‘Bairns, not Bombs’ was a rallying cry for many independence supporters during the 2014 referendum, but many campaigners on the left feel this is undermined by the Scottish National Party’s NATO commitments. Lewis Akers argues Sturgeon’s government has slowly but surely shifted on foreign policy but that there’s scope for activists in and out the party to bring about change…

In two weeks time, far-right demagogue Steve Bannon appears in Edinburgh at a BBC-endorsed event called News Xchange. On Conter, several contributors have written extensively about why defeating the far-right through amicable discourse is impossible. Following Nicola Sturgeon’s withdrawal from appearing at the event, David Mitchell’s petition to the BBC to withdraw their endorsement has already garnered over a 1,000 signatures. He writes about Bannon and why he’s so dangerous, calling on as many activists to sign as possible…

Last year, Conter spoke to Kiana Kalantar-Hormozi about her short film on the Care Tax and how many disabled people in this country are essentially forced to pay for their own care. Although the Scottish Government have pledged to extend free personal care to under-65s, this still doesn’t account for people whose care is categorised as social care. Today, Conter editor Jonathan Rimmer reports in The Scotsman on today’s protest outside the Scottish Parliament, which coincides with Kiana’s new video address to Nicola Sturgeon. She’s happy to share it here and hopes people will join her in protesting this injustice…

A number of crises and disagreements have left many pro-independence socialists and activists feeling alienated from the wider Yes movement in recent months. But while many hesitate to wave saltires at nationalist-led rallies, Allan Armstrong argues the left needs to put aside reservations and engage with the All Under One Banner demonstrators. In this long read, he charts the winding fortunes of the Yes movement, the circumstances in which it has been maintained and evaluates how we reached this point...