On:
In: Andy Stuart

As a disabled person, I can’t find anything in the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister worthy of celebration. Yes, it’s good to have someone from another underrepresented group as Prime Minister and it’s noteworthy that he is the first UK PM of colour, the first person of Asian descent and the first Hindu to hold this office. However, it is all meaningless if he does nothing to address the abhorrent UK Immigration policy, which sees a six year old refugee and their mother sleeping on the streets of Glasgow at the end of October 2022, because to register their asylum claim in the quickest way they have to make their own wayRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

Unsurprisingly, Rishi Sunak is now Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Union.  There was no way that Penny Mordaunt was going to be allowed to follow in Liz Truss” shoes and, even though there have been far more men managing to destroy what they have been in charge of, Liz Truss was the architect of her own downfall playing to the stereotype of a weak willed female incapable of making a decision and the damage has been done for many years now.  Quite how quickly her premiership came to an end was shocking however and there should be manyRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

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 →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Last weekend we took the Scots Independent stall to the SNP conference in Aberdeen. The number attending was down on pre covid times. The train strikes may have been as much an influence as a fear of crowded places.  Many had a little flutter in the stomach when approaching the venue. It was, after all, the first time we had all gathered since 2019. Some of the HQ staff are still working from home so it )was a big deal for them too. Friday afternoon we set out our space so we were ready for the early star on Saturday. There was a good vibeRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance, Uncategorized

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 →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

Well a momentous few weeks in world and local history.  My job as an SNP councillor is to help everyone in the Ward, but wear my Party hat when the time is right.  However, the fact that Queen Elizabeth Second died peacefully in Scotland and the Tories died violently in Westminster illustrates our late sovereign had more dignity in death than our reigning government in the capital has had in life.  But the difference with her representing the people, irrespective of your views on monarchy, is hers was duty and our honourable friends in the other palace has always been about avoiding it. There areRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

The 10 day period of enforced bereavement has culminated in a day of the most British of Britishness. It was a historic moment, the type our media like to hype to the maximum of our endurance. They tried hard to include things from the nations but sometimes the irony of their choices seemed to be beyond them. To me it all seemed rather rushed, every day another service or ceremony. Announcing a public holiday was probably done with great intention, to allow those who wanted to line the streets or watch TV all day, the liberty to do so. In the real world though itRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

In the midst of all the preparations for the Royal Funeral, it seems an appropriate time to lift our horizons a bit and have a look at events away from these shores. It may not seem like it with the media doing nothing but wall to wall, 24/7, coverage of the funeral arrangements and constant reheating of the same tributes to a life well lived, but there are things happening across the globe and some of them will have a major impact on our lives. In the US, it seemed just a few months ago that President Biden and the Democrats were heading for aRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

I had been in London at the weekend and took the train to the airport on the way home as usual.  It was quiet when we boarded and found a seat easily behind an elderly well-to-do couple sitting diagonally on a 4 seater.  I soon noticed that the man had edged our suitcase forward and was using it as a convenient armrest whilst reading the paper and wasn’t too happy when the bairn retrieved it suddenly.  As the train began to fill, their empty seats remained free of people  but laden with bags until a young woman got on with a baby and proceeded toRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

My partner and I are both pretty much bald. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t enjoy visits to the barber. I’ve never mastered the art of the home haircut and like many middle-aged men I have hair growing in all sorts of inaccessible places. Men like me can now have their follicle challenges addressed by the army of razor wielding Turks and Kurds who have opened hairdressing establishments from Shetland to Stranraer. My partner was recently having his shave at the Turkish barber in Campbeltown. While one staff member attended to him the other was glued to his phone.  My partner was able to hearRead More →