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In the third episode of Skotia's new podcast dedicated to the Scottish Parliament election, Rory Hamilton, Dr Rosie Hampton and Samuel Rafanel-Williams discuss three stories shaping the Holyrood campaign. Election '26 will be published every Monday before polling day on 7 May 2026. Follow us to make sure you never miss an episode. Support Skotia on Patreon .

When Archibald Primrose, the 5th Earl of Rosebery, opened Glasgow’s People Palace in 1898, he declared it "open to the people for ever and ever". The building stands as a monument to the men and women whose lives, labour and struggles built Scotland’s largest city. This week, however, Glasgow Life – an arms-length body of Glasgow City Council – announced that the reopening of the People’...

In the second episode of Skotia's new podcast dedicated to the Scottish Parliament election, Coll McCail, Sophie Johnson and Samuel Rafanel-Williams discuss three stories shaping the Holyrood campaign. Election '26 will be published every Monday before polling day on 7 May 2026. Follow us to make sure you never miss an episode. Support Skotia on Patreon for as little as £5 per month.

In the first episode of Skotia's new podcast dedicated to the Scottish Parliament election, Coll McCail, Frances Curran and Rory Hamilton discuss three stories shaping the Holyrood campaign. Election '26 will be published every Monday prior to polling day on 7 May 2026. Follow us to make sure you never miss an episode. Support Skotia on Patreon .

On Sunday 8 February, Jeremy Corbyn MP joined Skotia's Coll McCail in Dundee to discuss Peter Mandelson, the crisis in the global order and the founding of Your Party Scotland. Support Skotia on Patreon .

Scotland, said the Labour MP Torcuil Crichton earlier this month, is now on the “front line” of NATO’s war with Russia.  His comments followed the seizure of the Marinera – a Russian-flagged tanker – in the North Atlantic by US forces, with British military support, as the Trump administration continues to enforce its oil blockade on Venezuela.  The apparent legal basis for the operation, which us...

On 15 January, Reform UK unveiled their new leader in Scotland.  Baron Offord of Garvel was not the only Tory defector to join Nigel Farage's Party this week. He was joined by Robert Jenrick and Nadhim Zahawi. In the first Nest of Fearties episode of 2026, Coll McCail is joined by Taj Ali and Dr Gavin Brewis to discuss the growing support for the far-right among working-class communities in Sc...

A lot has happened over the last 12 months. In London, the UK Government continues to flounder. Despite his sizable majority, Keir Starmer has achieved the impossible: He is now the most unpopular Prime Minister in British history. More unpopular even than Boris Johnson on the day he resigned. In Edinburgh, the result of next year’s Scottish election looks like a foregone conclusion. Recent opinio...

To discuss the genocide in Palestine, its global consequences and where next for the solidarity movement, Coll McCail is joined on Nest of Fearties by Jonathon Shafi and Toufic Haddad. Jonathan is the Co-Chair of Stop The War Scotland, an editor at Conter and a columnist with The National. Toufic is a Palestinian academic and the author of 'Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the...

In 2011, months after the SNP formed its historic majority government in Holyrood, Alex Salmond declared that Scotland was to become ‘the Saudi Arabia of renewables’.  The development of the green economy, so the former First Minister argued, would not only offer skilled employment but underpin the foundations of a future, independent state.  A decade and a half later, this promise is yet to mater...

As Buildings across Glasgow crumble, gentrification strips the city's working-class neighbourhoods of their core identities. In Scotland's largest city, the legacy of the Thatcher years looms large. For instance, in 2021, if you lived in Pollokshields West, life expectancy was 83 years, while in nearby Greater Govan it was 65 – a gap of 18 years for a mere 3 miles. It's a bleak picture...

Scottish politics is paralysed. The SNP govern in suspended animation while dangling the prospect of independence before their supporters’ noses. Scottish Labour is in tow to Starmerism, and the Scottish Greens remain tainted by the Bute House Agreement. In this context, Support for Reform UK grows by the month. Ahead of a sold-out rally in Glasgow, Rory Hamilton is joined by Zarah Sultana, Member...

Earlier this year, the 18th June edition of the Daily Record carried the headline “Justice Ministers’ war on yobs: Thugs up in smoke”. The words referred to an intervention from SNP MSP Angela Constence, who had promised to crack down on football fans following the Old Firm League Cup Final in December 2024. The Record’s prejudice, however, speaks to a more general effort to demonise Scottish foot...

At the time of recording, at least 248 journalists have now been killed in Gaza, more than in any other conflict in modern times. Yet many in the mainstream media still can’t bring themselves to condemn the killing of their Palestinian colleagues.  From the BBC to CNN , from The New York Times to The Guardian , in their reporting of Israel’s genocide over the last 23 months, outlet after outlet fr...

Scotland, according to the independent left think tank Common Weal, is one of the most foreign-owned economies in the world. That’s a staggering fact, but it reveals a fundamental truth: Scotland is being asset-stripped. Coll McCail is joined by Dr. James Foley and Dr. Craig Dalzell to discuss Scotland’s vanishing economic sovereignty. Support Skotia on ⁠Patreon⁠ . Attend Scotland's Not For Sa...

As Donald Trump arrives in Scotland, the severity of Israel’s starvation in Gaza has driven even the Daily Express to declare that the genocide must end.  Prime Minister Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney have both pledged to raise the question of Palestine in their private meetings with the American President in the coming days. But whether they can be trusted to do so, having capitulat...

One year ago this month, Keir Starmer was elected Britian’s Prime Minister with a Westminster majority of more than 150 seats.  12 months later, Sir Keir’s approval ratings are at their lowest point since his election. A recent Find Out Now poll recorded Labour on just 22% of the vote, 8 points adrift of Reform UK.  The Starmer Project is bruised, battered and deeply unpopular after a year of disa...

Bathgate no more, Linwood no more, Grangemouth no more, Larbert no more? Earlier this month, it was announced that the Alexander Dennis bus manufacturing sites in Larbert and Camelon would close, resulting in 400 immediate job losses and an estimated 1,600 in the wider supply chain. This comes as the nearby Grangemouth oil refinery begins its decommissioning process.  Meanwhile, John Swinney promi...

The ‘ferries fiasco’ has plagued the Scottish Government for nearly 10 years of its 18-year time in power. In 2022, Nicola Sturgeon refuted claims that the failures at Ferguson Marine, Scotland’s last remaining shipbuilder on the lower Clyde, were the result of the Scottish Government giving out “jobs for the boys”.  Her comments followed Ferguson’s costly, delayed and error-strewn delivery of two...

Moments before polls opened in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, the bookies predicted that the SNP would easily retain the seat. Katy Loudon was their clear favourite while Scottish Labour were deemed outsiders after a chaotic campaign. Indeed, punters were offered 11/1 odds on Davy Russell winning the seat.  But he did just that as Scottish Labour’s 8,500 votes saw them top the...

Writing in 1999, just a couple of months after Holyrood convened in Edinburgh, the great Clydeside trade unionist Jimmy Reid asked if the parliament in which “we Scots have invested such hope is simply to be another gravy train for a well-connected few.” Today, Holyrood has its very own revolving door, propelling politicians and advisors from parliament to influential consultancy firms, private po...

In 'The Condition of the Working Class in England', Friedrich Engels wrote that, “When society places hundreds … in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death … when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life places them under conditions in which they cannot live … its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual … murder it rem...

There was once a time when Scottish nationalism sat at the forefront of the anti-war movement when the SNP relished the opportunity to confront the British state and its militarism. These days, however, are long gone. In recent weeks, as Europe is gripped by the fervour of rearament grips Europe, the SNP have been among the most hawkish elements of Britian’s political class. In the third episode o...

For the second episode of Nest of Fearties - Skotia's new Scottish election podcast - Coll McCail is joined by Ellie Gomersall and Niall Christie to discuss the Scottish Green Party, their time in government and their prospects ahead of next year's election. This podcast is available to watch exclusively to Skotia's ⁠Patreon⁠ subscribers. Support Skotia: https://www.patreon.com/c/skoti...

For the inaugural episode of Nest of Fearties - Skotia's new Scottish election podcast - Coll McCail is joined by Matt Kerr and Chris Stephens to discuss the Scottish budget for 2025/2026, the rise of Reform UK and much more. This podcast is available to watch exclusively to Skotia's Patreon subscribers. Matt Kerr is a Glasgow Labour Councillor and the Scotland Correspondent for the Mornin...