By Ken Ferguson
 
Whether New Labour croissants or the more traditional cooked fare, Labour delegates to their Inverness conference had some indigestible breakfast reading in Scotland on Sunday with the news that Co-op party chair Mary Lockhart intends to vote YES in next year’s referendum.
 
A Labour stalwart and supporter of the left wing Campaign for Socialism pressure group which presents - sometimes with some intellectual arrogance - the case for voting No and seeking an increasingly illusory British Road to Socialism, her decision is a blow for Labour but will be particularly stinging for the small, forces of the CFS.

By George Kerevan
 
I CHOKED in my porridge, metaphorically at least. According to the report from Labour’s (latest) internal commission on the future of devolution, there is a “strong case for devolving income tax in full” to the control of the Scottish Parliament.
 
As the commission included both Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour leader, and Margaret Curran, the shadow secretary of state, this suggests Labour might be getting serious about offering a counter bid to independence, or at least to the confederal version of Scottish autonomy being offered by the SNP. Could Mohamed and the proverbial mountain be about to meet somewhere in the middle?

By Paul T Kavanagh

My Mammy always taught me that you should only speak good of the dead, so when the news was announced that Thatcher was dead, I said: "Good."  It's the only time she ever gave the working classes what they wanted.

Thatcher died a frail old woman.  They tell us that toward the end she was unable to remember any of her great achievements — but then neither can any of the rest of us.  Those of us who feel no sadness that Attila will Handbag no more may well stand accused of a lack of compassion  — but that's what Maggie would have wanted.

By Ritchie Venton, Trade Unionists for Independence steering group

The Scottish TUC congress meets in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s departure from the scene of her multiple crimes against working class communities.

As millions curse the day she was born and celebrate her passing, trade unionists also need to assess the best ways to confront and defeat the multiple assaults by the government of Thatcher’s spawn, David Cameron.