Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mhairi Black is a nightmare to interview. We’re walking along the Paisley side street where her campaign hub is based on Friday afternoon. It’s an unusually warm and inviting day so how better to get a flavour of the electors’ attitude towards the SNP candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire South than by hitting the streetsContinueContinue reading “Mademoiselle Ecosse goes to Westminster”

Ukip is not the party that “stands up for ordinary people”. It is not the party that “tells it like it is” or “hits the nail on the head” or “says what everyone else is thinking”. It doesn’t “speak truth to power” or take on the “PC mob”, the “human rights brigade”, or the “Eurocrats”.ContinueContinue reading “David Coburn interview shows what Ukip is and what it is not”

Some truths are so appealing even facts can’t refute them. Received wisdom is particularly enervating in politics because it calcifies myth and frustrates free-ranging debate. We already have enough blind faith in Scottish affairs so a new poll on public attitudes towards welfare is to be welcomed for delivering a dose of reality. The YouGovContinueContinue reading “About that Scottish social democratic consensus…”

Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t walk on water after all. The SNP leader famed for her formidable debating skills struggled to take the fight to Jim Murphy in the Scotland Debates programme. I assumed Ms Sturgeon had won before she even took to her podium. There was no way Mr Murphy could outmanoeuvre the most popular politicianContinueContinue reading “Nicola Sturgeon had a bad debate but will it change anything?”

Gordon Brown is all substance and no style. We know this to be true because lots of people say it over and over. It’s said by his admirers (“unlike You Know Who” they often add) and by his detractors, who deem him insufficiently image-friendly for modern, media-driven politics. His final speech to Parliament on ThursdayContinueContinue reading “Gordon Brown bows out in style, with substance”

A hysteria grips this fair country of ours. It is not a feverish fandom for a footballer or a pop group or a shiny new gadget. It is not the 950,000 signatories to the petition to reinstate Jeremy Clarkson to a job from which he has not been fired. (Though these are profoundly odd peopleContinueContinue reading “Anti-immigrationism has poisoned politics in Britain”

Budget statements are pretty dull affairs. Amidst a blizzard of statistics and percentages, most voters just want to know how much more they’ll have to pay for a pint, a pack of smokes, and a gallon of petrol. What little fun stuff there once was has been purged, such as the customary dram of whiskyContinueContinue reading “Is the Budget good news or bad news for your pocket?”