“A more honest and complete appraisal of Francoism might have to confront the fact that its legacy endures in more forms than street names and antiquated legislation.”
Opinion
“A socialisation of care is required, one that trains and pays people to care. This requires a cultural shift – which exalts care rather than treating it as something that should go unseen, unheard and unremunerated.”
David Jamieson: Dignity in life and solidarity in loss, but not just for Prince Philip
“The saddest thing about attempts to batter Northern Ireland’s distinctive and prolonged traumas into a Brexit-shaped argument groove, is the implication that things would be grand if only the boat hadn’t been rocked: we should seek to maintain the present ludicrous settlement, which has seen poverty and alienation flourish.”
David Jamieson: Northern Ireland isn’t a character in your Brexit drama
“If Scotland is to be a place to live a good life in a good society, we should take the lessons of mutual support groups and the new fluidity of governance offered by the pandemic upheaval. We’ve seen the power when people come together – when communities are shaped by us and for us, all done at a local level.”
Willie Sullivan: Only real local democracy can rebuild our communities
“No matter how strict the law on hunting with dogs is made, the question persists of how effectively it can be enforced across the vast tracts of Scotland that remain under private ownership”
Sean Bell: Class war or not, fox-hunting must end
“When a party offers voters nothing but its leader’s personality, and all the baggage that comes with it, then it is by that factor it will live or die.”
Sean Bell: No matter what Alex Salmond claims, Alba is a personality project
“Nice as it would be to be proven wrong, bad press will not bring down the monarchy. Good journalism is vital, and – easy as it might have been to overlook over the past month – it does exist, but it cannot take the place of concerted political action.”
Sean Bell: Bringing down the monarchy will require more than bad press
“If the Scottish Government is not prepared to take decisive action to reform this rotten system now, after the worst crisis in care since the welfare state was created, when will it act?”
Nick Kempe: An attempt to punt the pay of the social care workforce into touch?
“It would be really, really nice is Hamilton’s verdict signalled a new stage of our political discourse – one which prioritised the issues facing Scotland, rather than its current and former first ministers, and where matters of sovereignty, social and economic justice, and protecting the vulnerable and the marginalised do not take a backseat to tortuous inquiries and the shenanigans they allow.”
Sean Bell: In the wake of Hamilton, Sturgeon’s critics must realise there is no cheat-code to victory
“We should celebrate this successful step forward as loudly as we can, but we should also then consider our next step. The demands of the climate emergency mean that we do need to radically overhaul our transport network.”