Notices by Dr Craig Dalȝell (thecommongreen@mastodon.scot)

I see the Southron politicians who say that it would utterly break their wee hearts if Scotland left the UK appear, once again, to be utterly ignorant of things that are so normal up here that we don't even notice them while they lose their minds at how unBritish that same thing might be.

Animals on banknotes? How dare they?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/11/winston-churchill-to-be-replaced-by-wildlife-on-banknotes/

#UKPolitics #ScottishPolitics #currency #badgers

@gemlog @peterbrown Wales gets hit almost as bad as we do, albeit with the saving grace that the Welsh devolution agreement explicitly allows for a Welsh National Energy Company - Ynni Cymru was set up using Common Weal's blueprint and should have its first generators online pretty soon.

@peterbrown @gemlog I don't believe so. They're an asset-owner so the savings would come not via retail pricing but via the profits coming back to the public purse or through community co-owners.

Repost from The National

Scotland is already losing out on owning our Green Transition. But this is what we can still do to prepare to take it all back.

http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/03/08/scotland-is-already-losing-out-on-green-energy-heres-what-we-can-do/

Reminder that the UK's illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Chagos Islands was done at the US's behest and bought the UK a discount on US nuclear weapons.

https://thecommongreen.scot/2024/10/04/the-sun-still-has-not-set/

The impossible became inevitable.

The first UN Member nation to implement a full UBI has arrived.

The Marshall Islands is granting every resident (incl children) $800/year (paid for our of a trust fund set up by the US in reparation for nuclear weapons testing) plus additional sums for some in more rural or remote areas.

Well now Scotland. Your turn.

https://scottsantens.substack.com/p/marshall-islands-just-implemented-ubi

My article in this week's Common Weal Magazine.

While the UK wants to join itself to the hip of the US's "Department of War", Scotland should consider what 'real security' means - for example, we should secure our Digital Commons against the US turning our tech against us.

https://www.commonweal.scot/articles/magazine-ectj6

Third principle, however:

3) The Minimum Promised Deliverable - This is the least action they can take that will enable them to say that the promise has been fulfilled.

Look at their caveats with caution. If necessary, return to Principle 1) and apply more pressure.

Two principles to follow when it comes to getting a politician to do something they don't want to do.

1) "Enough pressure" is the point at which doing the thing is less worse than continuing to not do it.

2) Everything is impossible until the moment that it becomes inevitable.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdrkj810plvt

Lesson for the Left:

If being even moderately Left sees you accused by your opponents - Centrist and Rightwards - of being "a pure communist", then you've already baked in the exact same opposition that you'd face for being an actual pure communist. There's no more need to moderate your views on their account. Might as well be as radical as you think you should be.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/trump-zohran-mamdani-citizenship

They actually came for the trade unionists.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/california-union-president-arrested-ice-raids-b2765547.html

"The AI company I used to work for has already broken the law on such a level that you may as well make it legal" doesn't strike me as the most defensible argument.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/technology-uk/article/nick-clegg-work-train-ai-l6xl5djb7

Two questions I hope Sunak will be asked at this launch:

The Belfast High Court recently warned about the risks of pulling out of the ECHR. Is Belfast a "foreign court"?

If National Insurance is dropped, how will state pension entitlement be calculated? If it's via Income Tax payments, does that mean people earning more than the National Insurance allowance but less than the Income Tax Personal Allowance will not be eligible for a state pension?

#UKPolitics #GeneralElection #conservatives

Communities are indeed doing amazing work in land reform. The problem is that just four people currently own more of Scotland than all community-owned land combined.

It's like pointing at the good and worthy work you're doing with your own recycling bin while the oil company next door is creating more pollution than your entire country.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23929897.rewilding-scotland-not-just-green-lairds-capitalists/

A wonderful example of an inverted #PorcupinePlot.
The global growth of #solar power has consistently outstripped annual projections.
#Renewables

Source: https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-is-now-cheapest-electricity-in-history-confirms-iea/