A damper has come down upon the Festive Season as another coronavirus variant strikes. Yet the Omicron variant has hardly come as a bolt from the blue. With so many billions in the undeveloped world unvaccinated and where the UK and US have been complicit in restricting the ability of poorer countries to acquire them, it was always a threat…. Read more »
I confess that I didn’t bother watching BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Past shows and indeed the nominations for this years awards again showed it to be largely for viewers south of the border. Good luck to them and I hope they enjoyed it. But its not a reflection on Sports in Scotland. My issue isn’t with who… Read more »
Should every criminal trial be held before a Jury of your peers? There’s certainly good arguments to be made for it. I’ve also been sympathetic to the concept of community justice where the decision on punishment for minor infractions should be localised. I’ve always found communities to be far less retributive than people think. It would also allow for far… Read more »
An old Tory buffer spoke in a question on the Ukraine in Westminster making it clear that for him Ukraine wasn’t worth the life of one British soldier. It went down like a lead balloon in a Chamber where many contributions not just from Tories but shamefully Labour and even SNP, were more akin to lines from the old hit… Read more »
In December 1921 Irish elected representatives were in London negotiating the Irish Free State’s establishment. A century on SNP MPs still seek to administer the British State. Johnson should go because he’s a complete charlatan with no moral compass. His jaiket’s on a shoogly peg at Number 10 but then what? In the 2014 referendum I joked to audiences about… Read more »
Last weeks winds were frightening. My stairs roof was damaged and driving south to Newcastle for a train, the carnage of trees was obvious. For long Scotland’s climate has been a nuisance, even dangerous. But there’s one aspect in which it’s now a boon. Scotland has 25% of Europe’s offshore wind capacity. All across the county there’s evidence of offshore… Read more »
A dark cloud hangs over our democracy and it’s not restricted to actions abroad and taken by totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. Internal repression, as well as brutality, has been a hallmark of China and Russia. It’s grim and worrying, we know all that. But western democracy was supposed to be not just an alternative but a beacon of hope for… Read more »
It’s fascinating to get a different perspective on historical events. Reading the biography of Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian President who led them out of the USSR, his take on Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev was significantly different from the orthodox take. That’s of the former being a drunken buffoon, the latter a great statement who sought to steer the Soviet Union… Read more »
Well blow me down with a feather, Nicola Sturgeon says that the omicron variant may impact on a referendum. Of course, it will but it’s the world in which we live. Delta, Omicron and whatever else still to come are with us and here to stay for a while anyway. So long as 4.7 billion people remain unvaccinated in the… Read more »
With over 20 years as a lawyer and 7 ½ years as Justice Secretary I’ve come across some legal absurdities. However, there’s been few as great as the ridiculous situation brought about by the Scottish Governments policy on gender self-identification. For now, in Scotland if a man perpetrates a rape but self-identifies as a woman, then the crime will be… Read more »