The red white and blue unicorn tattoo
Writing in his memoirs the French wartime leader Charles De Gaulle said about la perfide Albion and his distrust of the British establishment which led to his refusal to permit the UK to join the EEC in the early 1960s, Pour l’Angleterre … il n’y a pas d’alliance qui tienne,...
Johnstone wins on Health and Care Staffing amendments
If we want to improve recruitment and retention of those working in health and care, we need to ensure that they have guaranteed time to continue to develop their professional skills. Alison Johnstone MSP Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone MSP today (29 Jan) won support for her amendments to...
Wightman urges residents to check legality of holiday home key boxes
Drilled into doorways or stonework entrances, the increase in the number of these unsightly additions simply reflects the number of residential flats that have been converted into short-term let businesses. Andy Wightman MSP Scottish Greens housing spokesperson Andy Wightman MSP, whose Homes First campaign aims to better regulate the short-term...
A Pyrrhic Suicide
One thing that pretty much everyone agrees on is that an independent Scotland, like almost every nation on Earth, would face financial challenges. Like almost every nation on Earth, it would probably have to run a deficit. And the main reason for that is the decades of stupendous mismanagement of...
Routes to Independence Five: Change is Coming
The fastest way to get to independence is to move opinion then trigger a vote. The fastest way to move opinion is to form a solid, shared strategy and then put our shoulders behind it, argues Robin McAlpine. This is a follow-up to the article published in Bella (and reprinted...
Immigration is good for Scotland – we’ll always stand up for it
Immigration powers should be devolved in Scotland, so we can do away with the damaging Tory approach once and for all.
Fact check: Tory Philip Hammond has claimed that UK regions will be “better off” under every Brexit scenario
Spycops in Context: Why does the state infiltrate political organisations?
Recent revelations show that at least 140 English and Welsh ‘spycops’, long-term undercover agents, infiltrated around 120 dissident political organisations between 1968 and 2011 – the vast majority of the these being organisations on the left. But why does the state infiltrate political organisations? And why does it disproportionately target...
Labour forced into ‘pathetic’ U-turn over Tory plans for immigration
They did, however, only impose a one-line whip on the vote – meaning MPs did not have to show up. “Labour have gone from abstaining on the Immigration Bill to a one-line whip to vote against, which means their MPs should vote against it if they can be bothered staying...
Government to back Brexit amendment on Irish backstop
Tory MPs will be told to vote for the Brady amendment when the Commons votes to unlock a stalemate over the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement which was defeated by 432 votes to 202 earlier this month. A range of other amendments to her deal have been put down – including...
Supermarkets warn of no-deal Brexit food supply risks
Meanwhile, a former MI5 chief warned that a no-deal Brexit should be “avoided at all costs”. Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller said that a range of security threats – from terrorism to Russian interference – were best dealt with “in a European context”, telling BBC Radio 4: “If we leave without a...