How building an HTML-first site doubled our users overnight
My client was a utility company, and they had a big problem...
moh_kohn
Tech, writing, and music for a cyberpunk world
Latest posts
Celebrating John Maclean at Celtic Connections
This spectacular show defied all expectations. Organised by folk singer Siobhan Miller and poet and biographer Henry Bell, it saw an ensemble cast troupe on ...
Glasgow's Urban Transport Revolution
The revolution of the 1960s predicted a glittering future of smooth empty motorways, and began an era of ever-increasing car use, gridlock, and air pollution...
Our Unstated Assumptions Are No Longer True
Prices are rising; wildfires are burning; disease outbreaks are becoming regular.
Lessons from the Kenmure Street Siege
The defeat inflicted on Britain’s Home Office on Kenmure Street may prove a crucial turning point for Scotland.
Trump: the 1990s are over
A detailed study showed that cuts and industrial decline were a more significant indicator of the likelihood of a Brexit Leave vote than immigration – and th...
Which Nordic Model?
Creating a Scottish model inspired by the Nordics will present challenges for us all. The emphasis on taxation in Scottish debates is - ironically - peculiarly British.
Radio War Nerd Appearance
Here’s a 20+ minute preview of Radio War Nerd episode 41 (total length 1:49:34) on Scottish nationalism, Brexit & independence, with Alistair Davidson one of...
The Trouble with the Council Tax is the Sound Your Buzzer Makes
The trouble with the council tax is the sound your buzzer makes. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
The Treasury Just Admitted that the Scotland Bill is a Trap
The Herald has an exclusive story today that the Treasury will offer Scotland £4.5 billion “compensation” if we accept their preferred fiscal framework. This...
The Mitterrand Plan
“In economics, there are two solutions. Either you are a Leninist. Or you won’t change anything.” — François Mitterrand
Renminbi Me
As China buys into ‘The Most Expensive White Elephant in British History’ we explore what it might mean for Scotland.
Yes, Meet Jez
Much space in the newspaper comment pages has been given over to speculation about what a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour party would mean for Scotland’s independen...
How Scotland Can Protect Itself from GCHQ Spying by Going Open Source
Alistair Davidson introduces the Common Weal report on why Scotland needs to implement an open source transition plan to protect its sovereignty.
Postcapitalism and the Social Movements of Technology Workers
In PostCapitalism, Paul Mason has produced a work of stunning breadth and scope. His central project is to situate today’s world in political and economic hi...
Scotland's social movements can be a model for the world
Human societies have always been shaped by conflict between ruled and rulers. Rome fought slave and tribal revolts as often as foreign wars. Feudal Kings nee...
Why Greece is stuck between a rock and a hard place
Yes, Greek governments have managed the country poorly, there is a lot of corruption and it is difficult to collect taxes. However, before the 2008 crash, th...
Scottish Sovereignty in the Age of Mass Surveillance
This paper makes the case for the adoption by businesses and government of publicly auditable open source software to protect Scottish sovereignty.
Operation Goodwood: a Scottish Megagame
One of the most stressful things I have ever done is spend 6 hours as second in command of a 20-person allied command structure with each 8 in-game hours as ...
A Green New Deal for Europe
Alistair Davidson looks at the possibility for uniting an anti-austerty agenda with a new green politics.
The Thirled Way
By Alistair Davidson
Scotland, Class and Nation
Alistair Davidson on the hysteria of the Scottish establishment in the face of political uprising.
A Fate Worse than Debt
The most useful power the Smith Commission could grant the Scottish Government is the ability to get itself as deeply into debt as possible.
Generation Yes (ish)
By Alistair Davidson
Movement politics v professional politics
OOn Sunday, over a thousand ordinary citizens demonstrated outside BBC Scotland against its perceived bias when reporting on the Scottish independence referendum. There can be no doubt that this is a major rupture in Scottish political life
Picking Up a Buzz
Yesterday, we discovered a rather curious anti-independence “listicle” on the popular viral-meme website Buzzfeed. Entitled “Scotland. The UK. 10 Myths. 10 F...
The curious case of YouDecide2014 - Tories in 'neutral' clothing
UPDATE: I have now definitively linked the BuzzFeed article to the Scotland Office itself!
I was interviewed for the Scottish Independence Podcast
Alistair Davidson interviewed for the Scottish Independence Podcast
Scotland No More
I was only four years old in 1987, when the Proclaimers' Letter From America stormed the UK charts, so it's perhaps unsurprising that I've never known its si...
Currency unions: an idiot's guide
There's a lot of talk of currency unions and so on lately in Scotland. What does it all mean? Here's an idiot's guide:
How Money Changed Everything
We all know there’s something strange about Britain. Germany and China have their factories, France and Japan their nuclear power plants. America has Google ...
What Brazil can teach Scotland about GCHQ
Originally published at the Centre for Technology and Society.
Would independence have protected Grangemouth?
Today has been a comprehensive defeat for the employees of Grangemouth, a site through which about 10% of Scotland's GDP (1% of the UK) passes, and which its...
Edward Snowden Made Me Sick
"It's the police, let us in."
What Mark Carney Didn't Say
Today, the Bank of England announced that interest rates will remain at historic lows, as long as unemployment remains above 7%. Mark Carney was careful to c...
the Telekommunist Party?
Originally published on my tumblr.
Our Vast Renewable Energy Potential Can Reindustrialise Scotland
Originally published on National Collective.
Sort of an album
I've released a mixtape, entitled Enough Gravity.
Dreaming a New Freedom
Capitalism is in crisis... again. There is a glaring need for alternative visions of society,
Trillions of Tiny Flowcharts
Trillions of tiny flowcharts, in everything we touch. Whirling around in decision-making circles, deciding what we can and cannot do, deciding who owns and w...
Peer Production: a New Economic Dawn?
I keep claiming that peer production is a new mode of production in the Marxist sense. This provoked Tom to be really annoying by asking intelligent, pertine...
The Nordic Model Cometh?
Originally published on Newsnet Scotland.
Organisation is the only power available to the poor
Subsequently used in the Guardian
People power in the new Scotland
Originally published on Newsnet Scotland
We Glasgow students were inspired by the spirit of Red Clydeside
Written with Liam Turbett and Suzanne Ross. Originally published in the Guardian.
Wikileaks, Karl Marx and You
Originally published on libertyandsolidarity.org
A wee story
My grandfather wasn't a religious man, but he always said that he would live on through his descendants, who each carry a small piece of him, and through the...
An Exit? (thoughts on "No Exit")
A few of weeks ago, I promised Agnes I'd read "No Exit". It really was a fascinating play, and it's been ages since I wrote an essay, so I wrote this.
My computer re-writes "A Christmas Carol"
(I feel this has a certain Joyce-like quality. It is generated from a statistical model built by analysing the original)