Venezuela's tragedy: Enrichment has been for the few, not the many

THERE IS A MYTH that as president the late Hugo Chavez reduced poverty in Venezuela. That he helped the poorest at the expense of the rich. It is untrue. Venezuela has, under his and his ...

Arguments for assisted suicide need answered

THIS WEEK the “Dignity in Dying” campaign launched a new bid to change the law around assisted suicide. A Cross Party Group of MSPs wrote to The Sunday Times  making the case for reform, highlighting ...

Will we see an end-state for Brexit at last?

THIS AFTERNOON, the Commons is to consider alternative options for Brexit including various end-states, that is the Customs Union, a Single Market, Canada, Norway, “Common Market 2.0” etc; as well as various resolution processes, that ...

There's no 'I' in team for our dear leader

INEPT, incongruent, inciteful, individualistic, irreverent, indefatigable, irascible, iniquitous, inaccurate, inpertinent, indecisive, ignoble, irrational, ignorant, intolerant, invidious, incompetent, invertebrate.

Say what you like about our Prime Minister Theresa May, she certainly puts the ...

New polling suggests Brexit Party is set to reap the voters’ wrath

ANOTHER PARLIAMENTARY vote, another assault on British democracy.  It is shameful that such a sentence has to be written, but there it is.  With the two main parties failing to honour the referendum will the British people ...

The Arrogance of those in power too long

WE HAVE SEEN THEM in various countries: the leaders who hang onto power for too long. Francisco Franco in Spain was a case in point, as Caudillo, head of his authoritarian regime from the civil war ...

The SNP's Gilet Jaune wildcat has escaped

IT ALL SEEMED like such a great idea at the time. Faced with what they believed to be an intransigent Spanish Government, the separatist administration in Catalonia decided in 2017 to hold a referendum on ...

The SNP's currency would bring us mortgage madness

THE 1980S were a rollercoaster for many in Britain. Interest rates were routinely above 10 per cent and mortgage owners dreaded negative equity as much as a Soviet invasion, at least one of them was ...

We should reject compulsory by-elections for MPs who defect

DISCUSSION SURROUNDING compulsory by-elections for MPs who defect from the party whose platform they were elected upon has recently restarted after the defection of 11 MPs to the newly-formed, ‘The Independent Group’ (TIG). People have ...

Holyrood smacking ban is nanny-statism dressed up as children’s rights

THE SNP GOVERNMENT has pledged to support a Bill to ban parental smacking, brought forward by Green MSP John Finnie.

His legislation, the virtuous-sounding Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill, is ...

SNP's soft-touch sentencing is no justice for the victims

THE SNP GOVERNMENT has confirmed it will introduce an order, which will effectively ban judges from handing out prison sentences of less than a year. 

This is an alarming policy, particularly at ...

Questions just keep piling up on the car park tax

IT HARDLY SEEMS POSSIBLE that even more confusion could be created around the proposed SNP-Green “Car Park Tax”, but events this week have just muddied the waters still further.

The new Workplace ...