“For the last few years, the British state has at least been able to pretend that a Labour government might come over the horizon, and solve some of the problems created by the Tories and their austerity. If and when that cavalry does arrive, it will likely come in the flaccid form of Keir Starmer, triangulating towards a far-right Tory opposition. A Sinn Féin-run Ireland may not have to work too hard to convince voters that they are better off under its wings.”
Brexit
Rewilding the Highlands: Glen Affric and Dundreggan point the way
Kirsty Hughes illustrates in text and images the challenges and hopes associated with rewilding the Highlands: “The rewilding journey is a long and vital one. With places like Dundreggan and Glen Affric showing the way, it can – and must – be a successful one.”
Plotting Scotland’s unsettled future
“There is no question that leaving the EU will leave our economy smaller and less successful than would otherwise have been the case. But rather than dwelling on this ‘borrowed future’, we need to have consensus on how to move forward. That consensus can be especially hard to find when politics in Scotland is often binary and confrontational in nature….”
Forget the tough talk and flag waving, Labour
“The people in lost constituencies want Starmer’s Labour to spend more, not less, than New Labour. This is the most significant aspect of “red-wall sentiment”, and yet the one Starmer seems reluctant to recognise.”
Will Scotland switch to Labour in a big way?
“..the old saw that long periods of Conservative rule are a price worth paying to remain in the UK, and that Labour will fix everything when they get back in, has worn too thin for me. I want to see Scotland take responsibility for its own future, build and manage its own democratic institutions. So at some point, England will have to get ready to do the same.”
Humza faces a hard landing
“If Sturgeon’s reputation is already being shredded, he doesn’t have one to defend. A hard rain gonna fall on him. And, more than likely, his party too.”
SNP leadership election: what about indy in Europe?
“there is still time for the three candidates to set out a serious, substantive case on their perspective on independence, as well as on being First Minister…This substantive independence case should include an in-depth and sustained focus on what independence in the EU offers and how to get there. It’s time the SNP got serious on independence in the EU.”
The SNP’s new fundamentalism
“The SNP has dug itself into a fundamentalist hole and will need a dramatic pragmatic turn to hope to take advantage of the changing political context. Its best hope under its current fundamentalist leadership remains that the Tories win the next general election, opinion remains polarised and might finally shift decisively in favour of independence.”
A voluntary union with no exit?
“Scotland, the Supreme Court says, cannot have a referendum without Westminster’s approval. But what the SNP, and others, put in their election manifestos is up to them. We’re on a path to a quasi-referendum. And Scotland will have its say.” Kirsty Hughes on the political aftermath of THAT ruling. Where do we go from here?
Scotland must lead in confronting its imperial past
‘A speech by the First Minister acknowledging Scotland’s role would be useful; a fund to promote research on Scotland and the empire, including a virtual museum, would be even better….As Scotland struggles with new questions about identity, it is important to confront the reality of what happened in the empire.