Scotland
A brief introduction to Scottish art
When Nikolaus Pevsner dedicated his 1955 Reith Lectures to ‘The Englishness of English Art’, he left out the Scots. The…
I’ve written the perfect book
I met a Canadian couple for lunch in Edinburgh. They were from Vancouver – he a judge, she an opera…
This is how to save the Union
Devolution has failed in Scotland. Nothing that follows will be of use to you if you remain in denial of…
Letters: The Scottish government must be held to account
Backward devolution Sir: Thanks for once again highlighting the many issues with government in Scotland (‘Sturgeon’s secret state’, 9 April).…
Nicola Sturgeon’s secret state
Holyrood is one of the most opaque regimes in the democratic world
Covid is rising again. Should we worry?
For some time now, Covid has been rising in Scotland – there are now more Scots in hospital with Covid…
No, Scottish independence is not like the war in Ukraine
Perhaps it’s the absence of any oppression of their own country that compels Scottish nationalists to latch onto the oppression…
Unmasking 'panda diplomacy'
The star of the Beijing Winter Olympics wasn’t an athlete: it was Bing Dwen Dwen, the spacesuit-clad panda mascot. It…
We could learn a thing or two from Swiss democracy
There was another referendum in Switzerland over the weekend. This one was about protecting the young from the evils of…
Nicola Sturgeon’s last laugh
I was delighted to discover that the University of Bristol has been advising students how to address those who identify…
Sex, trans rights and the Scottish census
It takes some doing to make a census interesting. So congratulations to the National Records of Scotland (NRS). NRS, which administers…
To save the Union, ignore Gordon Brown
As he blasts his way through the remaining support beams of the UK constitution, Gordon Brown is doing more to…
Scotland's 70-page dossier finds no evidence for vaccine passports
Nicola Sturgeon wants to extend vaccine passports in Scotland, and today her government released a 70-page document purporting to show…
Why Boris is losing his fight against Sturgeon
Gavin Barwell has made a good point, albeit inadvertently. Theresa May’s former chief of staff has a book out, imaginatively…
As COP26 looms, Glasgow is facing a waste crisis
With COP26 weeks away, the city is in the middle of a waste crisis
Will Scottish independence really be 'Brexit times ten'?
Scottish civil servants are to start work on a ‘detailed prospectus’ for independence so the Scottish government can hold another…
Amateurish and implausible: BBC1's Vigil reviewed
Tense, claustrophobic, gripping, thrilling, realistic: just some of the adjectives no one is using to describe BBC1’s Sunday night submarine…
Scotland's census sex muddle is bad news for transgender people
What is your sex? It is a simple question and one that we can all surely answer. When it comes…
A narrow escape in Britain’s most treacherous mountain range
Twenty-five years ago, my cousin Jock, a Scottish priest, rang in shock. Two priest friends, David and Norman, had been…
The blind spot in the SNP's 'war on drink'
Scotland’s grim reputation for abnormally high drug fatalities has become embedded in the public consciousness over the past year. The…
David Keenan, literary disruptor in chief
Near to the heart of this wild and labyrinthine novel — on page 516 of 808 — a character in…
Devolution doesn't work in a crisis
One of the worst features of devolution is the tendency of devocrats to insist on doing their own thing in…
Don’t pick a fight with the SNP
Since the Holyrood elections in May, the campaign for Scottish independence has been noticeably quiet. But that is about to…
No, Boris didn't 'snub' Sturgeon
One of the reasons the SNP has dominated Scottish politics for so long is that it is extremely adept at…
Boris could make devolution reform his legacy – if he has the ambition
Today marks two years since Boris Johnson accepted Her Majesty’s invitation to serve as her fourteenth Prime Minister. His tenure…
