Here is my piece in the Morning Star on the things I am looking forward to in this year’s Edinburgh Festivals. This year the Star will have four of us providing reviews of various events, and my…Read more…
Freedom of Information – Threats and Excuses
Here is the recently published article I wrote for the new edition of the Scottish Left Review, on behalf of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland. I’ve tried to add helpful links into…Read more…
Cuba and Qatar – a meeting dilemma
This Thursday (the 18 June) delivers a particular dilemma for those interested in campaigning on international issues. Two significant topics are to be aired at clashing meetings in different parts…Read more…
Portraying the Red Clydesiders – and young women of the East End!
A couple of events to draw your attention to today. Firstly an event slightly detached from its original slot in the Mayday celebrations – it was postponed from the original date of May 5 as that…Read more…
Singing on the picket line?
Is it a travesty of an important Victorian industrial dispute, to portray it as a musical? Particularly a musical rooted in the music hall tradition? Playwright Fatima Uygun doesn’t think so. She is…Read more…
Reasons to be MayDay – part 2
….The main event of the holiday period is the March and Rallytoday (3 May). From 11.00 people will gather in George Square and then march to the O2 Academy in Bridge Street. The March is being lead…Read more…
Reasons to be MayDay – Part 1
–> As we approach the main weekend of MayDay it is maybe a good time to pick out some highlights in the programme. Particularly as many activists of whatever political flavour will be…Read more…
Experience of International Brigader sells out local venue
The revival of Willy and John Maley’s play From the Calton to Catalonia has sold out its launch performance in the Calton Heritage Centre this Friday. The play, which deals with the experiences of…Read more…
Rent strikers’ centenary marks MayDay celebrations
100 years after the success of the Glasgow Rent strikers’ in changing the law, their struggles are taking centre stage amongst the range of events announced around this year’s MayDay…Read more…
Gary Lewis and Tommy Sands lead Glasgow’s MayDay festivities.
–> MayDay festivals have been celebrated since pre-Christian times. Earliest celebrations marked the beginning of summer and linked to many pagan festivals including the Gaelic…Read more…
Joyous Johnstone Jamboree!
I’ve just realised that I promised to put my review of Arthur Johnstone and Friends at The Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow up once it had been published in the Morning Star, and I’ve forgotten to do this!…Read more…
Rounding up the Festival – bar one!
The Morning Star have today rounded up a few of my reviews (and one by FairPley’s Stephen Wright) into a compilations piece, here. The review for Canzionere Grecanico Salentino/Complete has…Read more…
At this Festival, Connections are Key
–>My Review of the Celtic Connections concert featuring Luka Bloom and Bella Hardy was in Wednesday’s Morning Star. it can be found here.Another concert that the Star hasn’t had the space…Read more…
Festival making much of their Connections
This is by way of a compilation of my reviews of Celtic Connections concerts so far published in the Morning Star.
The festival is well on course to be a classic year. In particular the…Read more…
Health & Social Care mergers – Knowledge is Power
My article on the issues and problems that potentially lie ahead for activists and campaigners trying to extract information from the new merged structures providing health and social care in…Read more…
Celtic Connections – bringing the world together.
My preview of this year’s Celtic Connections festival is printed in today’s Morning Star, here. They have made some (entirely legitimate) editorial changes to my original article – mainly reordering…Read more…
Artists against Austerity
From time to time this blog has been known to go on (and on) about the importance of cultural work in the struggle for a socialist and just society, Occasionally it has been known to hanker for the…Read more…
Referendum shows weren’t the highlight.
The Morning Star asked me to review the cultural side of the struggle for 2014. This is what I felt were the key moments of an eventful year. Next year already looks as if it too, is shaping up to be…Read more…
Looking Forward (and Remembering) – A tribute to Tony
Tony Benn (photo courtesy Sunday Mail)
300 plus people squashed into Glasgow’s Mitchell Theatre on Sunday to celebrate a legend. As compère Susan Morrison pointed out, the word was in danger of…Read more…
Stars and family gather in Glasgow to celebrate life of Tony Benn
Excitement is building ahead of the range of events arranged to celebrate the life of Tony Benn next weekend. Two major concerts and a couple of discussion groups are planned for Sunday 30 November…Read more…