Student unionism is broken, but Scotland could provide the solution

ASK TEN Edinburgh University students milling around Bristo Square about their university experience. According to the National Student Survey, eight will say they are satisfied with their course. Nine will praise the staff. But ask ...

We must Bulldoze Scotland's love of the planning approach

WHAT POLICY APPROACH can support the advance of post-Brexit Scotland? 

While our nation is being forced to disappear up its own secessionist rear end through the Neverendum Tendency, that basic economic question does ...

Hell hath no fury like a partner scorned

THE RESPONSE of the Johnson Government to blatant EU bullying has been one of moderation in the extreme. Far from being an outrageous breach of international law it is a cool, reasoned response to unacceptable ...

The logic of devolution requires reviving local democracy

THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT has undoubtedly brought power and democracy closer to Scots while enabling greater time and focus to be given to our specific circumstances and priorities. 

However, while devolution transferred power ...

Does the Treasury really want a death spiral?

WELL PLACED LEAKS suggest HM Treasury is indeed looking at the ‘traditional response’ to try and plug a £350bn plus covid-19 induced hole in public finances by raising taxes. According to reports the Treasury is ...

Thanks to the SNP the partition of Scotland is no longer as far-fetched as it used to be

EVERY INDYREF needs its eve of poll “just to make sure” Vow. In 2014 it was tax powers, transport police and new welfare powers.  Imagine if, on the eve of an Indyref2, the British Prime Minister’s ...

The Scottish lottery of Covid lockdown easing

A DEAR FRIEND of mine died recently, a very active man who was in so many committees and had so many hobbies that under normal circumstance, the church would have been packed.  I, along with ...

Why Covid-19 shows secession is a leap of faith in the dark

HAVING BEEN GIVEN the opportunity to write a defence for the Union, for me there was only one topic to look at – the one area that affects everything from the welfare provision for the ...

Scotland already has a great trade deal with its neighbours, it's called the United Kingdom

SCOTLAND HAS UNFETTERED ACCESS to the wider UK market. The UK is the overwhelmingly critical market for Scotland’s economy accounting for £51.2bn of sales, almost £10,000 per head of population, which accounts for just ...

It's time to take the secessionist bull by the horns

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT has long since stopped playing by the rules, and what is more, it will be allowed to continue to do so by those who should be scrutinizing them. For anyone in ...

Where now for the Liberal Democrats?

THE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY finds itself lost at sea, rudderless, without sail or paddle, and devoid of compass. Famously, Odyseuss spent ten years afloat after the Siege of Troy – “long adrift on shipless ...

The Northern Agreement with Norway: a new model for the future?

A NUMBER OF previous articles in this series have looked at the EU’s fisheries agreement with Norway. The first two of these totted up who caught how much of what and where, the third argued, ...