Kairin van Sweeden

Kairin van Sweeden

@indyanatomist.bsky.social

Co-host of SCOTONOMICS, SNP Aberdeen City Councillor, interested in economics, the environment and politics. Born at 321ppm. Promoted by Kairin van Sweeden, Town House, Broad street, Aberdeen. AB10 1FY

570 followers526 following368 posts

Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"While we remain part of the UK, and the UK constitution remains unreformed and uncodified, the institutions of devolution and their powers are at the mercy of the whimsy and caprice of whichever parties are able to put together a governing majority in London." www.thenational.scot/politics/266...

thenational.scotThese latest attack lines from Unionists will blow up in their faceKEMI Badenoch threatens to rip up the devolution settlement. You could be forgiven for thinking that Tory threats to red-pen
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"It does not fully capture the productive value of a railway, a stronger electricity grid, a healthier population, a skilled workforce or a research ecosystem. These capabilities may not appear on the public balance sheet the way a financial asset does" marianamazzucato.substack.com/p/fiscal-rul...

marianamazzucato.substack.comFiscal Rules Should Serve Britain’s FutureEarlier this month, in his first major speech as the UK’s new Chancellor, John Healey stood in Coventry and reiterated his commitment to “fiscal discipline”. It is not hard to understand why: the UK f...
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

I can't believe a landowner is putting the iconic Glenelg to Skye ferry at risk. Support the local community and save the world famous Glenelg to Skye ferry by joining me and signing the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

you.38degrees.org.ukSave the Glenelg - Skye ferry!This ten minute crossing is famous around the world - and is believed to be the last turntable style ferry anywhere. It's an iconic part of Skye's history, but the ferry's operator says its future may...
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"He’s unwittingly created a great name for a band: “Welcome to the stage, Sinister Cabal, performing their hit single The end of the United Kingdom.” , #scottishindependence #scotland #wales #ireland #northernireland weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2026/09/14/t...

weegingerdug.wordpress.comThe Cardiff Agreement marks a new chapter in the path to independenceOn Monday there was a historic meeting in Cardiff, the first time ever that pro-independence First Ministers from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland met and agreed a common framework for the pur…
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"it has unleashed howls of outrage from a political / media class unused to recalcitrant Jocks and their Celtic Cousins acting with a modicum of agency" #scottishindependence fiftysixdegreesnorth.substack.com/p/the-post-c...

fiftysixdegreesnorth.substack.comThe Post-Cardiff Unionist MeltdownThe monumental backlash against the leaders of the Celtic Nations gathering in Cardiff to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which asserted the right to self-determination continues to gather pace.

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

Ballot Box Scotland
@ballotbox.scot

Popped on to the National's podcast yesterday - covered a fair few things, but no surprise given recent events and ongoing leadership contest, that Scottish Labour featured highly. Spoiler: if you write off young people, social liberals and SNP voters... who is left to appeal to?

The National@scotnational.bsky.social

A Scottish pollster has said Scottish Labour are 'on their death bed', suggesting the party continues to believe it has a right to win every election in the country 🗣️

thenational.scotBallot Box Scotland on why Scottish Labour are on their 'death bed'
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"The BBC would literally do anything to avoid broadcasting its main news programme every evening that gave Scottish news its correct prominence instead of adding a “news where you are” segment portraying Scotland as nothing more than a UK region. #broadcasting www.thenational.scot/comment/2642...

thenational.scotIt’s time for bosses to explain why BBC continues to fail its Scottish audienceQUESTIONS about the service its Scottish audience receives from the BBC are continuing to mount. If I were working at the corporation, I’d be…
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"The institution is corrupting precisely because it removes ­accountability. ­Politicians rejected by the electorate ­acquire titles, legislative power and, ­occasionally, executive office without ever having to trouble the public again for permission to rule over them" #HouseOfLords #UK

PeatWorrier@peatworrier.bsky.social

"Nobody is here for Baron Humblebrag." Today's @scotnational.bsky.social column. www.thenational.scot/politics/264...

thenational.scotLet us remember Anas Sarwar, the narcissist who presided over an era of failureAFTER the last Holyrood election, I found myself in an oddly lonely position

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

PeatWorrier
@peatworrier.bsky.social

"The only self-sacrificing and public spirited thing for me to do is reluctantly to accept a lifetime peerage and a job I'm demonstrably unqualified for by any objective standard - in the public interest."

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

The SNP
@snp.org

Union Street should feel busy, welcoming and full of life. The Scottish Government’s £400,000 investment has helped clean up Union Street and brought people back into Aberdeen city centre. Now we’re putting in a further £600K to keep that progress going.

Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

So long as the rich and powerful can continue to pay lawyers exorbitant fees, this country is, in the words of the veteran human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson KC, “not the land of free speech. It is the land of expensive speech.” #slapps #justice #inequality #uk open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

open.substack.comHow lawyers to the super-rich strangled Labour's Slapp billExclusive: A discreet lobbying campaign by lawyers who have acted for oligarchs and the super-rich told government that reforming England's libel laws was too difficult.
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

""The UK government has a long and damaging habit of socialising risk and privatising reward, nationalising firms on the brink of collapse, and selling off strategic state assets at under market value" #ScottishIndependence #economics open.substack.com/pub/marianam...

open.substack.comSaving British Steel: Another Bailout or a New Beginning?The debate around nationalisation vs. privatisation is missing the point: it’s about governing in the public interest
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

This is where the myth that "business people" would be good at governing hits the road. Neither of them seem to understand the basics of becoming a monetary sovereign, hence wondering where the money comes from. #economics #ScottishIndependence www.thenational.scot/news/2609721...

thenational.scotLeading Scottish founders slammed over calls to 'make Scotland a tax haven'Two leading Scottish founders have been slammed after calling for Scotland to be made a "tax haven" to secure support from businesses

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

Scotland's No1 Comrade
@scotlandscomrade.bsky.social

“We need to stop talking about a majority in the same terms as a Westminster majority''. Had we adopted the same voting system as Westminster we would have ended up with -60 SNP -4 tories -4 Lib Dem's -2 labour -2 greens. Crunch those numbers, Then tell me we have no mandate for an Indyref.

Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

C'mon let's do this. #VoteSNP #ScottishIndependenceASAP

The SNP@snp.org

A re-elected SNP government will introduce a Private Jet Tax and a Mansion Tax on homes worth over £1 million, making the wealthiest pay more to help support local services across Scotland. Make it #BothVotesSNP tomorrow for a government that’s on your side.

Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"the Institute for Fiscal Studies has carried out an analysis which shows that under Labour, NHS Scotland would receive £1 billion less than it would do under the SNP over the five year term of the next Scottish Parliament" weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2026/04/19/l... #NHS #ScottishIndependence

weegingerdug.wordpress.comLabour’s Holyrood campaign lurches from one crisis to anotherThere’s less than three weeks to go until the Holyrood election and the wheels have well and truly come off the Labour campaign. With the headlines being dominated by the Mandelson story &#82…
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"research by cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell introduces the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale (CBSR), a tool designed to measure susceptibility to impressive-but-empty organizational rhetoric." #bullshitjobs #work #employment news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

news.cornell.eduWorkers who love ‘synergizing paradigms’ might be bad at their jobs | Cornell ChronicleEmployees who are impressed by vague corporate-speak like “synergistic leadership,” or “growth-hacking paradigms” may struggle with practical decision-making, a new Cornell study into “corporate BS” reveals.

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

The SNP
@snp.org

Reading shouldn’t be a luxury. It should be accessible to all. A re-elected SNP government will expand access to free books for children across Scotland, in partnership with The Dollywood Foundation UK. On May 7, make it both votes SNP for a Scottish Government that’s on your side.

Kairin van Sweeden reposted

The SNP
@snp.org

Renting should not mean losing your home with no say in what happens next. If re-elected the SNP will give private renters the first chance to buy the home they live in at a fair market price if the landlord decides to sell. Make it both votes SNP on May 7th for a government that’s on your side.

Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

Time to take control of our huge renewable energy resources #ScottishIndependence #VoteSNP2026

The SNP@snp.org

Scotland is energy-rich. So why are our bills and the price at the pump going through the roof? Westminster holds the powers and Starmer is doing nothing. https://www.itv.com/news/2026-04-05/starmer-has-utterly-failed-to-help-scots-during-energy-crisis-swinney-says

itv.comStarmer has ‘utterly failed’ to help Scots during energy ‘crisis’, Swinney saysf Westminster will not act to bring bills down, they should get out of the road and hand the powers to an SNP Government that will
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"In legislative terms, Westminster is free to pass whatever cockamamie legislation a majority is ­prepared to support. In Scotland, it is ­increasingly a different story, managing a substantial legal risk and constant threats of legal challenge." www.thenational.scot/politics/258...

thenational.scotScotland Act provides legal succour for opponents of assisted dyingAS introduced, Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying Bill included a conscience clause. It said that an individual is under no duty “to participate in…
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"Some of our politicians seem ­intensely comfortable making remarkably ­serious accusations against the integrity of the ­judicial process on the basis of no ­evidence, on the off chance there’s a gram of political advantage to be found in it." #law #scotland www.thenational.scot/politics/258...

thenational.scotAndrew Tickell: Contempt of court is coming from politicians, not TikTokers‘THIS is your friendly neighbourhood reminder that the case is now active and the Contempt of Court Act 1981 applies.”
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"We live in a country with a one-dimensional media class that all says the same thing and all agrees about everything. In no particular order: everything in Scotland is dreadful; the Union is sacrosanct forever; we desperately need new nuclear power" open.substack.com/pub/fiftysix...

open.substack.comSarwar's NothingburgerMuch debate has raged about Anas Sarwar’s tactic of demanding the resignation of his colleague and leader, Keir Starmer, a week ago.
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"Call me old-fashioned, but identifying journalists’ sources, listing reporters as “persons of interest”, and mapping out “leverage” over one of them sounds like “investigating journalists”. open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

open.substack.comMcSweeney goes - but ​​Josh Simons in the frame over targeting journalistsCabinet Office minister hired a PR firm to investigate journalists. His explanation is bewildering - and begs one big question. How can Starmer keep him on?
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"everyone always knew, from his long career, that Mandelson was a wrong ‘un. But why did three British Labour prime ministers – Blair, Brown and Starmer – persist in appointing him to high office?" www.thenational.scot/politics/258...

thenational.scotI used to work as a BBC journalist. Here are my run-ins with Peter MandelsonTO borrow Lord Peter Benjamin Mandelson’s views about people getting “filthy rich”, I am “intensely relaxed” about his latest trampolining…
Kairin van Sweeden
@indyanatomist.bsky.social

"Small modular reactors are merely a concept. Renewables and CCGTs are real. Any claims from Labour and the Tories on the cost and schedule are based on a myth – and the SNP must hit this point at every possible turn" www.thenational.scot/news/2581338...

thenational.scotI spent decades working in energy. Here are the problems with Labour's nuclear plansIT is clear that the issue of Scotland’s moratorium on new nuclear power will be a key battle line in May’s Scottish Parliament election.