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Dr Craig Dalȝell

@thecommongreen.scot
895 followers 358 following 1.1K posts

Head of Policy & Research at Common Weal Wrote a book: tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures Main social media at Mastodon: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot Donate to CW: commonweal.scot/donate My personal blog: thecommongreen.scot

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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 14h
Fun fact: I have full and free access to The Economist online via my library card (along with hundreds of other newspapers and magazines). Your own library may differ but certainly if you're in South Lanarkshire you can get it too.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 15h
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing The words were good, but judge Burnham by his actions. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
The words were good, but judge Burnham by his actions — Common Weal
Andy Burnham’s first Leader’s Speech at the UK Labour Conference was always going to set the benchmark for his tenure as Prime Minister. The UK doesn’t have a presidential system of government and s...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 18h
AI Data Centres Why are they popping up in Scotland? Who benefits from them? What can we do about them? My discussion with @pensioners4indy.bsky.social and @scottishindypod.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD5d...
youtube.com
Data Centres: Fracking All Over Again?
YouTube video by Scottish Independence Podcasts: IndyPod Extra
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 29/09/2026
8pm tonight. I'm back on @scottishindypod.bsky.social with a recording of my talk about AI hyperscaler data centres for Pensioners for Indy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD5d...
youtube.com
AI Data Centres with Dr Craig Dalzell
YouTube video by Scottish Independence Podcasts: IndyPod Extra
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 29/09/2026
Not entirely sure I interpreted Burnham right so forgive me if I haven't but: State pension Triple Lock to stay for this Parliament. Then, instead of "Highest of: Wage increase, inflation or 2.5%" it'll modify to "Highest of: inflation or 2.5% but that it'll hold its value compared to wages"
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Paul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham announces a new Water Bill which will repeal Thatcher's ban on public ownership of water companies
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 28/09/2026
Nvidia rolls out new security to prevent another AI breach of Hugging Face (which Nvidia now owns). To get it to work, AI companies, which mostly run on Nvidia chips, need to buy a new chip...from Nvidia. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
reuters.com
Nvidia releases AI safety software it says could have stopped Hugging Face hack
Nvidia on Monday made available a set of software safety tools for AI agents that it says would have stopped the hack ​of Hugging Face, the AI coding hub that Nvidia paid $13 billion for months ‌after...
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
UN Sec-Gen doesn't mince his words on Big Tech either:
"Artificial intelligence must be shaped by humanity, with humanity, and for all humanity.

And as we confront the challenges ahead, let us not retreat from two fundamental principles. 


Let us say with one voice: 


Children must never become the test subjects for unregulated systems.


And let us resolve that life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines.


Killer robots must have no place in our future."
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
UN Sec-Gen António Guterres' speech to the General Assembly doesn't mince his words on Big Oil www.un.org/sg/en/conten...
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, 22nd Sept 2026 speech:

"For decades, Big Oil has treated the atmosphere as an open sewer – and cashed in on the consequences. 


Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, five major Western oil companies have pocketed nearly half a trillion dollars in profits.


Compare that with just 34 billion dollars in international public adaptation finance for developing countries in the latest year reported.


Meanwhile, everyday people are paying more for energy, food and insurance.


We have seen this kind of abuse of power before.


When the harms of Big Tobacco became undeniable – governments acted.


The climate crisis demands the same determination. 


Those who polluted the most – and profited the most – must do far more to repair the damage they caused.


Polluters must pay. "
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 28/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing If Andy Burnham wants his National Care Service to be a success, he must learn lessons from Scotland. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Burnham’s UK National Care Service must learn lessons from Scotland — Common Weal
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s keystone announcement at the Labour Conference at the weekend was that the plans for an “NHS-style” UK National Care Service are still underway. To do it properly thoug...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 28/09/2026
And we're told we need more hyperscaler data centres so that we can do this 10x faster.
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Scottish Independence Podcasts @scottishindypod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Our plans for October…and this Tuesday 29th Sept don’t miss our podcast with Craig Dalzell speaking about data centres. @thecommonweal.bsky.social @thecommongreen.scot @pensioners4indy.bsky.social
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 25/09/2026
This week's Common Weal Magazine. Support our crowdfunder - www.commonweal.scot/crowdfunder Graph of the Week - Since Thatcher, workers have lost enormous wealth. This week's articles: 1) Megan - Why are we cutting the study of Scotland? www.commonweal.scot/articles/why...
SINCE THATCHER, WORKERS HAVE LOST ENORMOUS WEALTH 
There was a dear, marked change in how much of society's wealth different groups were getting. From 1982, workers became continual net losers while corporations became more and more dominant. The pattern is very clear and very marked, but tracking only the change masks the effect. If workers in 1985 lost wealth year after year, the assets they were able to accumulate would reduce and so less would be passed on to the next generation - and so on. It is not just the share of the economy which matters but the impact of the cumulative loss. 
And it is enormous. If the average pattern from before Thatcher had been maintained, workers in Britain would have earned £23 trillion more than they did. That is £23,000,000,000,000. Had that money been invested in people and their lives over that period, it would have been transformative. There is every reason to believe that nothing explains the crisis in our democracy more than this loss. Yet it is seldom discussed in politics.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 24/09/2026
As Common Weal crowdfunds (www.commonweal.scot/crowdfunder) for our Prospectus for a New State, I examine one part of it to give a taste of what is to come.
thecommongreen.scot
Borders are easy – but not necessarily simple
As Common Weal crowdfunds for our Prospectus for a New State, I examine one part of it to give a taste of what is to come.
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Lord, President Xi just insulted Trump and the USA, right to Trump's face-in the White House. Xi referred, yet again, to the "Thucydides trap". This is an reference to the US being in decline and China replacing it. And Trump sits their making moo eyes like a lovestruck teenager
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SW20ed #Edinburgh @sw20.info · 24/09/2026
Irony - the new cycle lanes in Scotland aren’t big enough. Induced demand.
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
You know that saying about how the way they treat asylum seekers is the way they’d treat everyone else if they thought they could get away with it? Well,
The Tories said the reduced subsistence allowance would be loaded onto pre-paid card that would not allow cash withdrawals, and would "prevent spending" on alcohol, cigarettes, or gambling.
The party is yet to detail how its proposal would work, but shadow welfare secretary Helen Whately said it would be "a version" of the pre-paid Aspen card issued to asylum seekers living in government-funded accommodation.
These cards cannot be used to make contactless, telephone or internet payments, whilst asylum seekers whose applications have failed cannot withdraw cash.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 24/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing Homelessness isn’t being caused by lack of homes www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Homelessness isn’t being caused by lack of homes — Common Weal
New Scottish statistics on homelessness came out this week, and they are pretty devastating. From a nation that set a target to eliminate homelessness, things are going the wrong way on almost every...
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Ben Wray @benwray1989.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New York's DoorDash wage theft crack down is seriously impressive. Not only have they used the platform's data against them, they've punished DoorDash with a serious penalty, while creating a new worker-led compliance system for real-time accountability.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 23/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing Students want more power – so who has it now? www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Students want more power – so who has it now? — Common Weal
Students at Glasgow University are now reaching a point of rebellion over the voice they are given in the university. This is only one example of a question which is raising its head all over the un...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 22/09/2026
America will do absolutely anything to avoid adopting the système international d'unités.
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Boasting of an illegal war and the war crime of pillage.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Geoffrey Lean: 18 years ago, scientists drew up 9 planetary boundaries not be transgressed if the world is to remain safe and secure. Today they report we have crossed a record seven—with ocean acidification joining others like climate change and biodiversity loss. The only two boundaries to have
oceanographicmagazine.com
Seven of nine Planetary Boundaries now at record breach levels - Oceanographic
Seven of nine Planetary Boundaries breach safe limits at record levels, a new report warns, as ocean heat and extreme weather intensify.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 22/09/2026
Today's Daily Briefing The Scottish Government's new proposal to reform local government is welcome, but the proposals as stated appear risky and not well thought through. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
The Local Government reform proposal is welcome but risky — Common Weal
Recently, First Minister John Swinney said that the current way we run Local Government in Scotland means that Local Authorities are “too big to be local and too small to be regional”. Except he didn’...
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New Spinal Tap sequel.
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Dr Adrian McMenamin @adrianmcmenamin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today, in UK Parliament, the parliamentary authorities have just emailed MPs to tell them that a whole class of documents, created by the MPs, will be permanently inaccessible to them after the end of October.
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Scottish Independence Podcasts @scottishindypod.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
‪@Common_Weal‬ are starting work on their new project “Prospectus for a New State”. This is a trailer!. We will have Craig back in the studio in October to hear more about their vision, their plans and the timeline for the Prospectus. youtube.com/shorts/uODMw...
youtube.com
Prospectus for a New State
YouTube video by Scottish Independence Podcasts: IndyPod Extra
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A Pentagon investigation found that the murder of 123 Iranian children at the school in Minab resulted from a cascade of failures, Bloomberg reports. * Outdated intelligence that still classified the school as an IRGC facility
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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"Are you selling me a solution or a dependency?" is a question I think more people should ask.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 19/09/2026
I, for one, have lost confidence in the state of Monaco. They clearly aren't taxing their resident billionaire climate deniers enough. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This should help you sleep at night: “There’s no one set of standards for how the US verifies the information generated by these tools.” www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Greenpeace International 🌍 @greenpeace.org · 18/09/2026
If protest did not work, they would not fight it so hard. Mass arrests, surveillance, and prison threats for peaceful activists. Governments and polluters are weaponising the law because they fear collective power. It's #TimeToResist
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 18/09/2026
This week's Common Weal Magazine! Subscribe: www.commonweal.scot/subscribe Support our Crowdfunder: www.commonweal.scot/crowdfunder 1) Craig - Borders are easy, but not simple www.commonweal.scot/articles/mag... GOTW Who is funding political parties? www.commonweal.scot/visuals/partyfundiing
EACH PARTY'S FUNDING SOURCES TELL YOU A LOT ABOUT THEM 
Basic data about where Britain's political parties get their money is largely unsurprising but still tells us a surprising amount about each party. The thing to look for is 'what is different about the funding of this party's big donors?'. Reform is very dominated by super-rich individuals where only Labor at gets any trade union money. But Reform gets no corporate donation which are the Tory's speciality (though both Labour and the Lib Dems get a share). Meanwhile the SNP is particularly reliant on public funding which relates to number of politicians. 
If you were to guess their positions only from this information you'd imagine Reform follows the whims of rich people, the Tories are the party of corporate Britain, Labour is mixed but has to keep its trade unions happy, the Lib Dems are small and mixed while the SNP is dominated by the interests of its own elected politicians. This is probably not far from reality, which suggests that a party is heavily shaped by its sources of funding.
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Scottish Information Commissioner @foi.scot · 17/09/2026
Our latest newsletter is a special Annual Report edition. Find out what our office achieved over the last year, explore the key results and milestones, and learn about upcoming events that are open to all. Read more: zurl.co/uzD3I
Annual Report 2025-26
83% increase in appeals
Over 110k FOI requests made in Scotland
We issued over 301 decisions
Cleared 79% of our backlog by the end of March.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 17/09/2026
I wonder if there was some kind of word to describe those who use violence and the fear of violence against non-combatants in order to achieve a political goal.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 17/09/2026
Capitalism works fine until it runs away with your money.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 17/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing Decoding the Data Centre Vote www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Decoding yesterday’s data centre vote — Common Weal
Important things happened in the Scottish Parliament yesterday but if you just read the final decisions it does not give a clear picture of what it means for Scotland's future. Sadly it is yet anoth...
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Adam Ramsay @adamramsay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Forth Ports, which has made this decision, is ultimately a publicly owned company - owned by the people of Canada, via their Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 16/09/2026
And so it remains almost impossible to leave Scotland except by air or by travelling through England. We shall continue to be, it seems, a landlocked island nation. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Plans for Scottish ferry to mainland Europe scrapped
Forth Ports said it had doubts over the 'long-term viability' of the route between Rosyth and Dunkirk.
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Laura Webster @lauraewebster.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A summary of the AI data centre debate in Holyrood so far: 🔴 ScotGov do not support a moratorium, minister Hannah Mary Goodlad it is not appropriate and "would send the wrong message to anyone looking to invest in Scotland" 🔴 The minister did not address environmental concerns
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Shubhendu Trivedi @shubhendu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
SEC should investigate recent claims, cancel IPOs till clarified. The federal government should also seriously look into nationalizing them if things are so dangerous internally. Their boards and leadership should also be thrown out (equity to zero) for negligence and endangering public safety.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 16/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing The new annual report from the Scottish Information Commissioner shows that your rights to Freedom of Information are still at risk. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Freedom of Information is at risk again — Common Weal
The Scottish Information Commissioner’s annual report was published yesterday. Current Commissioner David Hamilton has been on a bit of a roll in recent months both by increasing efforts to ensure t...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 15/09/2026
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing Scotland must value carers as much as we value care. www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
commonweal.scot
Scotland must value carers as much as we value care — Common Weal
Imagine a world in which healthcare nurses are paid near minimum wage even when they work in the public sector. In the private sector, it’s even worse with some companies not even meeting their legal ...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 15/09/2026
They burned down the libraries and gave us this instead.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 14/09/2026
This is exciting news. And makes the work we've announced this morning to show what the opportunities of independence could look like all the more important. www.commonweal.scot/prospectus-f...
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 14/09/2026
Common Weal has launched a crowdfunder! Getting a 2nd Indyref is one thing. Convincing currently undecided people that we've done enough earn their vote by showing how an independent Scotland would work is another. So we're building a Prospectus for a New State. www.commonweal.scot/crowdfunder
Pink text on a blue background of a crowd of people

"Let's shit the dial TOGETHER"
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 13/09/2026
It's worth remembering that it is now a matter of US foreign policy doctrine to fund and support far-right, xenophobic and religious extremist groups in order to disrupt 'European Socialism'.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 12/09/2026
Apparently they've cast the new #jamesbond
Craig, in a photo taken in 2018. He is sinisterly lit with a black background. His hand is gesturing in an accidentality threatening manner. Which is a strange pose given that this ended up being the poster shot of a Common Weal fundraiser. A fundraiser that was quite successful despite...or perhaps because of...Craig looking like he was going to make the world rue the day it failed.

So, perhaps less James Bond and more the supervillain he was sent to stop.

Which might well be appropriate given that Bond is basically propaganda for the British state and Craig has staked his career in opposing it.

Anyway...donate to Common Weal at https://www.commonweal.scot/donate

You might just leave Bond shaken and stirred.
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Dr Craig Dalȝell @thecommongreen.scot · 12/09/2026
For the UK-based #Oldhammer folks. I have a few classic models up on eBay if anyone is interested. www.ebay.co.uk/usr/craidalz #Warhammer #Warhammer40k #WH40k
A classic 2nd edition "Screamer Killer" Carnifex in a red and bone colour scheme.A classic 2nd edition "Screamer Killer" Carnifex in a red and black colour scheme.A partially assembled WFB Snotling Pumpwagon with crew.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
NEW Why holding a placard is a terrorist act, while causing disruption in a balaclava is not The mess caused by ministers and the police not taking terrorism law seriously By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Recent events in England now reveal the practical difference between terrorists and protesters. It would seem that terrorists peacefully hold placards and get immediately arrested, while protesters wear black uniforms and balaclavas and disrupt infrastructure and do not get arrested.

How did we get into this mess? How have we placed ourselves in the position where terrorism legislation is used to detain and prosecute peaceful protesters, while those adopting the terror tactics of private armies seem to be free to do as they wish?

The reason is that for some time British politicians have not taken terrorism legislation seriously, and that ministers have got into the habit of misusing terror laws for easy targets.
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