Latest editorial
On the 80th anniversary of liberation from Nazi-fascism, left forces in Italy mobilise against genocide, armament, and the Meloni government, reports ANA VRACAR
After a ruinous run at Tolkien, the streaming platforms are moving on to Narnia — a naff mix of religious allegory, colonial attitudes, and thinly veiled prejudices that is beyond rescuing, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
Congress can chart a bold course that will force meaningful transformation for the people of Scotland
Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN
There are only two things that stand between workers and the musket’s volley today - the ballot and the union, asserts MATT KERR
JOBS continue to be lost across Scotland. Within the last six months Cummings has announced the closure of its engine works in Cumbernauld and Devro has shut its manufacturing plant in Bellshill. In the banking sector the Bank of Scotland has announced a further 15 branch closures, Virgin Money seven and TSB seventeen. BiFab is reducing its three Scottish sites to a care and maintenance basis and IBM has put its 49 East Kilbride IT staff, contracted to Scottish Power, on notice.
All these firms have one thing in common. They are owned and controlled from outside Scotland. Twenty years ago at least some were still run from within Scotland: Devro, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Power.
Last year also saw the much more high-profile closure of the historic Caley rail workshops in Springburn. At that point the firm was ultimately owned by a German holding company, Mutares, that specialises in what is described as “equity engineering.” This is not engineering as you or I know it. It is about “engineering” firms — buying them, stripping assets, merging, concentrating and if possible securing monopoly niches for particular products.
