We have all rather forgotten about Brexit in the past few months. Whatever damage Brexit might have done to the economy is trivial compared to what Covid has done. Being locked up in our homes with an illness killing thousands with no end in sight has rather put other matters …

I don’t recall demonstrations against the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon.  It had begun to appear that Teflon Nicola was completely non-stick both in terms of her policies and in terms of whatever misdeeds the SNP got up to. The Scottish voters simply did not care. She could make a mess …

The SNP rival even the Lib Dems for scandals. I have yet to come across anyone shooting a dog, but I sometimes have the impression that every SNP politician has been married to every other SNP politician and has had affairs with them too. It gets complicated too because every …

The other day when Margaret Ferrier travelled up and down the country as if she had the intention of going down in history as Covid Maggie, I began thinking about scandals involving SNP politicians. How many have there been. I’ve lost count. Derek Mackaysending text messages to a sixteen-year-old boy …

Keir Starmer wants voters to believe that Labour has rediscovered its patriotism and that it loves Britain as much as everyone else. He wants us to believe that Labour is different now than it was when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn. It is clear that Starmer is a much …

In every previous virus epidemic in history there was no lockdown. Neither in 1918-1919 (Spanish flu), nor 1957-1958 (Asian Flu) nor in 1968-1969 (Hong Kong Flu) did we attempt to prevent people from working or going to school. What if we had done the same this time? What if back …

There is I think only one place in the world which in recent times offered a part a vote on secession. That place is Canada. On two occasions in 1980 and 1995 Quebec had the chance to leave Canada. On the second occasion the result was very close indeed. Canadian …

The British Government is taking steps at present to prevent the EU Withdrawal Agreement being used to put Northern Ireland into the position of France, Germany or any other EU member state in the event of Britain leaving the transition period without a deal with the EU. Some people think …

The interaction of sovereign nation states has always been a matter of power and self-interest. Britain lost sight of this during the Tony Blair years and tried to implement a so called “Ethical Foreign Policy”, which led to us performing some of the most unethical acts in our history, such …

For a few years as a child while my father helped build an oil rig, I lived in a very remote part of the West Highlands near to where Boris Johnson tried to go on holiday with his family. There were less than twenty children in the school and around …

Scottish nationalists frequently talk about the countries that have become independent and that they never regret it. They list various new nation states in Europe and places that were formerly part of empires. But what they never mention is the number of places that were formerly countries and now are …

In Scotland school pupils and their parents put enough pressure on the SNP to reverse policy on exams marks. The precedent meant that it was already inevitable that the British Government felt the need to cave into such demands too.  Grades have been inflated for the past thirty years and …

Broadcast media does not run the country, but it does set the parameters of what it is possible for Governments to do. It is at least in part responsible for some of the mistakes that have been made in the past few months. The British economy shrank by just over …

There has been quite a lot of attention recently to people crossing the Channel in dinghies, but the story needs to be put in perspective. In 2019 612,000 people moved to the UK (immigration) while 385,000 left the UK (emigration). There were 34,000 asylum applications. So far this year about …

There is a new Conservative strategy about Scotland. It is for this reason that we will soon have Douglas Ross as Scottish Conservative leader. It is also the reason why Conservatives will attempt to turn the conversation in Scotland away from independence towards the SNP’s domestic record. Ross first came …

One of my Polish friends became unemployed recently and started the process of signing on. She speaks good English. I would judge it to be intermediate to upper intermediate. The sort of level that a foreign student might have when beginning university. But she asked me for help with dealing …

There is minimal interest in Scotland in what goes on in the Scottish Parliament. How many MSPs can you name? In a Pointless style quiz my guess is that 99% or more Scots could name Nicola Sturgeon, one or two political anoraks could name the other party leaders and the …

The British Government has already ruled out a second Scottish independence referendum during the course of the next Parliament. It was in the Conservative Party manifesto and the Conservative Party won a large majority. That should be the end of the matter. Constitutional matters are reserved. The Scottish Parliament should …

I do not think I have broken a single lockdown law nor piece of advice since it began in March. I am fortunate that I can work from home. I frankly prefer it. I save time, because I don’t have to take the bus into my office. I get as …

Since March I have not clapped for anyone. I have not gone into the street. I have not banged on pots and pans. I have not yelled, and I have not sung. I do not do such things. I have a different viewpoint on ethics and follow this teaching: When …