Another book recommendation! This one’s more for dipping into to inform your ideas on Scotland’s journey to a better nation
I’ve been deeply affected by Prof Kate Pickett and here co-authored seminal text, Spirit Level, on the almost magical effect of reducing inequality and the better society that seems to produce. Alasdair Gray and Alex Salmond launched us on that path, one-armed tied by the UK admittedly, more than 20 years ago. Kate refers to several of the SNP’s achievements in her new book and , critically, suggests how we might get there better, faster, more fully. Sample – https://www.amazon.co.uk/arya/webplayer?asin=B0FHH9ZYWC&marketplaceId=A1F83G8C2ARO7P&amazonAsin=B0FHH7SZT1&useRelativeUrl=true&initialCPLaunch=true&isSample=true&isHomesteadCaller=true&isMobile=false&ref_=adbl_dp_dt_cloudplayer_login Continue reading Another book recommendation! This one’s more for dipping into to inform your ideas on Scotland’s journey to a better nation
The best book I’ve read in a long time and in a way connected to places like post-industrial Scotland
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser, just out in paperback, is about far more than serial killers. It’s about the violence of war-damaged fathers, the violence of treatment of unwed mothers and their babies, the violence of geology in some places, the violence of civil engineering and transport systems and the inherent violence of unfettered capitalism. Fraser, a Pulitzer winner, writes so well, so well, her fascinating content becomes a page-turner. I’m not exactly a typical guy, so I leave you to judge just how much this review influences you. If you do … Continue reading The best book I’ve read in a long time and in a way connected to places like post-industrial Scotland
Holyrood still far more open and transparent for journalists than Westminster
The Herald and other media wailing at new constraints on their journalists wandering Holyrood and mobbing ministers, fail to tell you this. Holyrood access still remains more transparent overall than Westminster, even after the recent media pen change. The new restriction is narrow and targeted. It’s only after First Minister’s Questions, in one specific area. Westminster’s system is much more controlled. Why Holyrood Is Still More Transparent There is broader general access. Accredited journalists at Holyrood have significant freedom to move around the building, approach MSPs in public areas and can conduct impromptu interviews. The media pen is limited. It … Continue reading Holyrood still far more open and transparent for journalists than Westminster
Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently
From: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: Progress Report 2025-26 published yesterday to the above MSM response: Steps taken in the past year to further strengthen the support available to families include: This is in addition to our continued investment in actions delivered over the life of this plan, including devolved employability support, free bus travel for under 22s and disabled people, and our package of social security payments including the Scottish Child Payment. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/tackling-child-poverty-delivery-plan-progress-report-2025-26/pages/3/ In short, these steps are Scotland-only measures designed to tackle child poverty within the devolved framework. They do not apply elsewhere in the UK, though … Continue reading Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently
FM launches additional £36.9 million fund to reduce drug and alcohol deaths as SNP initiatives already reduce them but in relative media vacuum
From the Scottish Government yesterday but, of the MSM, only reported in the Herald, this major announcement: First Minister John Swinney will today call for a new collective approach to reduce deaths and harms from drugs and alcohol, as he addresses a summit on drugs deaths in Edinburgh. It comes as a new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, which will provide £36.9 million to frontline services and organisations working with people affected by alcohol and drugs, is launched. The summit, organised by Public Health Scotland, will bring together health board chief executives, local authority leaders, justice representatives and third-sector partners alongside people with … Continue reading FM launches additional £36.9 million fund to reduce drug and alcohol deaths as SNP initiatives already reduce them but in relative media vacuum
‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’
By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 While the band strikes up Hail to the Chief in Makerfield and the Prime Minister spends a nervous weekend contemplating his future at Chequers, sections of the Scottish press are once again falling over themselves to predict the death of the Scottish independence movement. The instrument of execution this time? Andy Burnham. According to Herald columnist and occasional prophet Neil Mackay, Burnham represents the SNP’s nightmare: a popular Labour leader who restores faith in Westminster and pulls the political rug from beneath the feet of the Scottish National Party and its supporters. It is an … Continue reading ‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’
As effectiveness of the new UK Labour government plan to protect victims from released prisoners is revealed to be failing, a former Scottish MP and former senior police officer explained the more effective Scottish system more than two years ago
From the Western Mail 12 May 2026, the above image and: A MAN punched his fists through the kitchen window of his former partner’s house and threatened to murder her before taking her by the throat and squeezing, a court has heard. Alex Thomas had only been out of prison for a matter of days when he attacked the woman in her own home. Source: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/western-mail/20260512/281754160949044?srsltid=AfmBOoqFwQYiCXNV8WvWaCzWS66IFxf79j9_SJdB7fRphldnxLtOEm8t In August 2025, the UK Labour Government set out plants to prevent this kind of thing> Today’s latest ‘back-of-a-cigarette-packet‘ plan by the UK Labour Government to protect victims from released violent offenders has been … Continue reading As effectiveness of the new UK Labour government plan to protect victims from released prisoners is revealed to be failing, a former Scottish MP and former senior police officer explained the more effective Scottish system more than two years ago
Murrell Effect debunked as SNP significantly increase vote share in by-election
We all know the voters in Aberdeen South were set firm to punish both Labour and the SNP and they did. They humiliated Labour by pushing them down into 4th place! It was a single-issue protest vote of the kind we often see in by-elections and which means nothing for the wider and longer-term prospects of the winners. Lumsden should save as much as he can as he’ll be out again in 2 to 3 years. If there was to be a Peter Murrell, SNP corruption effect, we’d have seen it in Arbroath and Broughty ferry but the SNP share … Continue reading Murrell Effect debunked as SNP significantly increase vote share in by-election
In Scotland, twice as many ‘probation officers’ and so only a tiny fraction of the re-offending level
In the Guardian today: The public is “at direct risk” from unsupervised ex-offenders because probation officers in England and Wales are being asked to cope with excessive workloads, a union has said. As ministers prepare to release and monitor tens of thousands more prisoners this autumn, Napo’s executive has declared for the first time that it has no confidence in managers at the probation service. In a worrying development for the government, the union is threatening to launch industrial action in three months’ time unless members receive increased support and pay. James Timpson, the prisons minister, told MPs last week that the … Continue reading In Scotland, twice as many ‘probation officers’ and so only a tiny fraction of the re-offending level
UK Energy Minister, Michael Shanks, should be warned about Rural Scots trapped in a ‘quiet crisis’
The Scotsman today has a report on the Poverty Alliance apparently warning the SNP on the costs of energy in rural parts, unconnected to the gas grid and where home heating oil has to be bought in bulk in the absence of any price protection. The absence of price protection for heating oil, the regulatory framework for energy markets, and the overall approach to supporting off-grid households are reserved matters.1 Scotland has a higher proportion of homes off the mains gas grid than most of the UK. These households (roughly 142,000 using oil) rely on heating oil (kerosene), LPG, or … Continue reading UK Energy Minister, Michael Shanks, should be warned about Rural Scots trapped in a ‘quiet crisis’
Talking-up Scotland 