Reward for two decades of failure (SNP)? Last throw of the democratic dice with the authoritarian Far Right (Reform UK)? A year out from the May 2026 Holyrood elections that's the unpalatable choice dangled by those parties' leaders - and some polls - before voters. We Scots can surely do better. The Hamilton by-election result points the way forward...First Minister John … [Read more...] about A coalition willing and delivering change
Scottish politics
Power from the grassroots
2025 is proving a year of huge political and economic significance. We face a daily deluge of announcements, claims, and assertions that challenge much of what we understand of the ‘World Order’. Most of us feel the deluge comes from ‘on high’ and beyond any influence or control that we, as citizens in a democracy, might legitimately expect to have. There is growing evidence of … [Read more...] about Power from the grassroots
Making sense of politics in “these islands”
At one time it was common to write about the United Kingdom as the fruit of a steady expansion of the English Crown into the neighbouring territories. The subsequent politics of the resulting state was a matter of centre and periphery with all roads leading to London. Distinct histories of the smaller nations existed but strictly for local consumption. From the 1970s … [Read more...] about Making sense of politics in “these islands”
Still spinning plates: the 2025 Scottish Budget
Finance Secretary Shona Robison must have breathed a sigh of relief at the UK budget the other month (covered by me here) but if she did, it was the shallowest one she could get away with. The extra money from the UK that has gone into this year’s Scottish Budget has largely been accounted for in terms of public sector pay deals and reserved tax rises applied to those wages … [Read more...] about Still spinning plates: the 2025 Scottish Budget
A new way to govern Scotland: co-opposition
Every day, a new diatribe about Labour betrayal from the SNP crosses my computer screen. It can be as many as five or six daily news releases either accusing the party north and south of the border of betraying Scottish workers, business, civil society and/or of imposing a huge new tax burden (currently +£2bn) on Scotland. And this deluge has been going on since around … [Read more...] about A new way to govern Scotland: co-opposition