ICYMI
My presentation to Pensioners for Indy on why Scotland has suddenly started getting a lot of applications to build AI data centres and what it might mean for us if they get built.
Remote
Dr Craig Dalȝell
@thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
mastodon 4.7.2Head of Policy and Research -
@Common_Weal
(Donate to CW: https://commonweal.scot/donate/)
Wrote a book - http://tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures
Used to play with lasers.
Dabbles in games design
Contact: craig@common.scot
For just my blog posts without the blether:
@thecommongreen@thecommongreen.scot
988 Followers
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Joined October 29, 2022
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A counter-curtailment industry would be one that can ramp up when supply exceeds demand but can also ramp down or even switch off when demand exceeds supply.
AI data centres will not do this. To understand why, pull the plug on your PC while you're updating the system.
Their owners will instead demand to be highest priority - they will demand that you will sit in the dark before their data centre has to turn off.
AI Data Centres
Why are they popping up in Scotland?
Who benefits from them?
What can we do about them?
My discussion with Pensioners For Independence and Scottish Indy Podcasts
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing
Was there ever a serious attempt to save Alexander Dennis?
8pm tonight.
I'm back on the Scottish Independence Podcast with a recording of my talk about data centres for Pensioners for Indy.
Multinational investment banks and foreign state wealth funds are cashing in on Scottish renewables.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26429214.scottish-wind-farms-paying-1bn-foreign-shareholders/
Scotland could bring energy into public ownership, costing you exactly the same as it will to not do it.
Here's how: https://www.commonweal.scot/articles/magazine-d6cz3
#Energy #ScottishPolitics #ScotPol #Renewables
Burnham "devolving" powers from Westminster to regional mayors has a couple of obvious problems when it comes to Scotland.
1) Most of the powers are probably already devolved to Holyrood so this would mean Westminster stripping powers from Edinburgh.
2) The powers that aren't are already in the control of Local Authorities which means centralising powers UPWARDS from a proportionally elected Council to the diktat of a single person.
(3) - Also, in Scotland, we call them provosts, not mayors)
This "potential" is based on geography, not cost or time of delivery.
New nuclear costs around £109/MWh, with costs likely to be stable or rising.
New solar costs around £41/MWh and costs are declining faster than even optimistic predictions.
Time of delivery is key though. >>
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26237848.scotland-high-potential-new-nuclear-uk-government-study-finds
RE: @The_Sun@solarcene.community
Scotland should be investing in something like this too.
My article in today's Common Weal Magazine.
I've seen more than a few commentators decry Count Binface as an affront to the dignity of our democracy.
He should instead be seen as a celebration of that democracy and a warning - that the most powerful person in the King's Court is the Court Jester.
https://www.commonweal.scot/articles/magazine-ds6dj
Alex Cole-Hamilton saying that debating independence won't dual the A9 or fix the NHS.
Well, fixing the NHS won't dual the A9 either so, you know...perhaps politics involves discussing multiple issues?
2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections: The Day After
A few thoughts and reflections on the election results and what they might mean for the next five years.
http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/05/09/2026-scottish-parliamentary-elections-the-day-after/
Replying to
Richard Murphy's take is worth reading.
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/06/19/everything-changed-and-nothing-changed-the-single-transferable-party-is-still-in-charge/
Board Game News
I'm trying out a new idea for a board game. As always, if you have Tabletop Simulator on Steam, you can play it there.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3720979130
Ten Minute Tabletop is a minimalist Napoleonic style tabletop wargame inspired by HG Wells' Little Wars but designed to be played in ten minutes. Battles are fought on a 9x9 hex grid that can be printed on a single A4 sheet of paper.
I am looking forward to the first journalist to speak to prospective Starmer successors asking "Which of the polices announced by the King yesterday do you intend to scrap?"
The problem Swinney tried to avert is that the previous Government was bloated and too many Ministers meant too many big salaries.
The problem he's facing now is that the slimmed down Gov will overload Ministers with too many responsibilities and important jobs will get shoved to the side because of even more important ones.
Both problems are real. the Scottish Parliament is too small for its expanded devolved responsibilities and Gov too centralised to pass control to Local Governments.
I was extremely disappointed that Scottish Labour's proposed Ecocide Bill was timed out by the election. It should be brought back and passed with haste so that Scotland can arrest, charge and prosecute those who advocate for or commit gross crimes against the environment.
CW Magazine Repost
A new report from Moody’s warns that the impact of the climate emergency is proving so hard to predict that the losses and damage caused by it are increasingly difficult to insure.
http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/06/26/the-climate-emergency-is-uninsurable/
Wes Streeting, advocate for the privatisation of the NHS, has resigned as Health Minister in what is likely to be the first step in a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer.
Replying to
Caramelise (or sauté if you're in a rush) two finely chopped shallots or small onions and leave to cool.
To 300g bread flour, add a packet of yeast and a teaspoon of baking powder, a tablespoon of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of salt (more salt is coming). Mix and fold in 50g of strong grated cheese (I used mature cheddar) and the onions.
Then add 300ml of beef stock (or veggie alternative to taste).
RE: @internetarchive@mastodon.archive.org
When Common Weal upgraded our website last year, the Internet Archive proved to be an absolute boon to me as I transitioned our policy library over. I wouldn't have /lost/ anything without it, but being able to cross-reference publication dates and restore blurbs and other bits of information made the job MUCH easier.
Going to spend today watching a historical film about a religious zealot who was formerly a member of a theocratic paramilitary force as he radicalises a vulnerable young man and ultimately enlists him to fight against the government's attempts to enforce peace throughout its realm.
CW Magazine Repost
Young workers are being told that the reason that the economy isn’t growing is because they are too lazy. There’s a lot to unpick about why this is entirely wrong.
http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/05/26/workers-arent-lazy-theyre-being-left-behind/
There's Swinney lobbying for the fossil fuel companies again.
"Swinney and Burnham also discussed economic growth, while the Scottish First Minister raised the issue of the energy profits levy, describing it as the "biggest obstacle to investment in the north east". "
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26405312.andy-burnham-commits-not-bypass-scottish-parliament/
Replying to
Knead and let rise till doubled. Knead again and put in a paper-lined bread tin. Top with cracked black pepper, finishing salt and, optionally, a bit more cheese.
Bake for 10min at 200C then 30min at 180C or until cooked through. Turn out and cool.
Served sliced and toasted with melted butter, as a grilled cheese, or dipped into French Onion Soup.
I was going to do a #DayOfHat thread ridiculing the pagentry of the State Opening of Parliament, but honestly I can simply no longer deign to bother with authoritarian elites pretending that their Magic Blood(TM) gives them the right to rule.
As perverse as responding to the invasion of Ukraine by buying Russian oil.
Replying to
The End State of Capitalism is Monopoly and then Failure.
https://thecommongreen.scot/2026/02/16/the-end-state-of-capitalism-is-monopoly-and-then-failure/
Peter Murrell pleads guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP.
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing
The Scottish National Investment Bank's latest investment in housing looks more like a financial pump-and-dump scheme than anything that will help tenants or fix the housing emergency.
Just a couple of days to go now before the Holyrood elections.
If you want to see what the political parties are promising, you can find their manifestos in my library here: https://thecommongreen.scot/2026/03/19/the-scottish-parliamentary-election-2026-the-manifestos/
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing
What would it look like if a good chunk of Scotland's energy distribution infrastructure was owned by two US equity funds and the sovereign wealth funds of three petro-states?
This. Half a billion pounds extracted and exported from Scotland in the first three months of this year.
Just a week and a half left to go before the Scottish elections.
If you'd like to know what the various parties are promising voters, you can visit my manifesto library here:
https://thecommongreen.scot/2026/03/19/the-scottish-parliamentary-election-2026-the-manifestos/
My article in this week's Common Weal Magazine
I'm seriously concerned by the proportion of Scotland's homes that the Scottish Government says are below adequate or even minimum legal standards.
RE: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
Now updated with some more maps and I've replaced the last remaining placeholder asset (the fatigue tokens) with appropriate tokens.
RE: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot
This post was supposed to be a warning, not a prediction.
Replying to
@peachfront@toot.community I've added the recipe in the comments. Let me know if you try it and how it goes!
Replying to
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot I'm not sure there's anything directly conspiratorial but yeah...if you appoint bankers, you get banker policies.
We argued for a Stakeholder Council that would have a guiding hand in the bank's direction, but ScotGov insisted on firewalling so it reports only to Ministers, not the bank itself.
Ministers could be taking much more control including in its Missions but appear either disinterested (c.f. Crown Estate and ScotWind) or, worse, things are proceeding as they like it.
Repost from my article in The National
It isn’t just oil that is being disrupted by the US’s war with Iran nor will it be the only future disruption so Scotland needs a more resilient economy with strategies that should extend to all critical minerals.
Common Weal Magazine Repost
I reflect on the tenth anniversary of my first Common Weal policy paper and picks out a few of my favourite papers that I've written since.
http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/04/28/marking-my-ten-years-at-common-weal/
CW Magazine Repost
The Scottish Government’s sudden push for local government reform should be welcomed but their proposal as it stands needs a lot of work to make sure that it’s not a chaotic mess or a recipe for corruption and centralisation.
http://thecommongreen.scot/2026/10/02/finally-local-government-reform-but-it-must-be-done-right/
Today's Common Weal Daily Briefing
Reform's "detention centres if you vote Green" policy isn't about the centres. It's about "punishing their enemies" and "owning the libs" through performative cruelty.
Neither strategy works long term.
Replying to
@Carenanaas@mastodon.uno He's always been on the right of the Labour party - more so than Starmer whom I've long thought would have been comfortable as a Minister in David Cameron's Government. We'll have to see who his challengers are and where the remaining members stand given Starmer's extirpation of the Left within the party.
RE: https://thecommongreen.scot/2026/04/28/marking-my-ten-years-at-common-weal/
Hmm. It appears that my blog has started federating again. I don't know if I did something to break it. I don't know if I did something to fix it.
Ave Omnissiah, I guess.
If you want to understand AI, first you need to understand what a Capitalist thinks about Workers.
My presentation to Pensioners For Indy on Scotland and AI data centres.
Replying to
@LonM@social.vivaldi.net Excellent idea! Thank you! I shall integrate those links into the site.
Replying to
@Indyposterboy@mastodon.scot Yeah. That's been annoying us for a while too. Still working on a fix that doesn't remove the filter entirely.