SCOTLAND is now the only country in the democratic world where conversations at home can bring the intervention of the thought police. Remarkably, not only
JUST OVER five years ago, I brought out a book called ‘Scotland Now: A Warning to the World’. I was chastised for the melodramatic title.
NICOLA STURGEON’S persistent caginess about what she knew as she was questioned by the parliamentary inquiry examining her administration’s handling of the allegations made against
THE TWO MAIN opposition parties to the Tories historically have been the Liberals (later Liberal Democrats) and Labour. Their histories are full of delusions and
“Oh, what guid are the poor me’s now?” THIS IS THE EXASPERATED QUESTION Agnes Bain’s mother puts to her drunken daughter when she seeks solace
IN BRITAIN, we are generally proud of our reputation for tolerance, fair-mindedness and moderation. These attitudes, which some people argue are under attack, can be
‘POLITICAL PARTIES are machines designed to gain, regain or retain power. The most successful ones, naturally, have the job of retaining power, which means that
WITH THE EXCEPTION of devolution-minded academics annoyed with Nicola Sturgeon for letting down progressive Scotland by behaving like a Westminster ogre, those who wish the First
AS SHE FACES a showdown this week with the man whom she bizarrely turned on after he placed her on the path to political stardom,
I WAS ASKED recently by a publisher to review a manuscript on the theory of international relations. Its author used a comparison of the ideas
REMEMBER how the SNP asserted that Scotland should have a relationship with the EU mirroring Northern Ireland’s Brexit deal? Whatever happened to that argument? It’s
HISTORIANS MAY YET conclude that it all began to go wrong for the SNP when, on 22 November 2014, 12,000 people crowded into Scotland’s main