Sunday National, 26th September 2021. Who’s in and who’s out. Who’s up, who’s down – who’s down and out. Political journalists love cabinet reshuffles. I’ve always thought the palpable excitement – the obvious eagerness to be the first with the news, the first with the tweet, the ten-second scoop – communicates something important about how … Continue reading A school for scoundrels →

Sunday National, 19th September 2021. From Kelvingrove Park to Cathedral Square, it tallied 53 separate marches, closed some 32 streets, and called for 800 police officers drafted in to keep public order. Yesterday in Glasgow, the Orange Order and sundry other fraternal protestant brotherhoods took over much of the town, snaking from their districts across … Continue reading The uruk hai in crimplene →

Sunday National, 12th September 2021. The Sarwar vision goes something like this. Having taken over leadership of his party on the cusp of the 2021 Holyrood election, Labour’s fortunes and failures could safely be pinned on Richard Leonard and legacy Corbynism. Sarwar’s big job would be to take the party through the Holyrood campaign without … Continue reading “No one hates better than us.” →

Sunday National, 5th September 2021. Magicians call it misdirection. Pickpockets too. Keep your audience’s attention fixed on what your right hand is doing, and they won’t notice the left one, slipping into their handbag. Income tax policy in the UK follows the same logic. These days, the main function of income tax bands is to … Continue reading The knights who say NI →

Sunday National, 29th August 2021. I hope you like your gammon well-smoked, because the angry men of Scottish unionism have been at a vigorous boil all week. Triggered by the cooperation agreement between the SNP and Greens, the men of letters and political hacks have been falling over themselves to make the direst prophecy about … Continue reading Opposition oxygen →

Sunday National, 22nd August 2021. I’m a child of the “war of terror.” I was 14 years old when I came home from school to see the Twin Towers falling, and 15 when American and British troops first landed in Afghanistan. At sixteen, I watched the “coalition of the willing” invade Iraq, with President George … Continue reading Come friendly bombs… →

Sunday National, 15th August 2021. “‘Jesus Lord. I cry for mercy. Let me not implore in vain.’ At Fort Augustus, we implored in vain because there was no mercy.” During the 1960s, Sean O’Donovan was a pupil at the boarding schools run by the Benedictine monks at Fort Augustus Abbey and Carlekemp Priory in North … Continue reading “No mercy” →

Sunday National, 8th August 2021. What percentage of the UK cabinet do you reckon have used Class A drugs at some point in their lives? How many MPs? What percentage of Lords? How many of their staff? I’d be prepared to wager a hefty sum that the prevalence of drug use around Westminster is considerably … Continue reading Ending the murderous hypocrisy →

Sunday National, 1st August 2021. Before this week, I bet most of you had never heard of the idea of “Queen’s consent.” Distinct from the royal assent all Bills need to become law, Queen’s consent is one of those arcane conventions in which the UK’s uncodified constitution rejoices. You might have imagined the Scottish Parliament … Continue reading Queen’s consent →

Sunday National, 25th July 2021. Any appointment to the House of Lords is guaranteed to rouse my inner Jacobin. The spectacle of Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links wafting to her red bench in full stoat coat, swearing to be “faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen” is the stuff revolutions are made … Continue reading On the mean streets of Lundin Links →