Terry Liddle, 1948 – 2012, Comrade

We are reposting the following tribute to Terry Liddle by Andrew Coates. A number of RCN members met Terry in a variety of political organisations, and we can agree with Andrew that “Terry’s contribution to the left was outstanding. He was a great bloke. He will be much missed.” Andrew’s tribute was first posted on his own…

Freedom Come All Ye

The magazine version of Emancipation & Liberation has contained a Republic of the Imagination section, which has provided articles about historical and ongoing cultural resistance against capitalism and other class-based societies. Our blog intends to look at the cultural debates which have arisen, and which will arise in the future, within a Scottish society looking for…

Michael Marra – A Tribute

Mary McGregor, who lives in Dundee, has written the following tribute to the acclaimed singer songwriter, Michael Marra, who died on October 23rd. Every obituary and tribute to Michael Marra seems to begin with I met Michael in… or I have known Michael since … and when I sat down to write about him, I…

Michael Marra

Michael Marra, the acclaimed Dundonian songwriter and singer died on October 23rd in his home city. Here we publish Mary McGregor’s tribute from the forthcoming  issue of Emancipation & Liberation, being produced for the forthcoming Radical Independence Conference. This is followed by Hermless,[1]For those less acquainted with the Dundee dialect ‘hermless’ is harmless. Michael Marra’s tongue-in-cheek submission for…

16th Radical Book Fair, Edinburgh, 24th-28th October

This year’s events for the Radical Book Fair (held in the Out of the Blue Centre, in 35, Dalmeny Street (off Leith Walk) between October 24th-28th,  are:- RICHARD GOTT, author of Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt, opens the 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair 24/10/2012 19:00 MIKA MINIO-PALUELLO & JAMES MARRIOTT, authors of The…

Shadow Dancer

By the early 1990s it was apparent that the IRA had been militarily defeated by the British. The fantasy that an organisation of a few hundred active members could beat a professional army of tens of thousands backed up a a massive police and intelligence apparatus was laid bare. The resulting demoralisation made it very…

The Olympics And The British Ideology

Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society looks into the role of the Olympics in buttressing British ideology. So the Olympics are over and it is time to reflect on the significance of London 2012. While the coverage has been extensive, none of it has come close to a brilliant book published before London 2012…

The Angels’ Share

Ken Loach’s latest film is surely one of his best. The affectionate narrative tells the unlikely yet somehow plausible tale of four working class young Glaswegians who become experts in whiskey and who proceed to mount a heroic scam to make their fortune and their escape from lives of poverty and crime. A deft combination…

James Kelman, The British Council And The 2012 Edinburgh Writers’ Conference

This is the talk James Kelman gave to the Edinburgh Festival Book Fringe held in Word Power bookshop on Friday, August 10th. On a recent Sunday the Herald had a twenty page full colour supplement in association with the Scottish Tourist Board. Stories from the land that inspired Disney Pixar’s Brave. That’s us. The land…