Now Sturgeon must show humility — and get on with the day job

This is the week Nicola Sturgeon never expected to face. The First Minister is preparing to address the question of a second independence referendum. When she announced her drive for a rerun of the first plebiscite, and pushed through a vote on it at Holyrood, it looked like discontent over Brexit could carry her over […]

Children of Corbyn go to war against their parents

At first glance the line-up for Glastonbury, disturbing the peace of the Somerset countryside this weekend, is unremarkable. Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Australian psychedelic rockers, m’lud — will be familiar to habitual attendees of this annual celebration of mud and mind-altering substances into which music occasionally intrudes. But […]

Watching Trump’s Twitter come to life at FMQs

In fairness to Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale started it. The Scottish Labour leader, spoiling for a fight, told First Minister’s Questions: ‘This week, the Scottish National Party unveiled plans to cut taxes for wealthy air travellers and voted to cut off puppy dogs’ tails.’ The First Minister bared her teeth. John Swinney yapped excitedly at […]

A lesson for inept politicians from parents fighting to control their school

It was an act of unforgivable cruelty. On Thursday, education secretary John Swinney stood up at Holyrood and dashed the hopes of hundreds of parents and children when he announced the Scottish Government would not support the campaign to save St Joseph’s. You might not have heard of this primary school in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire […]

The SNP will soon learn why denial eventually turns into grief

In 1969, the psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published her theory that, after a shocking loss, grief comes in five stages. First, there is denial, which gives way to anger, and then to an attempt to bargain away the pain. After this, comes depression and finally, when the truth can be postponed no longer, there is acceptance. […]

Ditch the West Wing fantasists… it’s time to embrace a new politics

If you hadn’t heard of Nick Timothy or Fiona Hill before this weekend, you are not alone. The Prime Minister’s co-chiefs of staff (the government oversees a sluggish economy but it knows how to create jobs in all the right places) have resigned their posts in the wake of Theresa May’s calamitous election result. The […]

The night of the long claymores

It was the night of the long claymores. One after one, the frontline of Scottish nationalism fell. Alex Salmond — gone. Angus Robertson — gone. John Nicolson — gone. The terrain of the nation’s politics has been redrawn; familiar peaks have collapsed and new ascents have risen in their place. Scottish politics has changed a […]