The rise of the SNP

FROM 1945 to 1964 the Scottish National Party represented no credible threat to the Union. In the 1945 general election it received only 1.27 per cent of the Scottish vote while seven out of its ...

We must abandon fear – it’s time for Recovery

WE’VE ALL HAD to watch a lot of grim TV lately. I’d like to invite you to watch a different channel. 

On the one side, there’s Matt Hancock & the Lockdowners – ...

In praise of the United Kingdom

IN 2017, the British Council conducted a survey among young people across the G20 nations called From the Outside In, which considered how the UK is viewed abroad. It found that the UK ranked fourth equal ...

Scotland and the Second World War

THE MYTH that Britain languished in a deep economic depression in the 1930s – the Slump in other words –  was dispelled in a previous article. It was, in fact, an economically strong Britain that entered ...

Devolution needs reset – returning it to its original limited purpose

ANOTHER WEEK has passed where many of the headlines have revealed the cruelty and absurdity of the world. A teacher in Paris, Samuel Paty, is brutally slain by a Chechen refugee after an imam has ...

The Political peculiarities of interwar Scotland

ALTHOUGH SCOTLAND for the main part reflected British political developments during the interwar period, she demonstrated particular features which need to be examined. She was divided over religion for a start with a marked propensity ...

ThinkBooks: A temperate and sage university gives his insight on Britain and Europe

REGRETTABLY, Vernon Bogdanor is currently one of the few British political scientists likely to have a temperate reaction if presented with an essay from a student which vigorously lays out the failings of the EU. ...

What will end first, the Covid lockdowns or Sturgeon’s leadership?

NICOLA STURGEON is on the ropes as never before. If Scotland’s media and opposition were dogged and savage enough, her interview on Sunday morning with Sky’s Sophy Ridge would have gone down as her Prince Andrew moment. ...

A united Britain was victorious in war – but fallacies about the interwar peace persist

THE REPUTATION of the interwar period but especially of the 1930s as the decade of the slump and appeasement has done untold damage to British self-confidence ever since. It was a period during which supposedly ...

The Union survives the war and evolves: 1918-1939

Mythology in the history of Anglo-Scots Relations – part five

Hard of thinking” Ferrier adds to long list of SNP embarrassments

REACTION to the news that Scottish Nationalist MP Margaret Ferrier (pictured) broke Covid laws multiple times has been swift and unequivocal. Even her boss Nicola Sturgeon has joined calls for her resignation.

How do nationalists avoid facts? By telling fairy stories instead

THE SNP HAS GIVEN up trying to provide a reasoned case for leaving the UK. It tried to construct one in 2014, but it turned out that its case, presented in the 649-page tome, Scotland’s Future, ...