The rise in drug-related deaths in Scotland have added urgency to calls for action – but what reforms are being proposed, and which would be possible with Scotland’s current powers?

NEWS that the number of drug-related deaths in Scotland has risen to its highest levels since records began in 1996, and now suffers from the highest rate for such deaths in the entire European Union, has brought public attention to a decades-old problem.

Indigenous leaders want Beothuk tribal remains stored in Edinburgh brought home 

THE REMAINS of two tribal figures stored in an Edinburgh museum should be returned to their ancestral homeland, according to Indigenous leaders in Canada calling for government intervention. 

Chief Nonosbawsut and his wife Demasduit died in Newfoundland in the early 19th century, at a time when the Beothuk tribe was being wiped out by colonial expansion. 

Trade justice activist Gill Davies outlines the key points of the controversial trade deal MEPs will vote on tomorrow

1.) What is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta)?

It is a treaty between the EU and Canada which focuses on non-trade barriers and opening markets. Some tariffs will also be reduced, notably on whisky, but generally they are already at historic lows.

Scottish Parliament to look into feasibility of a universal basic income

A UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME will be investigating and debated on by politicians in the Scottish Parliament in March this year by the social security committee.

Most of the committee’s work this year will be looking at how to apply the new welfare powers devolved under the terms of the Smith Commission but it will also study the cost and practical ease by which a UBI could be implemented.

Canadian family left at mercy of Tory immigration system as Scotland’s needs go wanting

THE UK TORY GOVERNMENT has been accused of hypocrisy and heartlessness over its immigration rules, which have forced a Canadian family living and working in Scotland to leave due to a failure to meet the high level of immigration standards set by the UK Home Office.

Alleged terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, supports far-right movements 

THE MAN CHARGED WITH MASSACRING six people and five further counts of attempted murder at a Quebec mosque in Canada is a supporter of far-right movements and the politics of new US President Donald Trump, according to classmates and activists who knew him.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, is charged with the shooting that occurred on Sunday 29 January - in a terrorist attack on the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City.

By Barclay McBain

I RECENTLY read Tom Johnston's Our Scots Noble Families, published in 1909 which, in the land reform debate, is as much required reading as Andy Wightman's The Poor Had No Lawyers.

Johnston saw that the first step in reform of land laws was to recognize that the privileges, wealth and lands of our noble families had not been justly earned and that the detail of this information should be distributed among social reformers.