The Scottish political commentary platform, Source, ceased publication at the end of June. Its editor, Sean Bell, reflects on the global pandemic that defined the period in which it was published, and the necessity of independent journalism in strange and difficult times.
Source was launched on 16 March, 2020, the same day that everybody in the UK was advised against ‘non-essential’ travel and contact with others, and three days after the first death from COVID-19 was recorded in Scotland. The pandemic began before we did; it has now outlasted us.
We relaunched in part because it had been decided we would shift from the reportage that characterised our earlier incarnation as CommonSpace to a greater focus upon commentary, analysis and polemic (also, because our old website had finally imploded like the Ecto-Containment Unit midway through Ghostbusters).
