Parents could soon face fines for parking too near to a school, according to a new Manifesto Club report on new Public Spaces Protection Orders. This comes after a record number of 63,837 fines were imposed…
As Scotland teeters on the brink of independence these next few days, the question of Trident is one issue in particular that is bound to cause a few sleepless nights in Edinburgh, London and Washington…
On Catalonia’s national day, which they call “Diada”, hundreds of thousands of Catalans formed a huge “V” in the streets of Barcelona to demand a referendum on independence. On Thursday, no doubt emboldened…
The difficult-to-predict nature of what a Yes vote in the Scottish referendum would mean is, in part, what makes the possibility so fascinating, so exciting and so scary. It seems, to a large degree, a…
With all eyes fixed on the independence referendum, some important questions remain in the shade. Chief among these: where do Scotland’s ethnic and racial minorities, sometimes dubbed the “new Scots…
An Orange Order march in Edinburgh on Saturday in support of the Union has been widely viewed as likely to be counter-productive and to provide a further boost to a currently buoyant Yes campaign. Commentators…
As Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling went head-to-head for the last time on Monday August 25, both sides were already pre-empting the following day’s media coverage of post-match analyses, and talk of…
We have heard a lot about the implications of independence for Scottish business. According to the latest government statistics Scotland has 340,840 micro, small and medium-sized businesses, representing…
Will the heady blend of Westminster love-bombing, ominous corporate warnings and a saltire flag over Downing Street be enough to persuade the Scots to come back into the fold? We have already looked at…
Whichever way the Scottish independence vote swings, the result will have a significant impact on England and Wales. But as David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg rush to drop a “love bomb” on Scottish…
In the current debate on independence, journalists and commentators regularly claim that “devo max” is the favoured option of a majority of the Scottish people, and some express an expectation that this…
Economic and political dynamite. That’s the only way to describe the new report by N-56, an admittedly pro-independence think tank, that suggests that the remaining tax revenue from North Sea oil and gas…
A common refrain of the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum is that it is unlike any other poll. If the nation’s choice at a General Election was in error, the government can…
While Edinburgh and London wrestle over the future of the pound, it has has been sinking. The slide (especially against the US dollar) is widely seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the possibility of Scotland…
If we wanted a reminder of the class system that still overshadows the British Isles, the announcement by Prince William and his wife Kate of a second baby today fitted the bill perfectly. Call me churlish…
On the back of the rising prospects for a Scottish Yes vote to independence next week, the markets have taken a hit. The FTSE100 and FTSE250 posted drops that were markedly worse than performances in other…
With just 10 days until a vote in Scotland on independence from the UK, London dramatically exploded into action. This week we can expect to see a package of measures being offered by the chancellor, George…
In 1998 Alex Salmond dismissed doubts over Scotland’s Celtic lineage as “ignorance bordering on silliness”. In 2007 he expounded a vision of the country as a “Celtic lion” economy. In 2005 a Scottish National…
The people of Scotland are suddenly facing the realistic prospect that monumental change may be in the offing. As most recently confirmed by a shock YouGov poll, support for Yes appears to be rising fast…
We are now barely two weeks away from Scotland’s referendum on independence. According to the latest polling, the No camp’s lead is disappearing fast. A Yes victory is becoming a realistic possibility…