After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
SO, THERE we have it. As far as the SNP is concerned, we can ignore the global pandemic, a global economic crisis, the war in Ukraine and an upsurge in British working-class resistance to a profit-taking-induced inflationary spiral — all of that can be displaced by a second referendum on Scottish independence followed by that glorious, golden age where presumably class conflict is dissolved in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon has announced that on October 23 2023 there will be another referendum on Scottish Independence — or maybe not. More of this later.
To be fair the case presented in the SNP government’s document Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland? the first of a promised series of documents the Scottish government is publishing in support of independence, has shifted slightly from the Sustainable Growth Commission report of 2018.
That Scotland was an active participant and beneficiary of colonialism and slavery is not a question of blame games and guilt peddling, but a crucial fact assessing the class nature of the questions of devolution and independence, writes VINCE MILLS



