'The use of AI in warfare seems to have arrived without question when it raises the most profound questions of ethics and morality. Killing is outsourced and warfare reduced to a game.' Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'When it comes down to it, the reason that Trump has no aim is very simple. This isn’t his war. Netanyahu, by contrast, has wanted this war all his life.' Peter Arnott, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'When wars are framed primarily as struggles between good actors and bad actors, scrutiny becomes more difficult.' Megan Davidson, via Common Weal

'The West has let fascism govern its agenda because it is what Trump and Netanyahu are pursuing. Too many countries, including the UK, have obsequiously fallen in line behind these staggeringly incompetent leaders. We might pay an enormous price.' Richard Murphy

'It’s not just the Iranian regime that's in a weak position, but also the US administration, which presides over a divided country at home, and internationally has seemingly gone out of its way to alienate many of its allies.' Alex Hall Hall, via Byline Times

"You don't need to be dishonest or a crook to want to shrug off accountability. It's generally precisely because someone thinks they're an 'honest kind of person' that they conclude they can just skip a step put there to constrain them.' Robin McAlpine, via The National

'Many independence supporters – me included – have cut the SNP some slack and gone with the SNP majority plan in the absence of a viable alternative, but surely this is the last throw of the dice.' Richard Walker, via The National archive.is/L1ZJw

'Much of Finland’s success in education is counter-intuitive. They have the best results with the shortest school terms, the shortest school days and the lowest amount of facetime between teachers and pupils.' Lesley Riddoch, via The National archive.is/eQyIV

'The idea that a party that was polling at 1% would miraculously gain massive support after a sustained bout of bitter internal factionalism that makes Your Party look like a Buddhist retreat is extraordinary.' Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'If decades of watching Western military interventions in the Middle East up close have taught me anything, it’s that once in such wars, they are almost impossible to get out of without great cost.' David Pratt, via The National archive.is/xlQR0

'The debate on Council Tax reform has gone on far too long. Everyone agrees that things need to change. No-one, it appears, wants to be the one to take the responsibility of making that change happen. This isn’t good enough.' Dr Craig Dalȝell, via Common Weal

'Words shape how governments act, resources are shared, and futures are imagined. Our culture is not peripheral, it is powerful. Our voices are not distant, they are here, loud and clear. Rural, not remote, is who we are.' Catherine McPhee quoted by Yes United

'If the state has the power to prosecute, it must also tolerate structured scrutiny of how that power is exercised. Independence without accountability is fragility disguised as strength.' Megan Davidson, via Common Weal

'Today, there is hope. But brace yourself for what will come next.' Owen Jones on the aftermath of the Gorton & Denton by-election, via The National archive.is/b8mxR

'What would Scotland look like if Scots saw the McCrone Report?' Richard Johnston, via The National archive.is/XJusn

Here I am discussing the Independence Forum/Yes United music/poetry event at Oran Mor on Saturday 14 March at 6pm. We hope it'll lead to something big for the cultural side of the Yes movement. Tickets, £20+booking fee, from Ticketsource at www.ticketsource.co.uk/independence... Don't miss out!

'Every means we have for holding public sector bureaucracies to account is being weakened, removed or subverted.' Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal

'The by-election result has had one very significant impact on Scottish politics, because for the first time ever, a party not actually opposed to Scottish independence has a non-trivial chance of taking power at Westminster.' James Kelly, via The National archive.is/GLNWb

'After Manchester, Scottish Labour are like a Dead Man Walking, with the party faithful searching for new ideas ongoing, like latter-day alchemists. Desperately trying to conjure gold from base metals, Scottish Labour stumbles on.' Mike Small, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'Regulating social media use is not a culture war issue, nor a generational panic. It is a public health imperative – and a moral one.' Megan Davidson, via Common Weal

'The current generation of privately owned energy assets will eventually need to be replaced, and fairly soon – perhaps in 25 years’ time. This gives us an opportunity to start planning now.' Dr Craig Dalȝell, via The National archive.is/PhkeC

'Despite its manifest unfitness for purpose, the House of Windsor is safe for now. The United Kingdom will not abolish the monarchy, because nobody with clout has any courage.' Claire McNab, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'A rising economy is no longer a guarantee that standards of living will also rise, and until we accept that and start focussing on the latter, this political disconnect will just keep getting bigger – with all the harm that comes with it.' Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal

'What is a surprise is that many of those voting for Reform will not have noticed how severely it intends to harm their well-being. They are pursuing a politics of hate, and the hate is aimed at the very people they are seeking to woo.' Richard Murphy

'Labour are putting the UK on a war footing, but where is the media scrutiny?' Professor Des Freedman, co-director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre, via The National archive.is/QhnZo

'There’s no actual legal recourse if a party of Government starts throwing out the promises they made in order to win power. Just look at the manifesto of Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign compared to what he’s actually done in office.' Dr Craig Dalȝell, via Common Weal www.commonweal.scot/...

'In a country still marked by fuel poverty, telling households already rationing heat to practise energy “sobriety” can sound less like climate policy than like a polite disregard for material reality.' Assa Samaké-Roman , via The National archive.is/YSiYq

'Incredibly, Scotland has a second chance at energy wealth, yet if we remain with Westminster it'll again be taken from us, and we'll be told we're subsidy junkies who should be grateful for the generosity of the English taxpayer.' weegingerdug, via The National www.thenational.scot...

Bumper podcast from Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson. Legal rammies on Mandelson, Andrew, Lord Advocate and Alba. Does the Lord Advocate's dual role do Scotland any favours? Transforming Scotland: community wealth building. Can SNP sustain its big poll lead?

'Perhaps the biggest danger of all in this election is for expectations of an improbable single-party SNP majority to be allowed to run away with themselves, and then to be shown up as a mirage when the votes are counted.' James Kelly, via The National archive.is/3VhxH

'Although they might appear to be experts, royal correspondents are really just there to ensure the institution lives on - and amid the biggest crisis the system has ever faced, they will make sure every single finger is pointed at Andrew.' Steph Brawn, via The National archive.is/WxumO

'The AI backlash is growing fast and gaining victories. In the last few weeks, three important pieces of news have appeared and overlapped, and they show that something big has shifted in the battle against AI companies.' Ewan Morrison, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'Given the last week, the biggest threat to the integrity of the justice ­system isn’t coming from the oft-maligned ­social media content creators – but from reckless politicians who should know better.' PeatWorrier, via The National archive.is/Qt7QS

THIS!!! @indyforumscot.bsky.social and @yesunitedscot.bsky.social with a wee bit help from AFI are putting on a shindig to reignite the cultural indy movement at Oran Mor in Glasgow on Saturday 14 March at 6:00 pm. Tickets £20 plus fees here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/independence...

'The royal family has to be honest about what it knew, when it knew it and why it acted as it did, even if the consequences are, in the short term, deeply damaging.' Richard Murphy, via The National archive.is/7cP6L

'This is not about immigration policy; it's all about a politics of hate, but let's be clear: it's also about an economics of failure, resulting in a care crisis, NHS collapse, declining GDP, failing public services and serious economic self-harm.' Richard Murphy

"No-one in politics does not think large swathes of the population are disposable, both domestically and globally. Different ideologies may make different sets of people seem disposable, but there is always someone who 'doesn't count'." Robin McAlpine, via Common Weal

'Whether Community Wealth Building will mark a genuine shift in how the economy works for local people, or simply a new label for old problems, now hangs on how this "quiet revolution" is put into practice.' Michael Roy, via Bella Caledonia bellacaledonia.org.u...

'Here are a couple of small videos illustrating that it is a lie that Venezuela is failed, starving or repressive.' @craigmurrayorg.bsky.social

"I am obsessed with 'Little' Marco Rubio, because I think he’s a 'plausible' and dangerous emissary of policies that not only give me the creeps, but are not remotely in Europe or Scotland’s best interests." David Pratt, via The National archive.is/Fck6q

'Though only a first step, the bill turns Community Wealth Building into law that is irreversible without due parliamentary process, rather than being at the mercy of the whims of the government of the day.' Joana Ramiro of The Democracy Collaborative, via The National archive.is/thgcG

'Capitalists fundamentally hate free market capitalism, and if they can mutate it into rentierism, cartelism and monopolies, then they absolutely will. And then they’ll suck all value out of everything they own...' Dr Craig Dalȝell, via Common Weal

'It’s time for a Yes movement revival, so we’re putting the band back together and having a party, without the party politics.'

'Rupert Lowe's new party Restore Britain wants to restore nothing. This country has never been remotely like the country Lowe imagines. Instead, he plans a hostile state unlike anything ever seen here before.' Richard Murphy

'Like other men with no connection to the real world most of us live in, accountability and exposure remain abstract notions; darkness becoming visible a distant and unlikely turn of events. But no longer.' Hardeep Matharu, via Byline Times

'The independence cause must catch up with new political realities. To emerge as a social force again, it needs to be reimagined, setting priorities that can rejuvenate debate around the national question.' Jonathon Shafi, via The National archive.is/vewvM

'With Westminster’s energy policy, Scotland gets the worst of all possible worlds, and the anti-Scottish independence parties and their branch offices in Scotland are quite happy with that. They serve the interests of their London masters.' weegingerdug

A cracking event in prospect at Òran Mòr in Glasgow on Saturday 14 March, including a VERY special musical event in the evening. The Yes movement is putting the band back together - come along, let your hair down and support some standout Scottish performers.

'The reverberations add up to the biggest crisis the royal family has faced, certainly in living memory, and their future depends on how they react to it. Certainly, any chance of it going away if they ignore it long enough has gone.' Richard Walker, via The National archive.is/5U7W9

'Corruption has happened in plain sight, and most people never noticed. My suggestion is we should start noting it, and then shout about it, if only by asking questions, which is always safer than making specific accusations.' Richard Murphy, via The National archive.is/CiVyy