Scotland

Sturgeon's rush for a referendum could backfire

26 March 2021 3:11 am

The Holyrood election campaign kicks off with Nicola Sturgeon buoyed by James Hamilton’s report concluding that she did not break…

The Crown Office, The Spectator and a fight for a free press

20 March 2021 9:00 am

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

19 March 2021 5:19 am

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

16 March 2021 8:03 am

Among the many challenges facing Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has been the question of definition. It is difficult to…

Is Sturgeon losing support for Scottish independence?

13 March 2021 9:00 am

Every politician likes to say that they don’t pay attention to opinion polls. In my experience, this is almost universally…

Letters: What happens if interest rates rise?

13 March 2021 9:00 am

Spinning plates Sir: Kate Andrews is right to highlight the looming risk of inflation (‘Rishi’s nightmare’, 6 March), but to…

Alex Salmond and the trouble with revenge

13 March 2021 9:00 am

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?

7 March 2021 5:30 pm

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: A Covid Budget, a Cotswold meteor and Angelina Jolie sells Churchill’s painting

6 March 2021 9:00 am

Home First-dose coronavirus vaccinations totalled more than 20 million. A study suggested that in the over-eighties, a single dose of…

Emmanuel Macron’s vaccine muddle

6 March 2021 9:00 am

In 2000, this magazine dipped its toe in murky Irish water. Stephen Glover wrote three articles, one provocatively entitled ‘The…

Letters: The key to Scotland’s future

6 March 2021 9:00 am

The key to the Union Sir: ‘Love-bombing’ the Scottish electorate with supplemental spending in devolved areas (‘The break-up’, 27 February)…

The Sturgeon case exposes the fatal flaw in Scottish devolution

6 March 2021 9:00 am

The campaign for a Scottish parliament was rooted in the notion of a ‘democratic deficit’. Scotland kept voting Labour but…

Scotland could become the EU's next great problem

2 March 2021 8:54 pm

It is generally acknowledged, even by diehard Remainers, that the European Union’s handling of Cameron’s attempted renegotiation of the UK’s…

There is something rotten in Scottish politics

18 February 2021 9:55 pm

It is now two years since Nicola Sturgeon accepted the need for a parliamentary inquiry into how, and why, her…

Does the SNP really want to copy Norway's gender revolution?

16 February 2021 9:30 pm

Five years ago, in June 2016, Norway allowed anyone to change their legal gender. Legislative Decree 71 was everything that…

Why Boris Johnson must say no to a second Scottish referendum

13 February 2021 6:30 pm

It’s hard to believe in these early weeks of 2021, when the country is grappling with an unprecedented national health…

Is the SNP prepared for Scotland's next financial crisis?

7 February 2021 6:00 pm

As the world continues its fight against Covid-19, the Scottish National Party has been busy plotting Scotland’s exit from the UK. If…

Sturgeon and the impunity of the SNP

6 February 2021 9:00 am

Scottish politics tends to go through long bouts of single-party dominance. In the 19th century, the Liberals were in charge.…

The age of de-enlightenment

9 January 2021 9:00 am

Depictions of Thomas Carlyle and David Hume in the Scottish Portrait Gallery will be altered to make it clear they…

The Sturgeon paradox: the worse she does, the more popular she becomes

5 December 2020 9:00 am

Despite her record, nothing can stop Nicola Sturgeon

Leaving the Union would harm Scotland more than Brexit

1 December 2020 6:00 pm

The Spectator recently ran a piece by Andrew Wilson, author of the SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission, under the headline ‘Scotland…

We don't want pandemic novels – we want gentle escapism

28 November 2020 9:00 am

I’m often asked when I’ll write a pandemic novel. I’m not sure I’d ever be tempted, though the backdrop of…

More devolution in England could save the Union

21 November 2020 9:00 am

Tory MPs are already starting to talk about May’s various elections. Boris Johnson’s first post-Covid electoral test will take place…

Scotland can’t afford to remain part of the Union

21 November 2020 9:00 am

Staying in the Union is now riskier than independence

Boris was right: Scottish devolution has been a disaster

17 November 2020 6:00 pm

Boris Johnson says devolution has been a ‘disaster’. This has the rare quality for a Boris statement of being true…