Her choice of Education Minister will be a defining element of Nicola Sturgeon’s likely cabinet reshuffle and of her first full five-year term as First Minister. The agenda could not be tougher or more complex – and the selection of the minister and team full of pitfalls. Here are a few pointers – and runners and riders.
Archives for May 2016
Scientists at the top – but not on tap
Five Scottish-based scientists have just been elected Fellow of the Royal Society. But, in Scotland, the Scottish Government appears to have downgraded the post of chief scientific officer – vacant for almost 18 months. In earlier times scientists such as Robert Moray occupied key political roles; nowadays they’re shunned by politicians.
Holyrood 2016: class and constitutional politics
The 2016 Scottish election was meant to be a foregone conclusion. Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP was expected to achieve another majority in a repeat of 2011, but it hasn’t happened.
Shoulder to shoulder 90 years on
Almost unnoticed in the hubbub of #Holyrood2016 this week saw the 90th anniversary of the General Strike. Here the author reflects on the power of printed news – then! – and on solidarity.
Has Scottish politics really changed?
The results are in and, in the second part of our podcast (recorded beforehand), our experts look forward to the next five years with suitably sceptical views on the prospects for radical change.
Five more years: dull it won’t be
Lots of commentators – we too – have dismissed the next term in the Scottish Parliament as heralding at best managerial competence, at worst policy timorousness. But there’s plenty to look forward to: not least how the SNP in government handles the SNP.
The Sun, the SNP and a new Scotland
Politicians are in the game of professional cynicism, argues Loki in his latest philippic. Posing with and for The Sun goes with the territory. Yet we were promised a new politics in Scotland, not the same old kowtowing to lobbies. The SNP needs to keep its radical fire-power.
Scotland shakes up the Brexit cards
The Remain and Leave campus are neck-and-neck in the run-up to the June 23 EU referendum so where does that leave Scotland – and Nicola Sturgeon’s on-off desire for #indyref2 in the event of a vote for Brexit? Four scenarios set out here…
Seize the day
Kathleen Jamie – you can listen to one of Scotland’s premier poets here – asks how many glorious May dawns she’s slept through as Spring bursts upon us and we head for the polls…