Common Weal director Robin Mcalpine argues our society does not place value on people with creativity and energy, instead rewarding mediocrity and bureaucracy

AT THE weekend I hunted out Karine Polwart's truly wonderful 2012 album Traces for a re-listen. I'm glad I did. It reminded me how good it is.

But it also pissed me off. Not the music I hasten to add, the fact that what prompted me to play it again was an interview with Karine in which she talked about the financial difficulty of trying to make a living making music in Scotland.

‘Our voices matter’: Argyll women call for pensions justice from government 

WOMEN Against State Pension Inequality - known as the Waspi campaign - has been taking its message the length and breadth of Scotland and the UK during the election campaign. 

Following a major demonstration in Glasgow last week, a further rally was organised by Argyll and Isles Waspi in Rothesay, Isle of Bute. 

Thinktank preparing policy for the new independence fight

COMMON WEAL, Scotland’s pro-independence thinktank, has hit its initial fundraising target of £25,000 to support work on it’s White Paper Project, which aims to offer the answers to the big questions facing the next Scottish independence campaign.

Majority of Scots see taking on the bosses as a viable way to run more responsible businesses in Scotland

57 PER CENT of SCOTS think that having a business without a CEO where decision are made collectively is a better way to run a company’s affairs.

STUC St Andrews day march boycotted as tribunal finds union victimised employee

THE Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has seen an important sponsor pull out of its St. Andrew’s Day and ‘Rally Against Racism’ march over an employment tribunal judgement which found that it unfairly dismissed and victimised an ethnic minority employee. 

Women’s groups launch new project to tackle structural barriers for women in employment and the economy

SCOTTISH WOMEN’S AID (SWA) have launched a new project called ‘Building Equality’ which will look at the underlining factors of gender inequality which lead to and entrench violence against women.

Funded by the Scottish Government the project will be led and organised by SWA in cooperation with pay equality campaigners Close the Gap and feminist advocates Engender.

Figures show zero hour contracts, insecure work and low pay having impact on Scots ability to save for the future

LOW PAY, zero hour contracts and insecure work are diminishing the saving power of people in Scotland, which is among the weakest in the UK, a new report by online investment service Wealthify has found.

According to its findings Scotland ranks second to last in a poll of the UK’s top savers, with the average woman in Scotland holding just a week’s salary in reserve.

Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes £9m fuel fund from @scotgov but says rural communities need more aid

CITIZENS ADVICE SCOTLAND (CAS) have urged the Scottish Government to do more to tackle fuel poverty in Scotland’s rural communities, which often are in the most dire need.

It also insisted that development of funding and strategies for dealing with fuel poverty have to be done at a local level and tailored to the specific needs to the area; as well as reducing the cost of energy itself.

Between 10,000 and 13000 early learning and care professionals in private sector experience inequality of wages

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT report into the financial situation of early learning and childcare in Scotland has sparked outrage at the level of poverty wages endured by workers in the sector.