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Today brings us to another of our regular series featuring zines and comics, small press news and micro-publishing. Got a story? Drop us a line HERE. Spycops Comic You may have been mesmerised/appa…
19h ago
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American society throws up niche subcultures all over the place. There’s a small group of people that specialise in making cakes that look like everyday objects, and from such a group has spa…
#elonmusk #nazisalute #inauguration2025
21h ago
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My fantasies are not like other people’s. Don’t worry, this isn’t about that sort of fantasy. There is more than enough cringe going around on the internet right now (Yes, I’m looking at you Elon a…
on Sun, 11PM
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The tentative ceasefire agreement, currently, at the time of writing being ‘ratified’ by the Israeli cabinet, is a fragile thing, with hope for hundreds of thousands of people – a…
on Sun, 11AM
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Not Funded By Creative Scotland is Darren McGarvey’s final album as Loki: a scorching critique of Scotland’s arts establishment, a 17-track album meticulously crafted exploration of McG…
on Sun, 1AM
An t-Eilean is Scotland coming of age
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The new detective thriller show An t-Eilean I (The Island) a Black Camel Pictures production for BBC Alba and BBC iPlayer, is a seminal moment in Scottish cultural output. The mini-series is like a…
on Fri, 3PM
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Cleaned out the Augean Stables which is Bella’s Comments section. This editor has a lot of patience, but it is not infinite. People are welcome to come and disagree and argue all day and all night …
on Thu, 6PM
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This is my favourite Labour graphic yet. All the ingredients are there: the furrowed brow depicting Churchillian intent; anti-Boris seriousness giving ‘adults in the room’ vibes; at lea…
on Wed, 6PM
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Quick user survey. At the moment you can share Bella articles on social media to the right of each article offering Facebook; Twitter; Reddit and Tumblr. Does anyone use Tumblr and Reddit? The prop…
on Jan 15
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The second week of January was notable in the Highlands for a good amount of snow, back-to-back weather warnings and the illegal release of four lynx cats. Lynx have been extinct in Scotland for hu…
on Jan 14
The Old World of British Boosterism and Banality
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Two different moments at either end of the country speak of the banality of British politics. Yesterday Keir Starmer made a bold statement of intent about AI, unveiling a wide-ranging action plan t…
on Jan 14
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LOS ANGELES is burning. At the time of writing, the six wildfires currently raging through and around the city have destroyed over 10,000 homes and other structures, with the largest growing by 1,0…
on Jan 13
The Traitors, another Ofcom and BBC Failure for Scotland
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A post on Linked In by Documentary filmmaker Peter Strachan has gone viral with over 75k views, exposing the shockingly few numbers of people employed on the hit tv show The Traitors come from Scot…
on Jan 10
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Is a pro-independence left populism possible in Scotland? If we accept that “there is a fallacy about the inevitability of all of this, and the nurturing of alternative radical politics is th…
on Jan 9
Dreamland and Greenland, Trump’s New Manifest Destiny
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There was always an undercurrent to Trump’s MAGA movement that didn’t make sense. How was it possible that a brutal, lecherous convicted felon could attract such support from the religi…
on Jan 9
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lower case highlights cultural events, new releases, publish short reviews and recommendations for works across all genres. Our focus is on small and micro press, radical publishers, and events fro…
on Jan 8
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“A New Direction, a New Hope” – sounds like the new Star Wars movie but it’s the latest slogan from Scottish Labour. The beleaguered Anas Sarwar kicked off the New Year with…
on Jan 7
Broken Britain, Dark Money and the Irony of Foreign Influencers
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As a new year dawns British politics is shape-shifting and collapsing before our eyes, with dark money, social media and grievance populism feeding new forms of far-right politics. Some of the piou…
on Jan 4
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Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK, touring from Tate Britain, spans the era from 1970 – 1990. It’s on at the Museum of Modern Art 2 in Edinburgh until the 26th January 2025. …
on Jan 3
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Happy New Year to all my readers and writers. I hope the year ahead is a good one for you all…Be well.
on Jan 1
What If The Newsagents was a credible news source?
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We’ve talked before about the new brocasts are a simulacra of alternative media and here’s a great example. Here’s three ex BBC journalists spouting absolute nonsense about the me…
on Dec 31
On Faragism, Gigafactory’s and Independence
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The clash of words between Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch about their membership numbers – Farage claiming his party had 130,000 Reform members on Boxing Day – surpassing the number of Tory m…
on Dec 29
Bella Review and Feedback 2024
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As 2024 closes we’re taking feedback from readers and writers. Go here to take part, thanks:
on Dec 28
The State We’re In: Starmer, Labour and Understanding Britain
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Britain Needs Change: The Politics of Hope and Labour’s Challenge, Eds. Gerry Hassan and Simon Barrow, Biteback Publishing, £25.00. Reviewed by David McCrone As if by an irony, this review was wri…
on Dec 24
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Just when you think nothing will ever change, and the dark nights and the short days of Midwinter encourage you to despair, a glimmer of light beckons. Winter is here. Spring is coming. A poll by N…
on Dec 22
Degrowth Municipalism could change the world
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A panel discussion about Degrowth and Municipalism, at the international municipalist summit Fearless Cities in Sheffield November 2-3rd, explored the overlaps between the two movements. Degrowth a…
on Dec 20
Could Artificial Intelligence save Scottish Gaelic?
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Inagural lecture by Will Lamb, Professor of Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics at Edinburgh University … | Watch video here.
on Dec 19
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An email lands from a great looking new media outfit promising something called ‘ThinkIns’ and inviting people to “to become a member of our newsroom.” Tortoise media weR…
on Dec 18
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Celebrating 30 years of Dream State with its editor Donny O’Rourke. In this extended version of Nothing But The Poem Kevin Williamson interviews Donny O’Rourke, editor of Dream State – The New Scot…
on Dec 18
The Debate about the British Empire: History Wars, Colonialism and Denialism
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Alan Lester (ed.) The Truth About Empire. Real Histories of British Colonialism, Hurst, 2024, £25. Reviewed by Corinne Fowler The Truth about Empire is a collection of essays by experts in the fiel…
on Dec 18
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Today’s announcement of a ‘u-turn’ (I think that’s a euphemism for betrayal) of the WASPI woman has drawn condemnation from all sides, including Scottish Labour’s own …
on Dec 17
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THE ROAD TO JUSTICE: From The Province Of The Cat by George Gunn This is the time of the shortest days and the darkest nights. The stars in the Caithness sky shine brighter now. The universe looks…
on Dec 17
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Edinburgh’s decline into a theme park has been charted for years, and the recent victory to Save the People’s Story stands out as an exception against a backdrop of relentless social cl…
on Dec 12
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The Scottish Budget was announced by Shona Robison yesterday, met with predictable spin as the opposition parties jostle for position. As a minority government, the SNP will have to do deals to get…
on Dec 5
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On Saturday Jim Sillars posted a tribute to Alex Salmond saying “Make Alex’s death a call to unity … Recognise that a divided movement cannot win.” I think it’s fair t…
on Dec 2
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It may come as a surprise to you but we’re all going to die. What’s at stake in the discussion about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is whether you get the opportunity to c…
on Nov 29
On Impartiality, Nepotism and State Broadcasting
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Is the BBC biased to the right and in favour of Israel and if so, why and how? This research explains how this has happened and why. This is a great piece by Alan Rusbridger (former editor of the G…
on Nov 27
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Scottish local politics has descended into farce with the recent Colinton/Fairmilehead by-election being won by Liberal Democrat candidate Louise Spence, only for her to resign within a few days an…
on Nov 27
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UPSIDE DOWN AND INSIDE OUT: From The Province Of The Cat by George Gunn “The more I see, the less I know for sure.” So says the character Ulrich, from Robert Musil’s innovative novel “The Man Witho…
on Nov 26
COP – Corporate Oil Propaganda – Copaganda?
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The COP process has long been an exercise in “contained opposition” – a sort of chimera of change – where the global north gets to act as ‘white saviour’ whilst …
on Nov 24
Land and Protest in Parody Britain
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The mood in Baku is not great. Many leaders of major economies failed to turn up. The US, under Trump, is about to withdraw completely from international climate cooperation. It would be wrong to b…
on Nov 19
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The collection of people Donald Trump has been appointing to his new administration is extraordinary. It’s worth resisting their normalisation and sanewashing and let them go by without comme…
on Nov 17
London-based companies dominate BBC output in Scotland
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A new report from Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates Ltd (O&O), commissioned by Screen Scotland, reveals much of the BBC’s “Scottish” network quota is, in fact produced by London-based companies. …
on Nov 14
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By London Clay There have been better days, I suppose, than Friday, the 8th of May. But there ye go. Ye win some, ye lose some. Ye roll wae the punches, or something or other. You try and be upbeat…
on Nov 8
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This is a dark day for America, but also for the rest of the world. A deranged, degenerate sociopath has been propelled into office and given unlimited power. The consequences for millions of peopl…
on Nov 6
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About a week ago, I gatecrashed a MAGA fundraising dinner in downtown Milwaukee. The event, held in the opulent art deco ballroom of the city’s Hilton hotel, opened with a prayer. Reverend Dr. Karl…
on Nov 5
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“It was unthinkable to say this even 10 years ago, but today, as we become increasingly aware of these crises, it seems all too clear: our economic system is incompatible with life on this pl…
on Oct 30
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Readers will be familiar with the terrible egg-related violence from 2014, but, as Labour announce their first budget today (subtitled: ‘Punching Down”) we thought it would be a good mo…
on Oct 29
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The news that key legacy newspapers – the Washington Post and the LA Times – have crumbled under pressure from their billionaire owners (in WaPo’s case Jeff Bezos) and refused to …
on Oct 26
Is the Amoc Shutting Down? and What does It Mean for Scotland?
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Yesterday Andy Wightman tweeted, in response to this article on the Amoc breakdown (‘We don’t know where the tipping point is’: climate expert on potential collapse of Atlantic circulation’) …
on Oct 25