Think of the country first 143
Posted on
June 11, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Simon Pia, former Scottish Labour spin doctor.
The voice of sanity 199
Posted on
June 04, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Hilary and Carey, South Lanark.
Just a day and a bit left to help get more videos like this made. Do if you can.
The right way to go for Scotland 91
Posted on
May 27, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.13: James, Aberdeenshire.
A way of protecting people 66
Posted on
May 21, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.12: Sophie, Dundee.
A creeping feeling 100
Posted on
May 17, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.11: Kathi, from Bernburg, Germany.
The Decency Charter 374
Posted on
April 23, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This site has spoken a few times, usually in jest, about forming its own political party and contesting elections. But as the UK heads for the biggest democratic trainwreck in its history – a vote which, depending on where you live, is really either a proxy Brexit referendum, a proxy independence referendum, a judgement on the personal character of Jeremy Corbyn or any of half-a-dozen other things – we found ourselves thinking again about what, on the fundamental ideological level, we’d stand for.
It’s a question that existing parties find it remarkably hard to answer. Labour used to define it clearly in its key “Clause IV” – a clear statement of commitment to socialist principles like public ownership and wealth redistribution – before Tony Blair junked it in the 1990s for some woolly neoliberal rubbish from an aspirational Facebook meme.
For the SNP, clearly its primary defining goal is always the democratic pursuit of independence for Scotland. What you might call its day-to-day policies have, like most parties, varied and evolved over time, but it’s always had that one clear unifying and overriding aim. It may have won electoral success through decent governance, but its purpose was never merely competent administration for its own sake.
In the case of the Conservative Party, the turn-of-the-20th-century US economist John Kenneth Galbraith summed up their position pithily and accurately:
(And lest an offended Tory should seek to instantly dismiss him as some flavour of pinko tree-hugging bleeding-heart lefty, he also said: “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.”.)
The Liberal Democrats, of course, stand for being in the middle of Labour and the Conservatives, whatever that means on any given day. (They did briefly experiment in the 2000s with being to the left of Labour, partly because it was hard NOT to be, but the coalition scuppered that and now they’re basically Tory wets.)
But what about us?
The sense of welcome 259
Posted on
March 25, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.10: Jackie Kemp, journalist.
To keep links with the world 84
Posted on
March 19, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No 9: Mark, until recently from London.
A unique opportunity to escape 76
Posted on
March 15, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No 8: Elizabeth, from Bonnybridge.
A great form of empowerment 94
Posted on
March 09, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.7: Erin, 15, from Gullane.
Something deep in the gut 347
Posted on
March 06, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.6: Christopher, from Stirling, biker.
The morality of nationalism 118
Posted on
February 26, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.5: Tom Morton, former BBC broadcaster and No campaigner.
