Alex Salmond launches Alba Party in bid to re-enter frontline politics

This afternoon (26 March 2021), Former First Minister, Alex Salmond announced he was launching a new pro-Independence Party ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary elections in 6 weeks time. “The Alba Party” is expected to run in each of Scotland’s 8 regions and as part of the launch, Salmond announced the Party was aiming to ensure “the Independence Supermajority’, calling on SNP voters to vote tactically to ensure a majority of pro-Independence MSPs are returned to Holyrood.

Communists warn of growing threat to freedoms

“Despite his reputation as a ‘Tory libertarian’, Boris Johnson’s government is now attacking democratic freedoms on a scale that cannot be justified by the Covid emergency”, Alex Gordon told a meeting of the Communist Party’s Political Committee on Wednesday evening (24 March 2021). 

Poetry Corner: Ballad of Aun, King of Sweden by Hugh MacDiarmid

Ballad of Aun, King of Sweden by Hugh MacDiarmid

Dr Christopher Murray Grieve, who wrote under the pen-name of Hugh Macdiarmid, was the greatest Scottish poet of the twentieth century. Best-known for what he called “Lallans”, a literary form of the Lowland Scots language that he developed, he also made use of English.

At different stages of his life he was a supporter of Scottish nationalism and communism. Famously, he stood for the Communist Party against Tory Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, in the Kinross & West Perthshire constituency in the 1964 general election, as part of an unsuccessful bid to get television time for the Party. His A Sprig of White Heather in the Future’s Lapel, written for former Communist MP Willie Gallacher on the occasion of the latter’s 80th birthday, is particularly famous among Britain’s Communists.

Here we feature Ballad of Aun, King of Sweden, one of McDiarmid’s strongly political poems.

Police escalate Bristol #KillTheBill demonstrations

The city of Bristol erupted into violence last night as protestors were met with hostility by the local police force, as they aimed to demonstrate against Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel and her deeply unpopular Police Bill.

Communist Party attacks Electoral Commission name ban

The Communist Party has attacked a last-minute decision by the Electoral Commission to ban its descriptions as the “Communist Party”, the “Welsh Communist Party” and the “Scottish Communist Party” on ballot papers for the May 6 elections. All three names have long been registered with the Electoral Commission which has now decided to ban them with immediate effect.

Vulnerable families facing further devastation

Current research has revealed an increase in the use of food banks in more than nine out of 10 district councils and a rise in family disputes necessitating mediation in two-thirds of the district councils across England, exposing the additional burdens families have endured since the start of the pandemic.