Why are our pro-union politicians so useless?

THIS QUESTION occurred to me while attending the excellent These Islands conference way back in March before the Coronavirus pandemic befell us all.

We all know that the pro-independence campaign lost ...

Trump would be vindicated if he chooses one term only

I NEVER BASED my evaluation of Donald Trump as America’s 45th President solely on the basis of his jarring personality. I was comfortable with his readiness to overturn convention and go hard against his 2016 ...

Emergency laws are no time for political hobby-horses

SINCE THE START of lockdown, over three months ago, the Scottish Parliament passed two “emergency” Coronavirus Bills. The first Bill passed all three stages in one day. The second in a week. 

Is there a journalist who could write Flashman today?

THE HERALD NEWSPAPER in Glasgow is reticent about the fact that its deputy editor in the 1960s later went on to be a master story-teller whose novels sold millions, many remaining in print today. 

Is England’s difficulty Scotland’s opportunity?

IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN if anyone will write a book about our recent discontents that is as compelling a read as one written by George Dangerfield in 1935 and called The Strange Death of ...

Sturgeon's Scotland offers a model for America’s enemies of freedom and order

ON BOTH SIDES of the Atlantic, two sets of agitators are indulging in victimhood. Their aim is to try and acquire or consolidate power.

In the United States left-wing radicals are exploiting ...

Scottish Conservative & Unionist? What’s in a name?

CONCERNED that during this lockdown its readers, their children and their children’s children might be suffering academic deprivation, Think Scotland has come up with its very own essay question.

Proposition: The current ...

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She's not the Madonna, she's a very nippy sweetie

IT IS AN ODD THING to live through a crisis. One expects it to be sudden, and then over as quickly. The truth is just like with the financial crash of 2008, the 2020 Covid-19 ...

Boris’s gamble

AS I WRITE, I have no idea if Dominic Cummings will eventually fall on his sword, deciding à la Alastair Campbell that the advisor has to go when he becomes the story. 

Sturgeon’s Intolerance of dissenting views is not entirely bad

THANKS TO A VOTE by the Scottish parliament on 19 May, some transparency has been restored to the workings of the devolved administration. Severe curbs on freedom of information that were hastily introduced by Nicola ...

'Stay Alert?' Johnson trusts the people – Sturgeon does not

THE UNEASY STAND-OFF did not last long. The First Minister of Scotland seems not to know what ‘stay alert’ means and has made it very clear those living in Scotland should “stay home,” with unsubtle ...

Nurses and farmers should define our futures, not unionists and nationalists

WITH ALL that is going on in the world, to think that there are still people in Scotland talking about the constitution is just pathetic, and shows just how shallow our politics and those who ...