menu_open Columnists
Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay

Herald Scotland

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Prosecutors are diverging on Palestine Action… is another devolution fight brewing?

Prosecutors are diverging on Palestine Action… is another devolution fight brewing?

Look closely and it’s possible to discern the outline of a new battle brewing between the Scottish and UK governments. The contention is how to...

latest 1

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neo-Nazis now brazenly stalk Scotland’s streets … blame malevolent politicians

Neo-Nazis now brazenly stalk Scotland’s streets … blame malevolent politicians

The claim that protestors outside asylum hotels are all just ‘concerned citizens’ is a lie. Concerned citizens don’t perform Nazi salutes, as...

yesterday 6

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Can't we see the danger? Mobile phones must be banned from schools

Can't we see the danger? Mobile phones must be banned from schools

Do we need more warnings? Can we still, as a society, not see what is staring us in the face? Giant tech companies are colluding in the corruption of...

wednesday 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Watching Sturgeon live rent free in her enemies’ minds is joyous political theatre

Watching Sturgeon live rent free in her enemies’ minds is joyous political theatre

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. Keep up to date with our coverage on Nicola Sturgeon's memoir It was...

16.08.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

The absurdity and horror of everyday life in a time of genocide

The absurdity and horror of everyday life in a time of genocide

There are moments which send a shudder of moral disjunction through the soul. They come faster and more frequent as the tide of blood rises. We all...

15.08.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Ed Sheeran feels ‘culturally Irish’. So can you be ‘culturally Scottish’?

Ed Sheeran feels ‘culturally Irish’. So can you be ‘culturally Scottish’?

In 2021, my wife and I held a private celebration. It wasn’t a special wedding anniversary, but it did mark a significant moment in our lives. ...

13.08.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

I hate podcasts with a passion - but I’ll make an exception for these two

I hate podcasts with a passion - but I’ll make an exception for these two

I’m not a violent man. In fact, I consider myself a pacifist. However, these days, if someone says the words ‘I’m starting my own podcast’ to...

10.08.2025 3

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

I’m a shock-seeker, so I watched Masterchef and chucked my morality away

I’m a shock-seeker, so I watched Masterchef and chucked my morality away

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. I’ve always been drawn to the forbidden. When tabloids scream ‘ban...

09.08.2025 3

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Us vs them: why the rich are destroying our world

Us vs them: why the rich are destroying our world

Inequality in America is today equivalent to that of Ancient Rome during slavery. That statistic came roaring off the page at me yesterday. You’ll...

08.08.2025 9

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

We don’t need to be tied to the prejudices of our upbringing: Sandie Peggie take note Sandie Peggie admitted using racial slurs but said she was “brought up like that", But people can rise above the prejudices of their upbringing

We don’t need to be tied to the prejudices of our upbringing: Sandie Peggie take note Sandie Peggie admitted using racial slurs but said she was “brought up like that

"They f**k you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for...

06.08.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Corbyn’s new party doesn’t just threaten Labour, it’ll badly wound the SNP too

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. The leak is about to become a flood. All across the west, political...

26.07.2025 7

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Make indy great again? Why Swinney should hijack Trump’s visit to Scotland

John Swinney needs a Hail Mary shot. It’s not that he’s doomed to lose the next Scottish election and see the curtain fall forever on his...

25.07.2025 8

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Your life ruined for an affair… what kind of puritanical world is this now?

Love is meant to be difficult. The human heart is hard terrain to navigate. Nobody who has ever truly loved did so without some suffering. Any love...

23.07.2025 7

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

John Swinney’s chat about independence is just getting embarrassing now It’s all becoming a wee bit sad lately. John Swinney starts talking about independence and nobody cares.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. It’s all becoming a wee bit sad lately. John Swinney starts talking...

19.07.2025 4

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Children are now dying of measles. Anti-vaxx conspiracists have blood on their hands

When the history of this absurd era is eventually written, one major theme will surely be the ease with which those unfit and unqualified rose not...

18.07.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Anti-woke stormtroopers are gunning for Superman. Has the world gone mad?

There's a peerless meme on social media which sticks a stiletto up the idiot nostril of the anti-woke league. It spoofs the old Ladybird books. On...

15.07.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

When it comes to violent rhetoric, the right says what it wants but left is silenced “Now let’s bomb Glastonbury,” reads the headline to a recent Spectator article. Promoting the piece by the writer Rod Liddle, whoever runs the magazine’s social media feed tweeted on Elon Musk’s X platform: “One on Glasto, one on Brighton, and the UK would soon begin its recovery.”

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. “Now let’s bomb Glastonbury,” reads the headline to a recent...

12.07.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

The Epstein Files and Donald Trump: when conspiracy theories come back to bite

The saga of Donald Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files is a parable for the 21st century. It stands as a warning to those who would dare use...

11.07.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

So this is what it's come to: arresting pensioners and priests for protesting Should I have thought twice before writing this? Do my opinions put me in the crosshairs of a government that’s drawn up a list of those to be silenced?

Should I have thought twice before writing this? Do my opinions put me in the crosshairs of a government that’s drawn up a list of those to be...

09.07.2025 50

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Starmer is a charlatan without principles – Labour should dump him for Angela Rayner You may not have liked Margaret Thatcher – I certainly didn’t – but you knew exactly what she stood for as a leader. Even with Boris Johnson you knew what he stood for: himself. But what does Keir Starmer stand for?

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. Even with the u-turn, he’s created a two-tier system where those who...

28.06.2025 6

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Trump said ‘f**k’ and I started to agree with him. What the hell is happening to me? On Tuesday evening, I found myself in the frankly remarkable position of nodding along with Trump. Momentarily, I thought I was going mad.

In The Art of War, the ancient Chinese military textbook, Sun Tzu wrote: "If you wait by the riverbank long enough, eventually the bodies of your...

27.06.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Remember the blood and lies of Iraq? We can’t go through that again with Iran I WAS in the midst of a family party when news of America bombing Iran sucked the life from the room.

I was in the midst of a family party when news of America bombing Iran sucked the life from the room.  The night was ending. The youngest there,...

25.06.2025 8

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

SNP treats indy like Monster of Glamis: a shameful secret to be locked in the attic It’s clear that the surest route to another independence referendum is through creating a sustained Yes majority in opinion polls – something like 55% for at least six months. And the only way to achieve that is by showing that the SNP is fit for government.

I must have blinked and missed it.   This was the week John Swinney was supposed to set out his ‘vision’ for independence. The irony...

21.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Strange: our government can’t even remember which torture sessions it took part in

Memory is rather unfashionable these days. Nobody seems able to remember a simple fact anymore, unless prompted by the phone in their pocket.  ...

18.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Loyalist supremacy, hatred, racism and poverty: I know elements of Ulster riots well When I saw images of the homes of immigrant families in Ballymena with loyalist flags placed in their windows to ward off racist mobs, and fearful handmade posters reading ‘I work in a care home’, I felt as if I was back there. It was all so horribly, desperately, familiar.

Back then, the towns of County Antrim were dominated by loyalist paramilitaries. Other areas had Republican gunmen and the IRA. Police Scotland send...

14.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Finally, we have proof the BBC is helping Reform. It’s become a danger to democracy

It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s an air-conditioned corporate suite in Broadcasting House artistically sprinkled with BBC executives right now,...

13.06.2025 30

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

The Scottish Tory who has perfected the art of 'vice-signalling'

Murdo Fraser, the Tory MSP, has given Scotland a perfect performance of "vice-signalling". Think of virtue-signalling in reverse, whilst wearing...

11.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

It’s not a shot that’s been fired across the SNP’s bows, it’s a cruise missile The Ancient Greeks had the Oracle at Delphi. Modern Scots have the voters of Hamilton. If you want to learn hard truths about the mood in this country, run a by-election in the South Lanarkshire town.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. The Ancient Greeks had the Oracle at Delphi. Modern Scots have the...

07.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Do we hate our children? Why else would we do them this much damage?

Historians of the future may look on this era and speculate that the people of the early 21st century hated their own children. Hate might be too...

06.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

When AI kills off the ScotRail lady, you know we’re all in trouble

I found myself having a conversation with AI last month. I’ve resisted engaging with this monster technology until now, but my voyeuristic...

04.06.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Yes to Flamingoland, no to National Parks: what is the SNP playing at?

As an Irishman there’s a risk that what I’m about to say will result in an exclusion order placed on me the next time I try to return to the land...

31.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

The rubbish the wine bar fakes like Farage talk about the working class makes me sick

A working-class hero is indeed something to be, something worth celebrating, especially these days, in the nepo-baby era when family connections and...

30.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

SNP will be the winner as Reform outflanks Labour from the left

When I was nine, my father took me to the most remarkable magic show I’ve ever seen. In a tent, on a windy hill along the north Antrim coast, a...

28.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Labour’s taste for biological extremism is both creepy and dangerous Labour intends to use chemical castration on sexual offenders. Keir Starmer’s government has already said it wants to use ‘fat jabs’ to get unemployed people into work. This biological extremism is deeply troubling.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. Only a fool has an all-consuming belief in the future and a need to...

24.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

He knows diddly squat: Why Clarkson’s cracks about Scotland make him a bloody idiot

An interesting new phrase has emerged: "disordered discourse". It attempts to explain the collapse of political debate in the West.  The term...

23.05.2025 60

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

The super-rich are lying to us. It’s time we turned the tables

With travel so expensive now, you can easily substitute a trip to the Palace of Versailles with some hours reading the Rich List. The effect is...

21.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: LGBT community feels fearful and demonised – this shames our country

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. More than 30 years ago, when my wife and I decided to move to Scotland,...

17.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: We're not an island of strangers. But I’m now a stranger in my own land

My neighbours are Romanian. A family of three. They are not strangers to me. My other neighbours are Pakistani. A family of five. They are not...

15.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Serial murder by our special forces… how much did our politicians know?

“They handcuffed a young boy and shot him. He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.” The testimony emerging about alleged war...

13.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Here’s the secret to how the SNP turned Scotland into a one-party state Is Doctor Faustus a secret member of the SNP’s inner circle? You’d be forgiven for imagining that the party forged a pact with the Devil, that Mephistopheles promised them decades in power in return for the souls of every First Minister.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. Is Doctor Faustus a secret member of the SNP’s inner circle? You’d...

10.05.2025 6

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Jail for climbing Churchill’s statue? Starmer will be saluting the Union flag next

Won’t someone think of the poor statues!? In a world of horror, poverty and GB News, they’re getting an awfully hard time lately. In Dublin,...

09.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Trump and Farage prove there is such a thing as Scottish values

The discussion around what are or aren’t Scottish values, or whether such principles even exist, reveals much about our tortured national psyche. ...

06.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: English nationalism will be the death of the union It feels like 2025 needs a specific name, a label. Perhaps, the Year of Samson. For in 2025, political pillars which have stood for generations are being torn down, just as Samson tore down the pillars of the temple in the bible story.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. It feels like 2025 needs a specific name, a label. Perhaps, the Year of...

03.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Working-class quotas and why we need a taste of social engineering

Social mobility is dead in this country. Economists say it’s harder now than at any point in the last half-century to move up in life if you’re...

02.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: We badly need a legal route to indyref2 … here’s how we do it

Last week, I spent an afternoon in the company of Roz Foyer, the general-secretary of the STUC. She’s one of the most interesting people in Scottish...

30.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: The politicians leading anti far-right summit are to blame for extremism You cannot discuss the rise of the far-right, hard right, extreme right, populist right – or whatever kind of right you wish to label it – unless you deal with the economic failures of our mainstream politicians.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. There's a cowardly, wilful absurdity to any discussion which fails to...

26.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: If you believe in free speech you must defend Maggie Chapman

The laws of free speech are immutable. They never change. They must not change. The founding principle is the hard, important ask: that we protect...

25.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Gangsters are terrorising Scotland, but do our politicians care?

With weary disgust another headline drops about the gangland war staining central Scotland.  There was a passing moment, back in the late 1990s,...

23.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: Why Harvie quitting could be making of Greens (if they dump Slater too) Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater should have quit as Green Party co-leaders when the Bute House deal with the SNP collapsed.

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter. Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater should have quit as Green Party...

05.04.2025 7

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay: The SNP may now be right on Trident, and it's all because of Trump

My position on nuclear weapons reflects that of many folk, I reckon. Like a mountain switchback road, it has altered course at times over my life. ...

03.04.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Neil Mackay