Mike Small
@bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Imagining a Scottish Democracy since 2007.
Bylines at the Guardian, Open Democracy, Herald, DeSmog, Bella Caledonia, Sunday National.
Bylines at the Guardian, Open Democracy, Herald, DeSmog, Bella Caledonia, Sunday National.
Pinned
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle
Reform UK’s attack on the children of Glasgow may at first seem an oddity, a bizarre lurch even for them. But, in fact, it has direct continuity with some of their most extreme views, many of…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/03/f...
Reposted by Mike Small
Following revelations that he racially tormented ethnic-minority pupils at school in the 1970s, Nigel Farage is now making racist dogwhistles about Glasgow schoolchildren. @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle
Reform UK’s attack on the children of Glasgow may at first seem an oddity, a bizarre lurch even for them. But, in fact, it has direct continuity with some of their most extreme views, many of…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 3, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Following revelations that he racially tormented ethnic-minority pupils at school in the 1970s, Nigel Farage is now making racist dogwhistles about Glasgow schoolchildren. @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government
Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:32 PM
BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/03/f...
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle
Reform UK’s attack on the children of Glasgow may at first seem an oddity, a bizarre lurch even for them. But, in fact, it has direct continuity with some of their most extreme views, many of…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 3, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Farage’s Glasgow Dog Whistle bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/03/f...
This virtually never happens
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s Planning Applications Board (PAB) has refused planning permission for a proposed fish farm off the east coast of Lewis 👇
Planning permission refused for Scottish island fish farm
www.thenational.scot
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
This virtually never happens
Life Comes at you Fast - the Sunday Times and Daily Record have competing stories as Scottish Labour MPs slug it out
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/l...
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/l...
Life Comes at you Fast
Only a few days ago the entire Unionist commentariat were jubilant. Rachel Reeves had Shot the Nationalist Fox (again) and stamped down those belligerent Scots by telling them they’d never be…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Life Comes at you Fast - the Sunday Times and Daily Record have competing stories as Scottish Labour MPs slug it out
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/l...
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/l...
2025 Readers Survey bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/2...
2025 Readers Survey
Each year we do a readers’ feedback survey as we try and take stock and get organised for the year ahead. It’s really simple, just three questions: What would you like to see more of fr…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
2025 Readers Survey bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/2...
Scotland’s energy shift exposes deep divide for communities by Rhiannon Davies from @scottishbeacon.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/politics/256...
When green power divides - inside the struggle for Scotland’s fair energy future
Our Power Shift investigation reveals how Scotland’s green energy boom brings prosperity for some communities, while others feel sidelined,…
www.heraldscotland.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Scotland’s energy shift exposes deep divide for communities by Rhiannon Davies from @scottishbeacon.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/politics/256...
I interviewed Dominic Hinde, author of Drifting North, finding a sustainable future in Scotland’s past (Manchester University Press, 2025). bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/d...
Drifting North
I interviewed Dominic Hinde, author of Drifting North, finding a sustainable future in Scotland’s past (Manchester University Press, 2025). It’s an unusually readable book you’ve …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I interviewed Dominic Hinde, author of Drifting North, finding a sustainable future in Scotland’s past (Manchester University Press, 2025). bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/01/d...
The Scottish Languages Act, which MSPs voted through in June, empowers parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and aims to ensure that more qualifications are available in Gaelic. We explored what it means #StAndrewsDay bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/06/20/t...
The Scottish Languages Act: opportunities and challenges
The Scottish Languages Act passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament this week is the most important language legislation for Gaelic in twenty years and the first ever for the Scots language. T…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
The Scottish Languages Act, which MSPs voted through in June, empowers parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and aims to ensure that more qualifications are available in Gaelic. We explored what it means #StAndrewsDay bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/06/20/t...
It’s Your Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/30/i...
It’s Your Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To
The breakdown of British politics that has come from the collapse of the Conservative and Labour parties has opened up opportunities for new populist forces on both the left and the right. Into thi…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM
It’s Your Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/30/i...
Gaelic and Scots have now been recognised as official languages as part of a range of new measures coming into force on St Andrew's Day: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languages
The milestone is one of a number of new measures taking effect on St Andrew's Day from the Scottish Languages Act.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Gaelic and Scots have now been recognised as official languages as part of a range of new measures coming into force on St Andrew's Day: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Opportunism, Hypocrisy and Imperial Disdain bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/29/o...
Opportunism, Hypocrisy and Imperial Disdain
Democracy denial and pork barrel Politics are the hallmarks of Labour’s botched Budget. The choreographed messaging around the government’s budget ended in a predictable farce, with the…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Opportunism, Hypocrisy and Imperial Disdain bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/29/o...
Democracy denial and pork barrel Politics are the hallmarks of Labour’s botched Budget bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/29/o...
Opportunism, Hypocrisy and Imperial Disdain
Democracy denial and pork barrel Politics are the hallmarks of Labour’s botched Budget. The choreographed messaging around the government’s budget ended in a predictable farce, with the…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 29, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Democracy denial and pork barrel Politics are the hallmarks of Labour’s botched Budget bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/29/o...
"Independence, the assertion of full Scottish national sovereignty, has always seemed to me like an opportunity to disengage from destructive futures, as much as contribute to constructive ones" open.substack.com/pub/patkane/...
PK in The National: Boldness is needed to take on toxicity of nuclear power
If we need investigative reporting to unearth leaks in the notoriously defensive nuclear energy sector, imagine the digging required to get the same from our nuclear warfare facilities
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
"Independence, the assertion of full Scottish national sovereignty, has always seemed to me like an opportunity to disengage from destructive futures, as much as contribute to constructive ones" open.substack.com/pub/patkane/...
Axing Scottish Music Programming bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/28/a...
Axing Scottish Music Programming
Stephen McAll, Constant Follower on the catastrophic cuts to BBC Radio Scotland’s Music Programme content. This is a long but important read if you value Scottish music and don’t want to see …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Axing Scottish Music Programming bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/28/a...
Police Scotland and Prosecuting Peace bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/p...
Police Scotland and Prosecuting Peace
The Scottish establishment’s response to the legal challenge offered on the proscription of Palestine Action is growing arms and legs. After not following up the Metroplitan police’s very un…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Police Scotland and Prosecuting Peace bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/p...
Decolonising the Mind - the work of the great Kenyan writer and activist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who insisted that erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Brilliant essay by Alan Riach as part of our identity language and power series
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
November 27, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Decolonising the Mind - the work of the great Kenyan writer and activist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who insisted that erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Brilliant essay by Alan Riach as part of our identity language and power series
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
On Decolonising the Mind, with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o part of our Identity, Language and Power series bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
Decolonising the Mind
Alan Riach, poet and professor of Scottish literature, Glasgow University, explores identity, language and power. PART ONE Culture, Politics, Language Paul Kavanagh in The National (‘Trying to pres…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
On Decolonising the Mind, with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o part of our Identity, Language and Power series bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/27/d...
Reflections on revisiting The Red Paper on Scotland (1975-2025) bellacaledonia.org.uk/2022/05/16/r...
Reflections on revisiting The Red Paper on Scotland
The Red Paper on Scotland, edited by Gordon Brown, Edinburgh University Student Publication Board 1975 This landmark collection of essays smells of 1975. When I take The Red Paper on Scotland down …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reflections on revisiting The Red Paper on Scotland (1975-2025) bellacaledonia.org.uk/2022/05/16/r...
Here’s the lowercase top ten recommendations for analogue magazines, literary journals and publications of great new writing from all over… including @mcsweeneys.net.web.brid.gy @gutter.bsky.social @extrateethmag.bsky.social @irishpages.bsky.social bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/26/b...
November 26, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Here’s the lowercase top ten recommendations for analogue magazines, literary journals and publications of great new writing from all over… including @mcsweeneys.net.web.brid.gy @gutter.bsky.social @extrateethmag.bsky.social @irishpages.bsky.social bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/26/b...
Far from “Members of our military celebrating Scotland’s role in the world” they are actively contriving to suppress the fact that they are contaminating our lochs. bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/25/b...
Back at the Beating Heart
During the 2014 independence referendum, one of the key talking points from the Better Together campaign was to emphasize how poor Scotland wouldn’t be able to cope without consular support f…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Far from “Members of our military celebrating Scotland’s role in the world” they are actively contriving to suppress the fact that they are contaminating our lochs. bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/25/b...
Capitulation and Quiet Piggy bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/24/c...
Capitulation and Quiet Piggy
As the COP ends in another abject failure the wider geopolitical world seems to also falter into complete madness. A ‘peace plan’ emerged last week that was at first purported to be an …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Capitulation and Quiet Piggy bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/24/c...
Among a great many other things here it's extraordinary that the Scottish MSM haven't picked up on the Scottish connection to the Nathan Gill prosecution | Capitulation and Quiet Piggy bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/24/c...
Capitulation and Quiet Piggy
As the COP ends in another abject failure the wider geopolitical world seems to also falter into complete madness. A ‘peace plan’ emerged last week that was at first purported to be an …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Among a great many other things here it's extraordinary that the Scottish MSM haven't picked up on the Scottish connection to the Nathan Gill prosecution | Capitulation and Quiet Piggy bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/24/c...
On the Caledonian Antisyzygy, and Scottish victory as a Luminous Moment open.substack.com/pub/fiftysix...
Stop Making Sense
Scotland's victory over Denmark is a luminous moment
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:26 PM
On the Caledonian Antisyzygy, and Scottish victory as a Luminous Moment open.substack.com/pub/fiftysix...
How We Grew Numb to Trump’s Calls for the Slaughter of Anyone He Wants
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
How We Grew Numb to Trump’s Calls for the Slaughter of Anyone He Wants
Is this what we’ve become, at this failing stage of the grand American democratic experiment?
zeteo.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
How We Grew Numb to Trump’s Calls for the Slaughter of Anyone He Wants
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...