Category Archives: Politics

2013 Festival of Politics I

After a full day trying to scoot around Holyrood from one session to the next, a myriad of ideas, questions, opinions and opportunities compete for blog coverage. But before that, the overwhelming impression with which I was left after today … Continue reading

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Let Me Tell You How It Will Be

Those who’ve been around long enough might recognise the title as the first line of “Taxman” in which Lennon/McCartney dipped their pens in vitriol and had a right go at HM Revenue & Customs the thick end of fifty years … Continue reading

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Jebel al Toliano

(in a parallel universe not far away…) Bzzz…zzzt…Ssshwweek…service of the BBC; here is the news. The confrontation on the Goodwin Sands over Sandwich Cricket Club’s insistence on playing its traditional ‘Low-Tide Annual’ cricket match there has caused another incident with … Continue reading

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Chancellor or Chancer?

Those looking for vilification of Osbo  can stop reading now. Though the poor schmuck has so far made a pigs ear of the best job he’ll ever have, it is a former holder of the post that is the subject. … Continue reading

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The Other End of Empire

Back when the British Raj was at its greatest and one fifth of any self-respecting globe was painted pink, the entire “empire on which the sun never set” was held together by a series of bases from which redcoats and … Continue reading

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Ye Olde Schizophrenia

Tuesday was a busy one for news regarding the UK’s defence posture. A Liberal Democrat-led review of alternatives to a like-for-like replacement of the UK’s nuclear arsenal has been deflected and will, according to PM Cameron, not affect government policy: the … Continue reading

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No Future in the Past

This weekend has seen a couple of unionists stick their head above the parapet with more style and conviction than seems to have been the case heretofore. In today’s Hootsmon, Brian Monteith makes the fair point that asking valid questions … Continue reading

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Reassurance for the Feart

While about one third of  Scots are clear they want independence and a similar number are clear they want to stick to nurse for fear of something worse, the final third has an open mind; they are looking for some … Continue reading

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The Diseconomies of Scale

It is no surprise to seasoned nationalists that the Hootsmon is gradually ratcheting up the intensity of its doom and gloom forecasts as to how Scotland will land in the poorhouse if it has the gall to actually try to … Continue reading

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A Funny Thing Happened…

…on my way to the internet. Having an eclectic wander, as I often do, in a (frequently fruitless) search for new ideas—especially from the many sides of the independence debate, I came across the following (no, not the Zen article … Continue reading

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