Will likeable Sweden recover its mojo?

SWEDEN, the land of proverbial calm, faces an uncertain future because of an ill-advised drive by the previous two governments (one centre-right, the other on the left) to take in large numbers of refugees and ...

Sturgeon’s re-launch fails to take off

IT HAS BEEN something of a nightmare of a summer for Nicola Sturgeon. The last parliamentary session ended in June with a botched reshuffle, the First Minister not only having to sack her closest friend ...

TEN things that could be done to improve our NHS

CRISIS, CRISIS, oh the humanity, it's unprecedented I tell you, the roof is caving in, urgent care is broken... actually none of this is true. 

The NHS is doing its job as ...

Rail nationalisation? Our railways are in better shape than before franchising

NO ONE who advocates the current, part-privatised model of railways that currently exists in Britain can expect to receive an easy ride. I found this out last week when I published a report– commissioned ...

Alex Salmond: Did it take a new code of conduct for the complaints to be made?

WORLD WAR I started in no small measure because of the miscalculations made by several of the Great Powers following the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 2014.  They misinterpreted the mood ...

"Free" Scottish universities are discriminatory and unsustainable

I AM SURE l am not the only MSP in recent days to receive letters from parents of young people seeking a place at a Scottish university but who are being turned away. One parent ...

Is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Boris Johnson's side?

IT’S TIME as a Eurosceptic to wave my Johnson proudly again. Boris recently had a rough week following his comments on the niqab and burqa. Some accused him of being the ultimate hypocrite after previously ...

Two modern blockades – an ancient form of warfare is back in fashion

A LEADER in Berlin styling himself “Emperor of the French and King of Italy” issued a decree on 21 November 1806. The British Isles were to be blockaded, and “whoever deals on the continent in ...

Sweden and Utopia – divorce proceedings now in full swing

THE FUTILITY of Sweden’s fifty-year bid to be a progressive superpower was perhaps well captured by the helpless reaction of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to serious public disorder on 13 August. After masked assailants in ...

We should cut the UK's aid budget to fund social care

THERE IS A BOX in the Emirates Stadium that cost £30m. It wasn’t paid for by Arsenal’s owners. It wasn’t paid for by a Russian oligarch. It wasn’t even a retirement gift for Arsene Wenger.

Transgender schooling of infants must be opposed – but will our political leaders speak out?

THE CULT of transgenderism has taken a very ugly turn. As a libertarian I consider sexuality, whisky and voting in the same bracket. For adults only and in their own privacy.

The ...

‘Capture them young’ - the watchwords of demagogues down the ages

IT CANNOT HAVE TAKEN MUCH for Nicola Sturgeon to have talked one of the many compliant third sector groups into collaborating with her in a propaganda stunt with young people. On 12 September she will ...