Celebrate the legacy of Nelson Mandela

(Morning Star 28 Aug 2018) The new confidence of the racist right, emboldened and legitimised by mainstream political demagogues, has added energy to a Scottish campaign to celebrate Nelson Mandela and ensure the lessons of the anti-apartheid struggle are not forgotten.

The campaign stepped up a gear on Saturday with a fundraising dinner graced by a virtuoso performance from Marah Louw, the South African singer and actor who famously sang and danced on stage with Mandela at the 1993 rally in Glasgow’s George Square. She even wore the same dress that she wore that day.

The Great May Day Cabaret - A night for Chris Bartter

My contribution at tonight's event. Thanks to Stephen Wright, Dave Anderson, Rab Noakes, Fraser Speirs, Maeve Mackinnon, Susan Morrison, Jim Monaghan and Richard Leonard for making it a great night.

It’s a great honour for UNISON to be part of this fantastic event as a celebration of our comrade Chris Bartter.

This tribute in many ways is no surprise given the massive contribution Chris made to the arts and the labour and trade union movement.

A £1 tourist tax could help mitigate the cuts

First published in the Morning Star 9/1/18. Despite all the campaigning, it can still be hard to convince people of just how savage local government cuts have been in Scotland.

You can try giving them the figures. Nine out of ten austerity job losses have been in councils. Despite Holyrood getting a £180 million budget increase from Westminster, councils in Scotland will get nothing this year.

Even a 3% increase in the council tax is a £135 million real terms cut even with the lowest inflation projection. Councils estimate they need an extra £545 million to stand still without even starting to repair the damage done by the years of silent slaughter of local services.

Yet many people remain unconvinced. That is, unless they have had a personal experience of the cuts.