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It is an iron law of Scottish politics: never write off Alex Salmond. The former First Minister’s acquittal by a jury on a series of sexual assault charges brings to an end what he described as a ‘nightmare’. The political fallout, however, is still to come. Joanna Cherry, a senior Nationalist at Westminster, said: ‘ItContinueContinue reading “What next for Alex Salmond?”

It’s been ten days since I left the house. I developed a dry cough while visiting my parents and have been self-isolating in my teenage bedroom, surrounded by hand sanitiser and Backstreet Boys posters. I waited for the other dread symptoms to follow — fever, shallow breathing, loss of taste and smell — but soContinueContinue reading “Hope and despair in the Age of Corona”

History turns as much by chance as by design. For every meticulously planned revolution, there is the daring shot that triggers a world war. The coronavirus pandemic is more than a medical emergency; it is a contagion that will spread to every cell and tissue of our lives. The way we live is going toContinueContinue reading “How Coronavirus could change everything”

One of the biggest dangers for a political party is to get too fond of talking to itself. That might not be a problem for the SNP, since so many of them are barely on speaking terms these days. Scotland’s ruling party is having an ugly, public falling out over ‘gender identity’, of all things.ContinueContinue reading “SNP risks tearing itself apart over trans rights”

‘This week, the coronavirus spread to Scotland,’ Jackson Carlaw intoned. ‘The First Minister can be assured that the Scottish Government will have the full and engaged support of myself and all Scottish Conservatives.’ Gah. It was going to be one of those question times. You know the kind, where everyone falls over themselves trying toContinueContinue reading “Green leader’s eco salvo against Sturgeon”

The period between rising star and yesterday’s man is growing shorter and shorter. We already know that Ruth Davidson will be standing down at next year’s Holyrood election after ten years as an MSP. A decade is a long time in most careers but in politics it is barely a warm-up; after ten years inContinueContinue reading “Family-friendly laws require a family-friendly parliament”

It must take its toll, all that phoney outrage, and, true enough, Nicola Sturgeon looked fed up being fed up. At First Minister’s Questions, she did her usual shouting and deployed her familiar demagoguery but her heart wasn’t in it. Not long before FMQs kicked off, one of her most promising MSPs, Highlander Gail Ross,ContinueContinue reading “Sturgeon, Whitney, Joe McCarthy… we didn’t start the fire”

Let’s get ready to rumble. In the blue corner is Angus Robertson, former Westminster leader of the SNP, and candidate for his party’s nomination in Edinburgh Central. In the red corner, Joanna Cherry, MP for Edinburgh South West and, as of Saturday evening, also a contender in Edinburgh Central. This is no ordinary selection battle.ContinueContinue reading “The Showdown in the New Town”

If you’re a regular viewer of First Minister’s Questions — there’s no shame; it’s either this or an Inspector Morse repeat on the other side — you might recognise this sound: oooorrrrhhhhh. It sounds like Yoda with a heavy cold or a dinosaur that just stood on a Lego but is in fact Richard Lyle,ContinueContinue reading “Ohhhhh, Ri-ich-ard Ly-le…”

When news of Jackson Carlaw’s victory came through on Friday, I was in a dentist’s waiting room nursing a jackhammer of a toothache. The announcement was welcome since it provided me with someone other than myself to feel sorry for. After Kezia Dugdale won the Scottish Labour leadership in 2015, I told her my firstContinueContinue reading “A rough road ahead for Scottish Tories but there’s hope too”