Ashley Douglas

Latest articles from Ashley Douglas

We dehumanise oor politicians at oor peril

HAEIN gliskit Ruth Davidson at some 10-15 fit awa, the man taen oot his camera phone, skelpit alang the pavement ahint her tae catch her up, an demandit tae ken her thochts on Scottish independence (her bein the leader o the Conservative an Unionist pairty in Scotland, he wisnae quite siccar whit they were).

'It’s mair o a comment nor a question …'

YE’RE at a gey interestin an upsteerin panel discussion. The speakers are crackin, the audience engaged, an yer thochts are birlin excitedly roon yer heid. Ye ken there’s a Q&A tae follae, an ye’ve thocht o a question or twa ye’d luve tae speir.

Real progress chynges minds – it’s no jist laws

IN 2016, a muckle majority (69 per cent) o Bermudians votit in a referendum tae rejeck same-sex mairriage. Sixty-three per cent votit agin same-sex civil unions forby. Yet less nor a year later, in 2017, the richt o same-sex couples tae mairry wis legalised by wey o a Supreme Court rulin, which fund that a gay couple had been discriminatit agin whan thair mairriage application wis rejectit. Equal richts campaigners on the socially conservative island eruptit in muckle celebration, same-sex couples began tae wed richt awa, an progressives across the warld walcomed this latest step taewart equality.

A vote’s a vote for a’ that

THE 6th o Februar 2018 will mark ae hunner year on fae whan wimmen were first gien the richt tae vote in the UK. Less weel kent or taen tent o, hooiver, is that thon year seen the vote extendit tae warkin-cless men fur the first time tae. Aforesyne excludit fae the franchise due tae property restrictions, this includit millions o sodjers returnin hame fae the war. Forby it wisnae er 1928 that the vote wis extendit tae aw wimmen, no jist the weel educatit or the weel aff anes (as wis the case in 1918) – an that universal suffrage wis finally achievit.