OVER the past year we’ve seen the tentacles of the British state penetrate in ways we couldn’t have imagined and well beyond what
I’M reminded that exactly 10 years ago I was in Kelso, at the Border Union Show.
I REMAIN to be convinced that Labour will win an overall majority at next year’s General Election.
FOR the best part of two decades, the SNP’s leaders have been towering figures who dominated Scottish politics.
THE debate on reform of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Act needs a reset. Intimidation and distortion of the truth have been tolerated for too long – and, through no fault of their own, it’s trans people who are paying the price.
TODAY is World Mental Health Day and this year more than ever it will mean something to every one of us. The past seven months have affected us all, emotionally and psychologically, in different ways. And alas, just as many of us started to gain confidence about easing ourselves back to normality, restrictions have been re-imposed.
SINCE the SNP’s landmark “Independence in Europe” policy was crafted in the late 1980s, the party has articulated a vision of an independent Scotland working constructively with its European neighbours. Nicola Sturgeon stood by that policy throughout the Brexit saga and was right to do so.
AS the saying goes, history repeats – the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. The present moment feels like a darkly farcical repeat of the last 10 days of the indyref: UK ministers flying up for photo ops in desperate bids to prove their relevance, a chorus of the usual suspects dismissing our ability to stand on our own two feet and the usual tired gimmicks, like plans to drape UK-funded projects in Scotland with Union flags.
DEFLECTION is one of the oldest tricks in the book in politics: if you create enough bogus noise it can draw attention away from the things that matter. And that’s most likely the case with the hullabaloo around the Prime Minister’s Highland getaway, coinciding as it did with the sixth poll showing majority support for independence, the English exams crisis and a looming No-Deal Brexit.
ITALY’S historic capital and one of the world’s greatest and most visited cities is in lockdown. The streets are empty. The metro deserted. Locals are desperately looking for clarity on the new rules announced on Monday night by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. And the few tourists left are looking for a way to make it back home, with several airlines announcing cancellations.
