This experience comes from leafleting during a council by-election in the Lochee ward in Dundee, but I imagine that what is described in this little ditty is transferable to anywhere that dogs lurk unseen, waiting to give their canine judgement on political activists of any persuasion. For we, who politics inspire, There is a time…
Life With You
by The Proclaimers Like many people I have liked the Proclaimers for years. I really enjoy their love songs which have a Tom Leonard quality to them in terms of their ability to express profound emotions in the language of the working class. I was therefore really pleased to be given Life with you as…
Democracy 2
Review: Alan Graham Keynesian Economy Simulator Format: PC Publisher: Positech Developer: Cliff Harris (probably in his bedroom) Price: £15.28 Bourgeois Democracy: Another simulation Following on from the original Democracy, Clif Harris has released a sequel: imaginatively titled Democracy 2. The game is a simulation of politics. You have been elected President of X country and…
Punk, Politics and Perdition
Mary McGregor interviews communist and actor, Tam Dean Burn. Tam Dean Burn is the most respected political actor in Scotland today. He was born in Leith and grew up in Clermiston, a west Edinburgh housing estate. He went to Queen Margaret College to study acting at a time when working class men were encouraged to…
The Defiance Of Science
Rod MacGregor looks at science, secularism and the role of religion In his book about oil depletion, Half Gone, Jeremy Leggett, one-time oil company high flier and former chief scientist with Greenpeace, tells of a particularly bizarre conversation he had with a lobbyist from the Ford Motor Company at a conference on climate change. The…
Secularism, Socialism and Religion
Bob Goupillot outlines a Marxist approach to religion A Marxist understanding of religion Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is…
Footprints on the Face
by Rod Macgregor On a clear autumn evening I watched the moon rising, It was big, it was bright, in its heavenly place, How clever we are, I thought, we’ve walked on you, And behind us we’ve left footprints on your face. No wind will blow there to ever remove them, No one will build…
Peak Oil, Oil Depletion, & Alternative Energies
Rod Macgregor examines the oil depletion debate, its consequences for the world economy and a socialist response Peak Oil & oil depletion A debate is currently raging among oil professionals, and it splits into two camps. This debate focuses on a day called Peak Oil, the day in the future when oil production reaches an…
Computer Game -Democracy
Keynesian Economy Simulator Format: PC Publisher: Positech Developer: Clif Harris (probably in his bedroom) Price: $19.95+VAT (Approx. £13 – £14) Reviewed by Alan Graham (Bourgeois) Democracy: the game I had heard about this game and was intrigued, so when I saw the demo on a magazine I installed it immediately. Two hours later I shelled…
A few thoughts on literary matters
by John Manson John Manson is a Sutherland-born, Dumfriesshire-based poet, reviewer and translator. He has published a number of poetry collections including East Sutherland and Other Poems. He has also translated Victor Serges, Carnets (1944), available at Victorserge After reading Allan Armstrong’s Beyond Broadswords and Bayonets (E&L 5/6) he wrote making the following helpful comments.…