Confessions of a small-ship cruiser

LOOKING DOWN from the white-painted church on a hill in Cartagena, Colombia, we surveyed the panorama of the harbour and sea front. In the harbour, we noticed a huge cruise ship, the Queen Victoria. Moored adjacent ...

Scapegoating short-term rentals won’t solve the housing crisis

THERE’S A HOUSING CRISIS in this country. Scotland, and our capital city in particular, just doesn’t have houses available to meet the needs of our population. This lack of housing represents one of the biggest ...

Wind power – just another windup?

ACCORDING TO THE WITTICISM and cliché, there are three levels of inaccuracy… lies, damned lies and statistics… This sounds both amusing and accurate but is somewhat unfair, since statistics by their nature are impartial, although ...

Going to Oxbridge is possible – with the right approach

MUCH FLUTTERING in the doo’cots last week when it was reported that just eight schools in the UK dominate entrance to Cambridge and Oxford Universities. It would appear that over the past three years these ...

Supreme Court shows how the Union can work

TODAY'S JUDGEMENT by the Supreme Courton the Scottish Government's Legal Continuity Bill is fascinating. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamic between Holyrood and Westminster. It has restored my faith in ...

No confidence expectations and the numbers game – why 158 is not magic at all

AT LEAST 48 letters calling for a vote of confidence in Theresa May as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party have been received by Sir Graham Brady, the Chairman of the parliamentary party’s 1922 ...

On Brexit - as with everything else, governing is choosing

IN THE EARLY 1950s the French Prime Minister, Pierre Mendes-France, was slightly more than a spear-carrier in the tragi-comedy of the Fourth Republic, with one lasting legacy. On 3 June 1953, he spoke to the ...

More Holyrood posturing, but no positive alternatives for Brexit

WHATEVER VIEW one takes of the Prime Minister’s agreed deal with the EU27 on Brexit, it is at least a substantial proposal which aims to deliver on the result of the EU Referendum, whilst maintaining ...

As May digs her heels in new polling demonstrates the huge unpopularity of her Withdrawal Agreement

NEW POLLING on the Withdrawal Agreement commissioned by Global Britain contains no good news for the Prime Minister. Not even a scintilla of Christmas cheer.

The headline result is that more people support ...

Meeting the power surge is not for feint hearts (nor wind turbines)

NEW YORK, in the words of the popular song, is the city that never sleeps - life there continues around the clock.  To some extent, in 2018, London, Manchester, Glasgow and other large UK cities might ...

It is not enough to thank our emergency workers, we must protect them

I SPENT THE EVENING of November 5th in the Dundee fire control room, watching as the calls came flooding in.

As we know now, firefighters across Scotland dealt with more than 330 ...

Why I cannot support the PM's divisive plan

IN THE 2014 Scottish Independence referendum I campaigned head, heart, body and soul to keep our United Kingdom together and to stop the SNP from breaking it up. Since my election to the House of ...