For the benefit of Sky News, standard Christian doctrine says gay sex is a sin. It’s the sin that gives sinning a good name. There ought to be a stewards’ inquiry into why it didn’t make it into the Ten Commandments. But, yes, it’s one of those trespasses we ask to be forgiven. Sky’s DarrenContinueContinue reading “The cruel hounding of Tim Farron is bloodsport for secularists”
Monthly Archives: April 2017
Rennie’s ram raid raised a laugh but his Lib Dems must be taken seriously
Denis Healey famously described a Commons jeremiad from Geoffrey Howe as ‘like being savaged by a dead sheep’. Willie Rennie has gone one better and managed to get himself savaged by a live one. The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader was doing a photo-op at a farm in Kelty, Fife last week when one of theContinueContinue reading “Rennie’s ram raid raised a laugh but his Lib Dems must be taken seriously”
Voting Green is about feeling morally superior to lesser mortals
In this, as in all things, Paul Keating was right. It was the former Aussie Prime Minister, a Beethoven of political invective, who called his country’s Green Party ‘a bunch of opportunists and Trots hiding behind a gum tree trying to pretend they’re the Labor Party’. Keating’s acid scherzo could apply just as readily toContinueContinue reading “Voting Green is about feeling morally superior to lesser mortals”
Len McCluskey’s hollow victory
Len McCluskey has seen off a challenge to be elected to a third term at the helm of Unite. And what a seeing off it was. When the votes starting to come in, and reportedly showed the top two contenders neck-and-neck, McCluskey’s rival was promptly suspended. Gerard Coyne was stripped of his duties as West MidlandsContinueContinue reading “Len McCluskey’s hollow victory”
A cynical take on Project Fear
A confident Tory Prime Minister. Labour led by an untested left-winger. The SNP surging north of the Border. If Election 2017 feels awfully familiar it’s because we have been here before. Just two years ago, Britain went to the polls in the wake of a divisive constitutional referendum that upended decades-old allegiances. And there wereContinueContinue reading “A cynical take on Project Fear”
Sturgeon knows her party has peaked. That’s why she doesn’t want this election
Barely had the Prime Minister shut the door of Number 10 behind her than the SNP leader was beating a path to the nearest BBC camera. She can’t get someone halfway competent to run Scotland’s schools but she knows where to find Brian Taylor and a microphone in a pinch. Miss Sturgeon pronounced Theresa MayContinueContinue reading “Sturgeon knows her party has peaked. That’s why she doesn’t want this election”
Theresa May is right to say no to a TV debate
I worked on the first TV debate of the Scottish referendum. I was involved in countless more. I was to be found on the production team for televised clashes during the 2015 general election and the 2016 vote for Holyrood. So I speak with some experience when I say TV debates are a terrible idea.ContinueContinue reading “Theresa May is right to say no to a TV debate”
After moving to Edinburgh, I now know what’s wrong with our best cities
Moving house is one of the most stressful experiences you can go through. In my case, it’s also one of the most confusing. As a west coast boy, I’ve just upped sticks and resettled my Glasgow life in Edinburgh, that most unGlasgow of cities. I moved to be nearer Holyrood. I write about politics forContinueContinue reading “After moving to Edinburgh, I now know what’s wrong with our best cities”
The trial of Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin MacKenzie’s baffling compulsion to pick at Liverpool has brought him up a cropper again, with the Sun pulling his latest polemic on Everton FC player Ross Barkley. MacKenzie has compared the footballer, recently victim of an assault in a nightclub, to ‘a gorilla at the zoo’ and added that, in Liverpool, ‘the only menContinueContinue reading “The trial of Kelvin MacKenzie”
Labour has abandoned workers. Trade unions must avoid doing the same
I’m not a member of a trade union but I should be. As a freelance journalist, my employment situation is precarious — yet it still wouldn’t occur to me to join the National Union of Journalists. My reasons are both personal and political, but mostly practical: the NUJ talks tough but, in the end, seldomContinueContinue reading “Labour has abandoned workers. Trade unions must avoid doing the same”
Stephen Daisley 