General Election 2015
Will Brexit destroy the UK?
‘There is a saying among global trade negotiators that the world is divided between cannibals and lunch. The UK may be finding painfully that leaving the protection of the cannibals has condemned it to become lunch.…
Scotland’s 16-17 year-olds enjoy democracy
‘young people in Scotland indeed show substantially higher levels of engagement with representative democracy (through voting) as well as other forms of political participation (such as signing petitions and taking part in demonstrations); and they…
ScoLab’s spectacular decline, Scots Tories’ revival
“It says something about Labour’s demise in Scotland that its chief role in the 2017 election may well be as a third-party influence on contests between the SNP and the Conservatives, rather than as a…
Mayism and the economics of nationalism
“It won’t work. May’s project will flounder. It cannot deliver the communitarian goals it strives for, and will damage Britain’s competitive position.” But: “In Scotland, things will keep going catastrophically nowhere.”
Reasons to be cheerful – or ca’ canny
The Scottish Conservatives talked up their Holyrood election prospects at their recent conference at Murrayfield. But their past record and the wider economic and political context suggest they would be wise to err on the…
A solution to my Holyrood dilemma
How do students and other young people plan to vote on May 5? In the first of a series the author considers the case for Scottish Labour getting his crucial second vote but opts instead…
Welsh Labour outperforms its Scottish comrades
Labour in Wales may be facing a tough election in May 2016 but unlike its Scottish counterpart it is likely to benefit from a divided opposition – and may hold on to power in Cardiff…
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.