@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

thecommongreen

@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot

Head of Policy and Research -
@Common_Weal
.
Wrote a book - http://tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures
Used to play with lasers.
All of Us First.

Contact: craig@common.scot

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simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

@Eceni as a self-confessed tech bro, I'm loving the idea of larping in decision making, and I think the proposal is really interesting. But please, what value does add, to offset its disproportionate energy and consequently environmental cost?

Surely, we want to burn less carbon, not more?

https://pca.st/episode/69ae9284-64bd-4599-8da4-1ffa59fcedea

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke I last came across Quadratic Voting when discussing the idea of a mutual national company (such as energy) where members (every adult resident of the nation, in this case) have to decide the priorities for the coming year at the AGM. Do you, for instance, want last year's profits a) paid as a dividend to members, b) used to subsidise energy bills, c) invested into future infrastructure, and/or d) paid as bonuses and wages to employees?

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke Agreed, there's little need for blockchain in that setup though as voter ID would be through member number. I've yet to find an application of blockchain that can't be done without it. It's still a solution waiting for a problem.

thecommongreen, (edited )
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke Aye. When thinking about the risk of attack on a voting system we have to think not just about the likelihood of success but also the magnitude.

If you can change one paper vote (rubbing out the cross and replacing it) it doesn't mean you can do that hundreds or thousands of times without notice.

However, hacking a voting machine to change one vote isn't much different from hacking a machine to change hundreds or thousands of votes.

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

The analysis of the consultation on ScotGov's proposed tax cuts for Freeports is out.

Common Weal's response is quoted a few times, but despite significant objections ScotGov are ploughing on with only minor technical amendments to the legislation.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/land-buildings-transaction-tax-proposed-relief-green-freeports-scottish-governments-response-summary-responses/documents/

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

You can read our response in full here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/the-land-and-buildings-transaction-tax-proposed-relief-for-green-freeports/

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

The main point we made is that we disagree with Freeports entirely and think that ScotGov should INCREASE devolved taxes that apply to them to compensate for the tax cuts they'll get from the UK Government.

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Another Monday, another day spent carefully explaining the principle of subsidiarity to a government that says it abides by it but keeps designing local tax bills that ride roughshod over it.

Closing date for the Scottish Government's proposed tax premiums on second and vacant homes closes tomorrow. Get your response in.

https://consult.gov.scot/local-government-and-housing/council-tax-second-and-empty-homes/

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke Good stuff.

The very short version of our response is that we agree, the 2nd home premium should be +300% to match Wales but actually, this shouldn't be a matter of Holyrood telling Councils what to do - that's too centralised and top down. Holyrood should give Councils the ability to do what they want and should apply subsidiarity to the Bill.

That and to /really/ make it work, we need actual local democracy and to replace Council Tax with a Property Tax.

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke We have advocated for a locally-controlled cap on STLs but nothing to say that cap couldn't be set at zero if that's what the community want.

thecommongreen, to philosophy
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

This is a major step from ScotGov. Good to see.

When (not if) Westminster refuses, ScotGov should use all of its devolved powers over police and justice to turn as much of a legal blind eye as possible.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/caring-compassionate-human-rights-informed-drug-policy-scotland/

jon, to random German
@jon@gruene.social avatar

ROFL 🤣

Threads isn’t GDPR compliant

No launch Thursday in the EU it seems… (according to the Irish Independent anyway)

https://m.independent.ie/business/technology/no-instagram-threads-app-in-the-eu-irish-dpc-says-metas-new-twitter-rival-wont-be-launched-here/a1927220337.html

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@jon Also that line at the bottom saying that Tweetdeck is going behind the blue tick paywall in a month...

thecommongreen, to UKpolitics
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Pete Wishart: UK Government will 'probably not' accept SNP independence election plan.

https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,pete-wishart-uk-government-will-not-accept-snp-independence-election-plan

The reason for this, I talked about in an article in response to Wishart's blog three years ago.

Neither the reason nor the solution has changed since then.

https://thecommongreen.scot/2020/07/06/the-road-to-independence-part-two-johnsons-journey-to-yes/

hesgen, to anime_titties

"Ukraine is, to be honest, a mess of a country. It was knocked together by Churchill and Stalin towards the end of world war two."

So says , a former MEP turned Tory Lord who has long had his tongue wedged up 's arse.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/02/british-peers-attended-russian-ambassador-party-in-london-balfe-skidelsky

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke @ottocrat @hesgen

I always liked that map showing every national border that has existed at some point in Europe in the last millennium. A lot of folk think of these lines on maps as far more permanent than they are.

Yes, once one is violated, none are sacrosanct but the buried truth is, they never were.

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke @adaliabooks @ottocrat @hesgen Aye. I'm sure it'll have its issues. In this case, I believe, extrapolating from from the embedded footnote, that it's made from layered snapshots taken every hundred years so if a border was created in, say 1502 but vanished in 1592 it might not appear. It also may not show disputed territories where no-one had a monopoly of sovereign control.

thecommongreen, to geopolitics
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

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

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

Particular interests are and

Outwith politics, I'm also interested in , and

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

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

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

New report in the Herald on our latest policy paper on why the National Care Service needs to be properly co-designed.

Read our policy paper here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/ready-to-fail/

The NCS Bill as it stands contains clauses that would lead to Ministers gaining the power to criminalise care workers who breach IT regs (something that is currently dealt with through disciplinary, licence sanctions and other employment measures).

Report here: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23626589.scotgov-bids-create-nightmare-state-criminalisation-care-staff/

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Moments like this would be the perfect time for the Scottish National Energy Company* to take over the running of these turbines as part of a long term strategy to bring all energy production in Scotland into public ownership.

*You know..if we had one..

https://www.thenational.scot/news/23613189.bid-extend-lifespan-borders-windfarm-facing-closure-2025/

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

See: https://commonweal.scot/how-to-nationalise-energy-for-free/

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

I think I've spent the most time and effort I ever have (including TWO FOI requests) trying to find the smallest, least important quantum of political data I've ever had to spend more than a trivial effort finding....and it's for a footnote to an anecdote in the paper I'm writing.

But still. I HAVE THE DATA POINT AND IT'S GOING IN!

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"We do have powers [of land tax] in Scotland. Use those, so that the lairds fund their own progressive clearance" – Alastair McIntosh, talking to @thecommongreen


https://pca.st/episode/11cd5e84-9703-4995-83e9-2ab168032539

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@simon_brooke He literally took the words out of my mouth with that sentence. I was gearing up to ask him if we could do exactly that.

thecommongreen, to Scotland
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Temperature change in Scotland since 1884.

In my lifetime, there have only been six years that were cooler than the 1971-2000 average, all but one of them were in the 20th century.

I do not expect to live to see another one.

Source: https://showyourstripes.info/c/europe/unitedkingdom/scotland

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Scotland needs a Green New Deal just as urgently as the rest of the world does. Here's how to build one.

https://commonweal.scot/shop/downloads/e-book-the-common-home-plan/

thecommongreen, to Podcast
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

New Policy Podcast!

This week I talk to Alastair McIntosh about his new paper on land reform, The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Carbon.

https://commonweal.scot/podcast/the-common-weal-policy-podcast-episode-173/

thecommongreen, to random
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

Quick skim of the Scottish Government's Constitution White Paper.

TLDR: Better than I feared and they've finally started listening to constitutional experts but the devil is in the caveats

https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-creating-modern-constitution-independent-scotland/

bullivant, to random

Sterling work by Led By Donkeys who have put 150 of these posters up in towns and cities across Britain.

thecommongreen,
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot avatar

@Indyposterboy @bullivant @JohanEmpa @djm_black Oh, and the UK's border plan for Scotland includes the creation of hundreds of internal borders within two massive Freeport Zones covering almost half of Scotland's population. These customs borders will be outside the gates of every warehouse that gains Freeport status. Impossible to enforce. Result: More lost tax and more illegal goods leaking into the Scottish economy.

https://commonweal.scot/podcast/the-common-weal-policy-podcast-episode-169/

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