Downfall (book)
''Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story'' is a book by Alan McCombes, former policy co-ordinator of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and editor of the ''Scottish Socialist Voice'', about the political career of Tommy Sheridan, who led the SSP for several years until he was forced to resign amid allegations about his personal life, eventually leaving the party a few years before his eventual conviction for perjury. McCombes finished writing the book—described by ''The Scotsman'' as "the first insider's account of the fall-out from Sheridan's trips to a Manchester swinging club and his ill-fated decision to take on the ''News of the World'' after it published details of his sexual proclivities"—less than five months after Sheridan was jailed for committing perjury. The book was launched on 6 July 2011 at Word Power Books, Scotland's oldest radical and independent bookshop. Reception Paul Hutcheon described the book in '' The Herald'' as "brilliantly written", adding: "Most to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan McCombes
Alan William McCombes (born 1955) has been a leading member of the Scottish Socialist Party for several years, and was the editor of the ''Scottish Socialist Voice'' until 2003. With Tommy Sheridan, he was also author of Imagine: A Socialist Vision for the 21st Century, described by Tony Benn as "one of the very best books I have ever read on the subject of socialism". Political career Militant tendency McCombes first became involved in socialist politics in the 1970s, as a member of the Militant group. Together with Tommy Sheridan he played a leading role in the anti-poll tax movement. His 1988 pamphlet, ''How To Beat The Poll Tax'', written a year before the tax was introduced, set out the strategy of a Scotland-wide united mass non-payment campaign. In 1992 McCombes was a leading figure in the persuading Militant in Scotland to break with Labour resulting in the creation of Scottish Militant Labour. Throughout the 1990s, he challenged the traditional "British Road to Social ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scott ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Birlinn (publisher)
Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew. Imprints Birlinn Limited is composed of a number of imprints, including: *Birlinn, which publishes Scottish interest books, from biography to history, military history and Scottish Gaelic. (Its name comes from the old Norse word , meaning a long boat or small galley with 12 to 18 oars, used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages.) *Polygon Books, which publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern, from Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown, and the author of ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'', Alexander McCall Smith. It was founded in the late 1960s by students of the University of Edinburgh. *Mercat Press, founded in 1970 and acquired by Birlinn in 2007, which publishes walking and climbing guides. (''Mercat'' is the Scots language word for "market" or "trad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It campaigns for Scottish independence, against cuts to public services and welfare and for democratic public ownership of the economy. The SSP was one of three parties in Yes Scotland, the official cross-party campaign for Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum, with national co-spokesperson Colin Fox sitting on its advisory board. The party operates through a local branch structure and publishes Scotland's longest-running socialist newspaper, the ''Scottish Socialist Voice''. At the height of its electoral success in 2003, the party had six Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and two councillors, but since 2017 it has had no councillors or MSPs. Democratic structures The party has two national co-spokespersons, Colin Fox and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scottish Socialist Voice
The ''Scottish Socialist Voice'' is a fortnightly political newspaper in Scotland, published by the Scottish Socialist Party. History Established in November 1996, the ''Voice'' started life as the newspaper of Scottish Militant Labour, before being handed over to the Scottish Socialist Party on its formation in 1998. Alan McCombes, the paper's founding editor, continued to act as editor until 2003. For a short time afterwards it was edited by Kath Kyle, followed by Joanna Harvie, and it is currently edited by Ken Ferguson. It was originally launched as a fortnightly publication, and moved to a weekly format in May 2001 at great financial cost, before returning to fortnightly production in 2007. In 2009, it changed from a broadsheet to a tabloid format. It is primarily distributed through subscription and street sales. The aims of the ''Voice'', as set out in its first issue, are: * To report the struggles of ordinary people against injustice, discrimination and exploitation. * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2006 to 2016. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region from 1999 to 2007. Sheridan was active as a Militant entryist in the Labour Party until 1989 when Labour expelled him,Dave avidOsle"The Tribune interview: Tommy Sheridan – Tartan Trot"''Tribune'', 30 July 1993 and became a member of Scottish Militant Labour (SML), which eventually became the core of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). He was a prominent campaigner against the Poll tax (officially known as the Community Charge) in Scotland, and was jailed for six months for attending a warrant sale in 1991 after Glasgow Sheriff Court had served a court order on him banning his presence. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow rep ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Herald (Glasgow)
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in 1992. Following the closure of the ''Sunday Herald'', the ''Herald on Sunday'' was launched as a Sunday edition on 9 September 2018. History Founding The newspaper was founded by an Edinburgh-born printer called John Mennons in January 1783 as a weekly publication called the ''Glasgow Advertiser''. Mennons' first edition had a global scoop: news of the treaties of Versailles reached Mennons via the Lord Provost of Glasgow just as he was putting the paper together. War had ended with the American colonies, he revealed. ''The Herald'', therefore, is as old as the United States of America, give or take an hour or two. The story was, however, only carried on the back page. Mennons, using the larger of two fonts available to him, put it in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its parent company, JPIMedia, also publishes the ''Edinburgh Evening News''. It had an audited print circulation of 16,349 for July to December 2018. Its website, Scotsman.com, had an average of 138,000 unique visitors a day as of 2017. The title celebrated its bicentenary on 25 January 2017. History ''The Scotsman'' was launched in 1817 as a liberal weekly newspaper by lawyer William Ritchie and customs official Charles Maclaren in response to the "unblushing subservience" of competing newspapers to the Edinburgh establishment. The paper was pledged to "impartiality, firmness and independence". After the abolition of newspaper stamp tax in Scotland in 1855, ''The Scotsman'' was relaunched as a daily newspaper priced at 1d and a circul ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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News Of The World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations. It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies. The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969 it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. Reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper was transformed into a Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid in 1984 and became the Sunday sister paper of ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. The ''News of the World'' concentrated in particular on celebrity scoops, gossip and populist news. Its somewhat prurient focus on sex sca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Hutcheon
Paul Hutcheon is a Scottish political journalist who currently serves as Investigations Editor for the ''Sunday Herald''. In 2006, while serving as political editor for the ''Sunday Herald'', he won both Journalist of the Year and Political Journalist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards The Scottish Press Awards is an annual ceremony which recognises talent in Scottish journalism. The ceremony was established by the Scottish Newspaper Society (SNS), which "represents, protects, and promotes" Scotland's newspaper industry, in 1979 .... He moved to the position of Investigations Editor in 2008. References Scottish journalists {{UK-journalist-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manichaeism
Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian prophet Mani (prophet), Mani (AD 216–274), in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the conflict between good and evil, struggle between a goodness and value theory, good, spirituality, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Its beliefs are based on local Mesopotamian religious movements and Gnosticism. It reveres Mani as the final prophet after Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha, and Jesus. Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic language, Aramaic-speaking regions. It thrived be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |