Beyond Tribal Politics
Independent journalism and commentary on politics, society, culture, climate and Scotland’s future.
The SNP’s fighting 56 could end up feeble
It was 27 years ago when the Jim Sillars, flush from winning the Govan by-election for the SNP, taunted Scottish Labour MPs…
EVEL: Westminster is and will be England’s Parliament
Prof Jim Gallagher, former head of devolution in Whitehall, finds serious fault with the government’s plans for English devo and urges a…
Greece: the terror and the pity
We are witnessing politics at its most brutal and Hobbesian. Though we may cry out for pity it feels like there is…
Breaking dementia’s silence with poetry
On the day that the world is shown potential break-through drugs for treating Alzheimer’s, we show via Paula Jennings how poetry can…
‘Tsunami’ – or the inevitable rise and rise of the SNP
A sympathetic but critical review of Tsunami: Scotland’s Democratic Revolution, the third in Iain Macwhirter’s series of books attempting to map Scotland’s…
The ‘greenest-ever’ Conservative Party? – the summer budget and the environment
In a year when the all-important UN climate change summit will take place in Paris and the UN’s sustainable development goals will…
Lexit: the Left says no to Europe
Labour’s former Europe Minister on why Owen Jones is wrong to campaign against the EU. It’s the politics of the current set…
Five damaging side-effects of EVEL
The SNP has flexed its Westminster muscles over fox-hunting in protest at plans to bring in EVEL. The UK government had already…
The (un)intended consequences of that Greek deal
The deal to keep Greece in the euro, reached after marathon talks, leaves huge questions of democracy, unity and Germany’s hegemony open.…
Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece, and the dream of a new Europe
Like his colourful predecessor Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s new Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is an economics professor turned politician with a strong belief…
Merkel and Greece: solidarity or mere compassion
As Eurozone country leaders hold yet another crisis on Greece a leading German historian urges Merkel to show true leadership rather than…
SNP fury over Lords scrutiny of Scotland Bill is synthetic
The SNP’s “fury” about House of Lords scrutiny of the Scotland Bill ignores the role peers play in defending liberties – and…