The National, 11th October 2022. The political issues may be combustible, but few rhetorical fireworks went off yesterday as the UK Supreme Court began its two-day oral hearing on whether the Scottish Parliament has the legislative competence to hold its own referendum on Scottish independence. Viewers who tuned in expecting to hear evidence and witnesses … Continue reading UK Supreme Court: Day 1 →

Sunday National, 9th October 2022. Well, that went well. Veteran broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby described it as “the poorest conference speech I've ever heard from a Prime Minister” – and that’s up against some pretty tough competition. At the Tory Party conference in 2017, Theresa May’s breathing apparatus gave out on her during her big platform … Continue reading Trussworld →

Sunday National, Herald on Sunday, 2nd October 2022. There’s a – probably apocryphal – story I once heard about the first meeting between Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May. The FM was wargaming the encounter, which was characterised by considerable political and personal tension. This was a necessary rather than a friendly meeting, after all, but … Continue reading Divide and rule →

Sunday National, 25th September 2022. Perhaps the most important number to know in British politics is £25,971. Run as many distorted headlines as you like. Tell as many tales as you care to about hard-up city bankers and cash-strapped MPs struggling to afford their mortgages and private school fees. Fill your imagination with fictional stories … Continue reading Medians →

Sunday National & Herald on Sunday, 11th September 2022. If you can’t identify with it, treat it as anthropologically interesting. Tom Nairn called Britain’s relationship with the House of Windsor “the Enchanted Glass.” When we look into “the old enchanted mirror,” he wrote, “a gilded image is reflected back, made up of sonorous past achievement, … Continue reading Unweaving the rainbow →

Sunday National, 4th September 2022. The 1% have spoken. On Monday, the 1922 Committee will announce that 160,000 Tory members have decided to inflict Liz Truss on the nation and the sheriff officers will finally pry Boris and Carrie Johnson loose from Downing Street, bag and baggage, after a summer of Prime Ministerial holidays, disaster … Continue reading The 1% have spoken →

Sunday National, 28th August 2022. I can only assume the intellectual life of a Scottish Tory politician is a strangely disorientating one. This week, the opposition party accused Nicola Sturgeon of “galivanting across Europe whilst local communities face piles of rubbish on their streets because of years of SNP cuts.” The implication is that the … Continue reading Confusions →

Sunday National, 21st August 2022. On the face of it, it might seem like a curious policy offer to make the party faithful. As Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak descended on Perth this week to make their leadership pitches to the Scottish party, Rishi’s big idea was that Scottish Government should be “properly scrutinised by … Continue reading They call it privilege →

Sunday National, 14th August 2022. I have a soft spot for politicians uncomfortable in their own skins. The cliché has it that politics is show business for ugly people. But often as not – it’s also acting camp for people with no stage presence, speech-making for folk with a speech impediment, and charm school for … Continue reading Politics, for bollards →

The Times, 8th August 2022. Today, the Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021 comes into force. These reforms represent the most radical changes to defamation law in three decades. There have been a greater number of high-profile defamation cases in Scotland in recent years but the real mischief of our unreformed defamation law often … Continue reading Defamation law in Scotland: shifting the balance →