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The mainstream media looks to Facebook and technology to solve the problem of “fake news”, while utterly ignoring their own starring role in driving readers into the arms of more disreputable news outlets Jeff Chiu has an interesting rumination in Newsweek on the way that Facebook tacitly encouraged the monster of …

The left lost the economic battle when the Berlin wall came down. No-one after that could take socialism seriously as a way of running an economy. Given the chance people living in a socialist society will vote with their feet. Of course there are those who are either too young …

Rising income and wealth inequality, consolidation of capital and influence into a handful of oligarchs, looming environmental catastrophe, dark storm clouds gathering over a newly nationalistic Europe. Sound familiar? From the way we talk about the issues of inequality, “breaking up the big banks,” and Syrian refugees, you’d think we …

1. The flag Many argued that the result of the independence referendum was irrelevant to the continuation of the name and flag for the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If Scotland became independent, it had promised to retain a “Social Union” with the rest of the …

The vote for Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidential election victory seems to have wrongly convinced an entire army of snarling, leftist authoritarians that they are actually the virtuous defenders of liberalism Is anybody else getting mighty sick of the constant parade of left-wing, Big Government-supporting authoritarians suddenly rushing to cloak …

Many Scottish nationalists are impatient and permanently angry.  The hundreds of thousands who joined the SNP after losing the referendum in 2014 are both a blessing and a curse. Of course, they are better than the alternative. Remember when there was the idea that the SNP would somehow fade away …

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost. Liberals and liberalism are on the retreat. The western world that has politically changed little in three decades has been sent a tremendous …

Consent for The Vow? Of course none of this would have happened had the UK political establishment remotely expecte Scotland to vote for independence or come anywhere close to it. Great Britain paid a heavy price for this naivety. Not for the first time, the desire to do what is …

So it is to be President Trump. Like many others, I didn’t foresee this, except that looking at the attendance at his rallies and those at Hillary Clinton’s, as well as the views expressed on my Twitter timeline, it was clear to me that he was always going to do …

Identity politics cultists created Donald Trump, President-Elect Edition, and from much of their subsequent complaining they haven’t learned a single thing from their mistake Blogger and polemicist Phil Hendren is in unsparing mood as he takes the identity politics Left to task for their role in provoking the alleged “whitelash” …

There is an odd concept in Scottish politics that things that are paid for by someone else are free. The SNP in particular has based much of its populism on providing these “freebies” to their supporters. We now have “free” prescriptions, “free” eye tests, “free” passage over the sea to …

Gender pay gap: It was never time to peddle the gender pay gap narrative – and it still isn’t. Its causes are too complex to be trivialised and temporal flexibility should be celebrated. Everyone has stumbled across the frequent headlines regarding the gender pay gap. Attacking its supposed persistence seems …

Consultation A legal process was followed for the referendum. Legislation by the UK Parliament was necessary as the devolution legislation specifically denied the Scottish Parliament the power to decide on independence, amongst other things. These were the “reserved matters” (section 29 of the Scotland Act 1998). There was consultation. A …

Throughout the course of history, class and status have been predominant factors in deciding many things – how well you are educated; how well you live; do you live in poverty, comfort or downright salubrium; what kind of job do you have or career prospects. In the United States, for …

The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov passed through the English Channel a couple of weeks ago, sparking questions about Putin flexing his muscles and the possibility of a new Cold War. It almost seems conventional to claim that there is going to be another period like we saw between 1945 …

I find the coverage of United States politics in Britain very strange. Why are we all so interested? Most Americans are fairly clueless about the details of British politics. They might know who the Prime Minister is, but beyond that it all gets rather hazy. Then again I remember meeting …

Imagine if Yes had won the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 by 52% to 48%. There would have been much celebrating and there would have been the expectation that soon Scotland would be independent. Imagine however if someone resident in Scotland, but born in England had been so horrified by …

At 10.00 am on 3 November 2016, the High Court gave a ruling on the complaints by Gina Miller and others that the Government does not have the right to arbitrarily invoke Article 50 to institute the process of leaving the European Union (EU). The judges’ decision ruled in favour …

So as was always a possibility, the High Court has ruled that the government does not have the authority to initiate Britain’s secession from the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without first winning a vote in Parliament. From the Guardian: Parliament alone has the power to …

In 2007, the SNP took power in Scotland, forming a minority government. Their leader, Alex Salmond, proved to be a persuasive and powerful First Minister. The Scots liked it. The Scots had a respected voice and stronger identity. The Labour alternative (the Conservatives remained largely anathema to Scottish voters), had had their chance …