Christopher Silver

A country of independent people – who truly know themselves – is, and always was, the real prize, argues Christopher Silver. I imagine my friend Roddy driving back up from RAF Prestwick in the summer of 1989; the wide Ayrshire coast blue and broad on a day of freedom; a Silly Wizard tape blaring out, thoughts of the weekend and the hunt for music. I imagine Roddy registering a change in the evening air on the sure path to his local.

Over the coming weeks over the holiday period we’ve commissioned a series of writers and activists to reflect on where we are and review not just the year but the time we find ourselves in. This is the second of a series reflecting on the State We’re In. In 2022 I spent a fair amount of time talking to friends, family, and colleagues of Alasdair Gray about his life and practice.

‘I, Ana Laide Soares Barbosa, great granddaughter of the enslaved, Granddaughter of peasants and fishing people, fisherwoman, accept the invitation to this new world of Govan, and declare myself welcome.’ Cultivating resistance and hope between Amazônia and Caledonia, Govan Free State, 3 November 2021 ‘Yesterday the Caledonian forests fell to the speculators from the south, today from Amazonia to the Siberian forests, the seemingly unstoppable encroachment of market forces continues to wreak...