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News, Campaigns & Events
Nae AI!
The multi-strand campaign against mega AI data centres which are proposed around the country is building in strength and coherence. From local Facebook pages such as this one about the proposed development near Annan, to a range of online and public meetings being organised by local community groups, trade unions and networks of activists, this issue is leading more and more people to take a stand. Two Committees of the Scottish Parliament are seeking views on their impact -
Update: Anderson reinstated - but the wider challenge remains
It was good to hear that Professor David Anderson has been reinstated to his post at the University of Aberdeen after an appeal hearing. The particular accusation that led to his initial dismissal was that Anderson had circulated to a small number of colleagues a document relating to management plans for restructuring. This was treated as 'gross misconduct' on the basis that the document was confidential - though Anderson maintained that he was not aware that this was the cas
After the strike, what future for the University of Dundee?
Monday 19th of October saw a mass picket on the Perth Road outside the University of Dundee’s tower block. Students, trades unionists and the local community came together to show their support for those UCU members going into their fifth week of strike action. The crisis at the University of Dundee (UoD) has been long-running and has seen intermittent media coverage. The backdrop to the current strike action is years of mismanagement at the institution, overlapping with the
Perspectives & Views
Cuba, Trump and American socialists: Exclusive interview
In his recent onslaught on all things democratic at the UN General Assembly on 22nd September 2026, President Trump attacked the Democratic Socialists of America, claiming that the Cuban government had cultivated ties to them over decades. This prompted us to recall that Megan Romer, the co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, spoke earlier in the year to Douglas Chalmers about the fortunes of the DSA, and its relationship with the radical tradition in the US, and w
Caledonia Dreaming, Multi-Party Politics and the Rise of the Populist Right
Should progressive people inside and outwith Labour seek to move the party to a pro-independence position? David Purdy contributes to the ongoing debate. In a recent post (Early Days, 29 July 2026), Doug Chalmers and Seb Fischer bemoaned the subservience of Scottish Labour to Westminster and expressed concern about the Burnham government's dealings with John Swinney and his colleagues. The early portents, they argued, did not bode well. Anas Sarwar's surprise resignation a
Issues arising: AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt
Observations on last Sunday’s elections from Seb Fischer, a DLS member who is currently in Berlin – with some comments from the resulting discussion amongst our members. The outcome of elections in a small German state, Sachsen-Anhalt (2.1 million population), will have a big impact. The result is a development long in the making, systematically and carefully prepared by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) for some 20 years (the party already received just under 25% in Sach
Reviews and Reflections
A sensible proposal
'Abolish Westminster!' That's the title and summary argument of Adam Ramsay's new book. If, to some ears, it sounds like a provocative or 'extreme' slogan, a few moments engagement with Ramsay's considerations and evidence will persuade you that he is in fact addressing serious issues in a thoughtful, radical and hopeful way. As the publishers Faber and Faber state, 'go to any street in Britain and ask people what they think about politics, and most will tell you that it is b
An injury to all - New book on the 'unmaking of the working class'
Ewan Gibbs, the Glasgow-based historian who is author of Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland will be known to many Democratic Left Scotland members. Ewan’s latest book An Injury to All is now available on pre-order. The British working class has been pushed to the margins of our society. The new book considers how this has happened and how a force that once influenced the direction of the country has become so peripheral. As the
Soundings from Scotland
The latest issue of Soundings, the thoughtful and radical journal of politics and culture, carries a couple of very substantial articles particularly focussed on Scotland. The guest editors (Dave Featherstone, Ewan Gibbs and Jenny Morrison) are all teachers at Glasgow University, and Democratic Left Scotland is very pleased to see this development – we know that Dave in particular has been looking for opportunities to foreground Scottish experience in the journal. The editors
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