“Faced by the humiliation of Scottish democracy, we can choose either to hope that the Tories and the central British state will fail to press their advantage, or we can demand change in Scotland.”
Opinion
“If the Tories had an ounce of subtlety, they might not have launched their phoney campaign to cement free speech at the exact same time heritage organisations were being warned not to delve to deeply into Britain’s racist and colonialist past. These are not people who care about being perceived as sincere.”
Sean Bell: If the Tories want ‘free speech’ on their terms, then they should pay for it
“In order to care about journalism, one must care about journalists. That care must be demonstrated through advocacy, organisation and a clear articulation of what will and will not be tolerated.”
Sean Bell: To save the Scottish press, listen to those who defend its journalists
“Whatever replaces the council tax should not insult either the intelligence or the sense of justice of those required to pay it. It should not be levied against those who have no means of paying it. It should not support an industry of debt collection that turns despair into the background noise of its victims’ lives.”
Sean Bell: The Scottish people cannot afford to ignore council tax, so why can our politicians?
“People in Scotland deserve far better, but we will not get that so long as those responsible for the current system are responsible for redesigning it.”
Nick Kempe: The Feeley review on Adult Social Care offers only more of the same
“There’s no evidence so far that the contradiction between the need to win back dozens of Scottish seats and the hope that a Union Jack will somehow reconstruct the torched bridges to former Labour strongholds is causing any friction in the minds of Starmer or his immediate circle.”
David Jamieson: Starmer’s ‘national’ turn makes little sense in a fractured Union
“What should really worry us, is that the current plan for an independent Scotland would leave us in a position of supplicancy even more grovelling than those small debtor nations during the European debt crisis.”
David Jamieson: The Irish debacle is proof of EU contempt for small nations
“The biggest argument for nationalising the care home industry now is what will happen if the Scottish Government doesn’t intervene and continues to waste resources on trying to make the current market system work.”
Nick Kempe: The case for nationalising Scotland’s care homes
“Trumpism will prove rather harder to exorcise from US society. And the Democrats showed little interest in doing so.”
David Jamieson: Impeachment politics won’t solve America’s problems
“If university authorities and other landlords are so complacent as to think that they can get away with it, we can only conclude it is because the Scottish Government has given them no reason to think otherwise.”