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Sceptical Scot

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David McAllister

About David McAllister

David McAllister is Production Editor at Prospect Magazine and a sceptical.scot editorial adviser/designer

Oor land

February 7, 2021 by David McAllister 1 Comment

“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 rest of the world has entered the 21st. Most changes have worked within the old paradigm, treading carefully—maybe even neurotically—around established property rights.”

The disappearing act

October 18, 2020 by David McAllister Leave a Comment

‘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

August 16, 2020 by David McAllister Leave a Comment

‘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 be achieved and decided, rather than a pitstop on the way to something better. It’s just a shame he’ll have to wait until after the election before he can even make a start.’

The only lesson worth learning: FPTP must go

December 18, 2019 by David McAllister 3 Comments

‘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

November 19, 2018 by David McAllister 3 Comments

‘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 more so two years on. Meanwhile we are presented with an opportunity: in the breaking down of established common sense comes an opportunity to recreate and redefine.’

A pedestrian’s view of the Edinburgh Art Festival

August 17, 2018 by David McAllister Leave a Comment

‘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; seldom is there such a thing as a pleasant surprise that isn’t pre-booked in advance’: a meander through the festival art galleries

Neoliberalism, power and the nation state

July 3, 2018 by David McAllister 1 Comment

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 BBC’s survey earlier last month on ‘Scottishness’ went a long way in demarcating the lines between what it saw as […]

The prime that never comes: on Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie

February 20, 2018 by David McAllister Leave a Comment

‘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 decide to do are expected to be firmly set….And so when, in Edinburgh, we are asked: ‘what school did you go to?’ the question perhaps belies a deeper subtext: ‘who were you, before you made the choice?’

On Halloween

October 25, 2017 by David McAllister Leave a Comment

‘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 other: the selection of a hallowed day or event, the putting on of costume, the establishment of rites and rituals. Even non-festive occasions, like protest, are increasingly moments for Halloween-esque performance and participation: a symptom of the appetite for a public sphere conducive to sociability like the one that, at some point, conjured the modern Halloween’.

Resonance: Jeremy Corbyn in Scotland

September 5, 2017 by David McAllister 1 Comment

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 wish to conjure. The biggest gaffe of Corbyn’s five-day stint, much reported by the press (and most glaringly omitted by […]

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