iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

In my whole life I've never seen a snake in Scotland yet today I've seen three. Two 600m up Quinag and one plump adder on the bank of Loch Gleann Dubh, Assynt

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Auntie Syzygy @auntiesyzygy.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Good to see this long saga written up, and well done Alan for persistence in nailing it.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Ouch... its coz most streams have dried up. I was caught out low in water on Ben Lomond on Tue. Every wee stream totally empty. I did find a spring eventually of peaty coloured water full of floaters and fortunately lived to tell the tale. But I wouldn't touch streams further down with a bargepole

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

To address many of the socioeconomic and political issues oh H&I, some kind of devolution of powers is necessary. However a huge question is where to draw the pol boundary, as these issues extend far beyond current council areas. Perhaps a future independent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 should be dkmd kind of federal system.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

At least the capitalists of yesteryear created jobs, however stingy the wages, unlike today's finance capitalists who create money from money

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Possibly due to the dry April the gorse bloom is another wotkd along the Moray Firth coast this year. Looking down on the old Banffshire fishing village of Crovie

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Kevork Oskanian @drkevorko.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

After “Narcos” and “Narcos Mexico” — “Narcos Britannia”.

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Empire: World History @empirepoduk.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Anita and William are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe to discuss how the British Army in Northern Ireland employed methods used against other anti-colonial struggles across the British Empire.

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john3-16.bsky.social @john3-16.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Photo of Vance and all the Greenlanders who support being part of the US:

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

“Olsen, who wears a collar with a small qilaat and a crucifix, takes inspiration from the Latin American Liberation Theology movement, which holds that the teachings of Jesus require followers to fight for economic and social justice.” apnews.com/article/gree...

apnews.com

Greenlanders embrace pre-Christian Inuit traditions as a way to proudly reclaim ancestral roots

Greenlanders in recent years have been embracing pre-Christian Inuit traditions like drum dancing or getting Inuit tattoos.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Desolate beauty- yet also a landscape of loss. Ruined sheiling (summer encampment) by Alt Gleann Dà Eig, Glen Lyon - in one of Scotland's largest high altitude pastures, the mineral rich soils of Lawers range. A sustainable agro-ecological system destroyed by a predatory feudal and capitalist state

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Trump's bizarre outburst on diversity programmes flies in the face of core principle of aviation oversight and safety - The need for a neutral and transparent investigation. His comments after today's tragedy place the entire US aviation sector into disrepute www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Trump baselessly blames DEI and Democrats for Washington DC plane crash

President scapegoats diversity and inclusion initiatives while addressing air traffic disaster that left 67 dead

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

However, given divergent timelines, many victims of 18th c lowland clearance (and their counterparts in southern highlands/Argyll) were less lucky– it was the semi-serfdom you mentioned in the Renfrewshire mines or the squalor of the emerging urban slums. For them, imperial dividends came much later

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

That's a v interesting point. Another complicating factor in shaping the popular narrative the fact that the victims of the most atrocious Highland clearances in the late 19th c (e.g. Sutherland etc) emigrated straight to the colonies (i.e they were one could say 'beneficiaries' of colonialism)

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I think there's long overdue debate on whether and how waves of internal subjugation (by British or pre-1707 Scottish state) conflate with the 'national' experience of the peasantry/working class. That's of course a separate question to whether they benefited from empire overseas.

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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

More Scots believe Scotland was a subject than a partner in the British empire, including a majority of 2014 Yes voters. It’s opinion which flies in the face of historical research. Stories of the ‘woke’ offensive on imperial history look like they may have been grossly exaggerated.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

i.e. Nairn's assertion that Scotland was two nations not one, I'm not convinced fully matches the subaltern reality on the ground

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Indeed, given that its compulsory high school reading, it likely does shape national consciousness - As a scholar of agrarian political economy, I certainly agree on LGG on many issues relating to the Scottish peasantry, and the fact that the lowland experience had a lot in common with the highlands

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I think Scotland differs somewhat from England in the way class oppression took on a cultural (one could say 'colonial') character, given the historic dominance of an Anglicised aristocracy since at least the 12th century

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Very true, yet there's good reason why this has become part of a subaltern 'national' consciousness. Large share of lowland urban population is part-descended from victims of Clearance, and similar forms of internal subjugation/Anglicization took place in southern Scotland a century or 2 earlier

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Interesting thread, thanks. 1707 and overseas empire aside, I feel there's a lot of confusion over the internal colonialism of Clearances, post-Culloden subjugation, de-Gaelicisation etc which is often conflated with national experience.

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Jimmy Reid Foundation @reidfoundation.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Scotland for sale – The question of land reform. Landownership is dominated by a tiny number of people and corporations. Scotland is a global anomaly in its unjustifiably concentrated landownership. Only 433 landowners own 50% of the private rural land. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2486609...

heraldscotland.com

Scotland for sale – but who’s buying? The problematic question of land reform

Land reform in Scotland is often depicted as a divisive political project. Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager at Community Land Scotland, examines the…

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Future Economy Scotland @futureeconscot.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

In its current form, the Land Reform Bill does not do enough to modernise Scotland’s archaic and dysfunctional land market. In this report, we outline an ambitious agenda to diversify land ownership, tackle the housing crisis and deliver a just transition.

futureeconomy.scot

Land Reform for a Democratic, Sustainable and Just Scotland

Ahead of the Land Reform Bill, this report sets out a bold agenda for land reform.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Desolate yet beautiful early January in up the rarely climbed Meall Nam Fuaran, Glen Quaich, Perthshire. Sone fine vistas except a bit of the ugly shooting infrastructure. I strongly recommend exploring the lesser known hills and Glens of Scotland

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Happy New Year to all. Amazing landscapes just a few miles from Edinburgh

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

It's a vile sport, and like most bloodsports, their origin is rooted in landed privilege and the dispossession of the peasantry

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

The fact there are restrictions make me all the more keen to paddle there. Definitely one for the Spring. A lovely loch and just 20 mins from Stirling

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Andy Zahn @andyzahn.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Moss-creature in the misty forest - a denizen of one of our imperiled legacy forest. You won't find such scenes of natural sculpture and artistry in a timber plantation!

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Alastair McIntosh @alastairmci.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

I’m uninspired by the land reform bill going through Holyrood. It’s aspiration without teeth. As the Stornoway Gazette summarises Peter Peacock, ex-leader of Highland Council: “Landlords have learned how to play the system while the process is so bureaucratic as to be unusable.” Fix it!

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I grew up in Speyside, so not so far. Aye, the second home issue is massive. Serious regulation needed, either through taxation or enhanced community control over housing stock

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Then many outer suburbs, which historically were very white, have been transformed by the rising number of professionals from all over the world who have chosen to stay on after their degrees

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

It has really transformed the sense of place in many neighbourhoods in a positive way. Selly Oak high street in Birmingham has been transformed into a thriving cosmopolitan space - with incredible ranges of food options, international supermarkets etc. Similarly around Newington in Edinburgh.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Any independent Scotland needs to be built on a federal system, with greater powers for the regions. Where one draws boundaries is a big question, but H&I, Northeast, Dumfries/Galloway, Borders etc all have their own unique history and issues to deal with, and these need to be dealt with locally

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Aye, amazing, and what's going on with Big Ben, is there some kind of political message imbued in the algorithms

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Leftist splits, while often ridiculous, were historically down to genuine differences in the material approach to struggle & political mobilisation. Nowadays in a post-ideology world, is it nothing more than personal political rivalries, or where one sits in the social media driven culture wars?

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Thanks - really interesting - I've family from Burgh by Sands also actually, right on the border marsh - hadn't realised it was where Edward 1st met his end! I haven't been to any of these places, grew up in N of Scotland, but showing an interest now - so fascinating! Hope you publish it all!

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Thats mental - not sure of the significance of Jeremy Corbyn (😂) playing the pipes, and that cat is the stuff of nightmares

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Fascinating, seems there were strong links. I also in fact have paternal ancestors from both Cauldbeck & Dumfriesshire who migrated to Carlisle in 19th c. Carlisle had a huge Scot/Irish migrant worker population. Even on Cumbrian side, some had even older links to Scotland, dating back to 18th c!

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

That's really interesting. Given that Cumbria and much of SW Scotland were part of the same Brythonic cultural-linguistic world until the middle ages, then I would expect a lot of cultural and livelihood crossovers.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Yeah, so I guess a lot of areas only suitable in summer. Interesting

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

That's incredibly well intact, so not surprising it was used within the 20th century. I guess there is limited hill country in northern Lewis, so transhumance lacked the altitudinal dimension there?

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frankrennie @frankrennie.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Someone of the shielings in northern Lewis were still being used immediately after WW1 but the annual summer pastoralism was largely over by the start of the war.

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Fraser Sugden @frasersugden.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Wow that's even more interesting. I assumed so on the basis of its location, but having said that it was a rather small cavity and I couldn't figure out how it linked to a chimney, although hard to tell amongst all the stones.

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