Shetland to the Isles of Scilly – there’s more that binds us than divides us

I WROTE AN ARTICLE on ThinkScotland back in August on why I believed Scotland should stay as part of the United Kingdom around my main argument of the economic stability that pooling and sharing our resources ...

From Auld Alliance to creating the United Kingdom

Mythology in the history of Anglo-Scots Relations – part two

Mythology in the history of Anglo-Scots relations

THERE CAN BE little doubt that the relationship with England has been the key factor in the birth, development and for some the decline of the Scottish nation. England is Scotland’s larger, richer and more ...

Focussing on headlines combined with incompetence is a recipe for failure

THE RECENT SQA results debacle and the off/on return to school during the current pandemic have shone a searing light on the systemic and recurring problems in Scottish education.  As pupils and teachers are tossed from ...

Deal or no deal, the European Arrest Warrant threatens our human rights

HOW MANY in the Scottish or UK governments, at any level, are aware that the European Court of Human Rights declared that up to 5 years in prison awaiting, not just trial, but a prisoner's first appearance in a public ...

Sturgeon’s juggernaut of fear lumbers on in Scotland

THE FIRST MINISTER may be waving behind the wheel, but she is no longer in control of the vehicle. Tuesday’s announcement that face coverings will become mandatory in schools from August 31 ...

Defund the BBC? Here’s how it’s done

LORD HALL DEPARTS the stage of the BBC this week unapologetic and seemingly unaware that at home his organisation’s reputation for fairness and impartiality is increasingly in tatters as British viewers vote with their ...

Nicola Sturgeon: the fear-mongerer's fear-mongerer?

A FORTNIGHT AGO, I returned from a week’s visit to Amsterdam. I am not given to conspiracy theories, but when Nicola Sturgeon advised people not to book a holiday abroad this year, I couldn't help but think it ...

Douglas Ross provokes fear and loathing among disunited separatists

THE SCOTLAND that wanted to be good at making things, producing well-educated young people with bright prospects, where politics rarely clouded ties between friends and neighbours, and an obsession with banners, slogans and flags was ...

Have Scotland’s blood cancer patients had their lives cut short?

ONE CASUALTY of Humza Yousaf's obsession with limiting criticism of his government was the use of emergency powers to make it difficult to gather data from public bodies using Freedom of Information Act requests. ...

The Hate Crime Bill will create more hate, not less

THE LATEST attack on freedoms in Scotland comes in the form of the newly proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. 

It is no exaggeration to say the bill, if passed ...

An upside-down world: the bellicose democrat and temperate dictator

ANTÓNIO SALAZAR guided Portugal’s destiny for nearly forty years but remains an enigmatic and little-studied figure.  I decided to devote a year to trying to explore the reasons for the durability in power of a ...