{"title":"Jim Sillars","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"difference-of-opinion-book-jim-sillars-9781780276830","title":"A Difference of Opinion","description":"Jim Sillars, among the last of his generation’s working-class politicians, has had a prominent role in Scottish public life for more than six decades, during which he moved from being a Unionist Labour MP to becoming deputy leader of the SNP and now a sharp critic of the party’s cult of personality.    In this candid memoir, he records a controversial political life from local councillor to Westminster MP, during which he had dealings with many prominent politicians of the day. But he also reflects on what moulded him in his early years, the added influences of his service in the Royal Navy, his time in Hong Kong, his trade union activity and his non-political business engagements in the Middle East and Asia.    Bringing the book up to date to address contemporary issues, he offers views on Brexit, Russia, the Middle East, climate change, the Alex Salmond trial and the consequences of the 2021 Holyrood election.    He and Margo MacDonald, to whom he was married for thirty-three years, were a formidable political partnership until her death in 2014. He pays a heartfelt tribute to her in this book.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49537550188817,"sku":"GOR011655107","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1780276834.jpg?v=1751447353"},{"product_id":"in-place-of-failure-book-jim-sillars-9781908251510","title":"In Place of Failure","description":"The referendum is over, but Scotland's underlying social and economic problems remain, as they have since its brutal deindustrialisation under Thatcher. Jim Sillars sets out the arguments for a second referendum and for an urgent resolution, as the Vow has failed to deliver promised powers, and in particular the powers to rescue Scotland's poor from devastating cuts. As always, Jim Sillars is radical, knowledgeable and pragmatic: socialism with its feet on the ground. He dissects Better Together's claims, examines the strengths and the weaknesses of the last Yes campaign, and urges that we prepare for the next one now. Sillars is interested in sowing some seeds of doubt and opening up the debate, but as you read this book, you become increasingly aware of the wide political experience and the meticulous research that underlie his views and policies. In Place of Failure is the follow-up to In Place of Fear II, whose title was itself a reference to Aneurin Bevan's historic defence of the welfare state.Last year's book was one of the key texts written in the heat of the campaign, whereas this longer work is more of a rallying cry to keep us informed and ready for the next appointment with Scotland's destiny.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49581476512017,"sku":"GOR008051725","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908251514.jpg?v=1751450840"},{"product_id":"in-place-of-fear-ii-book-jim-sillars-9781908251305","title":"In Place of Fear II","description":"Jim Sillars, who in a long political career has represented both the Labour Party and the SNP in Westminster, and helped found the Scottish Labour Party in the seventies, puts forward his vision for an independent Scotland based on a radical programme suited to the country and its particular needs and ethos.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49585078403345,"sku":"GOR005712909","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52862975934737,"sku":"GOR011146897","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52932771905809,"sku":"GOR006498206","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908251301.jpg?v=1751092644"},{"product_id":"new-case-for-optimism-book-jim-sillars-9781913212421","title":"The New Case for Optimism","description":"Over a decade has passed since the Scottish referendum on independence, and the issue has faded into the background in spite of a chain of electoral mandates for renewed pressure for a second referendum. Today the issue has been overtaken by austerity at home and dramatic events abroad, but veteran campaigner Jim Sillars has written this call for a renewed campaign and a plea for optimism.     Now in his eighty-eighth year, Sillars has plenty of campaigning experience behind him and says that this will be the last one. His support for Scottish independence goes back to the seventies when he founded the Scottish Labour Party, establishing the connection between the left and independence.     With this move he hopes to kick off a process and a debate that reach out not only to those who have always maintained their enthusiasm for independence but also to those how have been distracted by other political and social developments and those who have never supported independence in the past. Independence, Sillars argues, is not about dislike of the English, but the wellbeing Scots in the context of a dramatically declining UK economy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53130730668305,"sku":"GOR014760709","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53353257271569,"sku":"GOR014870670","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53405820289297,"sku":"GOR014908947","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781913212421.jpg?v=1771235749"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-jim-sillars.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}