It's political, not constitutional change we need

#indyref They say a Yes vote is a vote for freedom for Scotland. If freedom means casting off your chains, then it's as good a reason to vote No. Voting no to the chains that will tie down our economy. Voting no to the defeatism on the left that chains us into believing independence is the only way to win the policies of social justice. Voting no to the chains of insularity and nationalism.

Most of us have more in common with workers in Newcastle and Manchester than with bankers, big business and the landed gentry in Scotland. We have more in common with the Londoners who elected 20 Labour councils this year than the 900,000 people in Scotland who voted Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP and BNP in 2010. Social change will not come merely from reinforcing a squiggly line drawn north of Carlisle and Berwick.

Currency options: the facts behind the debate

The major hoo-ha about the pound in an independent Scotland has generated a mass of confusing debate. Thankfully the STUC’s ‘A JustScotland’ paper at last shines some light on what the real currency issues are.

What is clear is that no option for currency is without problems.  Here we try to distil some of the issues from the STUC report.

When looking at these options it is important to keep in mind that the status quo (without independence or enhanced devolution) brings its own problems and restrictions too.

Unions must focus on social justice in constitution debate

It is a bit of a leap to extrapolate that less intense opposition means Scottish trade unions are ‘shifting in favour of independence’. Nevertheless James Maxwell’s New Statesman article does, perhaps inadvertantly, put a finger on the difficulty trade unions face in getting their issues across when both referendum camps might be happier with a more simplistic debate.