The Common Weal Policy Podcast

Episode 214 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, and for the final time for the podcast in this format, Craig talks to Robin McAlpine about the General Election results. How did Labour win such a massive landslide despite losing voterse, what happened to collapse the Conservatives, why didn't smaller parties do better and what is next for the UK, Scotland and the SNP.

You can read Robin's blog on how the SNP could revive themselves ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election here: http://robinmcalpine.org/the-snp-one-thing-at-a-time/

This is the final episode of the Common Weal Policy Podcast in this format, please listen to the announcement at the end of the show for more information but we'll be back with a revamp and a new format soon. Thank you to all of my listeners over the past six years. We won't be gone from your podcast list for long - Craig

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 213 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Nadia Shaikh from the Right to Roam campaign, who are seeking the same right to access land in England as we in Scotland have enjoyed by statute for over two decades and by custom for many years longer than that. They discuss how 92% of England came to be locked away from the public, some of the parallels and points of divergence between Scotland and England in this regard, the peculiar case of the "access island" where land that is technically open to the public cannot be reached without trespassing and how land access isn't just a rural issue, with cities experiencing limits to land access via parks and other greenspaces being locked behind private gates.

You can learn more about the Right to Roam campaign here: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/

More about Access Islands here: https://practical-emu.pikapod.net/access-islands/

And more about private parks in London here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHvKvOUSor4

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 212 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, in lieu of a guest, Craig gives a presentation based on one of his public talks. He details what a Circular Economy actually means in contrast to the much more limited definition being used by the Scottish Government. Rather than merely "increasing recycling", he looks at the "nested loops" that make up a Circular Economy as products are redesigned, reused, repaired, and recycled. In particular, he shows how Tool and Resource Libraries can give us access to better products than we are able to buy in our current linear consumer economy.

A video version of this presentation with illustrative slides will be posted to Craig's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/craigdalzell

If you'd like to know more about his presentations and training courses, visit here: https://thecommongreen.scot/talks-and-training/

And if you'd like to read Common Weal's Common Home Plan, you can download a copy here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/the-common-home-plan/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 211 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig is on holiday, so it’s Rory filling in. On today’s episode, Rory speaks to Dr Franziska Paul, Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow about a project she is currently working on alongside Professor Thomas Marois of McMaster University in Canada looking at public banks and sustainable finance. Rory spoke at a workshop organised by Franziska last week, bringing to life Common Weal’s vision for a Scottish National Investment Bank, and how it can be used to fund parts of a Green New Deal.

Franziska’s broader work looks at de-privatisation, mutating neoliberalisms and the politics of the conjuncture, you can find her publications here: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/business/staff/franziskapaul/#publications 

You can also read about the Public Bank of Los Angeles which Franziska mentions here: https://www.publicbankla.org/

Professor Thomas Marois’ extensive publications on public banking is also available here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3KTEY9UAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

And you can find out more about Common Weal’s vision of banking for the Common Good, including a network of People’s Banks and our original vision for the Scottish National Investment Bank here: https://commonweal.scot/big-ideas/lets-get-scotlands-banking-right/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 210 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Frances Guy, Chief Executive of SIDA, Common Weal Board Member and the Former UK Ambassador to Yemen. They discuss SIDA's new report looking at ways that Scotland and the UK can "shift the power" away from the Global North who have caused much injustice and damage through the climate emergency and centuries of colonialisation and imperialism and to help create a much more just and equal world for All of Us.

You can read the report From Talk to Transformation here: https://intdevalliance.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SIDA-report-From-talk-to-transformation-1.pdf

You can find out more about Scotland's International Development Alliance here: https://intdevalliance.scot/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 209 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Rory Hamilton about two major stories in Scottish politics this week. This first is the publication of our policy paper Profit Extraction which looks at the high levels of foreign ownership in the Scottish economy and how that leads to billions of pounds being pulled out of the country every year. The second is the collapse of the SNP-Green cooperation agreement, the resignation of the First Minister and what that might mean for policies currently moving through the Parliament.

You can read Profit Extraction here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/profit-extraction/

Shortly after the recording of this show, the Vote of No Confidence in the government failed with 58 votes for to 70 against, with the SNP and Greens voting to support the government.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Episode 208 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Igor Zulaika, one of the newly elected parliamentarians in the Basque Country's recent parliamentary elections which saw his party, the left-wing pro-independence EH Bildu, gain its highest ever vote share, just one seat shy of being the largest party in Parliament. They discuss the history of the Basque national movement, the landscape of politics in the Basque Country (including their relations with the other largest party, pro-independence but right-leaning Basque National Party) and on politics between the Basque Country and Spain where pro-independence parties have in the past been dismissed as little more than the political wing of violent groups (even after the disarmament and disbanding of groups like ETA) but who are being increasingly relied upon for support in the Spanish Parliament. Finally, the discuss the prospect of Basque independence in the context of a Spanish constitution that all but prohibits it.

If you'd like to keep up with Basque politics from Scotland, Igor recommends the newspaper Gara.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Episode 207 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Eilidh Keay from Living Rent about the state of the private rented sector in Scotland, what this means for tenants - especially when their rent is too high and/or their home is poorly maintained by their landlord and what the Scottish Government is about to do to bring in effective rent controls, improve tenants rights and conditions in rented homes.

You can read Living Rent/Common Weal's proposal for a quality-based rent control system here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/the-rent-controls-scotland-needs/

You can read Craig's paper on building more social rented homes here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/good-houses-for-all/

You can join or find out more about Living Rent here: https://www.livingrent.org/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Support the show

Episode 206 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig is in the hotseat for a change as Rory Hamilton interviews him about his latest policy paper for Common Weal Taxing Land in Scotland. They discuss how to reform Council Tax into a Property Tax that matches the actual value of homes and then how to extend that tax to land, bringing in around £450 million a year in additional revenue for Scottish Local Authorities.

You can read the paper here: https://commonweal.scot/policies/taxing-land-in-scotland/

And you can read coverage of the paper in The National here: https://www.thenational.scot/news/24234627.scottish-land-tax-raise-450m-annually-new-paper-argues/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Support the show

Episode 205 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Prof Richard Murphy about his new report Taxing Wealth 2024. The report examines the causes of the UK's wealth inequality and looks at the policies that could be implemented to mitigate against it, including reforms to National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax and tax reliefs on savings such as ISAs and pension funds.

You can read the Taxing Wealth report here: https://taxingwealth.uk

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

Theme
Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Support the show