Category Archives: Uncategorized

I want Derek Mackay to read this so I’m going to start by saying something nice about him. This column has been known to have a dig or two at the Finance Secretary but make no mistake: he is a skilled politician with legitimate ambitions to lead his party. When he replaced John Swinney inContinueContinue reading “How Derek Mackay can help the Tartan Tiger roar”

Fidel Castro used to deliver nine-hour speeches and have his political opponents shot. Patrick Harvie tries to combine the two: during his 301-word question at Holyrood yesterday, some Tory MSPs took on the glazed register of people longing for a bottle of brandy and a revolver. Mr Harvie does not mean to torture his opponents.ContinueContinue reading “The end of the world and Brexit’s not even in sight”

The First Minister is ready for her close-up. As soon as she got wind of a live Brexit debate, up went Nicola Sturgeon’s peremptory demand that she be included. It is an invariable law of Scottish physics that the shortest distance at any given time is between the First Minister and a TV camera. AContinueContinue reading “Sturgeon in the Brexit TV debate? Pass the remote.”

Jackson Carlaw is a frightfully nice man who should not be allowed to dress himself. Yesterday at Holyrood he turned up sporting a chartreuse tie that hinted at a second job as the night manager of an Elvis-themed Las Vegas wedding chapel. It wasn’t quite atomic green but Fin Carson might want to get himselfContinueContinue reading “Carlaw takes Tories in a neon-conservative direction”

Politics is nothing like normal life and the rules are different there. In normal life, it’s the quiet ones you have to keep an eye on, as every ashen neighbour who has ever told a TV news camera ‘he always kept himself to himself’ will attest. In politics, it’s the loud ones that need watching.ContinueContinue reading “Authenticity in politics? I’d rather have character, Darling.”

First Minister’s Questions is no place for alarmism. Nicola Sturgeon made that clear when she warned Jackson Carlaw against ‘inadvertently undermin[ing] public confidence’ in the flu jab. On what tenuous basis was the interim Tory leader engaging in such wanton scaremongering? Other than the fact that 61 per cent of over-65s haven’t received the vaccineContinueContinue reading “Bomber Baillie goes Full Metal Jackie”

Nothing humiliates quite like the sympathy of foreigners. When you are overseas in times of acute national anguish, even the slenderest shard of sympathy can pierce the heart. It is far preferable that your hosts be blunt. Candour stings but pity burns. I spent last week in Israel, land of unwieldy coalitions and unstable governments.ContinueContinue reading “Brexit Britain makes Israel’s hectic politics look strong and stable”

I was very sorry to hear of the resignation of *checks hand* Arsène Wenger from *squints* Arsenal Football Club, a popular London soccer ensemble chaired by Mr Chips ever since his retirement from Brookfield. As I had, um, temporarily forgotten who Mr Wenger was, I decided to record everything I know about the moderately attractive game. AsContinueContinue reading “What I know about football”