Scotland
Las Vegas resident urges Scots to vote SNP
Sunday’s anti-climactic finale looked set to be the biggest Line of Duty let-down for fans of the hit BBC series.…
Supermajority
‘Wizard,’ said William. ‘Super,’ said Ginger, in William and the Moon Rocket (1954). More recently we have had Alex Salmond,…
Letters
Taking liberties Sir: I feel that Matthew Parris is absolutely wrong about liberty (‘The libertarian case for vaccine passports’, 10…
Letters
A leap of faith Sir: I live not far from the ‘London Temple’ of the Church of Jesus Christ of…
Portrait of the week
Home The government sketched a scheme for a coronavirus passport, or ‘Covid status certification’, to be tried out at the…
A parcel of rogues
There is a more depressing subject than the lockdown. The evening began with a bottle of 18-year-old Glenmorangie. It was…
Could Holyrood ever be abolished?
Although Alex Salmond and his Alba party have understandably been getting most of the attention, the separatists aren’t the only…
How Alex Salmond can game the loophole in Scotland’s voting system
Two decades after devolution, the Scottish Parliament’s election system still confuses ordinary voters and seasoned political observers alike. Politicians on…
Alba
‘What, old monkey-face!’ said my husband with unnecessary lack of gallantry. He was referring to the 18th Duchess of Alba,…
Without borders
Community music-making is the unifying jewel in the British crown, says James MacMillan
Letters
Ticket to freedom Sir: While I sympathise immensely with the spirit of last week’s lead article (‘Friends in need’, 27…
Portrait of the Week
Home More than 30 million had received their first dose vaccination. The government remained confident of supplying second doses and…
The economic case for the Union isn’t enough
There is a certain kind of critic of independence who hears the news that public funding for Scotland is 30…
Boris has a trump card in denying Sturgeon an ‘illegal’ referendum
Amidst all the dry economic arguments, one of the more emotive fronts on which the 2016 referendum was fought was…
Sturgeon’s rush for a referendum could backfire
The Holyrood election campaign kicks off with Nicola Sturgeon buoyed by James Hamilton’s report concluding that she did not break…
A fight on our hands
The power wielded by Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish government means it’s hard to hold her to account for basic…
George Galloway is toxic to the Unionist cause
My mob originates, we have come to assume, from somewhere in Ireland, though exactly where we don’t know. Humza Yousaf,…
Scottish Tories must be more than the angry party of no
Among the many challenges facing Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has been the question of definition. It is difficult to…
The shifting sands of Scotland
Every politician likes to say that they don’t pay attention to opinion polls. In my experience, this is almost universally…
Letters
Spinning plates Sir: Kate Andrews is right to highlight the looming risk of inflation (‘Rishi’s nightmare’, 6 March), but to…
Salmond’s revenge
Ancient Greeks were not slow to express their enthusiasm for taking revenge. Observing the recent proceedings in the Scottish parliament,…
Will the SNP finally see sense on its flawed Hate Crime Bill?
The saga of the SNP’s Hate Crime Bill is drawing to a conclusion. This week, Holyrood will cast a decisive vote…
Portrait of the Week
Home First-dose coronavirus vaccinations totalled more than 20 million. A study suggested that in the over-eighties, a single dose of…
The Spectator’s Notes
In 2000, this magazine dipped its toe in murky Irish water. Stephen Glover wrote three articles, one provocatively entitled ‘The…
Letters
The key to the Union Sir: ‘Love-bombing’ the Scottish electorate with supplemental spending in devolved areas (‘The break-up’, 27 February)…
