Scotland
The power of collective grievance
When last Sunday Pope Francis took the brave step of acknowledging the Armenian tragedy as the ‘first genocide of the…
Scotland’s new national faith
The great SNP revival, and why it’s impervious to reason
Barometer
The Scottish way of death Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP would block a rise in the state pension age on…
A Scottish revolution is coming, and everyone’s losing their heads
Normally, if a candidate whose party came fourth in a constituency last time tells you they’re going to win, you…
Diary
It’s dangerous, in my line of work, to promise you’ll be anywhere by 8 p.m. I made this mistake recently,…
Why no one’s telling the truth about Scotland
What a load of mendacious balls everybody talks about Scotland. It’s like a disease. It’s like, you know how they…
The nailbiting run-up to Question Time
I was invited on Question Time this week, which gave me a few sleepless nights. Natalie Bennett’s disastrous interview on…
The myth of the ‘London effect’
I suppose we should be thankful that Nicola Sturgeon has acknowledged there’s a problem with Scotland’s public education system, even…
How Labour lost Scotland (and could lose the Union)
Just four months ago Scotland was the scene of great cross-party co-operation — unprecedented in peace-time politics. Gordon Brown was…
Glasgow School of Art
I was working on the final edit of my book — a fictionalised account of the year Charles Rennie Mackintosh…
Double vision
In 1933, two new students met on their first day at Glasgow School of Art. From then on they were…
The heroes of Cognac
The chestnut trees were still resplendent in yellow leaf along the banks of a misty autumn river on its glide…
Scotland’s unwon cause
The successful launch of a nationalist newspaper shows just how much trouble the Union is still in
Scotland the brave
In 1707 Scotland surrendered what it had of its independence by the Treaty of Union with England. That independence had…
The dark secrets that your clicks reveal
About four years ago, an irate father in Minneapolis walked into his local Target shop with a complaint. He wanted…
Devolution vs democracy
Imagine if, in one of her first acts as First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon announced that, in spite of…
Ukip is a party for people who hate London. That’s why Labour should be scared
It is interesting that neither Scotland nor Wales have been much bitten by the Ukip bug. The supposedly sensible view…
Why are Labour’s Scots so reluctant to take the high road?
There should, by rights, have been a stampede of candidates to replace Johann Lamont as the leader of the Scottish…
Effie off
Effie Gray, which has been written by Emma Thompson and recounts the doomed marriage of Victorian art critic John Ruskin…
Everywhere should be more like Essex
Apart from the Wye Valley, where I grew up, there are only two places in Britain I’d consider living: Kent…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, visited New York for talks at the United Nations; he said Britain supported the…
I’ll never feel the same about the Scots
I doubt I’m alone among English readers of this magazine in having felt uncomfortable with our last issue. ‘Please stay…
The ‘no’ campaign’s problem was that it sounded like me
Journalistically speaking, it’s been a good year to be Scottish and Jewish. Had I been a Welsh Zoroastrian, say, I…
Botín’s not-so-dark secret of banking success: simple rules, smart technology and team spirit
Four years ago, I wrote that I knew no dark rumours about Santander, the rising force in UK high street…
Long life
Sometimes I say I’m Scottish, a claim often greeted with understandable derision. I was born in England, in Hertfordshire, went…
