William Duguid

The economics which created our crisis can’t fix it — Common Weal The latest war-driven global price panic is not an aberration but a constant state of being in the contemporary global economic. It is all so unstable that unless we take a new course, it will fall down sooner or later.

'Either we build markets for domestic production or any steps we take will unravel. Either we take an active strategy of resource management or any nation with a monopoly on any metal or mineral we need will have us by the balls forever.'
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal

The case for a windfall oil tax is overwhelming This chart comes from Trading Economics this morning and is already out of date because I gather that since I took the screenshot, the oil price has now reached $110 per barrel: The FT presents broadly similar information: The reason for showing the change is to emphasise two things. Firstly, there is...

'The case for a windfall tax is going to be overwhelming. We need such a tax, and we need it now. There can be no justification for private sector gain at this moment at cost to the people of the world from enormous economic disruption.'
Richard Murphy

An aerial view of the site of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, Iran, that was hit by a missile last week.

'Because it’s an Iranian primary school, instead we get a bit of “sorry for the collateral damage”. It is not just a misplaced understanding, it is complicity in “othering” – their lives are worth less than ours.'
Henry Maitles, via The National
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A view of a damaged building, struck days earlier, during the US-Israeli military campaign on March 4, 2026 in Tehran (Image: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

'The financial market is the only ­language Trump seems to understand, and as this chaos is brought to bear, it’s perhaps no surprise then that the Fifa Peace Prize laureate is now desperately calling for Iran’s unconditional surrender.'
Halla Mohieddeen, via The National
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A MacDonalds sign in the Highands, with a Gaelic 'Failte' welcome notice under the twin arches.

'The geopolitical conditions that shaped the last seventy years are dissolving.
And these global pressures expose something closer to home—Scotland’s own long‑running vulnerability to extractive economic forces.'
Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia
bellacaledonia.org.u...

US president Donald Trump waves to the media after landing aboard Air Force One on March 1 (Image: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

'Already the war on Iran is shaping the Middle East in ways that could be ­profoundly destabilising on a much ­wider scale.'
David Pratt, via The National
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Plumes of smoke rising following an explosion on March 5, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

'It is difficult to predict what will happen next. Indeed, by the time you read this, the situation may have changed further. But one thing we can be sure of is that continued bombardment will not bring security or peace.'
Maggie Chapman, via The National
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Full Scottish - 08/03/2026 - Broadcasting Scotland On this week's Full Scottish, Nadia Chand, Marion Fellows and William Duguid discuss the week's top Scottish and international news.

Tune in at 12:00 midday for this week's #FullScottish, live from Stirling with Nadia Chand and guests, Marion Fellows and @williamduguid1.bsky.social discussing the week's top Scottish and international news.

www.broadcastingscotland.scot/full-scottis...

Process over policy was never a route to Indy — Common Weal The recent inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution Committee into the lack of a legislative roadmap to independence told us little that Common Weal hadn’t already predicted. The real question is what to do about it.

'Our goal should be to set up the situation where Westminster has absolutely no choice but to come to the negotiating table to enable independence, because not doing so would be worse for them.'
Dr Craig Dalȝell, via Common Weal

Here's a cracking video from @thescotlandchannel.bsky.social
about an event Independence Forum Scotland and Yes United
have got planned for the evening of Saturday 14 March at Oran Mor in Glasgow.
Tickets available at www.ticketsource.co.uk/independence...
See you there?

An aerial photograph of Minab, showing the Shajareh Tayyabeh elementary school and IRCG compound and military buildings.

'The use of AI in warfare seems to have arrived without question when it raises the most profound questions of ethics and morality. Killing is outsourced and warfare reduced to a game.'
Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia
bellacaledonia.org.u...

Donald Trump at the centre of a laying-on-of-hands ceremony. Pass the sick bucket.

'When it comes down to it, the reason that Trump has no aim is very simple. This isn’t his war.
Netanyahu, by contrast, has wanted this war all his life.'
Peter Arnott, via Bella Caledonia
bellacaledonia.org.u...

Why every war sounds the same — Common Weal Western governments often frame military intervention as a duty to protect democracy, stability or human rights. But these narratives shape how conflicts are understood long before the first policy decision is made. When intervention is consistently presented as moral and defensive, it becomes diffi

'When wars are framed primarily as struggles between good actors and bad actors, scrutiny becomes more difficult.'
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal

Rarely have we ever marched into the unknown so ill-equipped to manage the consequences There has been something strange taking place on Sky News over the last day or so. A succession of retired former generals and security chiefs, including a British former deputy chief of NATO and the former head of MI6, have been appearing in interviews that can be found on their...

'The West has let fascism govern its agenda because it is what Trump and Netanyahu are pursuing. Too many countries, including the UK, have obsequiously fallen in line behind these staggeringly incompetent leaders. We might pay an enormous price.'
Richard Murphy

'The Justification for the War against Iran Has Changed from Day to Day, with No Clear End Goal or Exit Strategy' From Washington DC, former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall assesses the arguments used to justify the attack on Iran

'It’s not just the Iranian regime that's in a weak position, but also the US administration, which presides over a divided country at home, and internationally has seemingly gone out of its way to alienate many of its allies.'
Alex Hall Hall, via Byline Times

Why you should learn the Iron Law of Oligarchy — Common Weal All bureaucratic systems tend further and further towards centralised control, and there are no exceptions. The only protection against this are checks and balances, and the only protection for those comes from our determination to keep officials honest.

"You don't need to be dishonest or a crook to want to shrug off accountability. It's generally precisely because someone thinks they're an 'honest kind of person' that they conclude they can just skip a step put there to constrain them.'
Robin McAlpine, via The National

John Swinney emerging from a polling station

'Many independence supporters – me included – have cut the SNP some slack and gone with the SNP majority plan in the absence of a viable alternative, but surely this is the last throw of the dice.'
Richard Walker, via The National
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A classroom. in soft focus taken from the back, with an empty chair and desk in the foreground.

'Much of Finland’s success in education is counter-intuitive. They have the best results with the shortest school terms, the shortest school days and the lowest amount of facetime between teachers and pupils.'
Lesley Riddoch, via The National
archive.is/eQyIV

Supporters at an open-air rally with Alba banners and saltires

'The idea that a party that was polling at 1% would miraculously gain massive support after a sustained bout of bitter internal factionalism that makes Your Party look like a Buddhist retreat is extraordinary.'
Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia
bellacaledonia.org.u...

Workers remove the rubble of a police facility struck during the U.S. Israeli military campaign in Tehran (Image: AP)

'If decades of watching Western military interventions in the Middle East up close have taught me anything, it’s that once in such wars, they are almost impossible to get out of without great cost.'
David Pratt, via The National
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It’s a lack of will, not consensus, that prevents Council Tax reform — Common Weal The Scottish Government’s failure to reform Council Tax has gone on far too long. It must be a defining mission of the next Parliament to reform it in the only fair way possible.

'The debate on Council Tax reform has gone on far too long. Everyone agrees that things need to change. No-one, it appears, wants to be the one to take the responsibility of making that change happen. This isn’t good enough.'
Dr Craig Dalȝell, via Common Weal

Skye's revolting Crofters by Catherine McPhee

'Words shape how governments act, resources are shared, and futures are imagined. Our culture is not peripheral, it is powerful. Our voices are not distant, they are here, loud and clear. Rural, not remote, is who we are.'
Catherine McPhee quoted by Yes United

Immunity without accountability — Common Weal A Court of Session ruling has declared part of Scotland’s criminal procedure incompatible with the right to a fair hearing. The case is not about a controversial prosecution, but about a deeper constitutional question: how much immunity should public prosecutors enjoy in a modern democracy?

'If the state has the power to prosecute, it must also tolerate structured scrutiny of how that power is exercised.
Independence without accountability is fragility disguised as strength.'
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal

Owen Jones

'Today, there is hope. But brace yourself for what will come next.'
Owen Jones on the aftermath of the Gorton & Denton by-election, via The National
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An offshore oil rig in silhouette on the horizon at sunset.

'What would Scotland look like if Scots saw the McCrone Report?'
Richard Johnston, via The National
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Here I am discussing the Independence Forum/Yes United music/poetry event at Oran Mor on Saturday 14 March at 6pm. We hope it'll lead to something big for the cultural side of the Yes movement.
Tickets, £20+booking fee, from Ticketsource at www.ticketsource.co.uk/independence...
Don't miss out!

'Every means we have for holding public sector bureaucracies to account is being weakened, removed or subverted.'
Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal

Green Party leader Zack Polanski at Manchester Central as votes are counted for the Gorton and Denton by-election (Image: Peter Byrne)

'The by-election result has had one very significant impact on Scottish politics, because for the first time ever, a party not actually opposed to Scottish independence has a non-trivial chance of taking power at Westminster.'
James Kelly, via The National
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Screenshot of a Facebook post about Scottish Labour's 2026 conference in Paisley, showing a rather less than impressive crowd at the event.

'After Manchester, Scottish Labour are like a Dead Man Walking, with the party faithful searching for new ideas ongoing, like latter-day alchemists. Desperately trying to conjure gold from base metals, Scottish Labour stumbles on.'
Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia
bellacaledonia.org.u...

Why regulating social media is now a public health imperative — Common Weal Social media is not a neutral communication tool but a behavioural system engineered to capture attention and shape development. This argues that protecting children online must be treated as a public health imperative requiring structural intervention – not piecemeal regulation.

'Regulating social media use is not a culture war issue, nor a generational panic. It is a public health imperative – and a moral one.'
Megan Davidson, via Common Weal