Coll McCail
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
📤 446
📥 49
📝 36
Socialist | Writer and activist.
No political party with a record as poor as the SNP’s should be assured a fifth successive victory at next year’s Holyrood election. And yet, here we are. But why? Me on ‘Caledonian paralysis’ for Tribune Magazine.
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Caledonian Paralysis
Despite the party’s failure and scandals, the SNP is set to lead a historic fifth term in government in Holyrood next May. The Scottish Left needs to reestablish itself and rejuvenate the politics of ...
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/11/caledonian-paralysis?fbclid=IwY2xjawOD_a9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeRJVyULSVZymUuXD7NUHG7m9CWQtNXiZUL5TZ9ZxLpO8S83_mhNCbkwvaK-A_aem_OnkXYYLTg9XfvIQGDIyIJw
5 days ago
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In August, almost two million Vietnamese people donated to a major crowdfunding campaign for Cuba. It's the latest act in a long history of solidarity between the two peoples. I've written about that bond for the latest issue of Cuba Sí.
23 days ago
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In this month's Conter column, I've written about Nicola Sturgeon's memoir and the reaction 'Frankly' received in a country still grappling with its author's departure from frontline politics. Link below.
about 2 months ago
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"Today, MSPs can be brought to blows by seagulls, but never spurred to act against a system that strips power and control from their constituents." My column in today's
@scotnational.bsky.social
.
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Scotland is not for sale. Can someone tell the SNP Government?
"NATURE is not only something to save, it is something to invest in ..."
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/25486927.scotland-not-sale-can-someone-tell-scottish-government/
about 2 months ago
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Coll McCail
Dr Craig Dalȝell
2 months ago
This week, I was on the
@theskotia.bsky.social
podcast discussing the privatisation of Scotland's assets including offshore wind and our civil service infrastructure. Listen on Spotify here:
open.spotify.com/episode/6pzD...
Or most other places where you'd prefer to get your podcasts.
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Nest of Fearties #11: Scotland's Not For Sale w/ James Foley & Craig Dalzell
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6pzDGVMGY4HpbvtGzs0spt
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Coll McCail
Argyll Loon 🏴
2 months ago
Excellent-well worth a listen
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Coll McCail
Skotia
2 months ago
In this week's episode of Nest of Fearties, James Foley and Craig Dalzell discuss how Scotland became one of the most foreign-owned economies in the world. 🎧 Listen to 'Scotland's Not For Sale' now:
buff.ly/2J7NGM7
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As the Keir Starmer roles out the red carpet for Isaac Herzog, I’ve written for Jacobin about Jeremy Corbyn’s Gaza Tribunal — where Britain’s participation in Israel’s genocide was exposed by dozens of expert witnesses.
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This Genocide Belongs to Britain, Too
Not just Israel’s leaders are responsible for the genocide but also all those who support them. The Gaza Tribunal held in London last week heard evidence of direct British government involvement in Is...
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/gaza-tribunal-genocide-britain-israel
2 months ago
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Following in the footsteps of the USA, the British state has privatised its role in Israel’s war crimes. My piece in today’s Morning Star.
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Gaza surveillance: the privatisation of genocide
DURING a Times Radio interview last week, the newspaper’s defence editor Larisa Brown confirmed that the British state had hired US contractors to carry out surveillance flights over the Gaza Strip.Th...
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/gaza-surveillance-privatisation-genocide
3 months ago
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“The objective of Israel’s genocide is to deny the Palestinian people even the hope of a homeland. This week, the British state served that aim, conferring the right to decide Palestine’s future to the land’s illegal occupier.” My column in today’s
@scotnational.bsky.social
.
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Keir Starmer's Palestine recognition speech was so full of colonial arrogance
IN 1965, Palestinian intellectual Fayez Sayegh published a seminal study documenting the historic oppression of his people, “Zionist Colonialism…
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/25360859.keir-starmers-palestine-recognition-speech-full-colonial-arrogance/
4 months ago
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Coll McCail
Kirsteen Paton
4 months ago
MBDA UK Ltd., is a partner of University of Glasgow. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza using GBU-39 bombs made with MBDA components, killed Palestinian civilians, including 34 people in Al-Buraq school Nov 10, 2023.
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NEW 🇵🇸 My article in today’s Herald on Glasgow University’s links to MBDA, the missile group complicit in killing dozens of children in Gaza. The institution is “benefitting from the proceeds of genocide,” says Rector Ghassan Abu-Sittah.
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Glasgow University accused of profiting from 'blood money' due to Gaza ties
The University of Glasgow has been accused of profiting from 'blood money' due to multiple financial ties to a company whose weapons have killed…
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25328874.university-glasgow-profiting-blood-money-gaza/
4 months ago
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Coll McCail
Skotia
4 months ago
Twelve months on from Labour's landslide, Matt Kerr and Chris Stephens return to Nest of Fearties to discuss the government's welfare bill, the proscription of Palestine Action and the prospect of a new left-wing party. 🎧 Listen to 'One Year On' now:
buff.ly/rQjBAx9
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"The old world will not go quietly." My remarks at last week's International Forum for Peace in Belgium via
@progintl.bsky.social
's Wire.
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“The Multipolar World: A Pact for the Future”
The Progressive International’s Coll McCail speaks at the International Forum for Peace in Brussels, Belgium.
https://progressive.international/wire/2025-07-02-the-multipolar-world-a-pact-for-the-future/en
5 months ago
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Coll McCail
Skotia
5 months ago
Bathgate no more. Lindwood no more. Grangemouth no more. Now, Larbert no more? After the news of Alexander Dennis' closure,
@rosiehampton.bsky.social
and
@ewangibbs.bsky.social
ponder whether Scotland is witnessing another unjust transition. 🎧 Listen now:
buff.ly/MwMNRCJ
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Coll McCail
Matt B
5 months ago
Reading regular news sources about what's going on with the Ferries is insanely mud-slingy and unhelpful. This episode is so good because you can actually figure out the root of the problem. Unsurprisingly, the problem isn't public ownership. The problem is not enough public ownership.
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Coll McCail
Ewan Gibbs
5 months ago
When you hear coverage of John Swinney's speech today promising a new road map for Scottish independence, the biggest question to ask is who has power in Swinney's vision? Is he promising a radical overhaul of corporate dominance over our resources and economic life?
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Coll McCail
Skotia
5 months ago
In the latest episode of Nest of Fearties, Jeanette Findlay and Brian Reynolds discuss the costly, delayed and error-strewn delivery of the MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa. ⛴️ Listen to 'Behind The Ferry Fiasco' now:
buff.ly/rRbYFnu
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Coll McCail
Niall Christie
5 months ago
We are doing everything we can to get responses from as many potential MSPs as possible - including getting support from
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
for the next couple of weeks to ensure the process is fair. Read about Green Left Scotland's plans:
greenleftscotland.substack.com/p/msp-candid...
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MSP candidate selections: Green Left Scotland seeks answers
Ahead of the Scottish Greens' official campaign period, Green Left Scotland is publishing a survey for prospective MSPs to complete and share their views.
https://greenleftscotland.substack.com/p/msp-candidate-selections-green-left
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Coll McCail
Brian Leishman MP
5 months ago
Was a pleasure to talk politics with Coll McCail and Jonathon Shafi during the Nest of Fearties on Skotia. 🗳️ Hamilton by election 🌹 Labour's first 10 months 🗑️ Where austerity belongs 💷 A wealth tax on multi millionaires ✊ The need to redistribute power An hour well spent 👇
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Coll McCail
Skotia
5 months ago
NEW: In a special episode of Nest of Fearties, Brian Leishman and Jonathon Shafi discuss the results and wider implications of this week's Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. 🎧 Listen to 'After Hamilton' now:
buff.ly/3s8Hwb1
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Coll McCail
Skotia
6 months ago
Ethan Shone on the revolving door between the Labour Party and the City of London.
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Coll McCail
Skotia
6 months ago
In the fifth episode of Nest of Fearties, Paul Dobson and Ethan Shone investigate the network of PR firms, lobbyists and private consultancies quietly influencing our politics at Holyrood and Westminster. 🎧 Listen to 'Who Really Runs Scotland?' now:
spoti.fi/3FBuENW
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Wrote about the British state's campaign against Kneecap for Bella Caledonia. Read here:
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/05/27/b...
6 months ago
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Coll McCail
Mike Small
6 months ago
👉
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
puts the attempts to repress dissenting cultural voices in historical context | Behind the British State’s War on Kneecap
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/05/27/b...
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Behind the British State’s War on Kneecap
Last week, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terror offence by the Metropolitan Police. A member of the Irish band Kneecap, the Met allege that Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Cha…
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/05/27/behind-the-british-states-war-on-kneecap/
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For our rulers, working-class life is disposable. Humanity is expendable. That makes the struggle for life, and all that it can give, all the more important. This month's column for Conter.
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We're Still Out For Life
Last month marked International Workers’ Memorial Day. As trade unionists around the world gathered to mourn the dead, they committed – as Mary “Mother” Jones urged a century ago – to fight like hell ...
https://www.conter.scot/2025/5/20/were-still-out-for-life/
6 months ago
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Coll McCail
Progressive International
6 months ago
On this day in 1973, El Wali Mustapha Sayed and other Sahrawis founded the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Polisario Front) — the movement to liberate Western Sahara from Spanish colonialism.
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For the latest edition of Scottish Left Review, I spoke to Calum Baird about how the Cuban Revolution uses culture as a means of resisting the violence of the US blockade. Online and in print now.
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Cuba’s Cultural Resistance
Calum Baird, the only Scottish artist to perform at the 2024 Havan Biennial in Cuba, sits down with Coll McCail to discuss Cuba's cultural resistance.
https://scottishleftreview.scot/cubas-cultural-resistance/
6 months ago
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Why does Fifa refuse to sanction Israel? | Coll McCail | MEE Opinion
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Why does Fifa refuse to sanction Israel? | Coll McCail | MEE Opinion
YouTube video by Middle East Eye
https://youtu.be/XTojSKoOqSE?si=58HsuT94PYEtzVIm
7 months ago
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For the Easter weekend edition of the Morning Star, I wrote about the ineptitude of Scotland’s political class through the prism of chocolate eggs.
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/east...
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/easter-eggs-trump-child-poverty-in-scotland
https://t.co/Bp7GCNdK1S
7 months ago
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Coll McCail
Skotia
7 months ago
After 14 years of austerity, the UK government is gearing up for more. In the latest episode of Nest of Fearties, Gerry McCartney and David Walsh detail just how harmful 'Austerity 2.0' will be. Listen to 'Social Murder?' now:
bit.ly/4js1yPm
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Coll McCail
Skotia
8 months ago
In the third episode of Nest of Fearties, Sophie Johnson and David Jamieson discuss Scottish nationalism’s pivot away from the anti-war tradition. 🎧 Listen to ‘Bombs Not Bairns?’ now:
bit.ly/3QSEKfy
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Civic Scotland can’t stop Reform UK. My piece in today’s
@scotnational.bsky.social
.
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'Mainstream' Scotland must grow a backbone if it wants to counter Reform UK
‘IT is only by mobilising mainstream Scotland,” said John Swinney late last month, “that we can protect those things we care most about.”…
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/25029633.scotland-must-grow-backbone-wants-counter-reform-uk/
8 months ago
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"While football's governing body continues its decades-long commitment to legitimising the crimes of imperialism, the world's terraces wave the Palestinian flag." My column in
@middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social
on FIFA and Israel.
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Why does Fifa refuse to sanction Israel?
Football's international governing body is a historic ally of the oppressor, refusing to sanction Israel despite the murder of hundreds of Palestinian footballers
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-fifa-refuses-sanction-israel?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&utm_content=ap_8jew2bxtbd
8 months ago
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Coll McCail
Progressive International
8 months ago
BREAKING 🇿🇦 More than 100 parliamentarians from around the world stand with the South African people against US President Donald Trump's executive order, calling it "an assault on their right to self-determination."
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Coll McCail
Skotia
8 months ago
Are BlackRock rebuilding Scotland too, asks
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
.
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Are BlackRock rebuilding Scotland too? | Coll McCail
YouTube video by Skotia
https://youtu.be/8nDuRtBkJfg
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Coll McCail
Ewan Gibbs
8 months ago
The Scottish Greens are a substantial and influential political party but not one who attract much coverage. It was interesting to hear from two left wing members on their views of the party’s culture and limitations.
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Are the Scottish Greens ‘wine-bar revolutionaries’, neoliberals on bikes or the natural home for the progressive left in Scotland? Enjoyed discussing this with
@elliebgomersall.bsky.social
and
@niallchristie1.bsky.social
last week. Worth your time this weekend.
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8 months ago
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Coll McCail
Niall Christie
8 months ago
Great to take part in this very important discussion, thanks to
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
and
@theskotia.bsky.social
for sitting down with myself and
@elliebgomersall.bsky.social
. . Give this a listen and support the podcast as we need all the left media we can get in Scotland. 👏
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Richard’s principled interventions will be a sore loss to a Parliament increasingly allergic to politics. (After all, how many other MSPs can claim to have quoted Mahmoud Darwish in Holyrood?)
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9 months ago
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Coll McCail
Skotia
9 months ago
In the inaugural episode of ‘Nest of Fearties’ — Skotia's new Scottish election podcast — Matt Kerr and Chris Stephens discuss this week's Scottish budget, the rise of Reform UK and much more. 🎧Listen now:
bit.ly/4h2uLic
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Coll McCail
Patrick Bresnihan
9 months ago
The anti-war movement, stirred to life again by Palestine, must grow - resisting war and militarisation at home and abroad.
@mccailcoll.bsky.social
on military-industrial complex in Scotland and the anti-war tradition.
jacobin.com/2025/01/scot...
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Rebuilding Fortress Scotland
For the first time since the 1990s, the US has reestablished a direct military presence in Scotland. As Washington builds up its new Cold War, Scotland’s political class is its willing servant.
https://jacobin.com/2025/01/scotland-nationalism-nato-nuclear-military
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Blindsided by Washington's retrenchment, Keir Starmer promises to put 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine and raise defence spending. Dangerous posturing from a deeply unpopular PM in search of the slightest polling bump but ultimately content to remain latched to the US.
9 months ago
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"Through the prism of Palestine solidarity, the anti-war movement plainly illustrated that the interests of British imperialism were beyond the remit of representative democracy." My latest for Conter on state repression of the anti-war movement.
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Anti-Imperialism And Repression: Defending The Movement
In the early hours of August 10th 2011, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) arrived at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court in London. Amidst the eruption of popular outrage which followed the kill...
https://www.conter.scot/2025/2/5/anti-imperialism-and-repression-defending-the-movement/
10 months ago
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I have a piece in the latest edition of Cuba Si on the historic relationship between the Cuban and Palestinian peoples — and their shared fight against imperialism. Online here:
cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news/article...
10 months ago
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Coll McCail
Progressive International
10 months ago
“The Hague Group’s formation sends a clear message: no nation is above the law, and no crime will go unanswered." — Ronald Lamola, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
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South Africa and Malaysia to launch campaign to protect international justice
Formation of Hague Group comes amid challenges to ICJ and ICC rulings
https://buff.ly/3PVgrgy
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Coll McCail
Skotia
10 months ago
It’s time to defend the right to protest, argues Coll McCail.
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DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST | Coll McCail
YouTube video by Skotia
https://youtu.be/BMGSmPlPo70
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I’ve written about the US military’s return to Scotland and what it means in the developing context of the New Cold War as Scottish nationalism embraces of Atlanticism. For
@jacobinmag.bsky.social
.
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https://jacobin.com/2025/01/scotland-nationalism-nato-nuclear-military/
https://t.co/QrZdRsDtd1
10 months ago
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This month's Conter column: These are the weeks when decades happen.
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Liberalism's Collapse: From Washington to Edinburgh
Last week, Nicola Sturgeon penned a glowing review of Angela Merkel’s new memoir Freedom in the New Statesman. The Iron Chancellor’s book, wrote Sturgeon, “reminds us of the rational, forensic, eviden...
https://www.conter.scot/2024/12/2/liberalisms-collapse-from-edinburgh-to-washington/
12 months ago
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Went to Arran for the first time today to speak at a packed out public meeting for Palestine 🇵🇸 with Katy Clark. Stunning setting, great meeting and the ferries ran smoothly!
12 months ago
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