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Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca Mcquillan

Herald Scotland

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Rebecca McQuillan: Scottish Greens are giving small parties a bad name

They’re at it again. The Scottish Greens are annoying people. Alex Salmond’s Alba won’t appear on the bill of a planned pro-independence rally...

17.04.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Cass review has lessons for Scotland too

Thank God. At last an authoritative voice in the trans so-called debate. The Cass Review into gender services for young people in England has found...

11.04.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: NHS could be the envy of the world again - and here is how

Demoralised. Discouraged. Fed up: the public sentiment that emerges from the latest survey into satisfaction with the NHS should put the frighteners...

27.03.2024 1

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Sorry to be a party pooper but let's keep the booze ban on trains

Should the ScotRail booze ban remain in place? Rail bosses have been consulting on what to do about it. Speaking to a Holyrood committee this week,...

21.03.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Diane Abbott racism row shows Tories have lost their humanity

It’s not often I find myself agreeing with Jeremy Corbyn but he was right this week in his remarks about Diane Abbott, whom he called a trailblazer...

14.03.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Minimum alcohol unit pricing does save lives

Alcohol minimum unit pricing is a policy that divides opinion. As part of our Scotland & Alcohol series, we asked two of our writers to put the case...

07.03.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Here's how to keep Westminster's right-wing bile out of Scotland

Suella Braverman, a former Tory Home Secretary, wrote an inflammatory article asserting without evidence that “Islamists, extremists and...

29.02.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Don’t bet against the SNP winning the next Scottish election

The SNP has found a new role, positioning itself as the conscience of the Labour party. The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, welcoming Keir...

22.02.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: No minister, the mess councils are in is not everyone else’s fault

It was the unfortunate high-handed tone that hit home. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday, Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister Shona...

15.02.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: How pylons could become the next front in the culture war

I’m not so sure. Most of us, if asked, would probably prefer not to have them at the end of our road. But once they’re there, how many of us...

07.02.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Deleted messages and private emails - how Scots leaders fell short

Were we right to put so much faith in our Covid leaders here in Scotland during the pandemic? Early in the outbreak, famously, Nicola Sturgeon...

24.01.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: We need to rethink student finance - and fast

There are some questions politicians prefer not to talk about if they can possibly avoid it. One is: can Scotland’s policy of free university...

17.01.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Labour will need courage to keep the SNP at bay

If you’ll forgive me wallowing for a moment in some post-Christmas gloom, 2024 looks like being a bit rubbish. Inadequate wages, yawning inequality,...

04.01.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Farewell to Ghosts - the best British comedy in years

There hasn’t been much to love about 2023, but by 'eck, as Pat the deceased Scout Master would say, we’ve been blessed to have Ghosts. If you...

27.12.2023 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Will SNP budget spike Labour's guns?

So the SNP has published its “difficult” budget. In a tight funding round, ministers set out to limit damage to public services and bear down on...

20.12.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Children with additional needs should be our number one priority

Class photos haven’t changed much. The top row stands, the middle row sits and the front row lines up cross-legged on the floor, just as children...

14.12.2023 6

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: How heat pumps became next target of right-wing culture warriors

If you believe some people, modern Britain is beset by three dastardly threats: small boats, woke ideology and, perhaps worst of all, heat pumps. ...

07.12.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Populists thrive when nations are afraid and Scotland's not immune

Ireland, like Scotland, takes pride in its reputation for friendliness. Having experienced high levels of immigration over a short time period, the...

30.11.2023 2

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: If the SNP can’t get education right, they are in deep trouble

Scotland wasn’t a nation bursting with national pride back in the 1980s, with the pits and shipyards closing, and political discontent rife, but we...

23.11.2023 7

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Covid inquiry's pitiless behind-the-curtain view flatters no-one

Was that really the very best we could do? That question hangs unspoken in the air at the Scottish Covid inquiry like a bitter rebuke. The inquiry...

09.11.2023 4

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Viewing older people as expendable is as callous as it is wrong

We knew Boris Johnson was incompetent and a liar, but he was apparently heartless too. According to a note made in March 2020 by Johnson’s private...

02.11.2023 1

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Viewing older people as expendable is as callous as it is wrong

We knew Boris Johnson was incompetent and a liar, but he was apparently heartless too. According to a note made in March 2020 by Johnson’s private...

02.11.2023 4

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: How can ministers help the creaking NHS? Be brave on public health

It’s going to be another grim winter in Scotland’s hospitals. Updating Holyrood this week, Health Secretary Michael Matheson didn’t pick his...

26.10.2023 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: This could be the new beginning the SNP so badly needs

It was supposed to be today. Back in June 2022, Nicola Sturgeon promised that today, October 19, 2023, Scotland would go to the polls in a second...

19.10.2023 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Why my daughter's bedtime story is a moral minefield

One day my daughter will realise I’ve been fibbing to her. As parents we edit our language for our children’s consumption all the time, to avoid...

05.10.2023 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Contemptible Braverman drags Britain's reputation through mud

Does Britain have to be able to control its borders? The answer, from left and right, is yes to both. But how you do it is another matter. The...

28.09.2023 3

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Are ultra-processed foods a ticking timebomb for our health?

How concerned should we be about ultra-processed food? And if you wanted to cut it out of your diet, following a slew of worrying studies on it, how...

20.09.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: The referendum that never was has left space for real politics

Hear that? It’s the sound of silence. Earlier this summer, talk of an independence referendum finally went quiet. Like a broken car alarm, it had...

14.09.2023 6

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

Rebecca McQuillan: Sturgeon legacy isn’t the turn off the Tories think it is

In some parts of the Scottish Conservative party, there is no greater insult than to be compared to the former SNP leader. There are people who...

07.09.2023 10

Herald Scotland

Rebecca Mcquillan

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