Good to see the Observer featuring new poetry. Today it's my 'Mineral'.

Trump awards, Sunday edition

Awaiting the next crash. Capital requirements for UK banks to be lowered. Safety buffers reduced as govt appeases the finance lobby. Practical effect will be higher dividends, rather than investment in the real economy. Public purse will bailout banks. Profits privatised, losses see socialised.

ONCE upon a time (a few months ago) a group of over-excited British commentators argued that one Brexit benefit was that the UK would not be involved in a trade war between Trump and the EU. Well.

This is exactly right. A world in which "the strong" take what they want is not a safe world, even for the strong themselves. In Hobbesian terms, it creates a "war of every man against every man" in which life is "nasty, brutish & short". Hence Hobbes' "first law of nature" is to escape that world

“The news where we are is the news. It comes first. The news where you are is the news where you are. It comes after. We do not have the news where you are. The news where you are may be news to you but it is not news to us…” James Robertson, “The news where you are” m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhL5...

Whether to “remove the SNP” or to any other party, nobody should allow plutocracy (government by the rich) to contaminate our democracy. Holyrood (or W’minster) must legislate to limit political donations to a low percentage of average national salary. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2577321...

@gilesyb.bsky.social this is what the inflection point looks like - chinas emissions will be tanking very soon e360.yale.edu/digest/china...

Emmy Lou at the Emirates - not the best venue or acoustic but what an artist and what an honour to see her ❤️

⚡ In Wolfhagen, Germany, citizens co-own their energy company through a cooperative. They help govern decisions, power their homes with local renewables, and share in the profits. 📖 Read the full case study in our Governance Guide: buff.ly/LIGQB9P

Westminster's authority over Scotland is dissolving 🖊️ Chris Deerin

The nationwide backlash against AI data centers is building — and for very good reason.

NEW: Top pollster John Curtice has said the Labour UK Government's poor record continues to 'hang like a cloud' over Scottish leader Anas Sarwar following a fresh Holyrood poll pointing to a pro-independence majority

Scottish Labour and Reform UK are neck-and-neck for second place in May’s election, while the SNP remains on course to win the most seats, according to a new poll. www.holyrood.com/news/view,sn...

Keep watching - Trump and his circle almost have their precious goal: invoking the Insurrection Act. As per said before: a great deal of what is being done is simply Trump and his circle working backwards from this objective.

Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power. And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.

We’ve passed laws to protect fans from ticket touts at EURO 2028. No rip-off prices, no profiteering, no dynamic pricing. Tickets will be sold at face value through a fair ballot, so supporters aren’t priced out here in Scotland.

I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee.

Stand firm Scotland we don’t want this system

LAST shout for #PowerShift, our “ceilidh theatre” event @ Celtic Connections this Sun 3pm, 18th Jan, Green Room, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall [Tickets: www.celticconnections.com/event/1/talk... Where we dare 2b idealistic & creative about renewable energy again…thru poetry, tech, riffs, improv…

As I was walking all alane, I heard twa corbies making mane; The tane unto the t’other say, “Where sall we gang and dine the day?” —“The Twa Corbies”, first published in Scott’s MINSTRELSY vol. 2 (1810), is a darker, grimmer, #Scots version of the English ballad “The Three Ravens” #WyrdWednesday

Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals. What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

If you want to protect free university tuition and not be saddled with soaring tuition fee debt like in England, vote SNP in May.

I've just posted my latest essay w/ @jessicasilbey.bsky.social, titled "How AI Destroys Institutions." We argue that AI systems are designed in ways that degrade & are likely to destroy our crucial civic institutions like the rule of law, universities & a free press. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

[email protected] & I didn't arrive at this conclusion lightly, but he's the upshot: "In short, current AI systems are a death sentence for civic institutions, and we should treat them as such." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Final tickets shout for #PowerShift, our “ceilidh theatre” event at @ccfest—on Scottish community empowerment & renewables revolution. A space to recover our idealism, amidst the tensions & errors… This Sun 3pm, 18th Jan, Green Room, Glasgow RCH. Tickets: spring.site/blog/power-s...

It's thoughtful of my energy company to suggest I raise my DD despite having several hundred pounds of credit with them, presumably because they think I might end up at the end of winter without a massive credit balance with them, but that was actually my plan lads so fuck off. I can do sums too.

Plaid win in Wales, Greens in London, SNP in Scotland - a potential momentum shift post May elections?

The Scottish Child Payment is to increase to £40 per week for some families under SNP budget plans. www.holyrood.com/news/view,sc...

media focus on Reform UK has obscured the likelihood that Plaid Cymru will lead the next Welsh government

Donald Trump’s imperialism is the latest tool to advance the hegemony of US capital. Corporations funded Trump and his entourage and their return is mineral and asset grabs, overriding international laws, shelter from competition and making excess profits. Instability is inevitable.

China is now the leading clean energy powerhouse with the West falling behind. The transition is inevitable; the key question is where and how fast it happens. I look forward to discussing this in Davos next week at the World Economic Forum, facilitating a live-streamed session on electrostates.

Yeah. It's a sign of a huge collective failure of understanding and an inability to get to the heart of things that so few immediately got 'there is no level of convenience or ease of service that means you ignore the state's most fundamental duties'.

There’s an audio recording of Edwin Morgan reading “Colloquy in Glaschu” (& other poems too), made by Sandy Hutchison in 1988 #poem #poetry #sonnet youtu.be/nLALODXRymk?...

Has there ever been any poll showing the public this united? yougov.co.uk/technology/a...

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, "Now we are faced with a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we will choose Denmark" "We choose NATO" "We choose the Kingdom of Denmark" "We choose the EU"

Retired or soon to be retired UK HE or IRO researcher, or 'retired' but still holding PT position up to 0.5FTE? Awards of £k-£24 k available from @leverhulme.ac.uk to support your research. The deadline is 4pm 29 January 2026.

AGI may never happen. But in some tasks, 'as good as human' intelligence does already exist - yet there is still one vitally important thing that AI can't take, which is responsibility. Some thoughts on that in my column this week:

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Kind of extraordinary that the new Local Growth Fund is to be distributed by the Welsh Government in Wales, but directly by the UK Government in Scotland, and that the rationale for the difference seems to be no more than "we don't trust the Scottish Government".

Pàdraig MacAoidh: In Conversation at The Linen Hall, Belfast Writer Róise Ní Bhaoill talks to Pàdraig MacAoidh about his work; the literary, linguistic & cultural connections between Scotland & Ireland; & about what he hopes to achieve in his role as Scotland’s Makar www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9C...

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv... the corrupting influence of the disgraceful and bloated House of Lords

This #MapMonday we're taking you back in time ⌛ We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website. What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️ 🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191 #MoreMaps

Researchers warn UK has a “finance curse” – an oversized sector extracting wealth instead of creating it. If Britain wants to feel better off again, we need a financial system that invests in the real economy – not one that gambles with it. Andrew Curry explains

Lots of new folks, especially pols, arriving - put together a starter pack of practitioners in the digital/service design/policy/transformation sector go.bsky.app/ezrTxN

7. Pet owners pay a huge price - many of them on low incomes, their animals a source of friendship and solace. Workers suffer - most of them women. We all lose out as a result. It's the kind of economy we should abolish. @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @chrisgpackham.bsky.social

1. My wife's a small animal vet so I've had a ringside seat for many years. Private equity swooped in and bought up local practices using cheap debt. The resulting oligopoly means suppressed wages for high-qualified, experienced veterinarians. Vets earn average £43K a year - less outside London/ SE.

Never forget the most ironclad rule of politics: Every abuse you justify against another will be weaponized against you in time. To cheer abuse, violence, or the suspension of others’ rights is to cheer the abuse, violence, and suspension of your own.