The Scottish Parliament fills me with knuckle-chewing horror
Watching the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament, a thought often occurs: if these people won elections, imagine the runners up.…
How to deal with a bore like Macklemore
Exciting news: free speech is high-status again. The decision by the organisers of Ed Sheeran’s US tour to drop anti-Israel…
Is it too late to save the United Kingdom?
The slow demise of the United Kingdom is suddenly gaining speed. The proximate cause is Andy Burnham’s statement last Wednesday…
Andy Burnham has given a gift to the SNP
Ever since the Supreme Court ruled in November 2022 that the Scottish Parliament could not hold a unilateral referendum on…
Scottish schooling was once the envy of the world. Then the SNP came to power
Scottish politics has all the dynamism of day-old porridge. Nothing ever changes, except for the worse. The latest results from the…
Britain’s turn against Israel is no accident
With Andy Burnham’s government preparing to unveil sanctions against Israel, the pro-Palestinian lobby and the left more broadly has grounds…
When will Scottish nationalists come clean about devolution?
The Programme for Government – picture a dour, cheapo version of the King’s Speech – is an annual statement by…
Why the world loved Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton was all-American. Born into the dirt-poor Tennessee hills of the Great Smokey Mountains, her upbringing reflected the indigent…
Is there such a thing as a patriotic Scottish Unionist?
The Scots language advocate Billy Kay has caused a richt stooshie wi’ his thochts on Unionists and their lawte tae…
The two lessons from Farage’s Clacton win
The result in Clacton is more evidence for my thesis that voters are so entrenched in their attitudes towards Nigel…
Bribing Scots to stay in the UK won’t work forever
A country is not a fiscal transfer. It can be many things – a loose federation of diverging cultures, a…
Why can’t Britain deport all our foreign prisoners?
The great civic crisis of our times is state capacity. When policies favoured by voters are repeatedly met with a…
What happened to the Democrats?
Whatever happened to the Democrats? Party of FDR, Kennedy and Clinton. Idealistic, moderate, gave a vague impression of actually liking…
Britain has made its mind up about Nigel Farage
No. 10 (North and South alike) will be heartened by polling suggesting that the more the British public sees of…
What is the point of Scottish Labour?
The Scottish Labour party is a bit like cigarette-smoking or the Church of Scotland: it used to be everywhere you…
Is it any wonder Anas Sarwar is fleeing Holyrood?
The leadership of the Scottish Labour party isn’t worth the price of a cold cup of tea. Anas Sarwar has…
Israel’s support for Argentina shouldn’t be a surprise
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has raised eyebrows with a late-night tweet mocking England’s defeat in the World Cup semifinals.…
The mass appeal of Ann Widdecombe
The death of Ann Widdecombe calls to mind the song of the same name by Victoria Wood. The festive ditty…
There’s no place for schismatics in the Catholic Church
There is probably limited reader appetite for a dispute between two Catholic journalists over internal Church intrigue, but I must…
Devolution has failed. Try telling Andy Burnham
There is so little substance to Andy Burnham that it seems almost churlish to attack the one area where he…
Who wants to govern Britain?
As the country prepares for its seventh prime minister in a decade, some are asking: is Britain ungovernable? I’d like…
Will the SNP get the message after their thumping defeat in Aberdeen South?
With all the attention concentrated on Makerfield, it was easy to forget that two other by-elections were taking place yesterday,…
Assisted suicide is morally inadmissible
Harold Shipman wasn’t as keen on bumping off vulnerable people as the average member of Britain’s euthanasia lobby. Not that…
Westminster can’t escape blame for the Murrell scandal
Per Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘A basic rule of government is never look into anything you don’t have to and never…
Henry Nowak and the problem with ‘anti-racism’
To determine the proper response to the murder of Henry Nowak we must first dismiss those courses of action that…
