Author Archive

conservative Scotland?

There has been much talk of the merits, or otherwise, of devolution lately, and with the Tory-LibDem UK government starting to implement its agenda, there is little doubt that political divergence between Scotland and the UK is increasing. But it raises an important question; is the UK leaving Scotland behind?


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  • 19/07/10 at 11.22am
  • By Keith

Who is Holyrood accountable to?

According to the Scotsman, Labour MPs in London are seeking to ‘audit’ devolution and to assess whether or not it has been a success. Potentially incendiary stuff, and perhaps not too surprising that the story has ‘broken’ after Holyrood has gone into recess.


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  • 7/07/10 at 12.20pm
  • By Keith

Summer intern – recruiting now

We are currently recruiting an intern for a two-month period to work in our Edinburgh office. The role will involve research and administrative support as well as opportunities to develop individual projects.


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  • 21/05/10 at 4.13pm
  • By Keith

Beware the bogeywoman…

I wonder about Scots and their obsession with Thatcher. It is surely now bordering on the dangerously obsessive? People would have been casting their votes for Labour and against the Tories (Thatcher) who were not even alive when she was in office.


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  • 20/05/10 at 3.31pm
  • By Keith

General Election 2010 – Labour: Tactical voting or tactical defeat?

As a football fan, the accusation that a manager is ‘tactically naïve’ is an oft used, if often misunderstood accusation from disgruntled fans. It usually indicates that things are not going well, and that from the outside at least, those who find themselves in a position to do something about it are unable, unwilling or both. That senior Labour politicians are now actively encouraging voters in certain areas to tactically vote possibly says a lot about how the campaign has gone for Labour.


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  • 4/05/10 at 1.00pm
  • By Keith

Election 2010: The SNP Manifesto

‘Elect a local champion’

To read a PDF copy of the SNP 2010 Manifesto, please click here.


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  • 20/04/10 at 3.14pm
  • By Keith

Election 2010 – The Others: Pluralism Alive and Well in Political Non-establishment

Morhamburn is following the UK general election campaign closely, with each team member being allocated a party to follow for the duration of the campaign. Keith will be following closely the ‘others’, a job he began with a visit to official register of UK political parties…


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  • 13/04/10 at 12.22pm
  • By Keith

A sum less than the pairts?

Scotland often strikes you as a confused wee mass of contradictions and ironies; famously hospitable, yet infamously aggressive; rooted in history yet so popularly ignorant of it; the home of mass, comprehensive education, yet economically stultified.


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  • 25/03/10 at 11.09am
  • By Keith

Really the hardest word?

It might not rank as one of the great pieces of oratory, but I would suggest that Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon’s speech before a packed Debating Chamber yesterday will long be remembered as another milestone in Holyrood’s maturation.


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  • 25/02/10 at 11.23am
  • By Keith

Stones and glass houses…

“Totally unacceptable” and “sickening”. That’s how Iain Gray MSP and John Park MSP have described the revelations that the FM and Deputy FM have been auctioning lunches at Holyrood.


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  • 9/02/10 at 3.13pm
  • By Keith