Scottish Parliament Archives - RADICAL SCOTTISH POLITICAL WRITING

Bringing up the Bairns O’ Adam – the STUC, Scotland and social justice

9th May 20209th May 202012 months ago Scottish Left Review 248 Views General Secretary STUC, Grahame Smith, Scottish Parliament, STUC 6 min read

Grahame Smith reflects on some tumultuous times as he bows out from leading the STUC Writing a reflection on over

Book Review

17th January 202017th January 20201 year ago SLR 276 Views Gerry Hassan, Gordon Morgan, Luath Press, Scottish Parliament, Simon Barrow 2 min read

Gerry Hassan and Simon Barrow (eds.) Scotland the Brave? Twenty Years of Change and the Future of the Nation, 2019,

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Striking out for our future against a dead planet

15th November 20191 year ago SLR 212 Views global strike for climate, school strikers, Scottish Parliament, SYCS, Youth Climate Strike 3 min read

Dylan Hamilton reflects on what was achieved in the September climate action On Friday 20 September, the week of climate

Feature

Scottish Parliament: essential to Scottish democracy but what kind of democracy?

15th July 201916th July 20192 years ago SLR 268 Views Democracy, parliamentary democracy, Participative, Pluralism, Scottish Parliament 8 min read

Paul Cairney argues the Scottish Parliament is fundamental to Scottish democracy but legitimises pluralist rather than participatory democracy A well-functioning

Editorial Comment

Editorial – 20th Anniversary Reflections on the Scottish Parliament

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 266 Views 20th Anniversary, Greens, Labour Conservative, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Parliament, SNP, Socialists 8 min read

The theme of this issue of Scottish Left Review is an examination of the intentions, processes and outcomes of the

Feature

Red Scotland unrealised?

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 226 Views child poverty, female MSPs, MSPs, progress. Westminster, Scottish Parliament, Tommy Sheridan, women’s representation 4 min read

Elaine Smith argues the Scottish Parliament has made little progress in realising it essential tasks. Gordon Brown, in The Red

Feature

Scottish Parliament still to reach its full potential

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 194 Views First Minister’s Questions, heartless, left-of-centre agenda, Scottish Parliament, Westminster 4 min read

Dennis Canavan says only independence will allow Holyrood to become a heart in a heartless world. Throughout my entire political

Feature

Building democracy for the next 20 years

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 210 Views Donald Dewar, Scottish Parliament, STUC 4 min read

Grahame Smith argues the Parliament has made a good start but has unfinished business. In his iconic speech at the

Feature

The campaign for a Scottish Parliament

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 252 Views civic Scotland, referendum campaign, Scottish Assembly, Scottish Constitutional Convention, Scottish Parliament 4 min read

Pat Kelly recalls the struggle for a Scottish Assembly and how it shaped the Parliament we have today. In his

Feature

Calling for a democratic, decentralised revolution

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 192 Views Green Party, national democratic revolution, Scottish Parliament 4 min read

Maggie Chapman believes new opportunities are now presenting themselves In the 1980s, communist stalwart, Joe Slovo, set out a two-stage

Feature

The parliamentary road to tackling poverty?

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 206 Views poverty, Scottish Parliament 4 min read

Peter Kelly says policies without powers behind them are coming up short in progress against poverty There are currently more

Feature

Not yet even a half-way house: parliamentary progress on housing poverty

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 201 Views Holyrood, homelessness, housing, Scottish Parliament, Shelter 3 min read

Graeme Brown reviews progress on housing and homelessness since 1999 1999 seems both close and very distant now. It’s hard

Feature

Stalled and stymied? The right to informed democracy in Scotland

20th May 20192 years ago SLR 346 Views FoI, FoISA, freedom of information, Scottish Parliament 4 min read

Carole Ewart says it didn’t take an FoI request to work out all is not well in the new, open

Kick up the Tabloids

Vladimir McTavish’s A KICK UP THE TABLOIDS

20th May 201920th May 20192 years ago SLR 206 Views Kick up the Tabloids, Scottish Parliament, Vladimir McTavish 3 min read

In 1999, many people were sceptical about the effect the new Parliament would have on the everyday life of ordinary

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Claim of rights repudiated

12th November 201819th November 20182 years ago SLR 276 Views civic Scotland, devo-max, Holyrood election, Keir Hardie, Labour Party Conference, Liberal Democrats, referendum, Richard Leonard MSP, Scotland's Claim of Right, Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Parliament, Scottish Party leader, the Scottish churches, the STUC, Tories, Westminster general election 4 min read

Bob Thomson argues Scottish Labour’s leader has ditched its policy of the Scottish people having the right to decide their

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Do we need a Scottish Fair Wages Resolution?

24th September 201826th September 20183 years ago SLR 233 Views European Community, Fair Wages, House of Commons, ILO, International Labour Office, post-Brexit Britain, Scotland, Scottish FWR, Scottish Parliament, staff, worker rights, Workers' rights 4 min read

Mick Rice makes the case for the Scottish Parliament to improve the treatment of its own staff. The Scottish Parliament