Scotland
Six Nations – yet another boring Welsh Grand Slam?
Ok - I have people staying over for the weekend so forgive me for a post on Thursday. Sam’s back for Wales.. (from the Independent) Whatever. - that’s from Le Monde with the Google Translate here. I don’t think Rougerie is a centre. How many points are Ireland going to beat these idiots by? Foden want’s [...] more »
Six Nations – Another boring weekend.
OK – in the prediction contest we have two joint leaders, Johnny Boy and Reader. Neither have gone for Tommy Bowe as top try scorer so it’s still very open. Today it’s Wales v Italy and Ireland v Scotland. Tomorrow England travel to Paris. In the Western Mail Michael Owen hails the best Welsh team [...] more »
How to win a Scottish Referendum – ten iron laws…
Leaving aside the politics of the upcoming referendum, for a moment, however hard that is, let me explore the ten iron laws of referendum campaigning: Referendums are not elections – they encapsulate issues and ideas in theory, rather than people and personalities; that is why political parties find them so hard – because parties are [...] more »
Gay Marriage: Cardinal lobbies against whilst Church of Ireland opens a debate…
So Cardinal Keith O’Brien thinks gay marriage is grotesque. His church will be lining up to oppose the enactment by HMG to give civil partnership an equal status with traditional marriage between a man and a woman. In the meantime, the Church of Ireland, who’s official position is no different from that of the (Roman) [...] more »
Shouldn’t David Cameron be using his old clan motto just now?
Grateful to the picture editor at BBC Scotland… who’s picked this picture of a couple biscuit tins from someone at Reuters who maybe knows something more about Scots Gaelic than s/he lets on. The one on the right has the word Cameron emblazoned on it with the clan motto underneath saying Aonaibh ri Cheile, united [...] more »
The power of politics to change constitutional terms of reference …
Brian Taylor, the BBC’s political editor in Scotland: It is simply remarkable to note the extent to which the Scotland Bill, building upon the work of the Calman Commission, has been overtaken in political debate. One does not need to subscribe entirely to the view that the bill and the status quo “now seem lost [...] more »
“I am delighted to hear that the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom”
Some good news! [Peter Robinson will be pleased - Ed] Possibly… According to the Office of National Statistics’ analysis of experimental subjective well-being data from the Annual Population Survey, April to September 2011, the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom. In fact the, admittedly subjective, data reveals that the people [...] more »
Scotland – Ascherson still not decided on independence…
Always liked the bloke – but at 79 years old I thought he might have made his mind up….. From the New York Times. Even larger questions would loom. Would there still be a place called “Britain”? Would Scottish independence finally force the English to rediscover their own national voice, instead of hiding their problems [...] more »
Six Nations – Weekend 3
It’s time to start building a fortress. From the Irish Times: WHEN IRELAND first returned to Lansdowne Road in the autumn of 2010, Brian O’Driscoll spoke for all when declaring Ireland’s need to make the Aviva a fortress. Alas, not helped by the IRFU’s ticketing fiasco, as fortresses go it’s been more akin to the [...] more »
Is the Rangers crisis undermining the false economy of Scottish football?
There’s always been something slightly delusional about football. Listen to a football fan talking, and it’s ‘we’ did this and ‘we’ did that. The truth is that the commercial relationship between fans and their clubs has long since been notional. These are big joint stock companies whose relationship with their fans is purely sociological. The [...] more »
DevoMax may be more disruptive to English regions than Independence…
Great piece by Mark Hennessy who digs into a part of England where they probably have a more nuanced understanding of the Scots instinct for greater autonomy than any other. …the northeast of England worries about the powers that the Scots already have, let alone the possibility that they might get powers over corporation tax [...] more »
Scottish referendum: the unionist case is still all over the place
The unionist split shows no sign of closing. The Aberdonian Tory cabinet minister and Surrey MP Michael Gove echoes my “England is sulking “ theory and delivers some pretty sharp words to his own side. …While there is a threat posed by Scottish separatism, he added, “there is also a threat, under-appreciated, from English [...] more »
#CATJRF: A evolution of ‘community right to buy’ in Scotland?
Ian Cooke outlines some of the changes brought about by the Scottish government that made it easier for communities to take on and use assets for the benefit of local communities, but pushing the capacity to make such decisions down from ministerial level to local authorities. With a new bill on the cards, there is scope for creating further opportunities by recognising asset transfer and community right to buy as a way of ramping up community-led regeneration. more »
Maybe London should seek its independence along with Scotland?
Here’s a curve ball from the London Evening Standard’s Ian Birrell, who thinks the UK capital is getting unfairly kicked by the rest of England for getting some things right, not least understanding the value of immigration and cultural diversity that arises from it: Curiously, the most prosperous region outside the South is Scotland – [...] more »
“Scotland has been gearing itself up to follow the Irish example….”
Great quote from David Marquand in a powerful round up on Our Kingdom… Here’s his unkindest cut to the Unionist lobby: As Norman Davies shows in his extraordinary Vanished Kingdoms, states, like human beings, are mortal. Some die peacefully; some do so in a welter of blood. But, sooner or later, they all die. The [...] more »
Scottish referendum: ‘Devo more’ could be a unionist runner
On the subject of greater powers for Holyrood, there’s something of a right wing split between the Telegraph newspapers and the darling of the Tory grass roots, blogger Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome. The Sunday Telegraph leader dealt with the subject with a knowledge of the subject that would disgrace an unpaid intern: To concede greater [...] more »
#CATJRF: An open discussion on community asset transfer…
As promised last week, today marks the beginning of a discussion (debate is probably too grand a term for what we have in mind) of Community Asset Transfer… If you are confused as to what that means, it refers to the transfer of title or services from some form of statutory ownership or management to [...] more »
It’s the English question now, stupid
The Scottish media were a PhD dissertation about chippiness all unto themselves,” reflected Mr Blair in his memoirs, the Times editorial (£) recalled. By those standards, it seems Dave’s nervous apologia for the Union in Edinburgh fitted the bill after all, presentation wise. Substance was more problematical. In the Times (£) the august Scots unionist [...] more »
Will the referendum debate go two way at last today?
Adds at 2pm. David Cameron’s speech ( in full here, courtesy of the Scotsman) was a constipated affair. Like Eric Morecambe and the Grieg piano concerto, he played all the right notes but not necessariily in the right order – and without enough colour and tone . He talked nervously into the middle distance, not to the single [...] more »
Rangers: Where has all the money gone?
Good piece in the Glasgow Herald this morning asking some searching questions about where all the money can have gone by the second week in February: By all accounts, HMRC officials were on their way to serve papers to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Monday, but Whyte beat them to it. Speculation had [...] more »
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Books
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…if University education were universally available and availed of, the country would collapse in one generation
The words of Brian O’Nolan, variously Brian Ó Nualláin, Myles na gCopaleen, Myles na Gopaleen and, of course, Flann O’Brien. That O’Nolan was referencing his own dissolute student days at UCD only mildly distracts from the prophetic undertone of his words: I paid no attention whatsoever to books or study and regarded lectures as a [...] read our review »
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Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review
This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death [...] read our review »
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