Sceptical Scot

David Gow Memorial Archive

David Gow Memorial Archive

Writing, tributes and reflections from David Gow’s Sceptical Scot archive.

David Gow was co-founder and co-editor of Sceptical Scot from March 2015 to October 2025. This page gathers David Gow’s work for Sceptical Scot, alongside tributes and reflections published in his memory. Over time it can also expand to include selected work from beyond the site.

Featured from the archive

A different David Gow article is highlighted each day.

Culture

Independence or bust

June 14, 2020

John Lloyd book review: 'What marks the book out is Lloyd's personal transition to virtually self-hating Scot. This is not just the regular Unionist assertion that Scotland is too wee, too weak, to cut it as an independent country but a visceral assault on "Scotland's self-serving, self-pitying, self-obsessed keening about others, mainly the English, stealing their birthright and smashing their culture" and/or continuous "moral superiority."'

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David Gow on Sceptical Scot

A running archive of David’s published work on the site.

  • Just transition is correct response to Europe’s far right

    “In the next EU legislative cycle, to 2029, this greening (plus digital transformation) must continue. But it must come with greater sensitivity towards public readiness, with a much bigger emphasis on informing and educating and, above all, on socio-economic justice. The much-heralded just transition should be the Leitmotif of the next five years. This is… Read article

  • Swinney a shoo-in? Nae thanks

    ‘My idea is that one tries to exit this quagmire by staging Scottish (and maybe Welsh and Northern Irish) and UK elections on the same day – or perhaps staggered over several days like the upcoming European Parliament elections on June 6-9. The campaigning could last several weeks or months, enabling a full-scale, profound debate… Read article

  • Diplomatic largesse is not on the agenda

    The First Minister wants to curtail Scotland’s culture of excessive alcohol. But why impose a ban on diplomats you’re trying to woo and offer them meagre fare? Read article

  • Can Scottish Labour leave the branch office?

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  • Labour’s green gaffe plays into Far Right hands

    Labour is dumping its £28bn “green prosperity plan” like farmers dumping manure outside the European Parliament: no way to save the planet, modernise the economy, take on the Far Right backlash… Read article

  • Roch the wind: industrial strategy 3 – Scotland and EU

    Both the SNP and Scottish Labour are bigging up industrial policy to modernise the economy as a general election issue. Our co-editor argues this won’t work fully outside Europe. Read article

  • Shared links with Europe suit Scotland’s purpose

    Forget David Cameron’s muscular unionism and Humza Yousaf’s sense of grievance: Scottish and UK foreign policy must go through Europe Read article

  • 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.” Read article

  • Scotland needs a new politics – and fresh policy options

    As the SNP leadership campaign crawls to the finish post, time for a Big Debate on the political and socio-economic future in Scotland and the UK Read article

  • A Labour-SNP coalition is the answer to gridlock

    “What Scotland needs is something similar: a Scottish Labour-SNP pact – probably after 2024 or 2026 – with or without the Greens to deliver social and economic modernisation, including the just transition, digital transformation and local government reform, plus constitutional change.” Read article

  • A new Germany?

    Germany’s Social Democrats are emerging as the surprising potential winners in the general election of September 26 under Olaf Scholz. Is the EU’s most important member about to opt for seismic change? Read article

  • The green ascendancy

    ‘The message for and from Scotland is that the trends in society and the economy favour outward-looking, social democratic, culturally progressive, green (in the widest sense) political movements and this was reaffirmed by last week’s results in Holyrood. Now, more than ever, is the time for these Scottish political forces to reach out to their… Read article

Tributes and reflections

Articles written in tribute to David Gow and his editorial legacy.