Common Weal director Robin McAlpine says that while big banking executives may be frightened by an approach to public policy which comes from ‘nowhere’, grassroots and transparent popular policy could be revolutionary

IT’S been a good week for Common Weal, and perhaps the highlight was when I got the text last Friday night to say that after a great targeted campaign by the team we, alongside our grassroots partners in the SNP, successfully got a motion to support a National Infrastructure Company onto the provisional agenda for the SNP Spring conference.

Common Weal director Robin McAlpine argues that if the SNP’s Growth Commission on the economics of an independent Scotland plums for a New Zealand high-growth model, they will have a tough job selling it to the public

IN THE wake of the first news from the Growth Commission (that New Zealand is the new nirvana) there seems to be an expectation that this is going to be some kind of battle with Common Weal. I don't want to encourage that kind of thinking if it can be avoided.

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine says Nicola Sturgeon has linked arms with Theresa May on British foreign policy over Russia and it does not bode well for the indy movement

A FEW years ago when I was deeply involved in the campaign to stop the SNP reversing its position on Nato membership, one of the arguments I made forcibly was that Nato is not a 'club' but an ideology.

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine is concerned at the apparent lack of enthusiasm from parliamentarians to join the SNP leadership

AS a non-party supporter of independence I've tried to follow through on my decision not to join a party by limiting how much I comment on their internal matters. But I can't be the only non-aligned indy supporter who is at least a bit alarmed by the SNP deputy leadership race.

You can argue that this race could have been about any one of four things.

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine says Scotland's new national investment bank is a huge step forward - but it's now up to you to make it the best it can be

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine has spent 18 months with his team working out the building blocks of an indy Scotland - and the results are in

ALL has been madness at Common Weal – after 18 months of hard work we're nearly at the end of the White Paper Project. And it ends with a book which tries to walk through the entire process needed to go from a vote for independence to actual independence day.

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine says it’s time to get the Big Four out of public policy making 

YOU KNOW in every TV series you've ever seen about organised crime – from the Godfather to the Wire – there's always a lawyer, banker or accountant who enables the whole criminal operation but is clever enough to always be at arms length?

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine calls for a transformation of policy-making in Scotland

FOR the vast majority of people, the civil service is a total mystery. In as far as they know anything much about it, they will probably be dealing in an inaccurate concoction of out of date stereotypes and a handful of personal anecdotes.

So mostly the civil service manages to avoid being much of a subject of conversation in the world of public politics. Which is a real shame, because there's a lot to talk about.