Our visitor is still here with his dog. It’s great to have a good friend to stay and the dog is lovely. She’s a wee Spanish rescue dog and is very affectionate, quiet, and well behaved. It’s really nice to have a dog in the house again, the first time we’ve…

In a sign that the by election defeats in England last Thursday have spooked the Conservatives, there are reports that senior figures in the party are calling on Rishi Sunak to consider holding the election in late spring next year, as they believe that this would be the best way to…

On Thursday NHS consultants in England went on strike, the first time that senior doctors in the NHS have taken industrial action since the 1970s. Strike action in Scotland has been avoided, thanks to an improved pay deal offered to doctors by the Scottish Government, which has shown a willingness to…

There’s something deeply wrong with the right wing British nationalist media – AKA the media – and it represents a serious threat to the future of democracy in the UK. Last week we had a wall to wall obsession with a highly paid BBC presenter who had allegedly paid a young…

Everyone knows that Scotland has a serious problem with drugs. It’s sadly not at all uncommon to find discarded needles in the alleyways of Scotland’s cities and large towns, evidence of intravenous drug use by addicts who have no safe and clean place in which to get their fix. Sadly, Scotland…

The British media is currently engrossed in one of its periodic bouts of moralistic pearl clutching over the story of an unnamed but “well-known” presenter who is alleged to have paid thousands of pounds over a period of some years to a teenager in return for sexually explicit photos. Phillip Schofield…

I’m going to take a week off the blog. Holyrood and Westminster have both gone into summer recess so there should not be a huge amount of political news to report on for a while. I am still very fatigued from attending the SNP Convention in Dundee, it’s taking me longer…

I had originally planned to write a proper blog piece on Sunday about my experience being on a panel with Lesley Riddoch and Gordon Macintyre Kemp at the SNP independence convention in Dundee on Saturday 24 June but the day wiped me out and I needed time to rest and recuperate…

It’s being reported that if Labour gets into power following the next Westminster General Election, Keir Starmer not after all going to abolish the House of Lords. I know, I’m as shocked as you are, which is to say not remotely shocked at all. Ever since he became leader of what…

The BBC is no longer even pretending to hide its contempt for Scottish independence and the constitutional debate which has defined the Scottish political landscape since prior to the 2011 Holyrood election – back when the anti independence parties were still maintaining that if the people of Scotland wanted an independence…

I was especially nervous about launching the crowdfunder this year as my health issues mean that I can no longer update the blog daily, and of course because of the recent issues with the SNP. I thought that the crowdfunder would struggle badly. I had set a target of £5000 which…

Everyone always knew that Boris Johnson was an entitled liar and a bully who has never taken responsibility for his behaviour at any point in his life. Now it’s official, the Commons Privileges Committee has published a damning and brutal report which finds that not only had Johnson lied repeatedly to…

Like many people who support Scottish independence and who recognise that the SNP and Green Scottish Government is the only credible political vehicle for delivering independence, I was shocked – but not hugely surprised – by yesterday’s news that Nicola Sturgeon had been arrested for questioning by the police as part…

The Scottish Government’s independence minister Jamie Hepburn has suggested that the SNP should consider the possibility of a multi-option referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future. The following options seem to be logically possible 1) independence, 2) Devo Max, 3) Crown dependency status, 4) the Status Quo, 5) a return to direct rule…

Anyone who follows the Scottish independence debate will be aware that the BBC’s reputation for fairness and impartiality comes with an important caveat: Except for viewers in Scotland. During the independence referendum campaign in 2014 the BBC was shameless in its shilling for Britain. The examples are legion. The Corporation gave…