Politics
Tartan Teflon no more?
The SNP looks set to be swept back to government in May with another absolute majority. But its performance at Holyrood is coming under growing critical examination. Even so, nothing dents its supremacy among voters.…
Scenes from a broken Spanish marriage
Spaniards go to the polls nationally on December 20 – just over three months after Catalans voted in a parliament with a pro-independence majority and three weeks after the constitutional court in Madrid “annulled” its…
Overloaded, under stress: Forth Road Bridge
Who’s to blame for the closure of the Forth Road Bridge? No-one, or perhaps everyone. George Rosie counts the ways we have overloaded the fifty-one year old structure.
Heart and soul: Scotland and Sturgeon
Scotland’s First Minister loves Cilla, Kate Bush and Simon Le Bon. But, while a year after replacing Alex Salmond her high standing is unassailed, what has her government really achieved – and what does she…
An unprecedented state security apparatus
David Cameron has found more money to employ 1900 extra security and intelligence staff. But does this really help defeat the multi-faceted threat posed by Dash and other extremist groups? These unprecedented powers must be…
1707: what really happened?
There were plots and counter-plots but on the day in 1707 that the Scottish Parliament dissolved no riots or celebrations. A panel at the History Festival in Edinburgh discusses what really happened in that momentous…
Scotland’s special relationship with the EU
It’s commonly assumed that if Scots vote Yes to the EU and England No then #indyref2 will follow on swiftly. But there are other scenarios, including a special and separate relationship post-Brexit between Holyrood and…
The triumph of EVEL: an historic watershed
The Commons vote to approve EVEL is likely to be followed by other constitutional innovations in the UK and its constituent nations given the powerful territorial passions and conflicts at work. A federal structure may…
Constitutional generosity is only way forward
A year on from the referendum Scotland remains a deeply divided nation. A revised and expanded Scotland Bill giving the Scottish Government powers to build a socially more just society within a unitary British state…
Scotland could save Cameron’s EU bacon
If England says No to the EU and Scotland votes Yes to Europe, so it goes, then #indyref2 and a revitalised “independence in Europe” will come as night follows day. But Scots are as passionately…
At £167bn Trident is useless – and could destroy hundreds of frigate jobs
Scottish Labour will debate and, most likely, denounce Trident at its “crunch” annual conference in Perth this weekend. Costs have soared to £167n, putting at risk hundreds of jobs on the Clyde building new frigates…
Has tide turned for women’s representation in Scotland?
Women lead the three biggest political parties in Scotland and the first minister is a woman presiding over a gender-balanced cabinet. But women’s representation still lags behind and needs to be reversed, three women academics…