Cry freedom for Scotland? But who really wants it?

I DOUBT many people read the minutes of the First Minister’s Standing Council on Europe. They are very short, but they tell a tale.

This twenty member body is typical ...

In power, there's a big difference between cost and value

I WAS INTERESTED to see the seemingly ubiquitous Sir James Dyson announcing that his company is developing a novel electric car (Dyson to make electric cars from 2020). Since a prototype does not ...

Understanding of climate change moves closer towards sceptics

I MAKE no apologies for talking about the thorny issue of climate change yet again. There’s a good reason why: after a decade or more of unwillingness to listen to criticism of the IPCC story on ...

Severe hurricanes caused by climate change? Let’s avoid a rush to judgement

THIS IS PROVING to be a pretty bad season for Atlantic hurricanes, after several years in which few intense ones made landfall. Hurricane Harvey, which started in late August, was the first major hurricane to ...

Pessimism, statists and innovation

THE MESSY WORLD of capitalist innovation; where liberalised individuals use trial, error and quite a lot of muddle to make advances sits ill with a statist perspective.  

The left-wing worldview has always ...

The Forth Bridges represent international co-operation, not Scottish exceptionalism

IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT. The three bridges spanning the Forth between North and South Queensferry built in three different centuries are towering examples of the engineering excellence of their times.

Saltire ...

Whisky Galore, but who's it for?

A LONG, LONG time ago there was a wee country.  It had one big farm export. In fact it was the world's biggest exporter of this product.

Almost the entire ...

Bias and intolerance in scientific discovery

WHILE MANY people pay lip service to objectivity and provide evidence in support of their assertions, true objectivity is very rare. Science is supposedly a body of knowledge assembled dispassionately by researchers looking at all ...

Enforcing Electric-only cars – using a sledgehammer to crack a nut

ELECTRIC CARS may well be the future of personal transport, but only if consumers choose to buy them in preference to the cars of today or if governments effectively ban the internal combustion engine. In ...

Scotland’s squeezed middle: a decade under the SNP

THIS NATIONALIST government has an unhealthy habit of overtaxing the Scottish middle class. Our country’s economic performance shows the damage being done.

When is a tax hike not a tax hike? Political ...

How to see through the smoke and mirrors of Brexit negotiations

WHITEHALL'S ENERGY is a welcome surprise: five position papers last week, bringing the tally to eight in August including a joint note with Brussels. It is not clear if we have a full set, but we have ...

The care home sector is close to a tipping point

IT IS SIMPLY not right that you can be paid more for stacking supermarket shelves than for looking after our vulnerable elderly. So I fully welcome and support the Scottish Government's introduction of the Scottish Carers ...