Roch Winds

About the Book: 

Did Scotland’s rough wind become something more after the referendum, as so many hoped it would, or did it blow itself out? What power can pessimism have in a nation of newfound self-confidence?

A generation ago, the socialist poet Hamish Henderson forecast that ‘mair nor a roch wind’ - more than a rough wind - would rush through the great glen of the world as empires and nations collapsed. In Roch Winds, three young radicals pick through the rubble left in the wake of the storm that propelled the Scottish National Party into a position of unprecedented political dominance in Scotland.

This darkly humorous book dissects the rise of the SNP and the fall of Labour during the months leading up to 2014 Independence Referendum and beyond. Drawing on their involvement in the Yes campaign for independence and the Labour Party, the authors cast their eyes to Scotland’s future and to radical horizons. Fluent, funny and full of fighting talk, this book is for everyone who has ever wondered what lies behind the tartan curtain of Scotland’s new establishment.

Reviews: 

An engagingly original challenge to received wisdom, be it left or right, nationalist or unionist. DAVID TORRANCE

Scotland needs this book like a hole in the head. COLIN KIDD

About the Authors:

RORY, AMY and CAILEAN form the Roch Wind Collective. They have been writing together since 2013, and have left few stones unturned in their attacks on every aspect of the Scottish Establishment.

CAILEAN GALLAGHER studied at Oxford University, where he founded the Oxford Left Review, before working as a Labour and trade union organiser for Yes Scotland and then for a socialist Labour MP. He is now studying and working for a trade union in London.

AMY WESTWELL studied at Glasgow University, and is currently at St Andrews University. She has worked for multiple third sector organisations, particularly those concerned with tackling violence against women.

RORY SCOTHORNE studied at the universities of Edinburgh and Sussex, and was co-founder of the pro-independence campaign group National Collective. He now works as a researcher and campaign organiser in Edinburgh. All three are revolutionary socialists and members of the Labour Party.