Peter McColl

I don't know that they recalculate committee seats, except SPCB and Bureau. There will be more speaking time for LDs though I think.

It's 5

Just realised where I've seen the Trump delusion before: a pyramid scheme.

People are so bought into it that they can't see out until it's too late.

Now it's too late.

Very happy to talk about Paisley any time

Person in pink top and with long blonde hair walking in between two groups. Walking towards a line of people holding pride, BLM, peace, trans, and progress signs who stand shoulder to shoulder to protect vulnerable people behind them. The person in the middle is looking over their shoulder to a group which seems angry with many carrying bricks, baseball bats or flags representing various extreme right ideas.

Person in pink top and with long blonde hair walking in between two groups. Walking to a group which seems angry with many carrying bricks, baseball bats or flags representing various extreme right ideas. The person in the middle is looking over their shoulder to a line of people holding Pride, BLM, peace, trans, and progress signs who stand shoulder to shoulder to protect vulnerable people behind them.

This is a depiction of a repeating dream/vision I've been having over the last three decades with basically three messages I'll mention below.
Feel free to tweak and share, it's the message that counts, not the exact pictures or words.

Designed without any thought for the safety of other road users. Musk's philosophy in steel and glass.

Niche. Though the cybertruck does look like something out of scifi, albeit not the cuddly sort that Dunmurray's finest autos graced.

I see a lot of posts saying that Musk's cost cutting in the US government hasn't cut that much. The point isn't actually to cut things, it's to create a pretext for more massive tax cuts for billionaires and to give Republican deficit hawks cover to vote for those cuts.

Bella is supported only by its readers. We don’t have corporate backers and we don’t take advertising, so we rely entirely on your support. Please give what you can. Go here and support independent Scottish journalism [please share on your networks - thanks!]

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/backing-be...

With the far-right flooding your channels with shit all day, progs in Scotland need an indy-minded media outlet that afflicts the comfortable, comforts the afflicted—and inspires us too. You know that’s @bellacaledonia. Support them as best you can, below www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/backing-be...

This is so brilliantly written that it rewards reading even if you have no interest in the subject(s). But the depth and breadth of argument on Nan Shepherd and the palimpsest account of Cults is especially good if you're interested in nature writing or writing about place.

Fraser MacDonald · Diary: Remembering Nan Shepherd The novels weren’t the point. The point of Nan Shepherd was herself. My mother described what a thrill it was to be...

My recollection of Nan Shepherd is rather faint but I wrote about the quiet late life (and literary afterlife) of my mother’s friend and teacher, prompted by the new correspondence edited by @kerriandrewsuk.bsky.social

Was it that bad??

Yes! It was my university id for 6 years!

Should I be nervous??

4
I get down on my knees and do what must be done
And kiss Achilles’ hand, the killer of my son.

3
When they had eaten together, it pleased them both
To stare at each other’s beauty as lovers might,
Achilles built like a god, Priam good-looking still
And full of conversation, who earlier had sighed:

2
Taking Hector’s corpse into his own hands Achilles
Made sure it was washed and, for the old king’s sake,
Laid out in uniform, ready for Priam to carry
Wrapped like a present home to Troy at daybreak.

Sad to hear of the death of Michael Longley.

Ceasefire:

1
Put in mind of his own father and moved to tears
Achilles took him by the hand and pushed the old king
Gently away, but Priam curled up at his feet and
Wept with him until their sadness filled the building.

1/4

The Irish Government is having some trouble getting installed, but the fact they're in that position at all is extraordinary. The first democratic government to get reelected since the end of the pandemic, seeing off the hard right, and all because they ended austerity, even if they didn't mean to.

Wrote a thing about growing up in Belfast and how people find the city now. Also my first Substack. Do subscribe for myoccasional thoughts and analysis. open.substack.com/pub/petermcc...

6th Day of Research: Six key areas of @ScotGov Women’s Health plan supported by #CRH researchers 👩‍🔬

The final report includes the FlowRight project and various IRR engagement and research.

📰: gov.scot/publications/w…

Irish government may have accidentally stumbled onto winning formula THE recently elected Irish government may have accidentally stumbled on the winning formula in the post-Covid era. Sitting governments have been on…

Wrote a thing about how the Irish government - against their will - stumbled on the winning formula, becoming a rare example of a government in the post-covid era getting re-elected: www.thenational.scot/politics/247...

18 November 1870: The first seven female undergraduates studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh were confronted by a large crowd of students who were attempting to prevent them from going in to sit their exams in what became known as the "Surgeons' Hall Riot".

Fraser MacDonald · Diary: Balmorality Exceptionalism is the essence of Balmorality. There is no need to break the rules because they have been written in such...

First post here, hello.👋

So I wrote about Balmorality and land reform for the LRB after spending too long staring at the last photograph of the queen.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...