Stephen Bird

In the 5 years from the 2019 General Election which resulted in the rapid departure of Jeremy Corbyn and then the arrival of Sir Keir Starmer as the new Labour Leader on, it must be said, a pretty left wing agenda a lot of things might have been expected. The first was just how quickly Starmer ditched each and every policy promise he had made to win the Leadership. And along with the promises on policy went the left-wing members first in the Shadow Cabinet and subsequently from the party in huge numbers either sickened or sidelined. I was recently having a conversation with someoneRead More →

In recent weeks there has been polling which had got some folk pretty excited. But there’s always the question with one off polls; are they indicative of changes in mood or just outliers. Just as the Des Moines Register poll found Kamala Harris ahead of Trump by 3% in the solidly Republican state of Iowa just a few days before Trump won the state by 13%. And which has now resulted in a court case against the paper. I’m relatively comfortable with the Times poll which gave the SNP a decent lead and put Independence at 54%. Comfortable because I think it reflects the regretRead More →

Oh well, I got that forecast badly wrong. Sadly we now have a convicted felon leading perhaps the most disreputable cabinet in US history with a number of his picks facing allegations of sexual misbehaviour and the chaos already underway with Matt Gaetz withdrawing from the Attorney General pick. We were told that Team Trump had learned from the mistakes made in cabinet selection from 2016 but it seems that they lied about that too. However, what’s been done cannot be undone and we now face 4 more years of global chaos. It makes me glad that I am in the winter rather than spring ofRead More →

As I write, there are less than 2 weeks before the polls close, votes will are counted and hopefully a clear result will be known, and I sincerely hope that Kamala Harris is the President- Elect. However, it’s almost certain that if the result is a close win for Harris,  then America faces an existential threat. To the delight of every dictator in the world from Tehran’s Supreme Leader via Moscow and Putin, Beijing  and Xi to Pyongyang and Kim Jong Un. If you think that’s being a wee bit over the top, I would point out two things. One being statements from various individualsRead More →

Watching the drama of the US Presidential election this week, I was struck by a simple phrase from Democrat Vice-President candidate Governor Tim Walz. He said there’s a simple political rule of thumb in small town America; “mind your own business”. It strikes me that this rule applies just as much to Scotland as it does across the pond. Governments do well when they only step into people’s everyday life a) when it’s necessary and b) to make things better. Anything else is asking to be punished. In the 20 months or so until the 2026 elections the Scottish Government has the time to turnRead More →

Well, like most of you I’ve had better election nights! But I’m old enough to have had many worse election nights too. But the most important thing is to learn from each result, good or bad. I am pretty sure that there has never been a proper debrief after 2014 which is a problem we cannot fix. I know of none being done after 2019 either which perhaps was a contributing factor to July 4. Like Johnson in England, it’s undeniable that we benefited from a huge rejection of Jeremy Corbyn and this perhaps has allowed people to believe that the result was due toRead More →

As anyone who knows me will testify, I am generally not a fan of glorifying anything to do with “Britishness”. I do however make an exception when it comes to remembering those who gave their lives defending freedom from fascism in the War. They had no choice whether to serve, their personal or political opinions were neither asked for nor heeded. They simply served that the idiots on the rabid right would not conquer, and that freedom of speech, movement and opinions would survive. The Americans often describe their system of government as an experiment in democracy and I think that’s as much as weRead More →

What’s the definition of “democracy”? “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives:” “control of an organization or group by the majority of its members:” Just 2 of the definitions from a quick Google of the word. For most of us it boils down to the old “Government of the people for the people by the people” But, as the saying goes, not for viewers in Scotland. In Scotland, democracy has been put into cold storage because no matter how many votes, Councillors, MSPs or MPs the SNP and those parties who alsoRead More →

Over the years there have been many good arguments put forward for why we need a written constitution but none have been as persuasive as the utter farce we witnessed as the SNP’s Gaza ceasefire motion was “debated” in the Fun Palace on the Thames calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. That place defends itself on the grounds that it works because of “conventions” and “precedents”! Aye, right! Just as a wee background. The Government of the day, usually Tory, allows the Opposition parties to command the agenda on a whole 20 days in a Parliamentary session. Of these Labour get 17 days and the SNP get the other 3. The idea is that the opposition partyRead More →