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Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba

Herald Scotland

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Carlos Alba: The prince and the spy is more panto plot than national threat

Have you heard the Christmas fairy tale about the prince and the spy? An odious royal, who happens to be the King’s brother, gets in league with...

19.12.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

The BBC is now in permanent crisis mode: something needs to change

There are some things so irrationally, quintessentially British that they defy categorisation, or even explanation. I’m not talking about quaint...

12.12.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Election petition risks plunging new political depths

When my dear old grandmother was in politically expansive mood, she would often opine that the best way to sort out Britain’s (in her view,...

04.12.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Who'd be a whistleblower? Thank goodness some take it on

One of the most predictable developments following a violent outrage, or exposure of abuse or wrongdoing, is the slew of subsequent new stories...

27.11.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: X marks the turning point: we must regulate social media

I can clearly remember reading about the death of Elvis Presley as I walked across Glasgow's Arran Drive, at the foot of Mosspark Avenue. It was on...

20.11.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Even Trump can't destroy the West in the next four years - here's why

For anyone with even a vague sense of history, one of the most perplexing things about the current age of populism is how it has normalised the...

13.11.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: The lessons Spain must learn from the tragedy of Valencia

If the first duty of a government is to keep its citizens alive, then the government at all levels in Spain, has epically failed the people of...

06.11.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Sadly, Chris Hoy’s selfless revelation will change nothing

The public revelation by Sir Chris Hoy that he has an untreatable form of cancer, which started in his prostate, was a selfless act by a remarkable...

30.10.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Want to boost Scotland’s economy? The let asylum seekers work

The Scottish Government’s decision to scrap free bus travel for asylum seekers is, in the words of the Scottish Greens’ transport spokesman Mark...

23.10.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: The darker side of Alex Salmond cannot be ignored

The key to understanding what made Alex Salmond tick is to know that he was a gambler. Depending on who you speak to, his habit ranged from enjoying...

15.10.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Happy, pleasant Denmark: like returning to Glasgow from Edinburgh

One of the first things you notice when visiting Denmark is how utterly, beguilingly pleasant everyone is. Unlike their counterparts in Germany,...

09.10.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Anas Sarwar is feeling the sweat on the back of his neck. No wonder

The cut to the winter fuel allowance, rows over ministers accepting gifts and donations, conflicted advisers working at the heart of Downing Street,...

01.10.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: What's all the fuss about? Who doesn't love a freebie?

Who doesn’t love a freebie? I mean, what’s not to love? You get something you can’t afford, or wouldn’t otherwise buy for yourself, and it’s...

25.09.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

'People will steal anything': I let a holiday flat – here is what I have learned “The people have spoken, the bastards,” declared Democrat hopeful Dick Tuck in his concession speech, following defeat in the 1962 California Senate primary.

“The people have spoken, the bastards,” declared Democrat hopeful Dick Tuck in his concession speech, following defeat in the 1962 California...

17.09.2024 9

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Be very wary of politicians scrambling to rewrite the past

You wonder what went through Alex Salmond’s mind when a producer from Firecrest Films called to ask him to participate in a documentary called...

11.09.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: The SNP needs a lesson in economic literacy

“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to...

03.09.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: So will the Fringe become a victim of its own success?

Long ago and in a different life, when I lived in Edinburgh, I used to dread festival time, not least because my place of work was just off the Royal...

28.08.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: We need a conspiracy of silence on my former friend Neil Oliver

Who benefits, asks Neil Oliver in a recent episode of his doomsday monologues on YouTube, understatedly entitled “Civil War”. Attired in a...

23.08.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: There is a fundamental dishonesty at the heart of the EV debate

In a depressing survey of electric car use published this week, the most significant statistic was that only 1.4 per cent of motorists in Scotland...

14.08.2024 30

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

I'm not saying it could never happen here, Keir, but these are not 'UK riots'

The Olympics is one of the few occasions when we have an opportunity to feel collectively and unashamedly British, without the distracting taint of...

06.08.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Must we all be in thrall to the noisy minority?

Long before Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman, there was another group of voters so powerful that it won every argument, referendum, and election. The...

31.07.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Wronged LGBT service personnel need more than an apology

Paul Wilson was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Highland Fusiliers and a member of the regimental band, who played at some of Britain’s highest...

24.07.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Thank goodness we were spared an England victory and all that goes with that While my Spanish heritage has given me and my family countless reasons to celebrate footballing success over the past decade-and-a-half, for decades Spain, like Scotland, were perennial under-achievers.

I was not even a year old when England won the football World Cup in 1966. While I have no memory of the event or its aftermath, it has cast a long...

16.07.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Independence isn't dead – and nor is the SNP, despite what pundits say

The polls had yet to open, far less close, when the predictions began. The 2024 General Election would be remembered as the moment when the threat of...

10.07.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: This election will be the start of division and turmoil - not the end

There was a time when elections were straightforward affairs for voters, reflecting the binary nature of society and politics. If you came from a...

03.07.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Has true crime writer finally identified Bible John?

It’s said that everyone remembers what they were doing when the second plane hit the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on September...

25.06.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Scotland is a parody of failure. Is the Tartan Army to blame or Unionist politicians?

Another international football tournament and another example of the kind of disorder involving England and Serbia fans that we hoped was a thing of...

18.06.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Listen to an adviser, people: you need to stand by your own decisions

When prospective MPs and MSPs go to Politician School, it seems the first lesson they are taught is the holy trinity of political excuses. The first...

11.06.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Campaigners were right to protest Baillie Gifford Book Festival funding

When 50 or more Scottish writers gather to address an issue of pressing public concern, you know it’s time to look to the skies, imagine the vast...

05.06.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: All hail Andy Murray, the ultimate influencer

It was the kind of searing, humid summer’s day when lifelong memories are forged, when the sights, sounds and the pulsating sensations were the...

29.05.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

'Blind faith of Post Office boss Vennells ruined lives. She must be held accountable'

The Infected Blood Inquiry, into the scandal which saw 30,000 people contract HIV or Hepatitis C., was described a ‘day of shame for the British...

22.05.2024 50

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: So, why did Starmer allow a right-wing Tory MP to join Labour?

I’d like to tell you about a guy I know – let’s call him a friend – who went out with a girl – let’s call her Scarlet, the flame haired,...

14.05.2024 60

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Today's new danger: online porn is corrupting real-life relationships

For people of my generation, porn was something you found in bushes on the way to school or in your friend’s father’s toolbox. The reason buses...

08.05.2024 30

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Blame Tony Blair and his voting system for ludicrous power of the Greens

Well, what the hell was that about? A week ago, last Monday, we were all going about our lives, getting up for work, going to Lidl for our mince, and...

30.04.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Predictions of the demise of Mr Yousaf and the SNP may be premature

Asked which issue is most important to them when casting their vote few, if any, Scots would say the cost of building ferries. Fewer still would...

25.04.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: SNP 'defence' plans are a fantasy - look at Israel, Gaza, Iran, Ukraine

Some policies are so flawed that their catastrophic shortcomings can be articulated in a single image. General election campaigns are peppered with...

16.04.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: How the £10 loaf convinced me that things have to change

I knew there was a need for radical social and economic change when I first saw the £10 loaf. I’d heard the rumour of this fabled retail...

09.04.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Labour is going to win. So why aren't we partying like it's 1997?

Were you still up when Michael Portillo lost his seat? It’s difficult to believe now that the genial presenter of TV railway journey programmes was...

03.04.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: It feels like I can't even give my hopeless electric car away

The car you drive can say much about the kind of person you are and, for people who love their cars, that’s just the way they like it. In...

27.03.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Rishi Sunak's science and technology plan is doomed to failure

Every school had one:  a golden girl or boy super-achiever who swept all before them and was voted one of the most likely to succeed, only to end up...

20.03.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Do you fancy gambling your savings to get Sunak out of a hole?

Every school had one:  a golden girl or boy super-achiever who swept all before them and was voted one of the most likely to succeed, only to end up...

19.03.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Asking the public to invest in R&D? That's an F for Fail

Every school had one:  a golden girl or boy super-achiever who swept all before them and was voted one of the most likely to succeed, only to end up...

19.03.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: A dystopian future, where machines rule, could be closer than we think

Do you ever long for a time when the world was a simpler and more enjoyable place, when food tasted better, people were more pleasant and tolerant,...

12.03.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: I campaigned for George Galloway - here's what I learned about him

In some small way, George Galloway helped me to decide on my future career. As a student, I campaigned for him in the 1987 General Election, when he...

05.03.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: I campaigned for George Galloway - here's what I learned about him

In some small way, George Galloway helped me to decide on my future career. As a student, I campaigned for him in the 1987 General Election, when he...

05.03.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Is Sarwar right to channel his inner Thatcher?

For someone who never ventured north of the Border if she could possibly avoid it, there’s a bitter irony that Margaret Thatcher continues to...

20.02.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: Stop the social media world, I want to get off

Do you believe that every morning is brighter and sunnier than the last; that simply getting out of bed is a special gift – another golden...

14.02.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: So what do you do with a friend like Trump?

At what point do you admit that one of your longest standing friendships, which you’ve shared since way back when, has finally run its course? You...

07.02.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: The misogyny Nicola Sturgeon has had to endure is disgraceful

That we never properly understand something until it’s considered in hindsight, has rarely been more evident than with the misogyny, in all its...

31.01.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba: The misogyny Nicola Sturgeon has had to endure is disgraceful

That we never properly understand something until it’s considered in hindsight, has rarely been more evident than with the misogyny, in all its...

30.01.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Carlos Alba

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