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Tenants are fighting back against eye-watering exploitation by companies like Goodstone Living. But the massive rent increases (on top of already extortionate rents) expose a wider political failur…

Michael Gove has split with his girlfriend Lola Salem, a lecturer at Oxford University and contributor to the Telegraph and The Spectator, who has been charged with possessing indecent images of ch…

THE LONG ROAD TO LOCHINVER: From The Province Of The Cat by George Gunn The social, economic and political need for Scotland to be an independent country has never before been so graphically appare…

“Hugh MacDiarmid belongs to a select few poets of the twentieth century, W. B. Yeats and Pablo Neruda among them, of whom it may plausibly be argued that they influenced, or even shaped, a na…

The prime minister branded the recent motion passed by the Green Party conference that ‘zionism is racism’ as antisemitic

Michael Gove has split with his girlfriend Lola Salem, a lecturer at Oxford University and contributor to the Telegraph and The Spectator, who has been charged with possessing indecent images of ch…

Jobcentre Plus should be devolved to the Scottish Government, argues Stephen McMurray. There remains a significant employment rate gap in Scotland between disabled people and people with disabiliti…

The cultural evisceration of Scotland continues. After we covered the massive cuts to Scottish studies at Edinburgh University [An Act of Monumental Cultural and Educational Vandalism] and news lea…

This year’s Battle of Ideas contains the usual stellar lineup of far-right cranks, libertarians, (very) confused leftists, Spiked groupies and, er Jack McConnell. The Scottish contingent is c…

The Sound of Magic and Grace: ‘Bel’ and the Empowering Voice of Beldina Odenyo Reviewed by Gerry Hassan How do you archive a unique voice no longer with us? How do you map the parameters of a talen…

All across Europe, revolts and uprisings are underway. It’s a level of insurgency we’ve not seen since the Indignados, the Arab Spring, and the Occupy movement of 2011-2013. We should n…

Scotland’s Lost Leader: The Life of Donald Dewar, Mark Peel, Luath Press, £20. Reviewed by Gerry Hassan When Donald Dewar died suddenly in October 2000, just sixteen months after taking office as S…

You know World Book Day where you have to come to school as a character from a book?

The Tories have just abandoned their commitment to devolution and are now openly planning to dismantle Holyrood, as announced by Kemi Badenoch in Birmingham. It’s Back to the Future. The Cons…

Scotland’s Lost Leader: The Life of Donald Dewar, Mark Peel, Luath Press, £20. Reviewed by Gerry Hassan When Donald Dewar died suddenly in October 2000, just sixteen months after taking office as S…

Over the last six months, we’ve made some major changes to the website and its content. We’ve shifted to our new hosts Krystal – who are more reliable, and sustainable; we’v…

“I will build the Britain my dad wanted to see.” It’s certainly an upgrade from: “My dad was a toolmaker.” Andy Burnham’s barnstorming speech at Labour Party con…

My name is Qusay Al-Reqeb, and I am 21 years old. For the past year and a half, my entire world has been compressed into a frail nylon tent on the shores of Al-Mawasi in Al-Qarara, near Khan Younis…

On 4 October 1936, thousands of Londoners gathered to stop Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists marching through the East End. As we approach that anniversary, Mark Perryman recalls the role o…

Content warning: this piece discusses sexual assault. In October 2024, a young woman at Cornell was drugged and gang-raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. She went to the house to meet …

Enshittification is a term coined in 2022 by Corey Doctorow as a way to describe the platform decay of online services in pursuit of profit. Dictionary.com defines it as “the gradual degradation of…

Does Scotland need MORE AI data centres?

Cultural wins are rare, so let’s celebrate them when they arrive. Community-based cultural organisations have welcomed a significant shift in Edinburgh’s cultural investment after the City of…

Reflections on hunting and the Scottish psyche. ‘The Cone Gatherers’, performed by Communicado at Tramway in 1991, was one of my earliest and most affecting theatrical experiences. It was performed…

The Skinny has its Mark Twain moment it seems, with a late reprieve. The contemporary visual arts organisation Outer Spaces will acquire shares in Radge Media CIC, the business behind The Skinny to…

Two weeks ago, the leaders of Scotland, Ireland and Wales met in Cardiff to sign an accord and announce a ‘Celtic Alliance’ [If You’re Feeling Sinister – Bella Caledonia]. Today, 200 po…

The Hate the State Made from Glasgow to Garvaghy Road Another woman beaten, raped, and murdered. And another morning of every woman mapping out the risks and calculations on how to stay alive. How …

Stochastic violence is the medium of our era. https://fiftysixdegreesnorth.substack.com/p/that-fascist-feeling?r=5teob&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Scotland suffers from institutional memory loss. One of the hidden aspects of the massive cuts to the University of Edinburgh announced last week is the attack on the eroded and hollowed-out Scotti…

After more than a year exploring the complex relationship between rural Scottish communities, renewable energy and the need for a dramatic response to climate breakdown through The Power Shift: Invest...

After more than a year exploring the complex relationship between rural Scottish communities, renewable energy and the need for a dramatic response to climate breakdown through The Power Shift: Invest...

Thirty-seven-year-old in custody on suspicion of crimes including criminal damage with intent to endanger life

As the University of Edinburgh moves to close a number of degree programmes, including the standalone degree in Scottish Ethnology, Kevin MacNeil reflects on the subject that changed the course of …

Nigel Farage's embrace of the UAE is part of a wider effort by the Gulf petrostate to build alliances with the far right across the West, says Alex Carlen.

I thought it was a good moment to look at where we are, writes Kat Jones.  Since Wednesday, Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), and the many local community campaigns against hyperscale AI dat…

Out of the torpor, maybe. Suddenly, all sorts of shifts and fissures are appearing. After weeks of bumbling and mumbling Michael Marra emerged as leader of Labour in Scotland and admitted yesterday…

Out of the torpor, maybe. Suddenly, all sorts of shifts and fissures are appearing. After weeks of bumbling and mumbling Michael Marra emerged as leader of Labour in Scotland and admitted yesterday…