Robin McAlpine (+RobinMcAlpine)

29 September 2023 17:15

Common Weal is about to publish an independence strategy paper - but that will never mean we don't value our supporters who don't support independence.

We’re here – for everyone

robinmcalpine.org

27 September 2023 19:00

I'm about to launch a piece of work I care deeply about and I fear it runs a serious risk of being distorted, undermined or misappropriated. Can you help?

Could you help me out please?

robinmcalpine.org

22 September 2023 18:09

Why is it that so many things in politics don't make sense to ordinary people? It's because they've been led to believe that politics is waaaay more rational than it really is...

How to make sense of things that don’t make sense

robinmcalpine.org

20 September 2023 18:36

The public inquiry into the Edinburgh Trams disaster is a fairly neat encapsulation of everything that is wrong in public sector Scotland. And yet it is going to change nothing - unless citizens really demand change.

The trams scandal is Scotland’s future – unless we act

robinmcalpine.org

18 September 2023 20:09

The independence movement now appears to have many possible strategies to achieve its goal - but actually has none. The reason is because the most important part is missing from them all.

A decade without a strategy, and another to come

robinmcalpine.org

15 September 2023 17:45

Right now in Scotland a corporation which has done untold damage to communities around the globe is mounting a major campaign to do damage in Scotland. Would you be able to tell who it is?

A community-destroying corporation is mounting a massive operation in Scotland. Did you know?

robinmcalpine.org

13 September 2023 19:54

This three-part series ends with the most difficult problems to solve of all - the identity-based, culture war conflicts. There is no easy way to make these go away, but there is a way to make them less bad.

Reconciliation: 3. None of this is easy…

robinmcalpine.org

12 September 2023 19:54

If you want to change someone else's life, the duty to persuade them and listen to their concerns lies on you. The independence movement should learn this lesson.

Reconciliation: 2. When it’s you who wants change…

robinmcalpine.org

11 September 2023 19:45

In a three-part series examining Scotland's big political divides and how to bring peace to them, this first instalment argues that only the powerful in the independence movement can initiate a workable process of reconciliation.

Reconciliation: 1. The duty on the powerful

robinmcalpine.org

08 September 2023 14:54

If a four-day week is treated as a soundbite rather than a transformative policy it will fail - and our society cannot afford it to fail. Let's get this right.

Don’t muck up a four-day week

robinmcalpine.org

05 September 2023 20:00

The new First Minister made a speech that didn't only sound exactly like the last First Minister, it contained all the same promises too. This is the different approach which might actually save Scotland.

This is what a good Programme for Government might look like

robinmcalpine.org

04 September 2023 19:36

Not a grassroots march but a branding exercise, the gap between what the politicos say is happening and what the public thinks is happening is miles apart.Independence is the victim.

Meanwhile, the punters…

robinmcalpine.org

01 September 2023 18:09

This week has seen a flurry of new political rhetoric on Scotland's economy. But is any of it really new or does any of it mark a fresh start? Not really. This is just more of exactly the same of what isn't working.

When everyone’s economic policy is basically the same

robinmcalpine.org

I've supported virtually every independence movement initiative for a decade - but I can no longer support the SNP's plans to splinter the movement and replace it with a carefully crafted replica it controls. It's deeply unhealthy.

Why I won’t be going on the astroturf march

robinmcalpine.org

It may have taken a long time for the cracks to appear in the SNP, but they've been working their way through the party for years. And they're not done - the SNP must reform or accept a long, slow decline before it can recover.

Can you see how bad it is yet?

robinmcalpine.org

We fail when we try to solve systematic crises one at a time. If the problem is systematic, the solution has to be too. That's what's going wrong in the 'free speech' debate.

All of us first – when it’s difficult

robinmcalpine.org

Voices are rising inside the independence movement; burn baby burn, they say. They're wrong - and they must be challenged vigorously.

An oily future shames the independence movement

robinmcalpine.org

It's dense and technical, but it is super-important. Scotland has lost billions of pounds because of poor negotiation by the Scottish Government and we're all going to pay a price.

What on earth is Scotland doing accepting this fiscal framework?

robinmcalpine.org

Scotland has real brilliance all over the place, but the wider policy infrastructure which would let us make the most of that brilliance is instead visionless and needy. Until that changes, we'll keep squandering our brilliance.

Scotland is brilliant. But…

robinmcalpine.org

Let's face it, right now it often feels like nothing in Scotland works. And yet this is a simple choice we are making, a choice to do things badly rather than to do them well.