Compare the turbulence of the past five years to the Scottish election results. No change – or change so piddling as to make mentioning it seem pedantic. Holyrood’s elite was effectively reproduced intact.

Source Direct: Plus ça Change…


Perhaps the real battle we should be watching isn’t in Scotland at all. Holyrood elections have the lacklustre aura of the foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, coastal, flyover and “red wall” England is continuing to remake British politics by refusing to return to the Labour Party.

Source Direct: Scotland and England’s Hart-lands


Neil Mackay is one of Scotland’s most respected columnists – and one of the most reliably pro-Sturgeon. His scathing assessment of the SNP’s campaign therefore merits attention

Source Direct: An Independence Election?


Five years on from the Brexit vote, everything has been leading to this moment of truth for independence. But that mood of certainty is giving way to frustration and self-doubt. Whisper it, but the Yes bloc is experiencing an identity crisis.

Source Direct: A Yes Slump?







Education Secretary John Swinney’s U-turn was about as complete as could be, to the extent that it was more an O than a U. All those SQA moderators may as well not bothered – Swinney has rubbed out their markings.  The questions about what this means for the future of Scottish education are profound (David […]

Grading U-turn is the starting pistol on 2021 election