I suspect that the next General Election, whether it’s in Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter this year, will turn not on which Party has the most positive platform or indeed charismatic Leader. It’s looking increasingly likely that it will in fact be a vote against a tired, corrupt and immoral Tory Government which has patently run out of steam and in favour of a boring, clueless and utterly uninspiring Labour Party which is devoid of policy, principle or ambition even before polling day never mind after years in Government. Labour do though have one big thing going for them: they’re not the Tory Party. If ever there was an electionRead More →

I was struck by a report, I think in The Guardian, that only 2% of school students are taught about the Middle East. Apparently, it’s too contentious and too hard, perhaps because of the pernicious roles played by many British Governments! Speaks volumes about the education system. For many, it’s a war which focuses on perceived victimhood and to a very large extent that depends on the start date you choose. For some the conflict started on October 7 when Hamas launched its assault on Israel and the resultant savagery. But as the UN has pointed out, this did not happen in a vacuum. For at least a decade, in Israel, and indeedRead More →

This week saw the service of thanksgiving in Edinburgh for King Charles and Queen Camilla. The UK has already spent well over £100 million on the State Coronation. Now we are to have more pomp, ceremony, and dressing in ancient style clothing. He is to be offered the jewels of Scotland and a brand-new sword at extortionate cost. The jewels and the sword will be kept under lock and key in the castle where the tourists may have the privilege of ogling them. The Lord Lyon was asked on Tuesday if it was fair that so much pomp and ceremony should be taking place, at such great cost, whenRead More →

The late Oliver Brown brought wit, scholarship, passion, ribaldry and the most uncringing spirit to the cause of Nationalism. Readers of the Scots Independent recall his inimitable column “Oliver” which enlivened this newspaper just as its author enlivened so many public meetings. Oliver Brown was a great journalist and the least provincial of men. His Scotland stood an equal among nations, neither vainglorious or servile. He was the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election. For many years, alone, he ran a weekly Saturday night open-air meeting at West Campbell Street, Glasgow. The Scots Independent, sadly aware of whatRead More →

In a recent piece for The Atlantic, “How the UK Became One Of The Poorest Countries in Western Europe”*, Derek Thomson wrote ” When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it hit hard, smashing the engine of Britain’s economic ascent. Wary of rising deficits, the British government pursued a policy of austerity, fretting about debt rather than productivity or aggregate demand. The results were disastrous. Real wages fell for six straight years. Facing what the writer Fintan O’Toole called “the dull anxiety of declining living standards,” conservative pols sniffed out a bogeyman to blame for this slow-motion catastrophe. They served up to anxious voters a menu of scary outsiders:Read More →

There is something both off-putting and at the same time intensely compelling about the tragedy currently playing out at the heart of UK politics.  As a Prime Minister who is so utterly unsuited, unable and unworthy of the job for which she has battled, schemed, twisted and turned all her adult life seems to be the only person who cannot see the writing on the wall. Go and for God’s sake, go now! Everyone is to blame, the markets, Mad Vlad and most of all KamiKwasi who had to be tossed under a bus after years of friendship. No amount of past alliances, co-authorship or ideological purityRead More →

Whatever happened to the high wage high skills economy that Boris Johnson promised us at the last year’s Tory conference? Remember just a year ago when the UK government pretended that the lorry driver shortage and the empty supermarket shelves weren’t a direct result of the Tories’ isolationist policies but instead were a mere temporary obstacle on a high speed journey to higher pay? This year we – or at least the wealthy – were briefly promised high growth and low taxes. Then the chancellor u-turned and it’s now more unclear than ever how the Tories intend to solve the UK’s myriad problems. Every wayRead More →

Thank goodness we have finally reached election day. Both Tory and Labour constantly getting air time for repetative anti SNP messaging. No idea what they intend to do for their local councils as what little policy they have spouted is not attainable by councils. Indeed some of what the Tories are spouting are only do-able by the Tory Westminster government. Talking of which, Boris Johnstone has been unable to crow over his own war, so he seems to have hijacked the war in Ukraine and used language of the past which I am sure the Ukranian parlimentarians didn’t understand. I certainly hadn’t a clue! AsRead More →

One of my favourite cliches is “be careful what you wish for”. Recently I’ve been contemplating just how much this applies to the poor misguided souls who keep parroting the mince about Scotland being unable to afford to be independent. The essence of this argument is that Scotland is subsidised by the poor people of England. Now, I grant you that many of them are good, decent, kind-hearted folk who would help anyone in need. There is, however, also a large group who have a wide streak of selfishness and lack of human kindness. You might characterise it as the Archbishop or the Home SecretaryRead More →

There is a legend that the great Mongol warrior Genghis Khan used a very brutal form of psychological warfare on every city which he attacked. On the original approach his army would, if possible, surround the city and his own tent would be covered by a white cloth. This signified that if the city surrendered immediately only the ruling family would be killed. This would stay in place for 2 days. If the city had not surrendered in that time, the covering cloth on his tent was changed to red. This indicated that if surrendered, only the ruling families and the officials would be killed,Read More →