Dr Craig Dalȝell

@thecommongreen

Head of Policy & Research at Common Weal Wrote a book: tinyurl.com/AllofOurFutures Main social media at Mastodon: @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot Donate to CW: My personal blog:

349 Siguiendo882 Seguidores974 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y thecommongreen.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jun 3

A coalition of African trade unions are challenging World Bank assumptions that the energy sector should be private sector led, instead calling for public ownership and the demarketisation of the sector. Similar to what we've been asking ScotGov to do too. www.tuedglobal.org/bulletins/b-...

A screenshot from the linked article with the headline: African Trade Unions to World Bank: It’s Time to Reclaim & Restore Public Energy Systems

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· May 30

Fish-day or Fri[fish]ay, according to my instance. ¬_¬

A google search asking "how many days of the week have a fish in them?"

The completely wrong but overconfident AI answer is, in full:

Only one day of the week has the word "fish" in it: Fish-day (Friday).Here is the breakdown:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Fri[fish]ay
Saturday
Sunday
(Of course, if you are asking about traditional days for eating fish rather than the spelling, Friday takes the prize there too!)

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Mar 3

This one goes out to Starmer for supporting another illegal war and to SNP members in Aberdeen right now campaigning for Starmer to remove oil profiteering taxes.

A chart of heating oil prices for Scotland showing a dramatic spike from around 75p/litre yesterday to 95p/litre today - the shock the result of the US's illegal war against Iran.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Dec 21

Scotland loses more than £1 in every £20 it makes to outwards profit extraction. More than £277 billion was extracted in this way between 1999 and 2021 (the latest year we have data for). www.commonweal.scot/policies/pro...

A scatter plot showing that the level of Scotland's outward profit extraction (-5.45% of GDP) is much greater than comparable groups of countries such as the Eurozone (+0.8% GDP - it is a profit importer) or the group of most indebted nations (-2.74%)

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Nov 26

Leaked OBR report confirms electricity consumers will start paying for Sizewell C nuclear plant using a risky PFI-like financial scheme initiated by Boris Johnson and that we'll pay for years before the plant even produces any electricity - if it ever does. www.commonweal.scot/policies/nuc...

Sizewell C RAB levy

In July 2025, the Government made a final investment decision on the Sizewell C nuclear
power plant, which will be the first nuclear power station in the UK financed using a
regulated asset base (RAB). The RAB model levies an additional charge on consumer energy
bills which contributes to the financing costs of Sizewell C and is projected to generate
receipts of £0.7 billion in 2026-27, the first full year of the levy, rising to £1.4 billion in
2030-31. Receipts are offset by £0.2 billion of spending on debt owed to private sector
investors in 2026-27, rising to £0.4 billion in 2030-31. The main uncertainty associated
with this costing is the projected construction costs of Sizewell C during the forecast period.
Previous nuclear power plant construction projects, such as Hinkley Point C, have taken
longer to build and had higher costs than initially anticipated.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Nov 26

Interesting devolution problem coming. Reeves' mansion tax "will flow to central government rather than remain with local authorities". We'll have to see if that applies to Scotland given the ongoing consultation on Scottish Council Tax reform...

The Government has announced the introduction of a new high value council tax surcharge.
From April 2028, owners of properties identified as being valued at over £2 million by the
Valuation Office (in 2026 prices) will be liable for a recurring annual charge which will be
additional to existing council tax liability. There will be four price bands with the surcharge
rising from £2,500 for a property valued in the lowest £2 million to £2.5 million band, to
£7,500 for a property valued in the highest band of £5 million or more, all uprated by CPI
inflation each year. This measure is estimated to raise £0.4 billion in 2029-30. The
revenues will flow to central government rather than remain with local government, as is the
case for standard council tax.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Sep 1

Today in "Headlines that wouldn't exist if we had a Universal Basic Income". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A BBC story with the headline: "I chose my Caesarean date to be eligible for earlier childcare funding" and a photo of the affected family.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Aug 13

How about a little game until then.

A "Merry GERSmas" bingo card containing the following stock phrases on a 3x3 grid:

Deficit
Income
Union Dividend
Indyref
★
Estimates
Too Wee
Too Poor
Debt

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jul 25

I couldn't tell you the precise strain, but they are delicious. Big change from last year when the birds DID take all of this tree's before I could get to them. (Photo from a week ago)

A vertical photo of a bushy and fruit-laden cherry tree and Craig holding a bowl half full of cherries picked from it.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jul 14

My front page splash in today's @scotnational.bsky.social. While the UK Government dithers and debates on taxing wealth more fairly, Scotland could use its devolved powers to tax two large stores of wealth in Scotland. A reformed Council Tax to tax properties. And a local Land Tax to tax estates.

The front page of The National on Monday 14th July 2025.

The front page splash carries the headline:

"Do we need to rely on the UK making move or...

Could Scotland lead on the rich paying more tax?"

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jun 26

I remain bitterly disappointed that the SNP's 2021 manifesto promise to hold a Citizens' Assembly on Council Tax reform by the end of this Parliamentary session was broken. ia800406.us.archive.org/33/items/sco...

Excerpt from the 2021 SNP manifesto

Council Tax
We are committed to reforming the Council Tax to make
it fairer. Cross party talks on a replacement for the
council tax were underway, but had to be postponed
due to the pandemic. We will ask a Citizens’ Assembly
to consider the way forward alongside the question of
wider powers for local government.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jun 6

Surprised by the Hamilton results? I am. Everyone forgets that the sofa is also a candidate. The SNP lost almost 8,800 votes last night compared to 2021. Labour, the victors, lost only 3,600. #ScottishPolitics

A chart of the Hamilton election results comparing 2021 election to the 2025 by-election. Apart from Reform, the lead parties all lost votes to lower turnout.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Apr 28

Had some fun yesterday introducing another couple of friends to my wee card game Heart Under Blade. This "designing board games" thing threatens to get a bit addictive. You can try out a digital version on Tabletopia here: www.tabletopia.com/workshop/gam... #boardgame #boardgames #cardgame

A tableau of cards from the game Heart Under Blade, laid out mid game.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Apr 25

Some fun news arrived last night. My wee card game Heart Under Blade was accepted for publication by Tabletopia and can be played now by anyone for free at tabletopia.com/games/heart-... More info at thecommongreen.scot/2025/04/11/b... #BoardGame #BoardGames

A screenshot of the splash screen for Heart Under Blade on Tabletopia.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Mar 19

If you're a fan of RSS, you can get @thecommonweal.bsky.social daily briefings sent directly to your feed. Just add www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi... to your RSS reader. No ads. No paywall. Just All of Us First. (Though we don't mind a donation if you can! www.commonweal.scot/donate)

A screenshot of the Common Weal Daily Briefings page.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Mar 12

The "promise" of carbon capture utilisation and storage is essentially the fossil fuel companies saying "let us keep doing what we're doing and we'll get a wizard to fix the climate later". Follow @thecommonweal.bsky.social for more.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Mar 11

Funny how it's all "I hate electric cars and love free markets" until your boss needs a product endorsement.

A screenshot of a long, ramble post by Trump on Truth Social claiming that it's illegal to not buy a Tesla and blaming the current crash in Tesla's stock price on a "leftist" plot and that as a show of support for Musk, he's going to buy one of his cars.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jan 14

Pleased to say that Common Weal is now on Bluesky. Give us a follow at: @thecommonweal.bsky.social

The banner image and title of the Common Weal bluesky page @thecommonweal.bsky.social

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Jan 3

The Moon and Venus are stunning tonight.

A photo of a crescent Moon and gibbous Venus hanging together in the almost black twilight.

Dr Craig Dalȝell@thecommongreen· Dec 25

Festive Wintermas folks. May you all achieve Stage Four.