Fraser Sugden

In my whole life I've never seen a snake in Scotland yet today I've seen three. Two 600m up Quinag and one plump adder on the bank of Loch Gleann Dubh, Assynt

Evening on Sound of Bute

Good to see this long saga written up, and well done Alan for persistence in nailing it.

Ouch... its coz most streams have dried up. I was caught out low in water on Ben Lomond on Tue. Every wee stream totally empty. I did find a spring eventually of peaty coloured water full of floaters and fortunately lived to tell the tale. But I wouldn't touch streams further down with a bargepole

Craiganour Estate has got away with a criminal offence - Land Matters In my blog yesterday, I reported a breach of rules introduced to improve transparency in landownership. I have reported the matter to Police and will be reporting back here on progress. Meanwhile, I a...

Very grateful to @andywightman.scotfor hosting this article. It details the haughty disdain of @mairigougeon.bsky.social and the plodding incompetence of @policescotland.bsky.social.

How can we Scots prosper if we're not allowed to know who owns our actual country?
andywightman.scot/2025/05/crai...

To address many of the socioeconomic and political issues oh H&I, some kind of devolution of powers is necessary. However a huge question is where to draw the pol boundary, as these issues extend far beyond current council areas. Perhaps a future independent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 should be dkmd kind of federal system.

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At least the capitalists of yesteryear created jobs, however stingy the wages, unlike today's finance capitalists who create money from money

Possibly due to the dry April the gorse bloom is another wotkd along the Moray Firth coast this year. Looking down on the old Banffshire fishing village of Crovie

After “Narcos” and “Narcos Mexico” — “Narcos Britannia”.

Anita and William are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe to discuss how the British Army in Northern Ireland employed methods used against other anti-colonial struggles across the British Empire.

Photo of Vance and all the Greenlanders who support being part of the US:

Greenlanders embrace pre-Christian Inuit traditions as a way to proudly reclaim ancestral roots Greenlanders in recent years have been embracing pre-Christian Inuit traditions like drum dancing or getting Inuit tattoos.

“Olsen, who wears a collar with a small qilaat and a crucifix, takes inspiration from the Latin American Liberation Theology movement, which holds that the teachings of Jesus require followers to fight for economic and social justice.”

apnews.com/article/gree...

Gaza medics issue malnutrition alert as total Israeli blockade enters fourth week Israel continues to batter territory in renewed offensive as Palestinian officials say death toll of war has passed 50,000 Malnutrition is spreading in Gaza, medics and aid workers in the devastated Palestinian territory are warning, as a total Israeli blockade of all supplies enters its fourth week. There has been no sign that Israel will open entry points to allow essential aid to flow or ease its new offensive in Gaza, which started on Tuesday with a wave of airstrikes that killed 400 people, mostly civilians, ending two months of relative calm. On Sunday, Palestinian officials said the total death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict had passed 50,000. Continue reading...

Gaza medics issue malnutrition alert as total Israeli blockade enters fourth week

Desolate beauty- yet also a landscape of loss. Ruined sheiling (summer encampment) by Alt Gleann Dà Eig, Glen Lyon - in one of Scotland's largest high altitude pastures, the mineral rich soils of Lawers range. A sustainable agro-ecological system destroyed by a predatory feudal and capitalist state

Trump baselessly blames DEI and Democrats for Washington DC plane crash President scapegoats diversity and inclusion initiatives while addressing air traffic disaster that left 67 dead

Trump's bizarre outburst on diversity programmes flies in the face of core principle of aviation oversight and safety - The need for a neutral and transparent investigation. His comments after today's tragedy place the entire US aviation sector into disrepute

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

However, given divergent timelines, many victims of 18th c lowland clearance (and their counterparts in southern highlands/Argyll) were less lucky– it was the semi-serfdom you mentioned in the Renfrewshire mines or the squalor of the emerging urban slums. For them, imperial dividends came much later

That's a v interesting point. Another complicating factor in shaping the popular narrative the fact that the victims of the most atrocious Highland clearances in the late 19th c (e.g. Sutherland etc) emigrated straight to the colonies (i.e they were one could say 'beneficiaries' of colonialism)

I think there's long overdue debate on whether and how waves of internal subjugation (by British or pre-1707 Scottish state) conflate with the 'national' experience of the peasantry/working class. That's of course a separate question to whether they benefited from empire overseas.

More Scots believe Scotland was a subject than a partner in the British empire, including a majority of 2014 Yes voters. It’s opinion which flies in the face of historical research.

Stories of the ‘woke’ offensive on imperial history look like they may have been grossly exaggerated.

i.e. Nairn's assertion that Scotland was two nations not one, I'm not convinced fully matches the subaltern reality on the ground

I think there's long overdue debate on whether and how waves of internal subjugation (by British or pre-1707 Scottish state) conflate with the 'national' experience of the peasantry/working class. That's of course a separate question to whether they benefited from empire overseas.

Indeed, given that its compulsory high school reading, it likely does shape national consciousness - As a scholar of agrarian political economy, I certainly agree on LGG on many issues relating to the Scottish peasantry, and the fact that the lowland experience had a lot in common with the highlands

I think Scotland differs somewhat from England in the way class oppression took on a cultural (one could say 'colonial') character, given the historic dominance of an Anglicised aristocracy since at least the 12th century

Very true, yet there's good reason why this has become part of a subaltern 'national' consciousness. Large share of lowland urban population is part-descended from victims of Clearance, and similar forms of internal subjugation/Anglicization took place in southern Scotland a century or 2 earlier

Interesting thread, thanks. 1707 and overseas empire aside, I feel there's a lot of confusion over the internal colonialism of Clearances, post-Culloden subjugation, de-Gaelicisation etc which is often conflated with national experience.

Happy Burns Day

Scotland for sale – but who’s buying? The problematic question of land reform Land reform in Scotland is often depicted as a divisive political project. Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager at Community Land Scotland, examines the…

Scotland for sale – The question of land reform. Landownership is dominated by a tiny number of people and corporations. Scotland is a global anomaly in its unjustifiably concentrated landownership. Only 433 landowners own 50% of the private rural land. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2486609...

Land Reform for a Democratic, Sustainable and Just Scotland Ahead of the Land Reform Bill, this report sets out a bold agenda for land reform.

In its current form, the Land Reform Bill does not do enough to modernise Scotland’s archaic and dysfunctional land market.

In this report, we outline an ambitious agenda to diversify land ownership, tackle the housing crisis and deliver a just transition.

Desolate yet beautiful early January in up the rarely climbed Meall Nam Fuaran, Glen Quaich, Perthshire. Sone fine vistas except a bit of the ugly shooting infrastructure. I strongly recommend exploring the lesser known hills and Glens of Scotland