast. It is a plastic-wrapped wreck, while the streets around it … [Read more...] about A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s “Mack”
Being a woman writer/leader in Scotland – the imposter syndrome
I went to Strathclyde University in 1968 when I was 17. My mother worked in a bar and my dad was an engine driver. I grew up in a council house and I was the first in my extended family to go to university. I spent the first couple of years at uni never speaking in tutorials and was taken aback when I got a good mark for my first politics assignment. I never failed an essay or … [Read more...] about Being a woman writer/leader in Scotland – the imposter syndrome