Defund the BBC? Here’s how it’s done

LORD HALL DEPARTS the stage of the BBC this week unapologetic and seemingly unaware that at home his organisation’s reputation for fairness and impartiality is increasingly in tatters as British viewers vote with their ...

Nicola Sturgeon: the fear-mongerer's fear-mongerer?

A FORTNIGHT AGO, I returned from a week’s visit to Amsterdam. I am not given to conspiracy theories, but when Nicola Sturgeon advised people not to book a holiday abroad this year, I couldn't help but think it ...

Douglas Ross provokes fear and loathing among disunited separatists

THE SCOTLAND that wanted to be good at making things, producing well-educated young people with bright prospects, where politics rarely clouded ties between friends and neighbours, and an obsession with banners, slogans and flags was ...

Have Scotland’s blood cancer patients had their lives cut short?

ONE CASUALTY of Humza Yousaf's obsession with limiting criticism of his government was the use of emergency powers to make it difficult to gather data from public bodies using Freedom of Information Act requests. ...

The Hate Crime Bill will create more hate, not less

THE LATEST attack on freedoms in Scotland comes in the form of the newly proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. 

It is no exaggeration to say the bill, if passed ...

An upside-down world: the bellicose democrat and temperate dictator

ANTÓNIO SALAZAR guided Portugal’s destiny for nearly forty years but remains an enigmatic and little-studied figure.  I decided to devote a year to trying to explore the reasons for the durability in power of a ...

What is your story? Should you not tell it?

JUST RECENTLY, those in favour of independence in Scotland have been encouraged to “tell stories”. The implication of this is that stories are necessary because the facts in this debate favour the other side. ...

Why are our pro-union politicians so useless?

THIS QUESTION occurred to me while attending the excellent These Islands conference way back in March before the Coronavirus pandemic befell us all.

We all know that the pro-independence campaign lost ...

Trump would be vindicated if he chooses one term only

I NEVER BASED my evaluation of Donald Trump as America’s 45th President solely on the basis of his jarring personality. I was comfortable with his readiness to overturn convention and go hard against his 2016 ...

Emergency laws are no time for political hobby-horses

SINCE THE START of lockdown, over three months ago, the Scottish Parliament passed two “emergency” Coronavirus Bills. The first Bill passed all three stages in one day. The second in a week. 

Is there a journalist who could write Flashman today?

THE HERALD NEWSPAPER in Glasgow is reticent about the fact that its deputy editor in the 1960s later went on to be a master story-teller whose novels sold millions, many remaining in print today. 

Is England’s difficulty Scotland’s opportunity?

IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN if anyone will write a book about our recent discontents that is as compelling a read as one written by George Dangerfield in 1935 and called The Strange Death of ...