The founding principles of the Scottish Parliament emphasise accountability, accessibility and the need to treat all people fairly. While these are principles we all hold close, we know in practice that our politics can often fall short. Wealth and power can get people access and influence that normal citizens can only imagine. It is, after […]
Scottish politics
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
Usually on Source Direct we give focused news analysis on one main item, but there are so many things going on in Scottish politics right now we are going to give you a brief snapshot of several different issues today. 1) Economic Recovery report response: Remember Bennie Higgins’ Economic Recovery advisory report for Scottish Government Ministers? […]
Multiple-fronts of Scottish politics: a snapshot
“Clearly, a mood of desperation has gripped party managers north and south. A project to save the Scottish Tories from another distant second place in the 2021 Scottish election has swung into action.”
Analysis: Can Ross/Davidson break the Scottish Tories’ ‘nationalism of diminishing returns’?
What would you do if you were Prime Minister for a day? It’s not a bad question to get a sense of someone’s character and creativity. Douglas Ross, hotly tipped to be the next Scottish Tory leader after Jackson’s Carlaw’s shock departure yesterday, was once asked this in an interview, and, quick as flash, without […]
The calibre of political opposition in Scotland is woeful
“It is hard to understand how the policies in the Growth Commission, and the Economic Recovery Group – both unelected elite commissions made up largely of corporate, banking and landholding figures – are designed with middle Scotland in mind.”
David Jamieson: Who is ‘middle Scotland’, and do they want what Alyn Smith wants?
We live in strange times where little is surprising, but George Galloway seeking to form a national coalition government with the Tories and Labour in the Scottish Parliament is still strange, and slightly surprising. I remember watching Galloway happily stand on platforms with independence supporters, including the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, to rail against the […]
Get ready for a nastier British nationalism
“Johnson’s march on Scotland has a campaigning feel to it. It seems like a long time since a UK Prime minster could come to Scotland simply as part of normal government business. Every venture north now comes with dangers and is embarked upon for the grim necessity to ‘save the union’.”
Analysis: Year one of Boris Johnson’s firefight
“News that 649,000 UK workers have fallen off payrolls between March and June, and that millions more lost hours, means the dispute over the meaning of, and solutions to, mass unemployment is once again in motion.”
David Jamieson: Mass unemployment can challenge our economic model, but not without a fight
Dave Thompson, a former SNP MSP and 55 year veteran of the party, who is now setting up a list vote coalition in defiance of it in the 2021 elections, has a role in one of those ‘what if?’ moments in political history. In the 2007 election, he noticed that the returning officer for the […]