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Kevin MckennaThe Guardian |
Professor Sir John Curtice is the alpha and the omega of psephology; the pole star of political science. Such is his eloquent wisdom around the...
My primary school teacher would occasionally chivvy us out of our bad habits with an assortment of admonitory apercus. One of her favourites was a...
In the digital age, journalists must exercise a measure of caution when judging the levels of response to their work. We have all learned to discern...
As plans for 'assisted dying' advance through Holyrood and Westminster, columnist Kevin McKenna looks into his crystal ball - and doesn't like what...
Has the organised and professional left ever been more out of touch with the people it purports to represent? The question is worth asking, I think,...
An insidious inversion of what we consider to be "liberal" has occurred across the UK in recent years. This has often been evident in the targeting...
Being an affable sort of chiel who never bears grudges, I was happy to impart some advice to Stephen Flynn towards the end of last year when we caught...
The greatest ever match report about the brutal world of Ayrshire Junior football was written 30 years by Graham Spiers, then Scotland’s pre-eminent...
Not long ago, I conducted a small survey among members of my family and some of my drinking colleagues. They only had to answer one question: are you...
The failure of the counterfeit left to understand Donald Trump’s presidential victory was lamentably evident in Tim Walz’s response the following...
At around 5.30am the truth began to dawn on Kamala Harris. That was when she cancelled her proposed victory speech at her Washington campaign...
Though I support Scottish independence, I’m probably not its staunchest or most compelling advocate. Self-determination is merely my preference; not...
I HAD the pleasure of interviewing the Scottish poet Jenny Lindsay last week. She is one of the bravest and most inspiring people I’ve ever...
Some of us who questioned the conduct of the Scottish Government leading up to and following the trial of Alex Salmond nevertheless recoiled at...
Having listened to both sides of the Assisted Dying debate, it may be that there’s absolutely nothing to worry about after all. In these...
Of course, it’s safer to castigate a man for his moral flaws after he’s safely gone. You know there can be no prospect of ever having contact with...
On Sunday afternoon, I joined a few hundred members of Glasgow’s Jewish community at Kelvingrove Museum to remember the victims of last October 7. ...
Billy Connolly once described Holyrood as a “wee pretendy parliament”. Many of us who love Scotland’s greatest comic quietly wished he’d not...
The new abortion buffer zone law is in the finest traditions of Scotland’s enlightened approach to freedom of belief. Everybody says so. The bill...
Glasgow will celebrate its 850th birthday next year, but judging by the city council’s invitation to the party no one can accuse them of getting...
I’ve developed a slovenly habit when visiting some of Scotland’s pre-loved seaside towns. It’s triggered when you pass the first barren space...
My very good friend, George Galloway – the Brian Clough of British politics – made a startling declaration on his Twitter/X account last week. Mr...
Perhaps we should cut Sir Keir Starmer some slack over his scorched earth approach to leadership. The new Prime Minister has been hoovering up gifts...
In August, 2014, a small group of working-class women from Govan invited me to share in their discussion about the forthcoming independence...
In the first decade of devolution a tale unfolded about how the Scottish liberal elites routinely trample over the basic human rights of marginalised...
For those of you who have never attended the annual conference of a major political party, the Fear of Missing Out will never haunt what remains of...
For me, Scottish independence was a preference rather than an all-consuming passion. Although, as the subterfuges and misinformation of the No camp...
There must have been singing and dancing within the Scottish Government at the news Annemarie Ward has decided to step away from the frontline of the...
Me and my pals were discussing the whole dogs in restaurants issue on our DugzApp group chat the other night. Being actual dogs, you’d think we’d...
Who knew the fell forces of the far right lurked around every corner in Scottish civic life? Since the racist contagion began to move down through...
In Glasgow 22 years ago in a pub on Hope Street I had a conversation with a young English couple, the imprint of which has stayed with me longer than...
IN Scottish political discourse no word has been distorted beyond recognition more than "progressive". You might even go further and consider that...
It’s wise, I think, for those who profess belief in religious faith to be cautious about expressing outrage whenever they feel that this is being...
I am trying to tell Andy Scott, without sounding like a horse’s arse, what his two big Kelpies by the side of the M9 mean to me. I’m telling him...
The belief that Scotland is a progressive democracy was tested to the full during last year’s SNP leadership contest. It became clear that of the...
On Troon’s South Beach, two police officers are moving in on a group of middle-aged golf aficionados and I’m sensing the possibility of a towsy...
Thomas Matthew Crooks shared some of the characteristics that have defined several of America’s other casual, day-light assassins. He was white,...
Some reactions from within the SNP to their catastrophic defeat last week seemed to come from a planet far, far away from reality. They indicate not...
For those of us pulling an eight-hour shift at the P&J conference arena at the Aberdeen election count the task of keeping ourselves occupied could...
The first fingers of a bright dawn are inching out across the north east of Scotland, seeming to herald the arrival of the new political age. It’s...
In bleak and beautiful Stornoway, permanence and certainty have prevailed against the shifting spirits of the age, but they too must defer to the...
Prior to those heady, blue remembered days of the 2014 referendum campaign I’d always voted Labour. Even after it became clear that Tony Blair and...
As soon as we’d entered the community garden I spotted the gnome lurking in the shrubbery, affecting innocence. And if I’d spotted it, then surely...
Host Mishal Husein quickly set the scene for last night’s BBC leaders’ debate. “One by one the questioners will stand up,” she told us before...
When financial scandals involving the Conservative Party occur, one facet of them always surprises me: that people still retain the capacity to be...
We must go back to the early 20th century to observe the last period when a once powerful UK political party suddenly became irrelevant. This was when...
TO Glasgow University’s grand Bute Hall where the televised Scottish leadership debate is taking place. I’ve never been convinced that any of...
In an election campaign of personal ‘firsts’ may I crave your indulgence for just one more? Three weeks ago, I was being driven to my first cattle...
I’m still haunted by the counsel of a female journalist six years ago when I first felt compelled to write about the debate around gender self-ID....
When I interviewed Douglas Ross in his Moray heartlands two weeks ago, it seemed that he had never been more secure as leader of his party. His four...