RSS Parrot

Taking Generals at their word is why Britain is undefended

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-ft663

Published: June 12, 2026 09:49

Imagine for a second that the health service was run in the same way as the Ministry of Defence. Senior NHS managers would have been found over and over again to have been wasteful, inefficient, lacking transparency, insufficiently concerned about…

Far right violence: politicians are scared to do what would work

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-gepcd

Published: June 10, 2026 19:19

There is substantial risk in over-reading the arguments on violence on the streets of Glasgow resulting from a stabbing in Belfast, but equally, there is a risk in not responding at all. At the moment, there is little evidence that more than a tiny handful…

Five years ago, progress on climate change ground to a halt in Scotland

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-sjklw

Published: June 10, 2026 10:46

When the battle against climate change is supposed to be a multi-decade battle, you might not think that there is much to see in annual statistical changes. But as the Scottish Government's annual carbon emission statistics are published, this is somewhat…

You are the second biggest spender on nukes

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-j3pjl

Published: June 9, 2026 08:49

It is hard to take the British defence establishment, which has lobbied relentlessly for enormous increases in military spending, but which has then largely spent it on a nuclear capability, which is precisely the reason we are so poorly defended and need…

Is the Scottish Government blocking a Land Tax because they can’t control it?

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-mtdrb

Published: June 8, 2026 08:19

Common Weal was featured in a news article in The National on Sunday, rebutting a claim made by former Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison’s claim that Westminster blocks Scotland from creating a Scottish Land Tax. In an in depth interview…

Scotland mustn't stumble into 'data centre politics'

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-fypmn

Published: June 5, 2026 10:13

One of the most debated socio-political issues in the US just now is the politics of data centres. The degree of interest among analysts is directly related to the scale of the gap between the politicians and the public. And now we are starting to see the…

Why losing music festivals signals a wider problem

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-wb3x8

Published: June 4, 2026 09:00

The total number of summer music festivals now cancelled or postponed in Scotland this summer has reached eight. This is a depressing reflection on the extent to which the economy is delivering quality of life in Scotland, and is explained away by a litany…

Rogue officials must be brought to heel

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-d26cn

Published: June 3, 2026 09:10

Is a technical report from a quango available on its website or not? This sounds like the kind of question which few but political anoraks could be interested in, and yet it is another indicator of a deep and serious malaise in the practice of government…

Scotland’s Green Transition is happening, but remains far from Just

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-7hth5

Published: June 2, 2026 07:14

A new report from the CBI this week has revealed that the number of jobs in Scotland’s renewable energy sector has now exceeded the number of jobs in the oil and gas sector. 105,000 people are now employed in and around renewables compared to 83,000 in oil…

Shortages: plan for the future, not the past

https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-45ysa

Published: June 1, 2026 09:29

When we think about the future we usually stimulate what is known as an 'optimism bias'. There is a range of evolutionary benefits that come from thinking in terms of successful outcomes rather than negative ones, but there are clear risks as well. The…