Iain Macwhirter
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Corbyn: the most successful loser in politics. He might still be here in 2020.
JEREMY CORBYN has put Labour on a General Election footing. He told the Labour conference in Liverpool that Theresa May, despite her promises, is preparing to “cut and run” in 2017. Bring it on, he says. Are turkeys voting early for Christmas? Mr Corbyn has been given plaudits for delivering a rather decent conference speech. … Continue reading
Jocks and Dykes – how language is being held hostage in identity wars.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names … well, just don’t go there. Name-calling has become a deadly serious business. Language is becoming a battleground in a bizarre twist to post-independence referendum identity wars. An SNP MP, Carol Monaghan, has attacked the BBC for using the word “jock” in a headline. She claims … Continue reading
Momentum is no more like 80s Militant than the Yes Campaign was like the 80s SNP.
Labour has always been a conference of two halves. There’s the official conference, surrounded by corporate lobbyists and lots of policemen; and there’s the fringe outside where more radical voices talk about socialism and militants traditionally shake their fists at Labour MPs. This year it’s different – the fringe has become the conference. Ten minutes … Continue reading
Two years on from the indyref, Scotland is a more confident nation – boggled by Brexit.
TWO years ago, in the rococo-mirrored splendour of his official residence in Bute House, Alex Salmond announced his resignation as First Minister. He insisted that the dream of independence “would never die” despite the defeat in the referendum. Few of the assembled media folk gathered to witness his political demise believed a word of it. … Continue reading
MPs and MSPs must say NO to no say on Brexit.
Not for the first time it has been left to the unelected House of Lords to remind the Government that we are supposed to live in a democracy. A cross-party committee of peers has advised Theresa May that it would be “constitutionally inappropriate” for her to invoke Article 50, triggering the Brexit process without giving … Continue reading
Grammar schools: the great educational divide between Scotland and the rUK.
Nothing better illustrates the ever widening gulf in political culture between Scotland and England right now than education. The reintroduction of grammar schools in England is likely to dominate domestic UK politics (and therefore 6 O’clock News bulletins) for much of the next five years if Theresa May gets her way. The Prime Minister … Continue reading
The biggest political decision Nicola Sturgeon will ever make. Long read on options for indyref2
IT could be the best of times, or it could be the worst of times. In the next few months, Nicola Sturgeon must make the most difficult decision she will probably ever face in her political career: deciding when to hold the next independence referendum. If she gets it wrong, the cause could be set … Continue reading
Apart from keeping foreigners out, Tory cabinet still hasn’t a clue what to do about Brexit.
Theresa May gathered her cabinet together for a brainstorming session at Chequers yesterday. About time. Two months on from the EU referendum, and while we all know that “Brexit means Brexit”, we’re still none the wiser about what “Brexit” itself means, apart of course from curbing immigration. Keeping foreigners out is about all they can … Continue reading
Iain Macwhirter 