Holyrood seldom gives off the air of a hallowed chamber of deliberation but yesterday was an especially low point. From every crack and crevice oozed a sense of entitlement, a slithering slime of self-regard that tackied up every surface. It was in the tone, too; those trim vowels that announce in kindergarten teacherly admonition: shush, […]
Author Archives: stephenjdaisley
Triumph of patriots and the ruin of a nation
This week, Nicola Sturgeon will deliver another statement on independence to the Scottish Parliament. It will be a response to the Prime Minister’s letter rejecting a request from the SNP leader to grant a second referendum on separation. She is expected to set out her next steps in pursuit of Scexit. This week, Nicola Sturgeon […]
Nicola Sturgeon won’t be taking any lectures from you
If you missed First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon still isn’t taking any lectures from anyone, SNP MSPs retain an impressive capacity for toadying and everything’s much worse in Wales. Specifically, she would not be taking a lecture from Jackson Carlaw on police funding. The interim Tory leader said police stations had ‘water pouring in through […]
Don Elizabeth II makes Harry an offer he can’t refuse
The Royal Family has just survived its first brush with the culture war. It turns out if you want to outsmart woke millennials, you need a great-grandmother who still remembers the Blitz and, at 93, absolutely does not have time for your nonsense. The press release issued by Buckingham Palace made the Queen’s offer to […]
Failing Sturgeon demands a gold star on education
Anyone who watches First Minister’s Questions and still wants an independent Scotland deserves one. Jackson Carlaw’s weekly waltz with the latest strawman fashioned by the First Minister was made more miserable still by severely inflamed vocal cords. The Tory leader had lost his voice more brutally than those seven seats he misplaced in December. He […]
The monarchy and the Union are in crisis for the same reasons
If you’re anything like me, you will have found yourself in more than one conversation over the past week in which someone uttered the words: ‘It’s the Queen I feel sorry for.’ Her Majesty may be fortunate enough to head a royal family but even she must wonder from time to time why it has […]
Nicola Sturgeon and the Revenge of the Lefties
Nicola Sturgeon’s loudest critics usually come from the Right but the first question time of 2020 was Revenge of the Lefties. She was in the midst of fending off an education-themed broadside from Jackson Carlaw when a chalk-haired gentleman got to his feet in the public gallery and tried to unfurl a banner against fossil […]
There will be no Indyref2 in 2020, but Unionists must get their act together
If you’re already struggling to keep your New Year’s resolutions, spare a thought for Nicola Sturgeon, who is resolved to get a second referendum on independence out of a Tory government in the next 12 months. Since inheriting the SNP leadership from Alex Salmond in 2014, Sturgeon has been forced into a series of increasingly […]
Scottish Tories need 2020 vision — and fast
Wednesday will bring 2020 and with it the SNP’s 13th year in devolved government. It is unlikely to be the party’s last, a state of affairs which ought to prompt soul-searching among the Nationalists’ opponents. When Alex Salmond eked out a narrow win in 2007, there was a vivid conviction in Scottish Labour that this […]
Why does the SNP keep winning? Just look at the opposition.
Back when there were still rules to politics, one of them was this: a government in power for a long time with nothing to show for it is a goner come the next election. By that logic, Nicola Sturgeon should be savouring her remaining time in Bute House before the removal men come to pack […]
