hope over fear: the ugly side of scottish nationalism

thousands massed in freedom square (george square), glasgow today for an almost comical outpouring of nationalistic fervour. the gathering was organised and led by flag waver in chief, tommy sheridan. of course, it's a great thing that politics north of the border has become so energised but this, i'm afraid, was a demonstration of all the ugliest aspects of political patriotism. sheridan is a notorious ego maniac, who was willing to lie in court and throw old comrades under the bus in the process. therefore any attempt by him to resuscitate his failed political career must be viewed with suspicion. to be fair to the snp, they do realise this and it's why nicola sturgeon and the majority of the party distanced themselves from todays goings-on. 

dundee general election debate

the prospective parliamentary candidates for dundee west (and east) got together tonight to discuss a wide selection local, national, and international issues. the general calibre of candidates was surprisingly good, with the green party's pauline hinchion coming across particularly well. 

europe's shame

as many as 700 people are feared dead after the latest in a series of tragic maritime accidents in the mediterranean. just 1 week ago another 400 died in similar circumstances as the small fishing vessel they were travelling on capsized. that said, nobody seems particularly surprised. after all we were warned this would happen when the Italian government gave up their 9 million a month mare nostrum mission last year which carried out proactive search and rescue operations over 27,000 square miles of sea. despite rome’s protestations the european union attempted to replace the italian search and rescue operation on the cheap. triton operates on a third of the budget of its predecessor and is based solely on border surveillance- operating only within 30 miles of the italian coast.

killing to conserve

rebecca francis is the latest in a long line of female ‘trophy hunters’ to cause uproar on social media- posing beside the (soon to be) carcass of a bull giraffe. rebecca’s personal website is a litany of self-indulgent, boasts detailing the long list of lives she has extinguished. but underneath this gruesome blood lust lies an important issue of whether hunting can big game can paradoxically be good for conservation.

hillary clinton and identity politics

so, hillary clinton has finally come clean on the worst kept secret in american politics- she’s running for president. there is of course the small matter of winning the democratic nomination but, her religious adherence to consensus and political orthodoxy means she is unlikely to be threatened from either the centre or the left. she will thus stroll through the process in a fashion which does not exactly live up to the name of her proud old party.

a whiff of sulphur in caracas

last month president barack obama announced a fresh batch of economic sanctions on the beleaguered venezuelan government of nicolas maduro for, the ‘intimidation of political opponents’. obama went on to say that venezuela poses ‘an extraordinary threat to the national security of the u.s.’ The language used by the president seems to be quite fantastical, given that the venezuelan regime(according to the white house) can barely feed it’s own people.