thecommongreen

thecommongreen, 8 months ago to random

"I'm rich enough, why should my kids get free school meals?"

1. Universal provision means for the price of giving food to your kids who "don't need it", kids who need it definitely get it. No barriers. No forms. No questions or tests.

2. Your kids won't bully the "free meal kids".

3. You have an interest in ensuring that your kids are not just fed but fed well. This means you won't put up with the "poor kid gruel" that you might campaign for to "save money" if you're not using the service.

thecommongreen, 6 months ago to random

Communities are indeed doing amazing work in land reform. The problem is that just four people currently own more of Scotland than all community-owned land combined.

It's like pointing at the good and worthy work you're doing with your own recycling bin while the oil company next door is creating more pollution than your entire country.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23929897.rewilding-scotland-not-just-green-lairds-capitalists/

thecommongreen, 7 months ago to random

The UK is not a country of rich people. It's a rich country where the vast majority of the people have been deliberately impoverished to line the pockets of a very few, very rich people.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/24/more-than-1-million-uk-children-experienced-destitution-last-year-study-finds

thecommongreen, 9 months ago to UKpolitics

Of the 49 megatonnes* of oil and gas extracted from the UK in 2020, 38.3 megatonnes (78%) were immediately exported. This new Tory plan isn't about helping the UK economy. It's about enriching their mates on the back of the climate breakdown.

*unit used intentionally. It's both accurate and climate breakdown is at least as big a threat as nuclear war.

#UKPolitics #Energy #ClimateEmergency

thecommongreen, 10 days ago to random

Go on Rishi. Declare Belfast a "foreign court". Do it. XD

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/huge-blow-rishi-sunak-court-32798530

thecommongreen, 6 months ago to Podcast

New Policy Podcast!

This week, I talk to Stuart Donald about the inequalities caused by the UK's FPTP electoral system and whether or not there is the political will in Westminster to fix a system that directly benefits the people who control the change.

#Democracy #ElectoralReform #Podcast

https://commonweal.scot/podcast/the-common-weal-policy-podcast-episode-191/

thecommongreen, 1 month ago to random

New Policy Paper!

We've developed a Scottish Land Tax that could raise £450 million a year and close the projected budget gaps of many of our Local Authorities.

https://commonweal.scot/policies/taxing-land-in-scotland/

thecommongreen, 10 months ago to geopolitics

#Introduction

I'm the Head of Policy and Research at the left-of-centre "Think and Do Tank" @common_weal

My thing here is mostly #ScottishPolitics and Common Weal's "All of Us First" principle as it applies to policy.

Particular interests are #Economy #Energy #Transport and #Land

Outwith politics, I'm also interested in #permaculture #warhammer, #physics and #3dprinting

In my pre-politics life I was a laser physicist, hence the Dr title.

Surname pronounced "Dee-El". The ȝ is Scots.

thecommongreen, 7 months ago to random

It's a big policy day for
@common_weal today.

Time for the indy movement to set out in a new direction.

Read our new paper on a strategy to revitalise the indy campaign.

#CommonWeal #ScottishIndependence #ScottishPolitics

https://commonweal.scot/policies/direction/

thecommongreen, 7 months ago to UKpolitics

Delegates at the UK Labour conference voted overwhelmingly to reaffirm the party's commitment to public ownership of railways and the energy industry.

Asked if the party would follow the vote, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "No."

#UKPolitics #Energy #Democracy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67056005

thecommongreen, 7 months ago to random

SNP conference votes unanimously to bring Scottish energy into public ownership via a mix of nationalisation and local public ownership schemes.

thecommongreen, 7 months ago to random

Thing is, I had been planning to write about a completely different breakdown of Scottish local democracy and policy-making this week.

Strained Councils shouldn't be turning "participatory budgeting" into a kind of "Public Service Hunger Games".

https://commonweal.scot/not-local-democracy/

thecommongreen, 6 months ago to random

Note to Journalists

If the politician says "This conflict should be conducted according to international law"

Your next question should be "Do you believe that international law is being upheld?"

Followed by
"Should those who breach these international laws be prosecuted?"

Anything less is giving the politician cover to excuse, ignore or support war crimes and crimes against humanity.

thecommongreen, 6 months ago to random

I often say that as a staff member of a progressive and pro-Scottish independence think-tank my full time paid job would, in some countries, be illegal and result in severe sanctions.

Sounds like extremist UK is undermining its own values to try to come for folk like me.

thecommongreen, 2 months ago to Europe

My article in this week's @common_weal newsletter.

If, according to a new research paper, the cost of a Universal Basic Income could be less than the cost of the poverty it eliminates, then bringing in that UBI becomes a moral imperative.

#Poverty #UBI #Europe

https://commonweal.scot/ubi-now/

thecommongreen, 10 months ago to LateStageCapitalism

Financial carcinisation.

Sooner or later, every sufficiently large business evolves into a bank or a landlord or both.

#LateStageCapitalism #Capitalism #Banking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSuByDys44M

thecommongreen, 8 months ago to Podcast

New Policy Podcast!

This week, I talk to Barry Fisher from Keep Scotland Beautiful about Scotland's litter emergency and how we could address it by making companies responsible for the waste their products produce.

#ScottishPolitics #Waste #Podcast

https://commonweal.scot/podcast/the-common-weal-policy-podcast-episode-181/

simon_brooke, 23 days ago to random

Excellent and hard hitting Episode of the Common Weal Policy Podcast on profit extraction from Scotland. Yet another example of the fact that globalised #Capitalism benefits no one but the ultra rich.

The Common Weal Policy Podcast: Episode #209 - Profit and Politics

Episode webpage: http://commonweal.scot

Media file: https://www.buzzsprout.com/264906/14990854-episode-209-profit-and-politics.mp3

thecommongreen, 1 month ago to random

This would mean the UK spending £5 on the military for every £1 it spends on foreign aid.

Tell you what. Flip that ratio, then we can discuss how much "defence" we'd need.

"Boosting" nuclear arms is also discouraged by NPT and outright banned by TPNW.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/starmer-labour-will-increase-defence-spending-to-2-5-and-boost-nuclear-deterrent-3002947

thecommongreen, 27 days ago to random

Given this week it takes some doing to wrestle a newspaper front page away from the party leadership stramash but...it looks like I've done it!

New Policy Paper released tomorrow (and it's not about the kelpies)

thecommongreen, 21 days ago to random

My article in this week's Common Weal Newsletter.

The "economic case" for the 'Green Freeports' is that if we cut corporate taxes, they create jobs and income taxes offset the tax cut.

However, ScotGov hasn't done the modelling to see if this would be the case.

https://commonweal.scot/a-deal-with-the-devolved-part-three/

thecommongreen, 16 days ago to random

Yesterday I was at the Parliament to give evidence to the Finance Committee on a governing framework for Commissioners - a slightly arcane topic but one pretty fundamental to how our democracy might be changing without us realising it. I warned about the risk of government pushing responsibility away from elected Ministers and onto appointed Commissioners, for example.

An intense session but one that was received well by the Committee.

You can watch the session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fi5OJXdlLs

thecommongreen, 14 days ago to random

My column in this week's @Common_Weal newsletter is directed at the Scottish Government's new and returning Cabinet Secretaries. For each of you, here are the Common Weal policy papers that should be at the top of your In Tray.

https://commonweal.scot/the-in-tray/

thecommongreen, 3 days ago to random

If you believe that war crimes should only be prosecuted when your enemies commit them, you are complicit in the war crimes of your allies.

thecommongreen, 11 days ago to random

Rishi Sunak drumbeating war as an election stunt at an event hosted by a think tank that scores the lowest possible rating for financial transparency.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/who-funds-you/policy-exchange/