Dr Craig Dalȝell
@thecommongreen.scot
Head of Policy & Research at Common Weal
Wrote a book: tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures
Main social media at Mastodon: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
Donate to CW: https://commonweal.scot/donate/
My personal blog: https://thecommongreen.scot/
Wrote a book: tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures
Main social media at Mastodon: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
Donate to CW: https://commonweal.scot/donate/
My personal blog: https://thecommongreen.scot/
For what should be fairly obvious reasons, I have a firm conviction that no individual should be allowed to own or part own more than one media outlet.
Daily Mail owner strikes 500 million pound deal for Telegraph, FT reports reut.rs/3MgomGs
Daily Mail owner strikes 500 million pound deal for Telegraph, FT reports
Daily Mail owner DMGT has struck a 500 million pound ($650 million) deal to buy rival newspaper The Telegraph in a tie-up that would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
reut.rs
November 22, 2025 at 9:59 AM
For what should be fairly obvious reasons, I have a firm conviction that no individual should be allowed to own or part own more than one media outlet.
Burning a barrel of oil causes pollution and environmental and social damage amounting to between $200-$1,000 that isn't paid for by the oil companies selling the barrel nor those who burn it. That's a pretty hefty subsidy right there.
KERNEN: Does the admin want to dismantle wind projects that are getting started?
WRIGHT: The track record is bad. We've spent hundreds of billions of subsidies for an energy source that's sometimes there. The main goal is to stop subsidizing. There are no meaningful subsidies for fossil fuels
WRIGHT: The track record is bad. We've spent hundreds of billions of subsidies for an energy source that's sometimes there. The main goal is to stop subsidizing. There are no meaningful subsidies for fossil fuels
November 20, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Burning a barrel of oil causes pollution and environmental and social damage amounting to between $200-$1,000 that isn't paid for by the oil companies selling the barrel nor those who burn it. That's a pretty hefty subsidy right there.
Robin McAlpine, March 2020: "Avoiding the difficult decisions but pretending you’ve made them anyway isn’t leading. As of tomorrow, they might nationalise ScotRail because the UK did it today. Being Boris Johnson’s echo isn’t leading."
sourcenews.scot/robin-mcalpi...
sourcenews.scot/robin-mcalpi...
Nicola Sturgeon 'failed to anticipate' the Covid-19 threat, became 'too dependent' on UK ministers and sidelined Cabinet colleagues during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found
www.heraldscotland.com/news...
@andrewlearmonth.bsky.social
www.heraldscotland.com/news...
@andrewlearmonth.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Robin McAlpine, March 2020: "Avoiding the difficult decisions but pretending you’ve made them anyway isn’t leading. As of tomorrow, they might nationalise ScotRail because the UK did it today. Being Boris Johnson’s echo isn’t leading."
sourcenews.scot/robin-mcalpi...
sourcenews.scot/robin-mcalpi...
"...the first and second lockdowns of the pandemic were not inevitable, but the government was left with no choice after failing to implement measures such as social distancing and household quarantine earlier."
Just as I warned, before the 2nd wave began: www.commonweal.scot/policies/end...
Just as I warned, before the 2nd wave began: www.commonweal.scot/policies/end...
BREAKING: UK Government chaos and a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
November 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"...the first and second lockdowns of the pandemic were not inevitable, but the government was left with no choice after failing to implement measures such as social distancing and household quarantine earlier."
Just as I warned, before the 2nd wave began: www.commonweal.scot/policies/end...
Just as I warned, before the 2nd wave began: www.commonweal.scot/policies/end...
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
BREAKING: UK Government chaos and a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
November 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
BREAKING: UK Government chaos and a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, a public inquiry has concluded
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
I used to have an Etsy shop where I sold hand knitted toys, hats, mittens, scarves, neck warmers and cabled sweaters, a sweater would take up to 2-3 weeks to complete and a medium toy about 4 days, I couldn't sell them for min wage hrs i had put in ever, people don't value the work or quality of it.
November 20, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I used to have an Etsy shop where I sold hand knitted toys, hats, mittens, scarves, neck warmers and cabled sweaters, a sweater would take up to 2-3 weeks to complete and a medium toy about 4 days, I couldn't sell them for min wage hrs i had put in ever, people don't value the work or quality of it.
I was recently in a shop selling Scottish woollen jumpers. My first thought looking at the price tag was "Ack. There's no way I can afford that". My second thought was that I know knitters who'd struggle produce that jumper. Even at UK min wage, it'd have to be done in less than two days' labour.
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
I was recently in a shop selling Scottish woollen jumpers. My first thought looking at the price tag was "Ack. There's no way I can afford that". My second thought was that I know knitters who'd struggle produce that jumper. Even at UK min wage, it'd have to be done in less than two days' labour.
I would be very interested to hear what this paper thinks should be doing instead. Maybe they should embed one of their journalists in one of these facilities for an average length of stay with only the resources granted to an asylum seeker and then report back on how they got on.
Asylum seekers aren't crying and terrified all the time and that makes the Daily Express mad
November 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I would be very interested to hear what this paper thinks should be doing instead. Maybe they should embed one of their journalists in one of these facilities for an average length of stay with only the resources granted to an asylum seeker and then report back on how they got on.
November 16, 2025 at 3:45 PM
CW Magazine Repost
The Scottish Government has squandered an opportunity to nationalise our energy by not taking Scotland’s first onshore wind farm into public ownership at the best time to do so.
The Scottish Government has squandered an opportunity to nationalise our energy by not taking Scotland’s first onshore wind farm into public ownership at the best time to do so.
Repowering Scotland – A missed opportunity
The Scottish Government has squandered an opportunity to nationalise our energy by not taking Scotland’s first onshore wind farm into public ownership at the best time to do so.
thecommongreen.scot
November 16, 2025 at 3:15 PM
CW Magazine Repost
The Scottish Government has squandered an opportunity to nationalise our energy by not taking Scotland’s first onshore wind farm into public ownership at the best time to do so.
The Scottish Government has squandered an opportunity to nationalise our energy by not taking Scotland’s first onshore wind farm into public ownership at the best time to do so.
Rights that apply to only some are no longer rights.
Can we ask therefore if Mahmood will confirm that she, personally, no longer wishes to have the right to "respect for [their] private and family life, [their] home and [their] correspondence"?
thecommongreen.scot/2025/08/29/w...
Can we ask therefore if Mahmood will confirm that she, personally, no longer wishes to have the right to "respect for [their] private and family life, [their] home and [their] correspondence"?
thecommongreen.scot/2025/08/29/w...
“on article 8 of the ECHR in particular the right to family life ..we want to constrain in legislation the way that that is applied in immigration cases” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood tells Sky’s Trevor Philips
Who would have imagined we would ever hear this from a Labour government
Who would have imagined we would ever hear this from a Labour government
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Rights that apply to only some are no longer rights.
Can we ask therefore if Mahmood will confirm that she, personally, no longer wishes to have the right to "respect for [their] private and family life, [their] home and [their] correspondence"?
thecommongreen.scot/2025/08/29/w...
Can we ask therefore if Mahmood will confirm that she, personally, no longer wishes to have the right to "respect for [their] private and family life, [their] home and [their] correspondence"?
thecommongreen.scot/2025/08/29/w...
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
Once wasn’t enough. Trump pardons a J6 rioter for a SECOND time.
@politico.com @kyledcheney.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com @kyledcheney.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 15, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Once wasn’t enough. Trump pardons a J6 rioter for a SECOND time.
@politico.com @kyledcheney.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com @kyledcheney.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
You can disagree and argue as much as you like but the point of evaluating something scientifically is that not every statement should be given equal credence because evidence matters
JD Vance: "Science as practiced in its best form is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it and you ought to argue against it."
November 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
You can disagree and argue as much as you like but the point of evaluating something scientifically is that not every statement should be given equal credence because evidence matters
Today's @thecommonweal.bsky.social Daily Briefing
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
Scotland’s tax gap is the Scottish Government’s own stupid fault — Common Weal
Audit Scotland has published a study on the differential impact between the amount Scotland's tax system was expected to rise and how much it actually rose. It is likely that most people in Scotland...
www.commonweal.scot
November 13, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Today's @thecommonweal.bsky.social Daily Briefing
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
This is one of the reasons why I hope the Ecocide Bill passes.
Grouse moors are ecocide.
Grouse moors are ecocide.
30 years ago this hopeless, overgrazed hillside was turned into a thriving woodland. Care & fencing restored desolate Glen Garry despite a sub-Arctic climate & proved forests are possible anywhere. So why is much of Scotland a barren wasteland? New film www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuTV...
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 PM
This is one of the reasons why I hope the Ecocide Bill passes.
Grouse moors are ecocide.
Grouse moors are ecocide.
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
Please for the love of god make a backup mastodon account and link it in your bio here. We need to stay connected to organise and we cannot trust anyone from the valley.
Authoritarianism scholar & journalist Sarah Kendzior has been banned here for no apparent reason and the head of the "Trust and Safety Team" is currently sephirothposting about it in case you all are wondering about the state of this platform
November 12, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Please for the love of god make a backup mastodon account and link it in your bio here. We need to stay connected to organise and we cannot trust anyone from the valley.
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
NEW
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
By me. Enjoy.
emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
By me. Enjoy.
emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
emptycity.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
NEW
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
By me. Enjoy.
emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
By me. Enjoy.
emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
15+ years old, but still VERY relevent — and if we had acted 15 years ago, the “better world” we’d be creating would be a LOT better & easier to reach. There are real consequences we’re just starting to see to not heeding this cartoon a lot sooner.
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
November 12, 2025 at 5:04 AM
15+ years old, but still VERY relevent — and if we had acted 15 years ago, the “better world” we’d be creating would be a LOT better & easier to reach. There are real consequences we’re just starting to see to not heeding this cartoon a lot sooner.
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
“The government likes to talk about safe and legal routes to reach the United Kingdom. The reality is that unless you are Ukrainian or from Hong Kong there are no such routes to speak of. There is no queue to jump” freemovement.org.uk/briefing-the...
Briefing: the sorry state of the UK asylum system - Free Movement
In this briefing we will take a look at what is really going on with the main features of the contemporary asylum system: arrivals, the backlog, detention,
freemovement.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
“The government likes to talk about safe and legal routes to reach the United Kingdom. The reality is that unless you are Ukrainian or from Hong Kong there are no such routes to speak of. There is no queue to jump” freemovement.org.uk/briefing-the...
Reposted by Dr Craig Dalȝell
I will leave Parliament as I entered it: with landlord monopoly and class inequality remaining as Scotland's hereditary curse
fb.watch/DhIuhkSXYz/
fb.watch/DhIuhkSXYz/
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I will leave Parliament as I entered it: with landlord monopoly and class inequality remaining as Scotland's hereditary curse
fb.watch/DhIuhkSXYz/
fb.watch/DhIuhkSXYz/
A detailed examination of how weak the new Land Reform Bill is likely to be in practice.
The only thing I'd add is that if Scotland had implemented @thecommonweal.bsky.social's Property Tax, this is estate could owe a little under £159,000 per year for its land.
www.commonweal.scot/policies/tax...
The only thing I'd add is that if Scotland had implemented @thecommonweal.bsky.social's Property Tax, this is estate could owe a little under £159,000 per year for its land.
www.commonweal.scot/policies/tax...
BLOG - Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and the £25 million Estate. An analysis of the impacts of the Bill on a sale of 3500 ha of land that took place in September. In summary, it changes nothing. andywightman.scot/2025/11/land...
Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and the £25 million Estate - Land Matters
As readers may be aware, I run the Who Owns Scotland project. It documents the ownership of over 76% of rural Scotland. The information is updated annually and where there is a change I often need to ...
andywightman.scot
November 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
A detailed examination of how weak the new Land Reform Bill is likely to be in practice.
The only thing I'd add is that if Scotland had implemented @thecommonweal.bsky.social's Property Tax, this is estate could owe a little under £159,000 per year for its land.
www.commonweal.scot/policies/tax...
The only thing I'd add is that if Scotland had implemented @thecommonweal.bsky.social's Property Tax, this is estate could owe a little under £159,000 per year for its land.
www.commonweal.scot/policies/tax...
I'm quoted in The Guardian today, commenting on the passing of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Scottish land reform: vast estates remain feudal in scale | Editorial
Editorial: Half of the country’s privately owned countryside is held by just 421 owners. New legislation suggests democrats still fear powerful interests
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:08 PM
I'm quoted in The Guardian today, commenting on the passing of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I take it that from now on, the BBC shall cover Trump's speeches either by
a) airing his entire rambling messes unedited and unfiltered with full text transcripts but then not reporting on them afterwards because that would be to make an editing choice
or
b) ignoring them completely.
a) airing his entire rambling messes unedited and unfiltered with full text transcripts but then not reporting on them afterwards because that would be to make an editing choice
or
b) ignoring them completely.
November 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I take it that from now on, the BBC shall cover Trump's speeches either by
a) airing his entire rambling messes unedited and unfiltered with full text transcripts but then not reporting on them afterwards because that would be to make an editing choice
or
b) ignoring them completely.
a) airing his entire rambling messes unedited and unfiltered with full text transcripts but then not reporting on them afterwards because that would be to make an editing choice
or
b) ignoring them completely.
CW Magazine Repost
A briefing of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Council Tax reform, what’s missing from it and why it has been published now, just months before the next election.
A briefing of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Council Tax reform, what’s missing from it and why it has been published now, just months before the next election.
The Scottish Government wants to avoid reforming Council Tax
A briefing of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Council Tax reform, what’s missing from it and why it has been published now, just months before the next election.
thecommongreen.scot
November 9, 2025 at 9:04 AM
CW Magazine Repost
A briefing of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Council Tax reform, what’s missing from it and why it has been published now, just months before the next election.
A briefing of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Council Tax reform, what’s missing from it and why it has been published now, just months before the next election.
The immediate follow-up question to "we will only support this oil project if it meets our climate compatibility tests" should always be "does this project meet those tests and what would a project that could meet those tests look like?"
The First Minister has refused to confirm his position on the Rosebank oil field 👇
John Swinney refuses to confirm position on Rosebank oil field
www.thenational.scot
November 6, 2025 at 7:46 PM
The immediate follow-up question to "we will only support this oil project if it meets our climate compatibility tests" should always be "does this project meet those tests and what would a project that could meet those tests look like?"