Prestwick revelations expose SNP hypocrisy on RBS

I HAVE EVERY SYMPATHY with those in rural communities facing the prospect of losing their RBS branches. Just a few weeks ago, I joined more than 100 local residents in The Square, Aberfeldy, to protest ...

Time’s Up Cabinet Secretary

POLICING IN SCOTLAND is going through an extremely contentious period.

Chief Constable Phil Gormley has dominated the news after last week saw the seventh allegation being filed against him. This came two ...

Want a democratic revolution? Smash the party system

IN 2016 we had the deaths of an extraordinary number of famous people that had shaped the previous century; Hibs won the Scottish Cup; the SNP lost its majority at Holyrood while Labour came third ...

We know these things are true

SO FAR, January has been something of a phoney war, confined to preliminaries by the Sherpas, no news conferences, and everyone said to be working to a timetable to agree transition by March and a ...

Jordan Peterson – a liberal hero for our times

TWO WEEKS AGO, there were probably very few people in this country who had even heard of the Canadian academic Jordan Peterson. He has become well known across the pond as a free-thinking public intellectual, ...

What, if anything, should be done about prostitution?

THE ISSUE OF PROSTITUTION, and what to do about it was debated in Holyrood in December. I grew up in Leith in the 80’s and 90’s, which brought home the effects of prostitution, on both individuals ...

Without coal how do we keep the lights on?

THERE HAVE BEEN several announcements in the last two years on the BBC and in press releases by Renewables UK noting that the proportion of electricity generated by renewables has reached record levels.  They deduce ...

Scotland's place in Europe - so long as it has no place in the UK

I'VE READ THROUGH the Scottish Government report on Brexit. The latest one that is, imaginatively titled Scotland’s Place in Europe: People, jobs and investment.

The first thing that jumps out is how ...

The time is overdue for cyclists to face their responsibilities

I HAVE TO BE totally honest from the very start; I’m not a great fan of cyclists. Not that I haven’t cycled myself in the past, mind, but I found it much easier to give ...

Another blow for Sturgeon as Scots reject SNP Brexit stance

PROFESSOR JOHN CURTICE must be the closest thing that Scotland has to a national treasure. The recent rash of elections and referendums has made him a fixture on our television screens, presenting polling research and ...

Referenda: Democracy in action or dictator’s device?

GIVING EVERYONE a say in policy matters through the medium of a referendum is the ultimate in democracy, isn’t it? Well, no, it isn’t. The referendum appears to be thoroughly democratic because everyone’s voice counts ...

It's time for police governance to be revisited

THE POLICE and Fire Reform Act 2012 that created Police Scotland built a structure involving a single Police Force, overseen by the Scottish Police Authority (“SPA”), which would link the police to Government.