Iain Macwhirter
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Young people don’t realise they are being fleeced
So are dead Scots are subsidising the increased incomes of English pensioners? Well, that’s what the SNP think. I paraphrase, of course, but it’s more or less what Nicola Sturgeon was getting at when she said that the retirement age in Scotland should not be raised because Scots die younger than the English. Now, of … Continue reading
Could we really send people back to be tortured?
Tony Blair said something remarkable last week, so remarkable that I still can’t quite believe he said it. At Prime Minister’s Question Time he announced that he was going to change the law so that foreign nationals released from prison: “would be deported irrespective of any claim they have that the country to which they … Continue reading
What Brown will do when he takes over
Everyone’s been waiting for the tipping point. Well, last week it finally tipped as Tony Blair admitted he cannot serve a full term. Everyone now accepts that the PM will go sometime around May 2007, after his tenth anniversary. So, the clock has started ticking. Time for columnists to start penning nostalgic obituaries for the … Continue reading
Why not just castrate drug addicts?
Speaking personally, I’d cut their goolies off. It’s the only language these people understand. I mean why should they be allowed to continue having children when they are a burden on the state? Haven’t they caused enough trouble as it is without inflicting their offspring on society, creating another generation of damaged sociopaths. Yes, it’s … Continue reading
Jack needs a Tory revival – he isn’t getting it
The best thing for Jack McConnell right now would be a Conservative revival in Scotland. That’s the message of the English local elections. The voters are in an ugly mood and want to give Labour a kicking for a whole range of Westminster misdemeanours. But the maths look particularly bad for Scottish Labour because of … Continue reading
How Labour can win the next election.
To call it rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic is an insult to deck chairs. Tony Blair’s most radical reshuffle since he came to office was supposed to show who was in charge, restore confidence, give the government a new and dynamic face. Instead it made the Prime Minister look faintly ridiculous. It exposed him … Continue reading
Those party election expenses in full ( from 25/4/06)
I’m sure that the country will find it immensely reassuring to learn that our great political parties retain a sense of humour at election time. What cheese-paring skinflint would deny a few hundred pounds for Dr Spock outfits for Labour’s attacks on the extra-terrestiral Tory MP, John Redwood? Or the three and a half grand … Continue reading
The Scottish Executive can’t be blamed for prisoner release, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be.
Last week, Jack McConnell finally gave up any pretence that he’s collectively responsible for what takes place in UK government departments. Charles Clarke may be a minister in the same administration, but McConnell made no attempt to apologise or minimise the prisoner release scandal. He told MSPs at Question Time that he was ?angry and … Continue reading
Blair really is like John Major
So, was it really Tony Blair’s “Black Wednesday”? Were the tragi-comic events of last week, which left half the cabinet making grovelling apologies for various forms of misconduct, really as serious as the events of Black Wednesday 1992 which destroyed the credibility of the Conservatives under John Major? Well, not surprisingly, Labour ministers are keen … Continue reading
Iain Macwhirter 