Robin McAlpine (+RobinMcAlpine)

24 May 2022 18:15

Neither Scotland nor the independence movement should buy the idea that Nato membership would make us safer. It would not - and there is an alternative.

The Worlds to Come: Part 5

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There is a utopian vision of the world at the end of the current conflicts - and it is not as difficult to reach as it at first seems

The Worlds to Come: Part Four

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The world seems to be set on a default path, a future of ever-escalating military tensions. We must understand that this is likely to finish humanity.

The Worlds to Come: Part Three

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Part of the trick of militarism is to pretend there are simple answers, easy solutions - always involving weapons. It is simply not true. The world is more complicated than that.

The Worlds to Come: Part Two

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During a time of war the voices of violence prey on people's fears. We must remember that war is horror and that the war party s never satiated, always want more. We can make other choices.

The Worlds to Come: Part One

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I've done loads and loads of policy work on climate change - so why am I so bad at this game?

Robin Ruins the World

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There are currently two political explanations of why the disastrous construction of ferries has gone so far off the rails - and neither of them is right. It's all about the specification....

Why is Scotland’s shipbuilding going so wrong?

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On Saturday the Biggar Ladies rugby team won at Murrayfield. Everything about this rise of this amazing team has lessons Scotland should learn

Community, equality, hard work – this is how to win

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The combination of constant failures, right-wing economics, endemic corruption and constantly-creeping authoritarianism is making the SNP's legacy in government a toxic one. Only the party members can stop it.

The only people who can stop this

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Common Weal has launched a new training programme, the first of many. The importance of developing skills for social campaigners should not be underestimated

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The smart money is on Alba's short run coming to an end, but the assumptions about what that means for the independence movement are perhaps a little simplistic

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The hyper-confidence SNP politicians demonstrate when telling us there will be a referendum next year makes me stop and check my assumptions

Am I missing something?

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It is now almost universally accepted that Scottish local democracy is in a terrible state but with a scepticism that there is anything we can do about it. That scepticism is misplaced.

Democracy is something you do – and can do better

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The razing of the Mackintosh Building at Glasgow School of Art is yet another case study in Scottish public bureaucracy. Its future should be taken out of the hands of the lot of them.

Bad bureaucracy burns buildings

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Look, everyone orders a ferry, overrules the legal advice and then loses all the paperwork. These things happen. So let's be reasonable and play... Fiddle or Muddle

Let’s play ‘Fiddle or Muddle’

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In the years since devolution there has been a significant shift in which voices get to define Scotland - and not for the better

Who are Scotland’s voices?

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The First Minister has been "lobbying London firms" to invest in housing retrofit in Scotland. What does this mean?

What does ‘private investment’ in retrofit mean?

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The developed nations seem quite chuffed that we're on target to heat the world up by two degrees - do they really understand the inhumanity in this?

Self-satisfied while the world burns

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The news that the process of delivering the indy prospectus has involved only three high-level meetings should raise real concern about the rigour of this process

Three meetings ain’t much…

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Recent stories about land ownership in Scotland give further cause for dismay. Will we ever get our awful relationship with our own land sorted?