Conference season is The X Factor for aspiring party leaders. Wannabes treat their annual speech to the grassroots as a live audition for the big gig. Whether their current leader's coat is on a shoogly peg or, like David Cameron, he still has a few more years left in him, the backing dancers all dreamContinue reading "Why is Ruth Davidson not vying to be the next Tory leader?"
SNP’s intolerance could blow up in its face
"I live in a rather special world,” mused Pauline Kael. “I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken.” It was 1972, a month after his re-election in a landslide, and the film critic voiced the liberal intelligentsia’s bewilderment. How could a country so obviouslyContinue reading "SNP’s intolerance could blow up in its face"
Corbyn Labour dwarfed in the shadow of Denis Healey
Denis Healey was a giant and lived in an age of giants. His name shares breath with the icons of postwar Labour: Wilson and Callaghan, Gaitskill and Castle, Crosland and Benn. One need not be a misty-eyed nostalgist to lament the absence of such big beasts from today’s parliamentary party. Healey had hinterland. He foughtContinue reading "Corbyn Labour dwarfed in the shadow of Denis Healey"
John MacKay and a generation of change in Scotland
'Where does John MacKay sit?' The seating arrangements of the STV newsroom are a source of curiosity for some, and often the first question posed when it is discovered that you work for the broadcaster. There is an assumption that the presenter is enthroned in an opulent office on the top floor, deigning only toContinue reading "John MacKay and a generation of change in Scotland"
The most scandalous book you will read about Better Together
Project Fear: How an Unlikely Alliance Left a Kingdom United but a Country Divided By Joe Pike Biteback, pp. 320 Joe Pike is the last person you'd expect to write a scandalous account of the campaign against independence. Polemicists like Kevin McKenna or Brian Wilson, perhaps. David Torrance, maybe; he has a new book to go withContinue reading "The most scandalous book you will read about Better Together"
Public won’t allow Corbyn to ban the bomb
The British Army is going soft. A week into Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and only now has the prospect of a coup been raised. Labour’s number one comrade pals around with terrorists, fails to condemn the IRA and wants to cripple western military power. I’d have expected targeted airstrikes by Wednesday last week. A “senior servingContinue reading "Public won’t allow Corbyn to ban the bomb"
The Prime Minister, the pig and the principles at stake
At least now we know why Kermit and Miss Piggy split up. According to a tell-all book by Tory moneybags Lord Ashcroft, David Cameron had intimate contact with a deceased member of the porcine community during his time at Oxford. Cameron supposedly porked the piglet as part of an initiation ceremony for Piers Gaveston, anContinue reading "The Prime Minister, the pig and the principles at stake"
Cameron stands to be the winner of Corbyn’s new politics
Crashing bores have had Prime Minister's Questions in their sights for years now. All those vinegar-faced finger-waggers who want "new politics" and "consensus" and "engagement" - that is, political debate without the debate - have been itching to turn the weekly spectacle into a half-hour of polite head-nodding. They want to make it... constructive. TodayContinue reading "Cameron stands to be the winner of Corbyn’s new politics"
Labour has abandoned its purpose and those who rely on it
At this point David Cameron could nuke Yorkshire and get away with it. The Labour Party, founded to seek power in the interests of working people, has decided that power is something dirty and it would much rather feel good about itself. To atone for the sin of winning three general elections, they have chosenContinue reading "Labour has abandoned its purpose and those who rely on it"
What does Jeremy Corbyn mean for Scotland and the SNP?
Good news, Scottish Labour - your eight years in the wilderness are about to come to an end. Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the UK party and as his Scottish boosters assured us during the campaign his anti-austerity agenda is poised to return Scotland to the Labour fold. The SNP was swept toContinue reading "What does Jeremy Corbyn mean for Scotland and the SNP?"
Stephen Daisley 