David McAllister
Honest, rigorous and kind: David Gow as mentor
“As an editor David was rigorous and kind, but most of all never patronising. He would never accept a pitch out of politeness, no matter how long you’d been writing…”
Oor land
“And herein lies the rub with Scotland’s supposedly “radical” land reform journey. The measures so far have not transformed the big picture: some have merely dragged Scotland’s anachronistic land laws into the 20th century as…
The disappearing act
‘Faced with Westminster’s constitutional tinkering, independence may well appeal precisely because it looks less like a radical departure and more a restoration of sanity and normality—a factory reset rather than a clean slate’
“Westminster’s Man at Holyrood” ain’t going to cut it
‘Douglas Ross’s challenge as leader then is clear. He will have to convince the electorate that he looks at Holyrood in the same way as they do: as a place where things can and should…
The only lesson worth learning: FPTP must go
‘Centrist or socialist, whoever leads the Labour party next—or indeed the Liberal Democrats—must put electoral reform back on the agenda.’
A vote revisited
‘The status quo that brought us to Brexit will not get us out of it. While that time has gone, it is clear a new way of talking about the future was sorely needed anyway, even…
A pedestrian’s view of the Edinburgh Art Festival
‘Despite its closes and little streets, for locals Edinburgh does not often afford itself to hidden gems. Very rarely does it come up with something you haven’t seen before, or at least not heard of;…
Neoliberalism, power and the nation state
It may seem befitting the name for a nationalist to claim their nationalism is in some way fundamentally different from others—and yet we find ourselves presented with that conclusion, and without batting an eye. The…
The prime that never comes: on Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie
‘School holds a fascination long after we leave it because it is so often the last time many people feel themselves emerging as individuals. By adulthood, the terms of who we are and what we…
On Halloween
‘In the past twenty years, festivals are returning as we realise their place and value in society. It should be unsurprising that many of these ‘newly hallowed’ traditions should resemble Halloween in some way or…
Resonance: Jeremy Corbyn in Scotland
Jeremy Corbyn’s recent tour of Scotland highlights an alarming ignorance of the United Kingdom’s constitutional makeup, and one that can only discredit the true value of any so-called ‘federal’ arrangement the Labour party may so…
Nothing to see, and nothing to say: Marlie Mul at GoMA
\The boundaries of possibility are set before we open our mouths. The exhibition space becomes no longer filled with art, but whatever happens in there remains art all the same.’