Contributors

Meet our contributors…

Anna Crow

Anna Crow is a Scottish Green Party and Global Justice Now activist, intersectional feminist, social media enthusiast and doctor; born and raised in Glasgow and seeming to be finding fewer reasons to leave the older they get. A Partick-dweller yet frequently considered to be an honorary southsider, they enjoy experimental cookery, music on vinyl, all aspects of performance poetry, drinking craft beer while talking about politics, and occasional dancing in the mud at music festivals. Find them doing poetry at places including the Blue Chair open mic most Wednesdays and on twitter as a range of identities including @greenwithanger.

Liam Muir

Liam was born and currently lives in Dundee. He has been an enthusiastic follower of UK politics from an early age. Like so many other livings in Scotland, the referendum brought clarity to his attitude and ideas.
His background is in Music, which he studied for a number of years. He has played in a number of bands in various different roles. His favourite artist is too impossible an answer to calculate. Recently, he wrote the music for an Independent film called ‘Sanctioned’, which dealt with the impact benefit sanctioning has on those suffering from mental health issues.
An avid reader, his favourite book is Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. He also enjoys the works of Iain Banks, Irvine Welsh and Cormac McCarthy. His favourite newspaper is the Sunday Herald and considers it to be a strong argument for the relevance of printed press. He also likes to consider himself somewhat of a film aficionado. His favourite film of all time is Jaws.
When he can afford to do so, he enjoys travelling and pursuing his on going love affair with the Scottish Highlands.
Liam is a member of the SNP and is in favour of Scottish independence. He currently writes for The Scottish Independent and hopes one day to apply his political knowledge and experience to his studies.

Christopher Napier

Dundonian in exile, husband, father, writer, musician, graduate, enthusiastic consumer of all manner of geekery.  I currently lives in the south side of Glasgow with his wife, two sons, a rabbit, a guinea pig and more guitars than is strictly necessary.
A decade working in a variety of call centres and customer service roles has simultaneously made me cynical as hell and failed to dent my childlike wonder and idealism.  This dichotomy fuels my writing…
I’ve got a BA (Hons) in Business and have been writing for the internet in my spare time for about eight years, contributing to sites covering music, martial arts, comic books and politics amongst other things.
I’m a member of the Scottish Green party but remain politically open minded (albeit with left/libertarian leanings) believing in pluralism, dialogue and co-operation rather than cleaving stubbornly to tribal divides.

Tweets from @chriscrowing

Alan Stares

Alan is a freelance sound engineer, musician and amateur video game designer and was brought up on the south west coast of Scotland in the most middle of middle class places by working class parents who done good. Academia was never a strong point but the arts were always in the mind and late teens saw an interest in music through bands and later an involvement in audio tech which lead to further education and finally blossomed into a career.

A staunch left wing advocate and occasional joke communist, his political views are based firmly on socialist values nurtured by (old) labour voting parents and and an upbringing based on solid moral values for every person or creature. Agnostic by nature through always willing to leave a door open for whatever may walk through, open mindedness is the core of thought as nothing can be grown in infertile soil. Alan has been a strong animal lover since childhood and promotes the use of rescue shelters over expensive bred pets and is 100% against fox hunting and badger culls.

Probably the least political correct ‘leftie’ on the planet, Alan prefers good common sense to overtly soft ‘kid gloves’ for everything which more often than not make for bureaucratic nightmares and a society to afraid of it’s own words to say anything worthwhile. In his spare time Alan spins the coin between working out and takes a keen interest in nutrition and the way food affects the body to enjoying a good drink with friends and is a huge fan of retro video games for which he plays, researches and writes nostalgia articles on and has recently began creating his own titles based on the games of the early 90’s.

Siobhan Tolland

I was brought up in Dundee, in a strong socialist background and this political philosophy has defined me throughout my life. As a bairn during the Thatcher era I was hardened by my disgust for neo-liberal economics and Capitalism, and most of my writing comes from that viewpoint.
I graduated from Aberdeen University with a degree in Literature and Women’s studies then completed a PhD on Dundee political activist, writer and folk artist Mary Brooksbank who died in 1978.
After years of political and creative oblivion, the Independence referendum galvanised my increasing political activism, inspired by the need to show my son that there is an alternative political path. I took my son on his first demo when he was three: it was an anti-austerity one. I became active in the YES movement and joined the SNP soon after the referendum. My son wanted to join the Green Party to ‘save the animals’.
I have only recently started writing again and have been contributing to the Scottish Independent, Common Space, as well as Wings over Scotland. My interests are wide ranging, from the political research such as politics of health, poverty, and environmental politics as well as contemporary politics.
I am a self-confessed sci-fi geek, and am currently watching anything apocalyptic. Sci fi mirrors modern political culture. I am a massive fan of Joss Whedon and think Dollhouse is the most innovative sic fi of all times. I am in love with George Romero.

Joyce A. Walker

Dr Joyce Walker is a retired Teaching Fellow in History at the University of Aberdeen. I taught mainly 19th century American History, with special emphasis on the American Civil War. My PhD, however, was written on the uses historians can make of political cartoons, using American history and cartoons to formulate the thesis.
Since my retirement in 2009, I have published a book on a First World War camp set up in 1916 in Dyce, just outside Aberdeen. This was for conscientious objectors to military service, and the book looks at public attitudes to the camp in the North East, at official attitudes, and at why the camp only lasted for 8 weeks. While researching for the book, I discovered my own grandfather had been a ‘Conchie’ in that war – a fact of which I’m rather proud! The book (Dyce Work Camp..) is still available on Amazon Kindle.
Although not aligned to any political party, my views are definitely left-leaning, and I voted YES in last year’s Referendum. I was in Boston, USA, the week before the referendum and was surprised at the level of interest in it shown there. Anyone who recognised my accent asked my opinion, although most could not understand why we would want to leave. I then asked them why the 13 colonial states in America wanted to leave Britain in the 1770s – they got that!! I’m off to New York in a couple of weeks – I wonder if I’ll get any comments this year?!

Louise Wilson

Originally from Yorkshire, Louise moved to Glasgow in 2010 and now refuses to leave. She graduated from Glasgow Uni with a degree in Politics & Linguistics in 2014, and is now a Parliamentary Reporter for a monitoring company in Edinburgh.

She is a Scottish Green, a feminist, an advocate for social justice, an ally and a pseudo-Scot. She enjoys travelling through Europe, swimming, activism and riding her bright yellow Aprilia. She can usually be found with a good book and a pint of Drygate beer or real (READ: non-instant) coffee.

Tweets @LouweezW
Rants @ www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/louise-wilson