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Euan MccolmThe Scotsman |
A failed strategy by its champions and policies that ignore Scotland’s mainstream have set back the independence cause
If you want to know how deep is the crisis in which the Scottish National Party currently finds itself, let this sink in: the next leader of the party...
A word of advice for anyone with ambitions to hold high political office: if you think you might ever need the assistance of your opponents, don’t...
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf is a politician with two settings. If he’s being asked about a difficult issue – the Police Scotland...
When Nicola Sturgeon stepped down as First Minister of Scotland a year ago, she said she’d reached the conclusion that she could no further advance...
Appearing on Scottish television screens almost daily during the pandemic, Professor Jason Leitch was a calm, reassuring presence during strange...
The Labour party has run into trouble in Scotland. It is planning to both raise and extend the windfall tax on the oil and gas sector, and industry...
A year ago today, Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. The consensus was that her departure from...
When the Scottish health secretary’s inevitable resignation came, there was no apology, no recognition that he had done anything wrong. Michael...
Nicola Sturgeon’s memory is a fascinating and frustrating thing. At times, the former First Minister of Scotland’s powers of recall are quite...
The SNP’s much trumpeted policy of free university tuition allows ‘radicals’ to indulge their fantasies of Scotland as a fair and compassionate...
I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything resembling the astonishing reaction to the television drama about the Post Office scandal. A week after ITV...
The newspaper columnist Jack McLean was a remarkable character. A former art teacher, he became famous for his – let’s say trenchant – views,...
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to believe the Scottish Government is fully committed to dualling the A9. Sure, under pressure from opponents,...
The SNP makes quite the fuss of its dedication to openness and transparency from political leaders. Voters deserve to know the truth, the whole truth,...
Three weeks ago, I took a call from the kids’ school. That’s never good news, is it? There was nothing to worry about, the woman on the other end...
It’s not as if MSPs don’t have enough on their plates. Scotland’s NHS continues to fail, families across the country struggle to get by during a...
Anyone paying close attention to television coverage of the King’s Speech on Tuesday may have noticed that SNP MPs in attendance looked as if their...
I very much doubt I was the only person blinking back tears as I listened to the radio on Thursday afternoon. Shortly after 2pm, both BBC Radios 2 and...
A great modern Scottish myth is that the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by government ministers in Edinburgh was vastly superior to that of...
The SNP is a peculiarly thin-skinned party. Its politicians rage at the slightest criticism; many of its members interpret disagreement as personal...
After the SNP won its first Holyrood election in 2007, foolish council leaders across Scotland rushed to sign up to what then finance secretary John...
SNP members really are the cheapest dates in UK politics — they’ll lap up any old swill dished out by their leaders. After the Yes campaign in the...
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has his flaws as a politician but when it comes to the brutal attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists, his...
The SNP has never been noted for its capacity for self-reflection. Each and every time it suffers defeat, it plays the card marked victimhood. Dark...
It’s a story as old as time: a fresh-faced idealist enters the world of politics full of energy and absolutely committed to making a positive change...
I wonder how many watershed moments there are to be. Every time a powerful man is exposed as a sexual predator, we tell ourselves things are going to...
When the Scottish writer Gillian Philip posted a tweet in 2020, she could not have imagined the devastating consequences that would follow. At the...
There is no problem in Scottish society for which the SNP will not try to apportion at least some of the blame to ‘Westminster’. The brave...
Audacity is a necessary quality in a successful politician. The journey to power is fuelled by bluff, bluster and hyperbole. Sure, solid principles...