There have been few EU-related discussions of late that haven’t mentioned the “I” word – this of course being the Irish. Only an industrial-strength bubble would have prevented permeation. Ireland failed to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, the new blueprint for streamlining EU decision-making procedures and bestowing additional legislative powers on the European Parliament. For Ireland, …
Water industry watchdog condemns consultation process, casts doubt on new retail competition proposals.
When the SNP Government took office in 2007, the three pillars of its Economic Strategy could safely be summed up as (in no particular order) Financial Services, Life Sciences and Renewable Technology.
Whether it’s because the first of these legs has become a bit shoogley, it has been clear that government has chosen to add some more sectors to the mix for Scotland’s economic future…
As autumn encroached, my time at Morhamburn drew to a close. Sitting in the slowly emptying office, watching the sun burn lower and lower over Arthur’s Seat, I contemplated the past month. I had learnt some valuable life lessons…
The first meeting of the Cross Party Group on China after the long summer recess took the form of a reception rather than the more conventional series of presentations by invited speakers.
Committee Convener, Labour MSP Tom McCabe, was in ebullient form as he circulated among the assembled guests and representatives from the Chinese consulate. Smiles …
Reports that the new high speed rail-line that will run from Edinburgh to Glasgow might be called the Union Railway have caused a bit of a stir among some nationalist MSPs.
Leaving aside the fact that current estimates for completion are 2030, we can all assume that it won’t be finished till at least 2035 – …
I am currently reading Christopher Harvie, and his Short History of Scotland – and the repetitive nature of the history of the Scots-UK relationship is something that has struck me.
The Stuarts, that most regal of dynasties who came to power in the UK via Scotland. The irony then when King James VI & I, and …
“Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite”
All is transient, nothing lasts forever. I’ve been visiting the National Library of Scotland after work to make some much needed progress on an imminently due university dissertation. Wandering alone through …
While back in Malaysia on holiday a few years ago, we were invited to a friend’s house for a much appreciated ‘welcome home’ dinner.
During the course of the evening, I fell into conversation with two of the older folk (my host’s father and father-in-law) who had disappeared onto the veranda for a smoke – and …
Failing, as Jonathon Freedland put it this week in the Guardian, “a twist so shocking it will have to be scripted by the writers of Lost”, Cameron’s government-in-waiting will move centre stage (though by centre I of course don’t mean on the ideological spectrum of course) after the next general election. There’s a flood of …