I remember discussions in 2014 about whether Scottish independence would create a border between Scotland and the rest of Britain. Scottish nationalists insisted vehemently that there would be no border and that we wouldn’t notice crossing from Scotland into England just as an Austrian doesn’t notice crossing into Germany. Six …

Up to three million Hong Kong residents have just been offered the chance to settle in the UK and ultimately apply for British citizenship. I think they should all come to Scotland. Hong Kong Island is around 12 thousand hectares, but there are any number of barely inhabited islands or …

I’ve learned to distrust opinion polling because I don’t think it is remotely scientific. For this reason, I haven’t been concerned about a few polls that have shown support for Scottish independence to be rising. Support also rose after the EU referendum as disappointed Scottish Remainers flirted with Scottish nationalism. …

Since the early 1970s Britain has witnessed numerous terrorist attacks. Most of them were committed by the IRA some more recently have been committed by Islamic extremists. But British people have neither blamed Irish people in general, nor Catholics nor refugees nor Muslims for these attacks. There are always idiots, …

There were no black children in either my primary or secondary schools. Racist words were commonplace. When I moved to Edinburgh middle class students used racist words to describe shops run by people of Pakistani origin and takeaways run by people of Chinese origin. We didn’t do this in a …

On 12th June Nicola Sturgeon said: I have previously welcomed the UK Government’s interventions, especially the furlough scheme which has helped to preserve jobs during this period but, in my view, it is now time to signal a further extension of Treasury support. Other countries have already made this move, …

My mother was born in 1933. She grew up in a Britain without racism. The police did not beat up black people. There was no discrimination against black people. We didn’t have any laws regarding racial discrimination. Sporting events were completely free from any ugly racist chants and no one …

There are two serious secession movements in the UK. One is in Scotland the other is in Northern Ireland. In Wales secession is not a serious option and relatively few Welsh people support it. Covid changes the debate decisively. All British people pay income tax if they work and other …

George Floyd died for several reasons. The first was that he was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill. This is why the police showed up to arrest him. The second reason is that Mr Floyd is alleged to have resisted arrest. Firstly, he resisted being handcuffed and then when …

I am a Conservative voter. I support Boris Johnson completely and think he is the best thing that has happened to our party for decades. I believe in free markets, gradually lowering taxes where possible and leaving the EU. I am represented by no one in the Scottish Parliament. There …

Scotland entered lockdown at exactly the same time as the other parts of Britain. We did so because we were following the advice that had been given to the British Government by the SAGE committee of scientific experts. Boris Johnson announced a very cautious easing of this lockdown some time …

The SNP has been demanding a second referendum on Scottish independence from the moment it lost the first one. We never get a break. I began writing about Scottish politics in 2012. I was willing to be magnanimous when we won in 2014. I advised people not to gloat or …

The reason we are in lockdown is because of the The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 which were laid before the Scottish Parliament on the 27th of March 2020. Similar regulations were laid before the House of Commons on 26th of March, but these applied to England. Health …

We all have our own ways of using social media. I use Facebook mainly to share my articles with various groups and I use it to talk to people I know as I prefer it to Skype.  I’ve rarely if ever had any trouble on Facebook. Most of the people you …

The SNP has introduced a Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. At present hate crime laws cover disability, race (and related characteristics), religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. The bill will add age and allows sex to be added later. It also will abolish the offence of blasphemy. What …

Twitter is an interesting metaphor for infectious diseases. I write something. It might be seen be some of my followers, but it has to compete with what everyone else is writing so it might be ignored. If someone retweets, it might be seen by any of their followers, but just …

There are essentially three positions on the lockdown. We should get out sooner (Hawks). We should get out later (Doves). There should not be a lock down at all (Enzas). Which is correct? We don’t know. The correct decision depends on knowing how many people have been infected with Covid …

The mistake that we most frequently make about history is that the past is like the present.  Scottish nationalists for instance think that the Declaration of Arbroath tells them something about Scotland in 2020. This is partly because too many of them are stuck in a badly understood version of medieval …

It is clear now that Covid 19 originated in Wuhan China sometime in November or early December 2019. It might have been stopped if the Chinese Government had taken the necessary steps early enough. Instead they tried to prevent Chinese doctors from telling the truth about the illness and repeatedly …

Quite a lot of us are going to spend considerable amounts of time at home in the next few months. Social distancing will mean that we will have almost no social life. There will be no opportunities to meet up and most of us will not have the daily routine …