We must reject a bad ‘deal’ to reboot the EU negotiations

MUCH OF THE COMMENT on the Government’s Withdrawal Agreement has focused on personality and process rather than a full understanding of the detail of the 'deal'.  Then, when there has been consideration of the problems with ...

Scottish Conservatives must not run in the European elections if they dare extend our EU membership

MARCH 29TH 2019 will be a momentous day. I'm not yet sure why but there are at least two reasons I can think of.

The first is that we leave the European ...

What ye sow, so ye shall reap – MPs must moderate their own language and behaviour

TIME FLIES when you're having a referendum or two. It's hard for me to imagine it was over five years ago that my former boss Nigel Farage was heckled and locked in a pub I ...

Should Sturgeon face a vote of no confidence?

IT SMACKS of Yes Minister when the response to a scandal breaking is to order a full and far reaching internal inquiry into an embarrassing matter.  I don't remember the BBC’s brilliant series ever taking ...

When will Scottish Tories be Conservatives again?

THE COMPASS without direction has spun again.  It looks like the Scottish Conservatives are back from the season’s jollies to pour yet more statist gruel down our gullets.  In the form of Brian Whittle MSP the party’s ...

The dance of the Celtic Utopians could spin out of their control

AS LEO VARADKAR steps up his campaign to prevent Ireland's main neighbour and chief trading partner from leave the European Union, it is time to examine why he and his fellow globaliser Nicola Sturgeon are ...

Mind the Gap: Mackay hammers middle income earners

THE BACKGROUND to Wednesday’s Scottish Government Budget announcement from the Finance Secretary Derek Mackay was that he was better placed than in many previous years, given spending decisions taken at Westminster. Following the Chancellor’s budget ...

The political touch of death has delivered a caretaker Prime Minister

LAST NIGHT a majority of Tory backbench MPs came forth and whispered a truth: they do not believe in the Prime Minister. It took the payroll vote to keep her in post. Nonetheless the votes ...

It’s not the backstop that’s at stake, it’s democracy itself

YESTERDAY Theresa May denied Parliament its vote as she knew her Withdrawal Agreement would lose. In the maelstrom of misinformation and the tangled web they weaved, when first they practiced to deceive, let us not ...

Nationalising Scotrail is a useless distraction from improving rail services

THE SCOTRAIL ALLIANCE operates around 2,300 train services each day and delivers over 93 million passenger journeys per year on about 3,000 miles of track. It is always going to be challenging to run.

Andalucia exposes the hole in the heart of the European Left

THE BELEAGURED CAUSE of democratic socialism in Europe was hoping for good news from Spain. Left-wing parties have suffered a series of devastating reverses from Germany to Italy and in some countries, such as France ...

Lessons in Brexit economics – the chimera of frictionless trade

AMONG MANY other myths and oddities about Brexit is the declaration that our government is seeking “frictionless trade” with the EU. 

No trade is frictionless. And economics has a specific “theory of ...