Why is it difficult to remain nice in the SNP?

IN ELEVEN YEARS of rule the Scottish National party has become arguably the most ruthless political outfit in these islands, excluding Sinn Fein.  It has exploited a grievance mentality present in perhaps one-fifth of Scots and been ...

Be warned, the problem is the common rule book

A LEGAL BEAVER friend of mine, married to a medieval historian and a fan of modern industrial history himself after a career spell in Glasgow, once surprised me by expressing a deep-felt sentiment about a ...

We face an energy crisis if the warnings are ignored

AS HAS been widely reported, it is ten years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank and the ensuing financial crisis in the banking system. Many commentators issued warnings preceding the crisis that too few boardroom ...

Is it time to look afresh at the Orange Order?

LAST MONTH, just yards from the offices of a major Scottish newspaper, a Glasgow hotel was hosting a curious event. It was an open day for a civic organisation that has one of the most ...

Ferguson's, Calmac and the SNP Government: Who will pay the ferryman?

BACK IN 2014, one of Scotland’s iconic businesses was in trouble. The Clyde’s last commercial shipbuilder, Ferguson Marine Ltd in Port Glasgow, was up for sale, with few potential buyers in sight, and hundreds of ...

Businesses must unite in telling Scottish Government to focus on growth

SINCE BEFORE THE ACTS of Union in 1707, England has been Scotland’s main trading partner. The United Kingdom is one of the largest economies in the world and Scotland has always played a key part ...

Visiting Brussels is enough to make anyone a Brexiteer

ALTHOUGH I was in favour of remaining in the EU, I have never been a particular fan of the European project. It always seemed to me that there was a self-perpetuating bureaucracy in Brussels which ...

Chequers could cost Welsh Conservatives five MPs in a general election

IT’S NOT JUST IN SCOTLAND that Conservatives face a humiliating rejection over Theresa May’s Chequers policy. The same goes for Wales too.

The Welsh Conservatives face a humiliating loss of five MPs ...

Chequers could cost Scots Tories eleven MPs in a general election

SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVES face a humiliating loss of as many as eleven MPs if the UK government does not accept its proposed Chequers Deal fails to deliver the Brexit voters were expecting. 

That ...

Will likeable Sweden recover its mojo?

SWEDEN, the land of proverbial calm, faces an uncertain future because of an ill-advised drive by the previous two governments (one centre-right, the other on the left) to take in large numbers of refugees and ...

Sturgeon’s re-launch fails to take off

IT HAS BEEN something of a nightmare of a summer for Nicola Sturgeon. The last parliamentary session ended in June with a botched reshuffle, the First Minister not only having to sack her closest friend ...

TEN things that could be done to improve our NHS

CRISIS, CRISIS, oh the humanity, it's unprecedented I tell you, the roof is caving in, urgent care is broken... actually none of this is true. 

The NHS is doing its job as ...