"Free" Scottish universities are discriminatory and unsustainable

I AM SURE l am not the only MSP in recent days to receive letters from parents of young people seeking a place at a Scottish university but who are being turned away. One parent ...

Is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Boris Johnson's side?

IT’S TIME as a Eurosceptic to wave my Johnson proudly again. Boris recently had a rough week following his comments on the niqab and burqa. Some accused him of being the ultimate hypocrite after previously ...

Two modern blockades – an ancient form of warfare is back in fashion

A LEADER in Berlin styling himself “Emperor of the French and King of Italy” issued a decree on 21 November 1806. The British Isles were to be blockaded, and “whoever deals on the continent in ...

Sweden and Utopia – divorce proceedings now in full swing

THE FUTILITY of Sweden’s fifty-year bid to be a progressive superpower was perhaps well captured by the helpless reaction of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to serious public disorder on 13 August. After masked assailants in ...

We should cut the UK's aid budget to fund social care

THERE IS A BOX in the Emirates Stadium that cost £30m. It wasn’t paid for by Arsenal’s owners. It wasn’t paid for by a Russian oligarch. It wasn’t even a retirement gift for Arsene Wenger.

Transgender schooling of infants must be opposed – but will our political leaders speak out?

THE CULT of transgenderism has taken a very ugly turn. As a libertarian I consider sexuality, whisky and voting in the same bracket. For adults only and in their own privacy.

The ...

‘Capture them young’ - the watchwords of demagogues down the ages

IT CANNOT HAVE TAKEN MUCH for Nicola Sturgeon to have talked one of the many compliant third sector groups into collaborating with her in a propaganda stunt with young people. On 12 September she will ...

The Robert the Bruce syndrome: How the SNP will try, try and try again through our children

IF ONE THING has been clear since 18 September 2014, it is that the SNP has never given up and will never give up trying to win recruits for its mission of breaking up the ...

Trump arrives just in time to see a Scottish autocrat flaunt her power

LET’S FACE IT Donald Trump and Nicola Sturgeon have certain elementary things in common. They are both egotists who crave attention. They rely on family members to discharge authority (she far more than him). They also ...

Hands off Perth Royal Infirmary

LONG BEFORE I became an MSP in 2007, I became acutely aware of just what a special place Perth Royal Infirmary has in the hearts of thousands of residents across Perthshire and Kinross-shire—and rightly so. ...

Why is nationalism dying out in Romania but thriving in Scotland?

A RECENT HOLIDAY in Romania (a country which I have been visiting for 29 years), made me reflect on the respective potency of nationalism there and in Scotland where I live and was born.    

Your McNanny State controls more than just smoking

WHETHER you are a smoker or not everyone should be concerned about the latest tobacco control action plan that proposes a ban on smoking in council houses, released recently by the Scottish Government.