Mike Small, Bella Caledonia Journalist Profile

Articles

Kenmure Street not Downing Street

1 day ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

Four years ago, on May 13, 2021, Kenmure Street in Glasgow became global news. Hundreds of people united in peaceful protest and successfully freed two men from the UK Home Office van in which they had been detained. “…a nation that walks forward together” you could say. In the face of a surround-sound of vicious xenophobia, we need to upscale the efforts to show solidarity, and welcome people seeking refuge in Scotland.
The Island of Strangers

2 days ago | substack.com | Mike Small

Echoing Enoch Powell, who said in 1968 in his infamous Rivers of Blood speech “For reasons which they could not comprehend, and in pursuance of a decision by default, on which they were never consulted, they found themselves made strangers in their own country” today Keir Starmer said “We risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”It was a strange and chilling thing to say, and will surely be his political death knell. This Substack is reader-supported.
Broken Britain, Scotland’s Opportunity

2 days ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

British politics is being remade before our eyes, the consequence of decades of failure, grotesque social inequality and the collapse of living standards. These are the conditions in which the politics of grievance and hate thrive. The far-right are predictably jubilant.
Who are Britain Remade?

1 week ago | nuclear-news.net | Mike Small |Christina MacPherson

Who are Britain Remade? Britain Remade is a Tory think-tank and lobby group campaigning on behalf of nuclear power. By Mike Small, https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/05/01/who-are-britain-remade/There’s a concerted attempt to attack Scotland’s long-standing commitment to no new nuclear power, alongside a full-scale assault on the idea of Net Zero, and the very basics of climate policy (however inadequate mainstream policy is).
Why I collect Marx

1 week ago | trains.com | Mike Small

I’ve been collecting Marx since the 1990s. Growing up with American Flyer S gauge and Lionel, I had largely not gotten to know Marx. Eventually I started to take interest, especially in the plastic locomotives and cars. Plastic molding is something I like to look at and study. I did have a Marx plastic set with the 4 wheel cars that I received around 1961, so I’ve always been partial to the 4 wheel items.
Broken Britain: Flux, Collapse and Stasis

1 week ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

A snapshot of the past week on Britain’s dramatically changing politics. Reform surge in England and talk about how young people need “moral re-education” about how great the Empire was and how to “love Britain.” Labour collapses in the local elections in England and Keir Starmer’s response is to talk of doing the same “further and faster”.
Israeli Embassy’s Interferes in UK Palestine Action Case

2 weeks ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

It’s been revealed that the Attorney General’s office gave contact details of the CPS and counter terror police, to the Israel government, during an investigation into protests at an Elbit Systems arms factory. The revelations come at a time when protest is being criminalised and dissenting voices shut down. Mike Small reports.
Edinburgh Disneyland

2 weeks ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

Innovative techniques will complement the aesthetics of the five astounding worlds that can be found within the theme park – Celestial Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ – Ministry of Magic™, SUPER NINTENDO WORLD™, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk and Dark Universe.”I mean, Edinburgh is effectively already a “Wizarding World of Harry Potter™” but what this is is turning a historic site, in a Unesco World Heritage city into a themepark advert. Cool.
Fighting the Far Right, Reform and Scotland

2 weeks ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

John Swinney’s summit to ‘stop the far right’ had all of the energy of a burst balloon. Having been passed through the civil service it had lost any energy it might have once had. It was, no doubt, full of good intentions, and, as Swinney said: “Today is the start of the process, not the end of the process.”But it did not have the sense of seriousness it required. Was this about fighting fascism and the far-right in Scottish society as first billed?
Bad Religion and the Great Egg Hunt

3 weeks ago | bellacaledonia.org.uk | Mike Small

Every Easter and Christmas along come the same people trundling out the same weird Christian victimhood. Right on queue here’s Robert Jenrick:This is, of course, performative outrage from people who are far happier waging culture wars than looking at the state of British society. It’s making great (and desperate) claims about ‘Britain’ that don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny.