Beyond Tribal Politics
Independent journalism and commentary on politics, society, culture, climate and Scotland’s future.
The SNP’s total but pyrrhic victory?
The 56 SNP MPs will soon get their first taste of powerlessness in Westminster as David Cameron uses his majority in Parliament…
Five political problems with Full Fiscal Autonomy
The newly elected Conservative Government may be considering full fiscal autonomy for Scotland in a struggle for power with the resurgent SNP.…
No forelock-tuggers in parliament please
‘You campaign in poetry; you govern in prose,’ as the late former New York governor Mario Cuomo famously put it. A cynic…
A 50-hour week for bairns is the wrong answer
The Scottish Government wants pre-school kids to spend more and more hours away from home. But Laura Bird thinks there are other…
Scotland’s revolutionaries: another perspective on the Yes movement
What is the Yes movement? A protest? A religion? A cult? No: with its discipline, utopianism, strategic intelligence and sense of historic…
Windpower to the people
Politicians of all colours have failed to inspire voters with a proper definition of what devolution could bring – a real transfer…
Scottish Government muddies water on privatisation
How the quiet privatisation of some water services not only brings the Scottish Government up against many of its own supporters, but…
Ruth Davidson for UK Tory leader?
Ruth Davidson is widely regarded as having had “a good campaign” as Scottish Tory leader. But could she lead the UK Conservative…
The pollsters’ Becher’s Brook
The pollsters universally predicting a SNP landslide may be heading for a fall, argues Jackie Kemp from inside the bookie’s shop.
Scotland’s growing influence on UK and EU foreign policy: an interview with Humza Yousaf
Hamza Yousaf, Minister for Europe and International Development in the Scottish government, tells Kirsty Hughes how the SNP’s influence on a policy…
SNP fiscal plans could unite the UK – against Scotland
The publication of the SNP’s 2015 general election manifesto marked a huge change for the party. This manifesto – unlike its predecessors…
