William Duguid
@williamduguid1.bsky.social
Also on the X hellsite, but maybe not for long.
Used to write To September & Beyond, a political blog on Scottish independence that was hilarious, sometimes intentionally.
Used to write To September & Beyond, a political blog on Scottish independence that was hilarious, sometimes intentionally.
'Scotland is a mess. There is no getting round it. We need to start to imagine something more than this. We need to inspire people not just to moan, but to change things.'
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal
This is the Scottish landscape I dream of — Common Weal
Scotland has a land problem - we lack ownership and we lack imagination. I
have done nothing but imagine a different countryside for years - and this
is what it looks like.
www.commonweal.scot
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'Scotland is a mess. There is no getting round it. We need to start to imagine something more than this. We need to inspire people not just to moan, but to change things.'
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal
'There is great annoyance today from Yessers comparing the BBC’s craven response to Trump – resignations at the top – with its reaction to accusations of indyref bias – nowt.'
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, one of the National columnists reacting to the BBC stooshie.
archive.is/6SHu0
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, one of the National columnists reacting to the BBC stooshie.
archive.is/6SHu0
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
'There is great annoyance today from Yessers comparing the BBC’s craven response to Trump – resignations at the top – with its reaction to accusations of indyref bias – nowt.'
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, one of the National columnists reacting to the BBC stooshie.
archive.is/6SHu0
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, one of the National columnists reacting to the BBC stooshie.
archive.is/6SHu0
'WFI wants Scotland’s future to be as an independent country, one that is fair, sustainable and prosperous, with a wellbeing economic model and with all Scots benefiting from our huge resources.'
Dr Jacqui Jensen in collaboration with Women For Independence, via the National
archive.ph/fu92y
Dr Jacqui Jensen in collaboration with Women For Independence, via the National
archive.ph/fu92y
November 10, 2025 at 2:00 PM
'WFI wants Scotland’s future to be as an independent country, one that is fair, sustainable and prosperous, with a wellbeing economic model and with all Scots benefiting from our huge resources.'
Dr Jacqui Jensen in collaboration with Women For Independence, via the National
archive.ph/fu92y
Dr Jacqui Jensen in collaboration with Women For Independence, via the National
archive.ph/fu92y
'Alexander has been parachuted in for a campaign of "muscular unionism" the like of which we've never seen before. This might exorcise his personal demons after humiliation by Mhairi Black, but is likely to be utterly disastrous.'
Mike Small via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Mike Small via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Back at the Beating Heart
“Scotland is back at the beating heart of my government.” Keir Starmer, Jul 7, 2024 As the Labour Party faces electoral collapse, it is doubling down on its own worst policies. Rather than changing…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'Alexander has been parachuted in for a campaign of "muscular unionism" the like of which we've never seen before. This might exorcise his personal demons after humiliation by Mhairi Black, but is likely to be utterly disastrous.'
Mike Small via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Mike Small via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
'If an independent Scotland issued its own currency, it need not issue bonds at all – the deficit would appear as an “overdraft” in the accounts which the government held at the central bank.'
Jim Osborne of the Scottish Currency Group, via The National
archive.ph/aiW6i
Jim Osborne of the Scottish Currency Group, via The National
archive.ph/aiW6i
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 PM
'If an independent Scotland issued its own currency, it need not issue bonds at all – the deficit would appear as an “overdraft” in the accounts which the government held at the central bank.'
Jim Osborne of the Scottish Currency Group, via The National
archive.ph/aiW6i
Jim Osborne of the Scottish Currency Group, via The National
archive.ph/aiW6i
'Hidden just off the Royal Mile is a building almost no visitors ever hear about: the home of Scotland’s original independent Parliament, the legislature that shaped the nation for centuries before the 1707 Union.'
Latest video from @thescotlandchannel.bsky.social
Latest video from @thescotlandchannel.bsky.social
SCOTLAND’S FORGOTTEN PARLIAMENT | Hidden History on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile
Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is one of Scotland’s most famous historic streets — but hidden just off it is a building almost no visitors ever hear about: the home of Scotland’s original independent Parliament, the legislature that shaped the nation for centuries before the 1707 Union.
More than 4 million
www.youtube.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'Hidden just off the Royal Mile is a building almost no visitors ever hear about: the home of Scotland’s original independent Parliament, the legislature that shaped the nation for centuries before the 1707 Union.'
Latest video from @thescotlandchannel.bsky.social
Latest video from @thescotlandchannel.bsky.social
'In a world of bad choices in every direction, we are about to see who the Government – with its plunging ratings in the polls - thinks it can and cannot get away with annoying.'
@thecommongreen.scot, via Common Weal
@thecommongreen.scot, via Common Weal
When inequality is this high, all choices become bad — Common Weal
Speculation on the UK Budget this month has leaned on the tensions the UK
Government’s faces as all of its choices seem to face intractable
opposition
www.commonweal.scot
November 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'In a world of bad choices in every direction, we are about to see who the Government – with its plunging ratings in the polls - thinks it can and cannot get away with annoying.'
@thecommongreen.scot, via Common Weal
@thecommongreen.scot, via Common Weal
'The lesson of Mamdani’s win for Scotland is that words are meaningless without the determination to follow them up with action.'
@richardwalker5.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/lBeFY
@richardwalker5.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/lBeFY
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
'The lesson of Mamdani’s win for Scotland is that words are meaningless without the determination to follow them up with action.'
@richardwalker5.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/lBeFY
@richardwalker5.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/lBeFY
'1.3 million people in Scotland voted for the SNP Government in 2021. If Labour thought it could reach out to sway any of them in May’s Holyrood election, then it wouldn’t be using a line these voters see as preposterous.
@adamramsay.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
@adamramsay.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
'The SNP Isn't a Threat to the Security of Any Nation I Want to Be Part Of'
Labour's attempts to brand the Scottish National Party a threat to the UK’s national security is a drastic escalation of Labour’s anti-independence rhetoric, argues Adam Ramsay
bylinetimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'1.3 million people in Scotland voted for the SNP Government in 2021. If Labour thought it could reach out to sway any of them in May’s Holyrood election, then it wouldn’t be using a line these voters see as preposterous.
@adamramsay.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
@adamramsay.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
'Is there any sense at all that the politicians are in charge of this? It doesn’t seem to be very clear that they even know what’s going on. Is this what "arm’s-length" was for – to keep your nose far enough away from the stink?'
Robin McAlpine
robinmcalpine.org/wh...
Robin McAlpine
robinmcalpine.org/wh...
November 7, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'Is there any sense at all that the politicians are in charge of this? It doesn’t seem to be very clear that they even know what’s going on. Is this what "arm’s-length" was for – to keep your nose far enough away from the stink?'
Robin McAlpine
robinmcalpine.org/wh...
Robin McAlpine
robinmcalpine.org/wh...
'Farage has also said that the Barnett formula needs to be “looked at again.” By this what he really means is that Westminster should slash funding for Scotland while continuing to help itself to Scotland’s immense resources.'
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via the National
archive.is/IW1Lv
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via the National
archive.is/IW1Lv
November 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
'Farage has also said that the Barnett formula needs to be “looked at again.” By this what he really means is that Westminster should slash funding for Scotland while continuing to help itself to Scotland’s immense resources.'
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via the National
archive.is/IW1Lv
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via the National
archive.is/IW1Lv
'Our history has been a sair fecht. It’s also prompted incredible feats of resistance and political organisation. Elspeth King did more than most to showcase the latter.'
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dSWXD
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dSWXD
November 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'Our history has been a sair fecht. It’s also prompted incredible feats of resistance and political organisation. Elspeth King did more than most to showcase the latter.'
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dSWXD
@lesleyriddoch.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dSWXD
'Farage is playing on people's ignorance of the nature of money, of how it is created, of the role of the national debt, and of the means by which debt interests obligations are settled, to create an environment in which panic can be induced.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
MMT v fascism
Ignorance about money is set to become an even more important feature of UK politics, it would seem. As the FT has reported:
A former Tory minister and top bank executive have contributed to a Reform UK affiliated think-tank report that claims the UK is heading for a debt crisis.
Former Conservative...
www.taxresearch.org.uk
November 6, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'Farage is playing on people's ignorance of the nature of money, of how it is created, of the role of the national debt, and of the means by which debt interests obligations are settled, to create an environment in which panic can be induced.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
'By God, so many politicians here in Scotland really do need to pause and reflect on Mamdani’s win and what they might glean from it.'
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/5aZP2
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/5aZP2
November 6, 2025 at 9:24 AM
'By God, so many politicians here in Scotland really do need to pause and reflect on Mamdani’s win and what they might glean from it.'
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/5aZP2
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/5aZP2
'On almost every aspect of politics, the billionaire media seeks to divide and demonise those working for a better world.
There is hardly any section of society they will not demonise in order to pursue their agenda.'
@donnachadhmc.bsky.social via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
There is hardly any section of society they will not demonise in order to pursue their agenda.'
@donnachadhmc.bsky.social via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
How the Not-So Independent Media Censors Criticism of Its Billionaire Owners
Former Independent columnist Donnachadh McCarthy on how the UK's billionaire-owned media silences those journalists trying to speak out against them
bylinetimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'On almost every aspect of politics, the billionaire media seeks to divide and demonise those working for a better world.
There is hardly any section of society they will not demonise in order to pursue their agenda.'
@donnachadhmc.bsky.social via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
There is hardly any section of society they will not demonise in order to pursue their agenda.'
@donnachadhmc.bsky.social via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
'It’s now clear that Russia has entered “Phase Zero,” a critical stage of its campaign to prepare for a possible NATO-Russia war, according to the Institute of Study of War.' @zarinazabrisky.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
Russia's 'Phase Zero' Is Here and War With NATO Is Now Inevitable, Experts Warn
The same psychological warfare tactics Moscow used to prepare the ground for its invasion of Ukraine are now being used against the rest of Europe, writes Zarina Zabrisky
bylinetimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'It’s now clear that Russia has entered “Phase Zero,” a critical stage of its campaign to prepare for a possible NATO-Russia war, according to the Institute of Study of War.' @zarinazabrisky.bsky.social, via @bylinetimes.bsky.social
'You cannot vote for independence, whichever way you choose, without having the tools and institutions in place from day one. That’s like trying to run an engine on an empty fuel tank or an electric car on a flat battery.'
Letter to The National from Alan Magnus-Bennett
archive.is/Y4jUD
Letter to The National from Alan Magnus-Bennett
archive.is/Y4jUD
November 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM
'You cannot vote for independence, whichever way you choose, without having the tools and institutions in place from day one. That’s like trying to run an engine on an empty fuel tank or an electric car on a flat battery.'
Letter to The National from Alan Magnus-Bennett
archive.is/Y4jUD
Letter to The National from Alan Magnus-Bennett
archive.is/Y4jUD
'When universities sell the story that a degree is the "safest path" to a career, they’re not just exaggerating. They’re selling an outdated dream that they know the job market can’t deliver on.'
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal
Degrees of Deception: What are we really selling young people? — Common Weal
We sell young people the dream that a degree guarantees success. In reality, the job market can’t deliver on the promise – and universities know it.
www.commonweal.scot
November 4, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'When universities sell the story that a degree is the "safest path" to a career, they’re not just exaggerating. They’re selling an outdated dream that they know the job market can’t deliver on.'
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal
'If a firm's business model collapses because it must pay a living wage to its most junior staff, the problem is not the wage. It is the model.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
How can the economy survive when most wages are too low?
The Financial Times has reported this morning that senior figures in the City are now complaining that the minimum wage is rising so close to graduate starting salaries that it threatens recruitment into accountancy, law, and finance.
They see this as a social problem. But is it? I see this as...
www.taxresearch.org.uk
November 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'If a firm's business model collapses because it must pay a living wage to its most junior staff, the problem is not the wage. It is the model.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
'What’s stunning is that the idea that the royal establishment has tacitly protected one of its own, intimidating the police and foreign administrations to keep a safe distance, is treated as a matter of bland reportage.'
@peatworrier.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dosH8
@peatworrier.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dosH8
November 4, 2025 at 9:00 AM
'What’s stunning is that the idea that the royal establishment has tacitly protected one of its own, intimidating the police and foreign administrations to keep a safe distance, is treated as a matter of bland reportage.'
@peatworrier.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dosH8
@peatworrier.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/dosH8
'We deserve a democracy where no-one is born to rule, and everyone is equal before the law. Andrew is gone. But the job isn’t done – though it’s long past time to finish it.'
Kiran Khan and Tristan Grayford of Our Republic, via the National
archive.is/dt7I7
Kiran Khan and Tristan Grayford of Our Republic, via the National
archive.is/dt7I7
November 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'We deserve a democracy where no-one is born to rule, and everyone is equal before the law. Andrew is gone. But the job isn’t done – though it’s long past time to finish it.'
Kiran Khan and Tristan Grayford of Our Republic, via the National
archive.is/dt7I7
Kiran Khan and Tristan Grayford of Our Republic, via the National
archive.is/dt7I7
What Living Rent offers is change, change that when we collectively take action we can improve our lives together... Living Rent doesn’t just talk about hope, we fight and win for it. '
Lydia Morrow, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Lydia Morrow, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
A Victory for Living Rent
This October, in a huge win for tenants, a new Scottish Housing Bill was passed in Holyrood. After almost ten years of pressure from Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants’ and community union, we saw par…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM
What Living Rent offers is change, change that when we collectively take action we can improve our lives together... Living Rent doesn’t just talk about hope, we fight and win for it. '
Lydia Morrow, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Lydia Morrow, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
'Zohran Mamdani’s rise is a reflection of the collective exasperation among many with politics both in New York and across other parts of America.'
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/nfyAo
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/nfyAo
November 3, 2025 at 10:20 AM
'Zohran Mamdani’s rise is a reflection of the collective exasperation among many with politics both in New York and across other parts of America.'
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/nfyAo
@foreigncorr1.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/nfyAo
'A lot has changed here on Walton’s Mountain. Starmer now routinely finds himself defending the lies – outright lies – of his ministers.'
Hamish Morrison, via The National
archive.is/y6ZuV
Hamish Morrison, via The National
archive.is/y6ZuV
November 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'A lot has changed here on Walton’s Mountain. Starmer now routinely finds himself defending the lies – outright lies – of his ministers.'
Hamish Morrison, via The National
archive.is/y6ZuV
Hamish Morrison, via The National
archive.is/y6ZuV
'The world is burning, the country is breaking, and those who suffer most are invisible precisely because attention is the currency of power.
It is time we stopped funding the circus and started funding the future.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
It is time we stopped funding the circus and started funding the future.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
While the world watches the circus, the country is falling apart
I have suffered from a very strong feeling of late, which is that it is becoming very hard to escape the theatre of political distraction right now.
The lights are bright, the noise is relentless, and the cast is depressingly familiar. Whether it be Donald Trump and his shenanigans, Nigel Farage...
www.taxresearch.org.uk
November 2, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'The world is burning, the country is breaking, and those who suffer most are invisible precisely because attention is the currency of power.
It is time we stopped funding the circus and started funding the future.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social
It is time we stopped funding the circus and started funding the future.'
@richardjmurphy.bsky.social