I was asked a question in the comments to the previous post by an “anonymous fan“. (A fan? Wowser.) What do you make of the Lib Dems being in government and to what extent do you still support them? I thought the question would be of wider interest, so I have decided to respond in […]
Scottish political blogs under the microscope
It has been an unusual few weeks in the Scottish political blogosphere. Already, a number of bloggers had apparently lost motivation and were openly wondering if they should continue. Since then, a number of blogs have closed down, apparently due to external pressures. Firstly, Wardog was closed down after journalists from a number of major […]
Labour play the SNP’s territorial game over the budget
What a stooshie there is over the Scottish budget and John Swinney’s plan to scrap the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. I have found the reaction from Labour very interesting. Their strategy appears to be to attempt to paint it as an anti-Glasgow policy from an Edinburgh-centric party. Jeff thought that Steven Purcell may have jumped […]
Where is our referendum on face-slapping?
Last week the SNP set out its legislative plan. The headline grabber was the long-promised independence referendum bill. Today I saw Caron’s post asking, “why bother with a referendum?” She has a good point. It is widely recognised that the result of any referendum would almost certainly reject the SNP’s favoured proposals. “Ah, but!”, say […]
Patrick Hannan — A Useful Fiction
Have you noticed that there is a lot of introspection about devolution just now? I suppose it underlines the fact that devolution is a process rather than a settlement that everyone is still looking at how to tweak it. Maybe it is just the newness of it. The Scottish Parliament is very young as these […]
Scottish Euro election results
A bit like the UK-wide result, but even more so, the result in Scotland was very static. In fact, in many ways, the outcome was totally predictable, and no seats changed hands. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any stories though. Indeed, it was historic because it is the first time the SNP have got […]
European election leaflets: The main parties
Scottish Conservatives This is a pretty substantial leaflet, with lots of copy for you to read. It’s pretty slick. One thing that strikes me is that it avoids the tacky symbolism adopted by the other right-wing Eurosceptic parties. The only sign of nationalism is a rather washed-out Union Flag acting as a background. Content-wise, it […]
Scottish budget: I can’t blame the Greens
Scottish politics became exciting and sexy yesterday. Sexy as politics goes anyway. The excitement is over the fact that the SNP have failed to persuade the Scottish Parliament to back its budget. Cue lots of finger pointing. It’s the sort of thing that makes members of the public disdainful of politicians. I chose to listen […]
A warm feeling
Being of a (small ‘l’) liberal persuasion, I generally dislike the idea of governments sticking their noses into what goes on in your house. Indeed, I lean towards smaller government in general. But there is one nice proposed bit of government intervention that I’m struggling to oppose. The Greens seem set to use their status […]
A surprise in Glenrothes
The shock is not so much that Labour won. I had a feeling in my water as long as a month ago that Labour might win, even when the bookies and the pundits were saying otherwise. But the scale of Labour’s victory must have shocked everyone. Yesterday, the BBC’s coverage began on the premise that […]