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
The Truth About Reform’s New Front Man for Scotland
The big reveal that Malcolm Offord would be joining Reform UK was framed as a breakthrough moment for the far-right party. Without any real base here in Scotland, and safe in the knowledge that run…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
The Truth About Reform’s New Front Man for Scotland bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/07/t...
Refusing the Frame: Why Our Language Helps Hate — and How We Can Stop It bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/09/r...
Refusing the Frame: Why Our Language Helps Hate — and How We Can Stop It
This past Saturday I stood outside Cameron Barracks in Inverness with more than two hundred others at the Highlands Against Hate counter-protest. Across the line the anti-immigrant turout who we’d …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 9, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Refusing the Frame: Why Our Language Helps Hate — and How We Can Stop It bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/09/r...
Reposted by Mike Small
Colonial Brutality has always had a way of coming home.
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Colonial Brutality has always had a way of coming home.
A People Once Again? The Irish Questions bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/09/a...
A People Once Again? The Irish Questions
Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride, For and Against a United Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, £18. Reviewed by David McCrone We have become used to the parade of prejudices masquerading as analysis in muc…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM
A People Once Again? The Irish Questions bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/09/a...
Moscow, Washington, Kyiv, Faslane, Coulport bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/08/m...
Moscow, Washington, Kyiv, Faslane, Coulport
On 5 December 1994, at a ceremony in Budapest, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from Russia, the US, the UK, France and China (Kazakhstan and Belarus did too). …
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Moscow, Washington, Kyiv, Faslane, Coulport bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/08/m...
The Parallel Universe of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Scotland’s Place in the Narrative bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/08/t...
December 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The Parallel Universe of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Scotland’s Place in the Narrative bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/08/t...
The Truth About Reform’s New Front Man for Scotland bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/07/t...
The Truth About Reform’s New Front Man for Scotland
The big reveal that Malcolm Offord would be joining Reform UK was framed as a breakthrough moment for the far-right party. Without any real base here in Scotland, and safe in the knowledge that run…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The Truth About Reform’s New Front Man for Scotland bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/07/t...
Re-sharing this piece from 2021 in light of the gushing praise for Reform UK’s new recruit | Bankrupt Britain and the Offord Affair bellacaledonia.org.uk/2021/10/03/b...
Bankrupt Britain and the Offord Affair
Re-sharing this piece from 2021 in light of the gushing praise for Reform UK’s new recruit … It’s routine and monotonous to write about and point at corruption in British politics…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Re-sharing this piece from 2021 in light of the gushing praise for Reform UK’s new recruit | Bankrupt Britain and the Offord Affair bellacaledonia.org.uk/2021/10/03/b...
Everyone knows Farage is racist, his racist supporters know it and his racist funders know it | Wrestling with a Pig bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/06/w...
Wrestling with a Pig
Debating whether Nigel Farage is racist is as futile as debating with the Flat Earth Society or questioning if the Pope is Catholic. The revelations about his virulent racism as a young man surpris…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
December 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Everyone knows Farage is racist, his racist supporters know it and his racist funders know it | Wrestling with a Pig bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/12/06/w...
The concluding part of our series with the Herald newspaper, here by Rhiannon Davies on the Power Shift, and the choices ahead for how we manage renewable energy in Scotland from @scottishbeacon.bsky.social
www.scottishbeacon.com/news/local-d...
www.scottishbeacon.com/news/local-d...
The Power Shift: Lessons from communities already making renewables work for them - The Scottish Beacon
On the windswept island of Tiree, a four-hour ferry ride from Oban, a solitary community-owned wind turbine – affectionately known as Tilley – has powered local development since 2009. In that time it...
www.scottishbeacon.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
The concluding part of our series with the Herald newspaper, here by Rhiannon Davies on the Power Shift, and the choices ahead for how we manage renewable energy in Scotland from @scottishbeacon.bsky.social
www.scottishbeacon.com/news/local-d...
www.scottishbeacon.com/news/local-d...
Reposted by Mike Small
“It’s about energy and time and capital and how these forces come into our lives and how we work through them.”
@dominicmhinde.bsky.social was interviewed about his new book Drifting North: Finding A Sustainable Future in Scotland's Past, by @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
@dominicmhinde.bsky.social was interviewed about his new book Drifting North: Finding A Sustainable Future in Scotland's Past, by @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
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 4, 2025 at 8:05 PM
“It’s about energy and time and capital and how these forces come into our lives and how we work through them.”
@dominicmhinde.bsky.social was interviewed about his new book Drifting North: Finding A Sustainable Future in Scotland's Past, by @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
@dominicmhinde.bsky.social was interviewed about his new book Drifting North: Finding A Sustainable Future in Scotland's Past, by @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Part of why Farage's racist dog whistle on Glasgow will fail is because he/they know nothing about the city. For 1,400 pupils who attend one of the five GME schools in Glasgow – Gaelic is their first language. 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 4, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Part of why Farage's racist dog whistle on Glasgow will fail is because he/they know nothing about the city. For 1,400 pupils who attend one of the five GME schools in Glasgow – Gaelic is their first language. 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/...