Pete Wishart

LET me put this out there straight away. A de facto referendum is just about the worst possible way to settle the constitutional future of Scotland. Let me also put it another way. A de facto referendum is now the only way we’re going to be able to settle the constitutional future of Scotland.

TODAY was quite an extraordinary day in Westminster, and believe me, I have seen a number of extraordinary days in my 21 years in the place.

VOTERS, eh? What are they like? You can give them all the information in the world about how to vote but yet they will still have the temerity to make up their own minds.

THERE is no doubt that the Tory “cash for honours” scandal is an appalling abuse of the system - the only question now is whether there is sufficient evidence of a breach of the law.

SCANDAL and this Tory UK government seem to go hand in hand. We are in the midst of one of the most sleaze-ridden Westminster governments in recent memory and the backhanders and brown envelopes continue to pile up.

AT the weekend it was announced in the pages of The National that the SNP will be introducing its draft Referendum Bill to Parliament in the next few weeks. This follows the production of the 11-point plan by Michael Russell and the bill passed by Parliament last year determining the rules and principles for a referendum.

OF all the things musicians would rate amongst their ambitions when setting out at the start of their career, success in Europe would be close to the top. A continent with a diverse musical taste, loyal fans, an almost inexplicable musical curiosity – Europe is on our doorstep but can almost seem like another world.

YESTERDAY was a bad, ugly, dispiriting day that appalled and sickened all of us involved in the debate about drugs deaths in Scotland. Every one of these 1264 deaths is a son, a daughter a brother, sister, father, mother. Every one of these deaths was entirely unnecessary and avoidable and we should be saying one word – enough.

WHO would have thought that five and a half years after losing a referendum on independence support is now edging over 50% and becoming a sustained majority? The resilience of the movement and the belief that this is unfinished business has endured and we are now at the point where we can almost touch out and reach our ambitions and move towards the reality of Scotland becoming an independent nation.