Unleashing Boris remains an option, but Tory campaign resists the temptation

SO FAR, the election has been a slow bicycle-race. Farage unsaddled himself at the outset and Swinson has fallen off; I return to them below. As to the leaders of the major parties, their looks ...

How the SNP myth works: the tension and reflection of narcissism

FOR A WHILE NOW I have been thinking of how best to describe the SNP and its leadership.  Then this week I happened to stare up at the ceiling of a hotel lobby.

Facing up to the SNP threat means thinking and voting tactically

“IF SCOTLAND votes for Independence I’ll move to England”. I have heard a lot of people saying they’d move to Northumberland and no doubt cause a property boom…

I said this in ...

As ignorant armies clash by night

NOW THAT Brexit-Halloween is past, and the “will there/won’t there be an election” suspense has broken, we find ourselves flung into full-on campaign mode. It feels simultaneously familiar and disturbingly new.

What ...

For snobby Nationalists and Greens, the real Scotland is as far away as ever

LIFTED almost word for word from The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell, it is worth remembering during this season of ill-will just how poorly Scottish Nationalists really understand Scottish people. Despite a great many needs ...

The truth may harm Sturgeon's chances more than unionists could hope for

AND WE'RE OFF, again, into a snap General Election. It could have come soon enough for many of us who simply want the result of the 2016 referendum respected.  Polls predict the SNP will regain ...

The mask has slipped. There is something dark behind Ruth's second act

NARCISSISM is a very interesting beast. For good reason it goes by the moniker of the Papillon Noir, the black butterfly.

While a person can seem sprightly, dainty, vulnerable and colourful – ...

Death of a Saleswoman: The Tupperware Tory swaps lobby firms

TUPPERWARE is one of those things that everyone has in their cupboard. Plastic, translucent, most often empty and the only distinguishing feature tends to be a colourful lid. Otherwise you can put in it whatever ...

12 simple reasons Boris, binning the Backstop still isn’t Brexit

FIRST – The withdrawal Agreement – even without the ‘Backstop’ – will put the UK under the de facto jurisdiction of a group of 27 foreign powers, leaving the UK powerless to veto laws or procedures affecting ...

Slavery, Scotland and reparations

THE NEWS that my old alma mater, the University of Glasgow, is to give £30 million to the University of the West Indies in compensation for the donations made to it in the past by slaveholders ...

What does Boris do next within the rule of law?

THE PRIME MINISTER has told members of his Cabinet (who in turn have told the Commons) that naturally, he is to comply with the law. Let us take it that he is unable to agree ...

Why we need to change our referendums – and how

THERE HAVE BEEN two referendums in Scotland in the last five years; the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014 and the referendum on membership of the European Union in 2016. Both referendums were intended to address ...