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.
2021 election
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?
“You can ignore certain names when they appear in the headlines and endeavour to forget about them – a prospect Blair should welcome, but obviously fears – or you can remember that when Blair speaks, he does so from atop a mountain of corpses.”
Sean Bell: You don’t need to care what Tony Blair thinks – just remember what he is
“A new Act of Union… would not only curtail the future of Scottish democracy, but would dismantle Scottish democracy as it currently exists.”
Sean Bell: A new Act of Union would place the law and democracy at odds
Campaigners are calling for Scotland’s political parties to include a 4-day working week in their manifestos for the upcoming election, with 70% of Scots in favour.
Could a 4-day week be a Holyrood pledge?
“We will get there – but if you think the next six months are some kind of cakewalk, or that the six months after that are going to be a doddle, you need to think again.”
Robin McAlpine: For independence supporters, the next 12 months will not be a walk in the park
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 […]