According to Richard Murphy, a prominent English economist and tax expert, under Smith ‘there is no opportunity to create economic growth, no opportunity to create redistribution, no opportunity to create outcomes in Scottish society that any Scottish Government would reasonably want to see. What’s the outcome? A mess, is the best answer’. “
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It’s not a really a skill that gets much use in this era of electronic communication and social media. When was the last time you wrote a letter, not a note, a full-blown letter?
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Like all the best revolutions there was no silver bullet, no single event, no starter pistol and no paid organisers clutching mission statements and clipboards. Well maybe a few – but mercifully most stayed inside Yes Campaign headquarters. Their early self-absorbed, apparent inactivity was a mistake. But like the error that prompted penicillin’s discovery – […]
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I doubt there are many parents who are so truly gifted that they find looking after their little loved ones a joy for every moment of every day, of every week, of every year. Undoubtedly some are better and some are worse, it’s a difficult job at times, a delight at others. Very much a […]
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The ink smudges are what you get for taking your journal into the bathroom when you’re bathing a toddler . . . Incidentally, the picture started out as a fat bloke sitting in a chair, ended up as a pregnant women going into labour and a fat bloke looking on; strange but true.
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“in defence of politics”, slightly oxymoronic wouldn’t you say?
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During the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 there was massive voter engagement, particularly within the ‘yes’ camp, which saw the official Yes Scotland campaign group become little more than a campaign figure-head and distributor of materials as grass-roots organisations with their own visions sprang into life. Many of these groups continue to exist to this […]
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In rebooting MadeStuff I had thought it might be a good way to talk publicly about some of the mental health issues I deal with on a day-to-day basis, in a semi-anonymous fashion. The opportunity for self-examination, self-help and hopefully, ultimately, some self-redemption and re-invention. It’s really tough though. Even in the written form I […]
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Once you cut through the rather flowery almost high brow language at the start of this piece the tone rapidly changes and some element of righteous anger becomes really quite, and understandably, clear. … “a brazen apology for massive privilege and inequality”, it’s difficult to argue with. Capitalism to a point is assuredly not a […]
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Given recent events this quote seems somewhat apt. Not for any direct correlation with said events but because of how it speaks to not only how we should see others but how we should see and judge ourselves. Do we measure up on each of these points. Do we seek to understand the motives, behaviours […]
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Three simple words, and unless you’re French, two of them are a foreign language and one will be pronounced slightly differently. Yet regardless of your ability to translate there is no doubting what it is they refer to.
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I find it rather telling, and no end concerning, that a 105 year old quote should remain quite so relevant today in what is meant to be a, “modern democracy”.
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I happened to be reading this section of the book shortly after George Osbourne had made the autumn statement on behlaf of the Conservative Liberal coalition government. The 1938 date came from a programme I was listening to on Radio Scotland at the time. Meanwhile the Guardian commented: George Osborne came under fire on Tuesday […]
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Because sometimes I am not understanding the words … it’s why we have dictionaries. Panglossian, adjective 1. characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.
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It’s the sort of thing that should go without saying, but in an era where we have seen millionaire politicians claiming expenses from the public purse to maintain their duck houses and heat their stables whilst simultaneously demonising the most vulnerable in society, cutting their benefits and suggesting that they only heat a single room […]
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If optimism is a passive virtue, then it follows that pessimism must be too, requiring nothing more than an individual or group to look at ‘something’ and shudder. Where hope is the act of an individual or group on themselves then fear must be something that is acted upon them by an outside force, individual […]
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“Same shit different day”, I believe the expression is … … here’s to this year being better than the last one. May nout that’s for you go by you, slàinte. Have a good one xx
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Obviously, this is one reason among many.
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If there is one thing the UK is good at, it’s harking back to, ‘the good old days’, of ‘Britannia Rules the Waves’, ‘We won the war’, the ‘glorious dead’, the ‘glorious empire’, etc etc etc [yawn]. What it’s not so good at is dealing with the current, and worse yet the future. Lots of […]
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The quote from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series above was actually what I had in mind as I penned the picture below.
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This is what is meant by a Union of Equals … some being less equal than others. More on the Act of Proscription.
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see also this previous post.
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Two seemingly unrelated quotes, and yet, they seem to go together aptly. More specifically the UK is a unitary state with extremely limited democracy (unelected head of state, unelected second chamber, large, quangos, and institutions), and what little democracy there is (House of Commons with limited policy difference between parties, First Past the Post elections, […]
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When I originally penned this Jim Murphy had not yet ascended to the thorny throne of Scottish Labour, yet as I go to publish this it seems more relevant than ever as “the alpha ned” promises to repeal a widely supported piece of legislation and also encourage further drinking in Scotland’s football stadia. … since […]
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Was so happy with the tree in the last post that I did something similar again!
Continue reading →Merry Christmas fellow travellers … hope you have a good one xx I had a post up on the old site with the recipe for this cake, it’s all about the flavour, I’ll need to do that again :) Now. Get off the internet and enjoy some family time … unless you hate your family, […]
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So I drew that tree a few days ago, check out the garbage I was producing back in September when I started this journal … … quite the improvement I think!
Continue reading →In essence, don’t look to the ruling elites to make any real difference in your life for the better, not without taking something else away. Constant flux in leadership of a country will only benefit the masses, those at the top preach ‘stability. Indeed, it is a key argument for the maintenance of a monarch […]
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Of course you might well argue that such large investment in one particular area will inevitably reduce spending elsewhere, and you’d be right, but then it’s a question of priorities. If we are to be judged by the choices we make for the future of the country then investment in education must surely rank up […]
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The absurdity of this judgement is laid bare when you contemplate that prior to the adjournment of the Scots parliament, Scots was the language of the law, Scots Law, something that remains intact to this day.
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Not only can languages be easily learned under the age of six, but it has been shown time and again that learning a second or third language helps development and learning in other ways. The same is true of learning to read music and play an instrument.
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TAX THE FISH PEOPLE! MAKE THEM PAY!
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Featured Image of Seydisfjordur via Pinterest.
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Find out more about the Fintry Development Trust and their projects. Featured image via Free Wide HD Wallpaper
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See also, on collapse of civic engagement
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See also, on disempowerment of the individual. def “thole”: verb (used with object), tholed, tholing. Chiefly Scot. 1. to suffer; bear; endure.
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In the example cited above, a chap who knew how to fix the problem felt he was unable to as he might be charged with interfering with public property. It’s an example of how far the system has been removed from the people when they want to take responsibility for their environs but don’t feel […]
Continue reading →When i read this it chimes with an earlier quote in the journal from Leopold Kohr, in essence that the larger a community grows the less cohesive it becomes as connections across the mass of people are diminished by the mass. We should hardly be surprised then if people then become disconnected at large with […]
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Photograph, Eigg sunset on rum, via outdoorcapital.co.uk.
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It’s good to see increasing awareness of the lie of ‘nobility’, that these people are little more than jumped up thieves … arguably that remains the case to this day, except that now they can hide behind their titles, monies and ‘ancient’ rights. The fact that so much of Scotland remains in the hands of […]
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Community ownership story in Guardian, also source of featured image.
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Stephen Reicher is Professor of Social Psychology and former Head of the School of Psychology at the University of St Andrews. and an expert in his field. Well worth listening to in other words.
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You can read previous posts on over crowding here. You can also read about more current overcrowding issues here. The featured image is from a series on overcrowding in prisons in El Salvador … not strictly speaking relevant, yet there is an element of being ‘trapped’ for many people who live in substandard accomodations.
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If you listen to the mainstream media you might be forgiven for believing that all our financial woes lie at the feet of the disabled, the unskilled, the chronically ill, the unemployed, asylum seekers and refugees. Too often the poorest most vulnerable in society are scapegoated by those who would rather you looked anywhere than […]
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I’ve referred previously to overcrowding in Glasgow. Here’s something you might find interesting.
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Home ownership is often trumpeted as one of the greatest achievements of the Thatcher era, I’m inclined to disagree. What Thatcher did with the wholesale sell off of social housing was remove the financial burden of maintaining rapidly aging housing stock from the state and place it on the individual. It wasn’t always a cost […]
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This quote comes from a section discussing housing schemes that have been taken over by the local residents in what amounts to a community buyout. On the one hand you have these community organisations organising their own solutions to things like maintenance and disposal of waste, and on the other hand you have distant council […]
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It’s striking that Scotland has the sick man of Europe reputation, something that seems to have always been that way. It’s true that Glasgow and other urbanised areas in Scotland have suffered from chronic over-crowding way way in excess of those seen elsewhere in the UK, something that dates back to emergence of the industrial […]
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Mary Hepburn is an experienced health professional who has campaigned on these issues for some time, she’s definitely someone who should be taken seriously. Maternal mortalityy is an issue I’ve quoted and commented on previously, yet this is a further condemnation on the targeting of the most vulnerable by a callous and cold government. Just […]
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I can remember aimlessly walking in the rain, not because I was finding any peace or joy in it though.
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I have no idea where this picture originally came from, however, if you do know please leave me a comment so that I can credit the climbing kitty cat :)
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There are parts of Scotland where deprivation is and has been a massive issue, where life expectancy ranks among the worst in Europe, this is widely known and for many it’s just another aspect on being Scottish, or more specifically being from particular post-industrial areas of the major towns and cities. What is less well-known […]
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. . . Talking of Bad Apples . . .
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I have to say that it was also an image I clung to myself when I was younger and the self-mocking style is one I have retained, refined and made my own. Add in a pinch of my dry wit and dark humour and I’m sure people must wonder about me at times … is […]
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It’s not so much that these facts are redacted, but there is almost a willful ignorance of them amongst great swathes of the Scottish population. Blame for this lack of knowledge lies in part with the individual, afterall we must all bear responsibility for our own ignorance, but also largely with the mainstream media that […]
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I think it would be fair to contend that rather than ‘progress’ failing to enhance living standards we must accept that simply raising standards can not ultimately lead to any greater satisfaction with life; particularly where those advances only serve to enslave us to our work in order to fulfil our ‘need’ to obtain and […]
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I don’t think it would be over-stating to describe modern society as a form of open prison in which people are enslaved to an idea and a vision of what they believe they should do in order to ‘improve’ their own lives, ultimately though much of what we do serves no one more than the […]
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Have to admit, I was thinking about Mrs Madestuff when I doodled this. The whole thing was based around a heart that forms the basis for the heads and arms … I didn’t know what I was doing when I started out.
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The quote, probably a mis-quote, underneath is from a song by Regina Spektor … correction, it’s definitely a mis-quote. That’ll teach me for trying to quote lyrics from memory.
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Everyday we seem to learn something new about something that one government or another is doing that is at best morally questionable and at worst downright evil. From Guantanamo Bay and the illegal imprisonment of civilians to extraordinary rendition, through state sponsored and sanctioned torture and assassination to more mundane and domestic affairs that target […]
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It’s probably one of the toughest aspects dealing with my own mental health issues; just when I think I’m making progress something will come out of the blue and knock me right back down … a lot of the time it doesn’t even need to be a, ‘big something’, just unexpected and frustrating can be […]
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I was just looking back through some of the madestuff archives from 5 years ago, 2009, and found these photo’s of the Christmas wreath we put together that year. It was made out of gold and silver sprayed pine cones, christmas tree beads, and cuttings from our spruce trees. If there’s one thing that sticks […]
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Wish I had more time and inclination to do this for our christmas gifts … wish I had christmas gift to put in them!!
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This quote, again from Leopold Kohr, discusses individual sovereignty as Kohr seeks to highlight that democracy is diminished in large states as the power of the individual is diminished by the vast numbers of large countries. 1 voice in a sea, of say, 5 million is going to carry more weight than 1 voice in […]
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There have been a few meme’s floating around using this quote, I didn’t like them, here’s mine instead The image (without words) is by Gregory Colbert, the link takes you to his site where you should definitely check out more of his fabulous work.
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One of these quotes sums up at least part of my problem, the other one is about gifted people. I made up the above meme using Marya Hornbacher’s quote, sadly though I have no clue who created the artwork.
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It is incumbent upon the individual not to become the passive, the submissive, the docile. If we do that then we get the government we deserve, not the government we need. Also, I was rather pleased with this doodle, although I’m not sure it’s digital self does the original much justice!
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This is one of my favourite passages from the entire book, it so succinctly argues that bigger is not better that it’s very difficult to disagree with his position without making substantial efforts to do so.
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Considering this was published first in 1957 it seems remarkabely current somehow.
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From where I’m sitting this remains salient in the aftermath of the recent Scottish Independence referendum. Of course the creation of artificial states only comes about by conquest. A rather epic, imaginery encounter, that Rado Javor has created there set “somewhere in Scotland” for the Total War game.
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WOOT!! Now we’re talking . . . . . . sorry folks, wrong type of Super Power there [sad face]. . . . although, awesome piece of artwork from Cyril Terpent there. Meanwhile, back in the real world, there are other super powers we need to worry about . . .
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… because, frankly, if you ain’t playin’ for power you’re playin’ the wrong game.
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So there has obviously been a lot in the news recently about police brutality in the light of incidents in the US and the repeated failure of the police officers involved to be indicted, it was in this context then that the video at the bottom of the page was brought to my attention and […]
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Yes, yes, I know … terrible terrible, TERRIBLE effort on the drawing front. Please don’t judge … actually feel free, I doubt you could have a lower opinion on this effort then me! On the bright side, some nice words of wisdom from André Paul Guillaume Gide … focus on the words! And in case […]
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