Scottish Tories must emerge from life support soon to make any difference

RECENT MONTHS have left me more despondent about Scottish politics than ever before. No doubt the ennui and oppression of lockdown, endured in what has felt increasingly like a one-party state, has played its part.

The First Minister has climbed ever higher in the ...

Trigger warning: we are not an effing amusement park

THERE IS SOMETHING special about the British seaside, be it in Orkney or Skeggy. It's the only place you catch crabs and be thankful, because the UK has abundant fish stocks and seaside humour is ...

Political narcissism always eats itself - the SNP will be no different

THREE OF THE WORST regimes of the last century were dominated by narcissist leaders who while red in tooth and claw were very astute in wrapping themselves in their respective national memories. 

Romania ...

Scottish Conservatives need a leader to take the fight to Sturgeon – not make swipes at colleagues

I TAKE NO PLEASURE whatsoever in writing this article. I have been an approved Conservative candidate since 2011 and a committed campaigner with the party for many years prior to that,

I ...

The SNP don’t get to pick and choose the causes we believe in

HOW CONFIDENT would you be to go against the grain in Sturgeon’s Scotland? What if you said something mildly controversial? Or flippantly shared a meme on social media? You’d be lying if you said ...

Housing policy? Build them and they will come

A LONG TERM consequence of the Covid-19 crisis will be increasing numbers of people working from home. On wee wet and windy isles like ours, where is home? Where should it be?

Scottish, Trinidadian and British – not proud but grateful

THE TRAGIC DEATH at the hands of police of George Floyd and others in the USA and before that of Sheku Bayoh in Scotland, have understandably triggered protests and examination of race relations and attitudes ...

Call for essays on the Conservative Party – a response from Scottish Unionists

WHILE WE ARE PREPARING for the Holyrood elections in 2021 the executive of the Scottish Unionists has decided to intervene before our formal launch as a new unionist party for Scotland and the UK given ...

Is substantial change coming to employment law? I rather doubt it…

SINCE THE UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, a running question, whether borne of fear or celebration depending on one’s point of view, has been that Brexit could lead to substantial deregulation when ...

Cummings: Media plays the man while ignoring the lockdown rules

A SENSIBLE and tenacious media is often critical in saving countries when threatened by an assault on democratic institutions. But an irresponsible and demagogic media can also imperil the freedom of countries, even ones ...

Responding to Covid-19 – the way forward

COVID-19 caught virtually all governments and health systems across the world unawares. Leaders seeking to cover their missteps are at pains to emphasize that the pandemic’s progression has been a steep learning curve for all ...

Urban freedoms are being menaced by determined extremists

LAST WEEK the libertarian politician Douglas Carswell came near to admitting that decentralisation measures introduced in Britain over the last twenty years had gone badly awry.  He tweeted:

“Let’s be honest, it’s not ...