The Herald

The Herald | Politics


Analysis: Can justice system cope with effects of Supreme Court ruling?
9 Dec 2025 at 4:00pm
Can Scotland's under pressure justice system cope with the hefty new demands now on it from the Supreme Court's judgment on rules around what evidence can be heard in sexual offence trials?


'Anxiety, appeals, delays': Lord Advocate warns of 'disruption' after rape la...
9 Dec 2025 at 5:04am
The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has given a detailed assessment of the impact a Supreme Court ruling will have on complainers, defendants and on lawyers in sex offence trials as the judgment is implemented.


Harvie calls for lifting of Holyrood toilet trans ban after Sandie Peggie ruling
9 Dec 2025 at 5:03pm
Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie has called for Holyrood to lift its ban on trans people using toilets in their acquired gender in the Scottish Parliament building.


?Injected in the back of taxis?: Holyrood warned of Botox horror stories
9 Dec 2025 at 11:52am
MSPs hear evidence of ?horrifying? Botox injections in taxis as experts warn lax training and a lack of clinical focus putting lives at risk.


Campaigners celebrate as 'pivotal' Duchenne drug approved for use on NHS Scot...
8 Dec 2025 at 7:45pm
The Scottish Medical Consortium has approved the use of givinostat to treat children aged six and older who are still able to walk. 


WATCH: Sandie Peggie legal team warns of 'hugely problematic' NHS Fife ruling
8 Dec 2025 at 7:04pm
Sandie Peggie appeared alongside her legal team after the employment tribunal judgment was delivered, with lawyers warning of 'problematic aspects' despite a narrow victory.


Narrow Sandie Peggie judgment - but this is why her legal team won't be happy
8 Dec 2025 at 5:16pm
Sandie Peggie had a narrow win over NHS Fife - but lost on most of her claims, including those made against Dr Beth Upton. Here's why her legal team will have concerns.


Prominent sex rights charity hits out at 'spurious' balance in Sandie Peggie ...
8 Dec 2025 at 2:51pm
Peggie, a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, had complained about sharing a changing room with Dr Beth Upton, a transgender woman.


Sandie Peggie: 'I am relieved and delighted' with tribunal's NHS Fife decision
8 Dec 2025 at 1:24pm
Judge Sandy Kemp found that the health board harassed Peggie, but dismissed a claim made against transgender medic Dr Beth Upton.


Who is Sandie Peggie, the nurse at centre of NHS Fife employment tribunal row?
8 Dec 2025 at 12:50pm
Sandie Peggie is an A&E nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, with three decades of service under NHS Fife.


Who is Dr Beth Upton, the trans doctor at the centre of Sandie Peggie row?
8 Dec 2025 at 12:50pm
Dr Beth Upton is the second respondent in the ongoing legal case involving nurse Sandie Peggie at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and NHS Fife.


RECAP: Sandie Peggie and NHS Fife react following release of tribunal judgment
8 Dec 2025 at 1:09pm
Latest news as the Sandie Peggie tribunal judgment is delivered


Sandie Peggie wins employment tribunal against NHS Fife - but not Dr Upton
8 Dec 2025 at 1:11pm
The judgment in the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal has been published.


John Swinney: Household energy bills would be cut by a third under independence
8 Dec 2025 at 12:43pm
John Swinney has promised energy bills would fall substantially if Scotland becomes an independent country.

The Scotsman

The Scotsman Politics


Damning report on state of NHS shows why Scotland needs Labour to fix it
9 Dec 2025 at 5:28pm
Scottish Labour saved the NHS from a devastating flu outbreak in 2000 and it can do so again


The urgent lesson that Keir Starmer must learn from Donald Trump?s new securi...
9 Dec 2025 at 5:27pm
The US National Security Strategy suggests the Trump administration plans to support far and hard-right parties in European countries, while leaving it to its own defences


SNP?s panicked attempt to fix so-called 'tourist tax' shows how badly they go...
9 Dec 2025 at 5:27pm
The legislation that created the visitor levy ? a tax on more than just tourists ? is having to be changed after farcical problems emerged with forward bookings for Edinburgh next summer


No Scottish Labour MPs back bill to rejoin EU customs union
9 Dec 2025 at 5:24pm

All of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs abstained - along with most of their party colleagues.

Neil Gray has stressed a health board?s decision to restrict visiting was ?not taken lightly? amid the flu outbreak.

Carol Potter is due to take early retirement next summer - but MSPs say government ministers should step in and sack her.

Edinburgh?s cycle hire scheme is to expand to the south of the city with an increased number of e-bikes.

A new survey has found access to healthcare is the main concern for those living in rural parts of Scotland.

A Scottish Labour NHS event was overshadowed by John Swinney vowing to cut energy bills with independence.

A party figure said Pam Duncan-Glancy continuing as the candidate for Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill would ?damage our campaign in the city?.

Wings over Scotland

The Valley Of The Dolls
9 Dec 2025 at 3:42pm
The first and most important thing to note about yesterday’s judgment in the Sandie Peggie tribunal is that it’s a very big victory. The tribunal found that Sandie Peggie was gravely and heinously harassed by her employer through no fault of her own, and she’ll be entitled to substantial compensation as a result. It also …

The Long Walk To Freedom
7 Dec 2025 at 12:13pm
On 5 April 2021, I sent a short and simple Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to the Scottish Government asking for: ?All written evidence to James Hamilton’s QC investigation into the FM under the ministerial code. This includes evidence from the FM, her chief of staff Liz Lloyd and any other individuals within the Scottish …

The cost of failure
4 Dec 2025 at 1:19pm
For several years now, this site has recorded how the SNP’s continued existence is now entirely dependent on UK state funding. The party would simply go bust without Westminster money. And how precarious a position that puts it in is sharply illustrated by the latest release of donations income from the Electoral Commission. In a …

Ain?t Got Time To Bleed
3 Dec 2025 at 8:12pm
It is our solemn duty to inform you we’ve received another legal threat, readers. Should we cease and desist? Let’s see. The article in question is this one, and this is everything it said about Mr McNeil: Only one “statement” is attributed to him – the words “The authorities will be there so we need …

Ginger beer and fruit and nuts
3 Dec 2025 at 1:44pm
We miss the days when this was parody, not “progressive” ideology. ? But we are where we are. And hey, it’s great news that their adult roles are still open to all.

Wishing for swans
1 Dec 2025 at 1:58pm
For lack of anything more interesting to write about, we thought we might do a monthly rundown of polling in the leadup to next year’s Holyrood election, with seat projections from a neutral source, in the shape of the newish Devolved Elections website. And very quickly, things got a bit weird. Our original thought was …

The Groomers? Friends
27 Nov 2025 at 12:59pm
We’re just putting this here for the record, really. It’s a “debate” from the Scottish Parliament last night, on a motion from Patrick Harvie complaining that vulnerable children aren’t being pushed into a programme of lifelong medicalisation, sterilisation and mutilation quickly enough. The motion completely ignored both the findings of the Cass Review and the …

Searching And Looking
22 Nov 2025 at 9:44pm
Disgraced ex-policeman and notorious vexatious serial complainant Lynsay Watson is having quite the meltdown on the groomer-and-paedophile haven Bluesky tonight. Let’s listen in. The trigger is that Watson has been asked to attend a voluntary police interview in connection with allegations of harassment against him – something that’s happened before, and which he’s managed to …

Reach For The Stars (And Stripes)
19 Nov 2025 at 8:49am
To be honest, we’re mainly putting these here so you don’t have to keep looking at that picture of Alan Cumming. But they also show what you can achieve, whether in football or politics, if you actually attack rather than being content to endlessly shuttle it all sideways and backwards until you get beaten without …

Over The Hill And Down The Slope
14 Nov 2025 at 1:15pm
We’ve just been leaked the SNP’s first poster roughs for Holyrood 2026. One more push, everyone!

Craig Murray

Your Party, and Its Conference
9 Dec 2025 at 1:14am

It is probably no bad thing that health struggles have delayed my writing up Your Party’s extraordinary Liverpool founding conference. Perspective is definitely helpful to process something unique. Personally, I could not help but be struck by the number of participants who approached me as regular readers of my blog, certainly well into three figures. …

Your Party, and Its Conference

The Filton Trial
7 Dec 2025 at 8:35pm

“The policewoman attacked by a sledgehammer” has been the constant refrain of the government against Palestine Action. A couple of days before the judicial review of the proscription in England, and despite fierce reporting restrictions on the trial, the prosecution released to the media highly edited video footage from the current trial in Woolwich Crown …

The Filton Trial

The Terrifying Case of Natalie Strecker
2 Dec 2025 at 8:30am

I am confident that over 2 million people in the UK have shared thoughts on the Genocide in Gaza that are stronger than anything Natalie Strecker has expressed. I am quite certain that I am one of those 2 million. Yet Natalie Strecker, an avowed pacifist, today faces up to ten years in prison under …

The Terrifying Case of Natalie Strecker

Resisting Authoritarianism
28 Nov 2025 at 8:34am

In the last three days I have been in London at the judicial review of Palestine Action and today I am in Jersey for the terrorist trial of Natalie Strecker. I made a brief impromptu speech outside the High Court, in intervening to try and stop some people in wheelchairs from being arrested as “terrorists”, …

Resisting Authoritarianism

Judicial Malfeasance and Palestine Action
26 Nov 2025 at 2:56am

The Scottish judicial review of the proscription of Palestine Action – funded so far by readers of this blog – has been simply shelved by delay tactics that plainly break the Scottish legal system’s own rules. Our case was ruled competent for us to serve the petition on the UK government. They replied in the …

Judicial Malfeasance and Palestine Action

The Beat of the War Drums
20 Nov 2025 at 6:34am

In fascist lockstep, the entire British media, broadcast and print, corporate and state, is leading with a Ministry of Defence press release about a “Russian spy ship” inside “British waters”. No British media appears to have been able to speak to anybody who knows the first thing about the Law of the Sea. Here are …

The Beat of the War Drums

BBC Scotland

Pupils needing additional support hits new high of 43%
9 Dec 2025 at 2:02pm
Nearly 300,000 children in Scotland's schools are now listed as needing extra support in the classroom.

Why Sandie Peggie ruling could lead to big changes for employers
8 Dec 2025 at 8:22pm
A tribunal has ruled that the nurse was harassed by NHS Fife - but dismissed all other claims in her case.

Is there a future for carbon capture and storage in Scotland?
9 Dec 2025 at 6:24am
Academics say the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire is facing difficulties, but the company insists it is viable.

'Astonishing' rise in average waits for NHS 24 calls, report says
8 Dec 2025 at 1:29pm
The author of a report on the Scottish health service, commissioned by Scottish Labour, has criticised the "astonishing" increase.

Partial victory for nurse in NHS trans changing room row
8 Dec 2025 at 8:17pm
A tribunal said NHS Fife harassed Sandie Peggie but dismissed other claims she made against the health board and a transgender doctor.

Teens as young as 15 seeking help over botched Botox and fillers
8 Dec 2025 at 11:02am
Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) says it wants tighter restrictions on cosmetic procedures in new Scottish legislation.

Flu cases likely to 'spike' in coming weeks, warns health secretary
7 Dec 2025 at 12:23pm
Neil Gray says the rise in cases is a challenge and urges anyone able to get vaccinated to do so.

Is Holyrood bad at making law?
7 Dec 2025 at 9:23am
Recent emergency measures to fix legislative issues may point to a wider problem in how Holyrood operates.

Scottish Conservative peer defects to Reform UK
6 Dec 2025 at 5:23pm
Malcolm Offord appeared at a rally alongside Nigel Farage in Falkirk on Saturday to announce the move.

Scottish Labour frontbencher quits over links to sex offender
5 Dec 2025 at 10:13pm
Pam Duncan-Glancy has resigned as Labour's education spokesperson after reports she maintained links with a disgraced councillor.

Young people to lose benefits if they turn down work, says minister
7 Dec 2025 at 12:19pm
Pat McFadden says they would need a "good reason" to decline one of 55,000 new work placements.

Opposing rallies take place over Inverness barracks asylum plans
6 Dec 2025 at 5:36pm
The UK government has announced plans to accommodate about 300 men at the city's Cameron Barracks.

Scot Goes Pop

Eurovision and Israel: No More Hiding Places For The BBC
9 Dec 2025 at 8:09am
Scot Goes Pop: The Final Fundraiser is underway (you can read more about why I anticipate it being the final one HERE) and it's already pretty close to halfway to its target figure of £1700.  A mil...

Nigel Farage's rant about the native languages of Glasgow school pupils revea...
6 Dec 2025 at 7:52am
Today's video commentary below is in two parts.  Firstly, I look at how Nigel Farage's complaint that almost one-third of Glasgow school pupils do not speak English as a native language marks out R...

If Rachel Reeves' rejection of an independence referendum "carries little wei...
4 Dec 2025 at 8:41am
Stephen Flynn has said that Rachel Reeves' rejection of an independence referendum in the event of an SNP overall majority "carries little weight", but if it really doesn't matter what the UK gover...

"Utterly dominant": SNP soar to almost 40% support in latest Scottish subsamp...
3 Dec 2025 at 5:52pm
*  *  *Scot Goes Pop: The Final Fundraiser is underway (you can read more about why I anticipate it being the final one HERE) and it's already pretty close to halfway to its target figure of £1700....

Scot Goes Pop: The Final Fundraiser (plus an update about the video blogging ...
1 Dec 2025 at 6:37am
Click here to go straight to the fundraiser page.Scot Goes Pop's annual fundraiser for 2025 ended up getting much, much closer to its target figure than I ever thought was possible, so a million th...

STUNNING YouGov polling confirms SNP are far more popular with voters in Scot...
30 Nov 2025 at 5:59am
* .* .*With just over one month of the year left to go, the 2025 Scot Goes Pop fundraiser is still short of its target figure.  If you'd like to help keep the lights on during the several months it...

IT'S OFFICIAL: Rachel Reeves confirms Scotland is in a FORCED union with Engl...
28 Nov 2025 at 11:17am
* .* .*With just over one month of the year left to go, the 2025 Scot Goes Pop fundraiser is still short of its target figure.  If you'd like to help keep the lights on during the several months it...

Does the Alba Party's "princess" Shannon Cullen regret her ill-judged associa...
27 Nov 2025 at 1:12pm
In a way it's ironic that the Alba Party have become so vehemently anti-monarchy, because they certainly believe in the principle of Royal Families within their own ranks.  Famously, Christina Hend...

STV Politics News

Latest Politics News | STV News

Young people to lose benefits if they turn down work, says minister
9 Dec 2025 at 2:46pm
A jobs guarantee scheme will be launched in central and east Scotland.

Early release of prisoners ?cold comfort? to victims of crime, says justice s...
9 Dec 2025 at 11:10am
The justice secretary said up to 84 criminals will be released early on Tuesday amid attempts to crack down on the growing prison population.

?Dangerous? electric bikes and scooters to be debated at Holyrood
8 Dec 2025 at 3:06pm
A motion calls on the Scottish Government to provide Police Scotland with the 'appropriate resources' to tackle the issue.

Scottish Government to ?work closely? with councils over pub closing times du...
8 Dec 2025 at 12:59pm
Scotland's opening game, against Haiti in Boston, will kick off at 2am UK time.

Swinney to call independence fresh start and says Starmer could be next Thatcher
8 Dec 2025 at 7:05am
The First Minister said independence could allow Scotland to improve living standards and ensure wealth is shared fairly.

Former deputy Scotland secretary Malcolm Offord defects to Reform UK
6 Dec 2025 at 2:29pm
Malcolm Offord made the announcement at a rally attended by Nigel Farage in Falkirk on Saturday.

Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy resigns from shadow cabinet over friendship with...
6 Dec 2025 at 10:41am
Pam Duncan-Glancy resigned from the shadow cabinet with immediate effect after the Daily Record approached her over her links to former councillor Sean Morton.

Scotland?s energy industry facing ?existential threat?, John Swinney warns Ke...
5 Dec 2025 at 2:39pm
The First Minister met with the Prime Minister ahead of a summit of the British-Irish Council in Wales.

John Swinney brands Glasgow schoolchildren comments made by Nigel Farage as ?...
5 Dec 2025 at 2:33pm
The Reform leader posted a video on social media claiming one in three Glasgow schoolchildren do not speak English as their first language.

Prime Minister announces strategy to cut child poverty by 550,000 by 2030
5 Dec 2025 at 12:42pm
Approximately 4.5 million children are currently living in poverty in the UK.

Sarwar?s fingerprints ?all over the Budget?, says Starmer
5 Dec 2025 at 9:34am
The Prime Minister touted his Scottish leader?s influence as he addressed members on Thursday.

UK Government unwilling to support Scottish industry, John Swinney claims
5 Dec 2025 at 7:09am
The First Minister is expected to push for ?urgent? support for Scottish industry.

SNP has damaged rather than improved Scotland, says Starmer
4 Dec 2025 at 8:35pm
The Prime Minister spoke with less than six months to go to the next Holyrood election.

John Swinney defends justice secretary Angela Constance over grooming gang re...
4 Dec 2025 at 4:43pm
The Scottish Tories accused the justice secretary of 'misleading the Scottish Parliament and the public'.

Daily Record

Daily Record - Politics

Sandie Peggie tribunal ruling shows need for 'consistent approach' to single ...
9 Dec 2025 at 3:28pm
Jackie Baillie said both NHS Fife and the SNP Government had "significant questions to answer" following the Sandie Peggie ruling.

Mum of murdered Emma Caldwell fears police 'could avoid accountability' at pu...
9 Dec 2025 at 2:01pm
An inquiry into the 2005 murder of Emma, 27, by serial rapist Iain Packer officially starts work today.

Nicola Sturgeon pledge to narrow attainment gap between richest and poorest S...
9 Dec 2025 at 1:58pm
The ex-SNP leader promised in 2015 "to close the attainment gap completely" but the Lib Dems said it could take more than a century to achieve.

Scots MP tells Nigel Farage 'I was one of those kids' in backlash against Ref...
9 Dec 2025 at 10:23am
Dr Zubir Ahmed accused the Reform UK leader of peddling "hissing snake oil Putinist fifth column politics".

Protests against hotels being used to house asylum seekers are 'appalling', s...
8 Dec 2025 at 4:51pm
The First Minister told an audience in Glasgow "we need people to come to Scotland to boost our working age population".

Nurse Sandie Peggie v NHS Fife - 10 things you need to know about trans row t...
8 Dec 2025 at 2:45pm
The nurse was suspended by NHS Fife after she objected to sharing a female changing room with a transgender doctor at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

Sandie Peggie wins trans row tribunal against NHS Fife in landmark ruling
8 Dec 2025 at 1:11pm
Peggie, an experienced nurse, took NHS Fife to an employment tribunal after refusing to share a changing room with a transgender colleague.

NHS Scotland requires 'serious changes' to survive as SNP accused of overseei...
8 Dec 2025 at 4:30am
Anas Sarwar said McKirdy report proved "the SNP is the architect of the crisis in our NHS ? they will never be the ones to fix it".

John Swinney to claim independence will reduce electricity bills for Scots ho...
8 Dec 2025 at 4:30am
EXCLUSIVE: The SNP leader will today unveil the "It's Scotland's Energy" campaign ahead of the next Holyrood election.

Whistleblower felt 'dismissed' after complaining about Labour MSP's links wit...
8 Dec 2025 at 4:30am
EXCLUSIVE: Emails obtained by the Record show concerns were raised with Labour nearly one month ago about Pam Duncan-Glancy's continued friendship with disgraced Sean Morton.

The National

The National | Politics

I was warmly welcomed to the ?island of strangers? I now call home
9 Dec 2025 at 6:30pm

NEARLY eight years ago, I moved from the country I grew up in to the land I now call home. I left my family behind and came unaccompanied, on a boat, as a ?young man of fighting age?, in search of a better life.

'Tommy Robinson' is certainly not following the teachings of Christ
9 Dec 2025 at 6:30pm

YOU report that the Church of Scotland is backing an anti-far right push because Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (who apparently prefers to call himself something else ? but please, let?s not pander to that) is ?subverting Christmas?.

I read the Sandie Peggie ruling. Here are nine key points the media missed out
9 Dec 2025 at 5:31pm

MEDIA coverage of the tribunal ruling on Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife has one common characteristic: a disconnect from what the tribunal ruling actually says ...

What do the experts say about the SNP's energy campaign?
9 Dec 2025 at 5:00pm

THE SNP?s fresh focus on lowering energy bills with independence is ?encouraging? but ?lacks depth? and ambition, experts have said.

Sandie Peggie case 'shows trans segregation is unlawful', MSPs told
9 Dec 2025 at 4:01pm

THE Sandie Peggie tribunal ruling has shown that the ?blanket exclusion of trans people? from single-sex facilities is generally unlawful ...

MSPs urged to show solidarity and demand justice for Palestine hunger strikers
9 Dec 2025 at 2:55pm

MSPS have been urged to voice their support and solidarity for pro-Palestine activists who are on hunger strike in prison.

Scottish Labour MP's independence question awkwardly shut down in Commons
9 Dec 2025 at 1:02pm

A SCOTTISH Labour MP was awkwardly shut down by the Speaker of the House of Commons as he tried to ask Rachel Reeves about Scottish independence.

Why Reform UK's claims about neurodivergent children are dangerous
9 Dec 2025 at 12:59pm

The National columnist Kelly Given explains why Reform UK's claims about neurodivergent children are not only wrong, but dangerous

Richie Venton: Scotland?s trade union movement must step up effort against fa...
9 Dec 2025 at 12:37pm

I WAS proud to be with a team of Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) members on Saturday?s Falkirk Unity March, joining a thousand others, including the Falkirk For All group, trade unionists, anti-racists, faith groups and peace campaigners

Malawi warns of 'serious consequences' if Labour cut foreign aid
9 Dec 2025 at 12:37pm

MALAWI has warned of ?serious consequences? if Britain cuts vital aid to the country.

Holyrood Magazine

Holyrood Website

Health secretary sidesteps question on single-sex spaces in workplaces
9 Dec 2025 at 3:46pm
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie called for ?one consistent approach? to be implemented across Scotland on access to single-sex spaces

Employment tribunal finds Sandie Peggie was harassed by NHS Fife
8 Dec 2025 at 2:20pm
The tribunal dismissed the claim made against Dr Beth Upton and all other claims made against the health board

Home Office to blame for Glasgow immigration housing crisis, John Swinney says
8 Dec 2025 at 1:57pm
The first minister also said he was 'not going to change my mind' on immigration more broadly

Scottish space sector calls for increased funding in strategy review
5 Dec 2025 at 2:50pm
In the wake of business minister Richard Lochhead?s announcement that a review of Scotland?s space strategy is on the cards for 2026, Holyrood asked key players in the Scottish space sector what they are hoping for from the strategy

Edinburgh Airport suspends all flights after IT crash ?
5 Dec 2025 at 11:20am
Edinburgh Airport suspended all flights in and out of the nation's capital earlier today due to an IT issue with their air traffic control provider

Keir Starmer sets out 'moral mission' to tackle child poverty
4 Dec 2025 at 10:30pm
Scottish charities have called for the government to do more?

Keir Starmer: Nigel Farage is a ?disgrace?
4 Dec 2025 at 7:07pm
The prime minister was on a visit to Glasgow when he called out comments made by the Reform leader

John Swinney has ?head in the sand? on NHS woes
4 Dec 2025 at 12:56pm
Auditors warned that despite record levels of investment, the NHS had not improved in line with government commitments

Richard Lochhead launches review of Scotland?s space strategy ?
4 Dec 2025 at 10:43am
Business minister Richard Lochhead has announced a review of Scotland?s space strategy

Reform UK banks ?10m war chest thanks to crypto investor
4 Dec 2025 at 10:17am
Electoral Commission publishes third quarter donations

Guardian - Scottish Politics

Scottish politics | The Guardian

?It?s Scotland?s energy?: SNP to focus on renewables in Holyrood election
8 Dec 2025 at 6:05pm
Leader John Swinney says independence could cut household energy bills by a third in the long termThe future of Scottish renewables will underpin the Scottish National party?s Holyrood election campaign, the party leader, John Swinney, has said, as he claimed independence could cut household ener...

No 10 declines to comment on White House claim that Europe facing ?civilisati...
8 Dec 2025 at 5:49pm
US national security strategy takes aim at EU and other bodies over issues including migration, free speech and falling birthratesBadenoch is now taking questions.Q: From Sky News You said you did not want to leave any stones unturned. That is what Sajid Javid said when he ordered an inquiry in...

Farage dodges press as he unveils Reform?s first peer after Conservative defe...
6 Dec 2025 at 5:20pm
Party leader leaves latest recruit, Malcolm Offord, to field questions on antisemitism allegations at Scotland rallyNigel Farage has addressed Reform UK?s largest rally in Scotland to date but refused to engage with local journalists ? leaving the newly defected peer Malcolm Offord to field quest...

John Swinney defends immigration as Scotland faces rise of Reform
6 Dec 2025 at 9:00am
Exclusive: First minister mounts robust defence of diversity as SNP prepares campaign for Holyrood election in MayScotland needs immigration to bolster the size of its working-age population, the country?s first minister has said, mounting a forceful defence of diversity in the face of rising su...

Farage criticises BBC over racism allegations and claims one fellow pupil sai...
4 Dec 2025 at 6:01pm
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereNigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said that in Essex county council elections were postponed. He said district councils were being replaced with a new ?pretty amorphous unitary authority?. Because of that, the area also needed ?a clea...

Starmer says budget did not break manifesto tax pledge ? as it happened
27 Nov 2025 at 5:54pm
PM says: ?We kept to our manifesto in terms of what we?ve promised. But I accept the challenge that we?ve asked everybody to contribute?Ask the Guardian your budget questionsShare your views on the new ?mansion tax?Budget calculator: find out if you are better or worse offThe Conservative party i...

Uk politics: Streeting defends asylum policy, but says he?s not ?comfortable?...
19 Nov 2025 at 5:31pm
Health secretary still maintains that forced removals are ?right thing to do for the country?Healey is now taking questions.Q: How close are are we to war?It is Labour that is the party of defence. Continue reading...

Starmer stands by McSweeney and says he has been ?assured no briefings agains...
13 Nov 2025 at 6:06pm
This blog has now closed, you can read more on this story herePA Media has more on what the monthly performance figures from NHS England show. PA says:The data shows 180,329 people in England had been waiting more than a year to start routine hospital treatment at the end of September, down from ...

Scotland plans to issue £1.5bn of its own bonds ? ?kilts? rather than gilts
13 Nov 2025 at 12:48pm
Announcement by first minister John Swinney comes after Moody?s and S&P give country same credit rating as UKThe Scottish first minister John Swinney has said Edinburgh is on track to issue its own government bonds, nicknamed ?kilts?, after the country was given the same credit rating as the UK.T...

The Guardian view on Scottish land reform: vast estates remain feudal in scal...
9 Nov 2025 at 5:25pm
Half of the country?s privately owned countryside is held by just 421 owners. New legislation suggests democrats still fear powerful interestsNo other European country has such a narrow base of proprietorship as Scotland. Half of all privately owned rural land is held by 421 people or entities. T...

Wee Ginger Dug

Wee Ginger Dug

Westminster and Scotland?s energy, fool me once?
8 Dec 2025 at 6:21pm
Scotland is, by far and away, the most energy rich country of the islands of Britain and Ireland. Moreover it has more in the way of energy resources than just about any other country in Europe, with the exception of Norway (Russia’s vast fossil fuel resources are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Asian part of Russia …

Farage?s contemptible attack on Glesca weans
3 Dec 2025 at 9:15pm
Nigel Farage has been a racist bully again. But don’t worry, he’s only doing it indirectly and without intent to offend or insult. So that’s OK then. Just days after the Scottish Languages Act came into force the English nationalist golf club boor has taken aim at school children in Glasgow. Apparently it’s the “cultural …

The Scottish Languages Act
1 Dec 2025 at 6:56pm
Scotland’s status as a multilingual country is now recognised in law with the Scottish Languages Act coming into force on St Andrew’s Day. The Act beefs up the legal protections previously given to Gaelic and elevates it to the status of an official language of Scotland. For the first time in history, official legal recognition …

I?m disabled, here?s the truth about the Motability scheme.
29 Nov 2025 at 4:06pm
The Labour party has capitulated to right wing demonisation of the most vulnerable minority group in the country, the disabled. I’ve pointed this out before but it bears repeating. The disabled are the only minority group that anyone can become a part of at any time. Anyone can become involved in a serious accident that …

The lie that protects the rich from tax rises
27 Nov 2025 at 3:30pm
Better late than never, Rachel Reeves finally followed the lead of the SNP Government in Holyrood and announced that the heinous two child cap on benefits will finally be abolished from May next year, cue a load of hypocritical Labour MPs trying to pretend that they supported this measure all along despite voting to keep …

Hope of a better Scotland can defeat the far right
25 Nov 2025 at 2:42pm
Racists complain that migrants don’t want to learn English and integrate, but when migrants do want to learn English and integrate, racists mount a protest outside the school where English language lessons are being given to the mothers of some of the pupils, insisting that they are “protecting our kids” from unvetted adults on school …

The Scottish media?s covid double standards
21 Nov 2025 at 1:37pm
Did Nicola Sturgeon get everything right during the Covid pandemic when she headed a devolved government limited powers at its disposal and she was faced with an anti-independence Scottish media that screamed she was politicising the pandemic in order to further the cause of independence whenever she sought to diverge from the line being taken …

A Labour vote in Scotland is a vote not to matter
19 Nov 2025 at 5:01pm
You’ve got to hand it to the Labour party, they are certainly consistent, consistent in their shafting of Scottish workers. It’s almost as though, despite Labour’s protestations to the contrary, Scottish votes don’t matter to the Labour party and its strategists. We’ve seen a party which campaigned on the slogan vote Labour to save Grangemouth …

Starmer?s Labour enables fascism
17 Nov 2025 at 6:58pm
When the race baiting far right criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and the hard right Reform UK are praising Labour’s policies, you know that something has gone profoundly wrong in a party which purports to be on the centre-left. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a set of measures which are aimed at making the lives of …

Just get your boots off our necks, Westminster
14 Nov 2025 at 3:23pm
In an interview with The National newspaper, the actor Alan Cumming, who currently hosts the US version of the popular show The Traitors and who is outspoken in his support for Scottish independence, demanded “Get just get your boots off our necks, Westminster.” He made the powerful call for Scottish self-determination in connection with the …

The Courier

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Scottish Politics News From Holyrood and Westminster | The Courier

Could Rosyth-Europe ferry set sail thanks to Brexit reset?
27 May 2025 at 6:01am
Hopes have been raised for a simple solution to a cross-border problem.

Kirkcaldy MP demands pro-suicide forum is torn down
26 May 2025 at 6:01am
Around 100 suicides have been linked to the sickening forum which provides guidance to people on ending their life.

UHI Perth aviation students warn of ?unsettling times? after training firm?s ...
26 May 2025 at 6:00am
Worried Samuel Hughes, 19, is among students sharing their fears at a time of crisis for Perth College.

Fresh Dundee University strike begins over compulsory Levehulme Centre job cuts
26 May 2025 at 6:00am
University staff are taking five days of industrial action as the institution pushes ahead with plans to axe the forensic research hub.

NHS Fife nurse at centre of controversial trans tribunal suing her own trade ...
25 May 2025 at 2:32pm
A&E medic Sandie Peggie is now taking legal action against the Royal College of Nursing.

EXCLUSIVE: Dundee University still to strike rescue deal with government
23 May 2025 at 5:46pm
Opposition MSPs have expressed concern at the time taken to agree a deal almost a month after the fresh recovery plan was unveiled.

6 senior figures who left Dundee University during financial crisis
23 May 2025 at 5:10pm
Several university chiefs have moved on since £30m financial black hole emerged.

Dundee University activist artist leads degree show protest over financial cr...
23 May 2025 at 4:45pm
Duncan of Jordanstone student Finn Millar says he wants to play a part in "keeping the university alive".

John Swinney admits constituents have expressed Perth leisure concerns to him
23 May 2025 at 6:01am
The first minister wants further talks between both sides of Perth leisure debate.

EXCLUSIVE: Dundee University chief operating officer Jim McGeorge quits
22 May 2025 at 1:58pm
Dr Jim McGeorge ? who was responsible for good governance - had been on a period of extended leave.

Talking up Scotland

Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz'

Scotland?s schools surging ahead of those in England in literacy and numeracy...
9 Dec 2025 at 2:22pm
Professor John Robertson OBA From Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2024-25 published today, we see that in Scotland’s schools there have been significant increases in the numbers of pupils achieving the expected levels in the four years since the pandemic.1 Remember these, at first sight, small percentage differences refer to around 50 000 pupils at each level so the 4% imp...

Ingrained cultural bias in Scottish media that disadvantages the independence...
9 Dec 2025 at 10:22am
Professor John Robertson OBA In my previous post, Grok AI, correctly I feel, suggested that the above reporting was not a hit job and agreed that it was mostly cultural within Scotland’s media. So, I asekd: I agree it's not a 'hit job' but could it be an example of a culture of bias against the case for Scottish independence where that bias has become normalised and where reporters habitually r...

Why was NHS Fife nurse tribunal reported more than twice as much as Darlingto...
9 Dec 2025 at 9:48am
Professor John Robertson OBA We all, right across Scotland, know the name of nurse Sandie Peggie in NHS Fife but did you know the names of the eight nurses in Darlington, County Durham pursuing an identical case regarding a trans colleague? Do you think the folk in County Durham know their names just as we know Peggie? It seems less likely. Why? Here’s an AI report. Has the Fife case had more m...

That ?Scottish? Daily Express?
8 Dec 2025 at 4:57pm
By Liz S Is this same Daily Express (drop the ?Scottish? part) that was reported as those who: ?consistently and heavily criticized the SNP?s ?Named Person? scheme, often referring to it as an ?Orwellian,? ?totalitarian? ?state guardian? or ?snoopers? charter?.  Flip Flop Journalism also , where black becomes white and then we see that anything , indeed everything, is consistently to be disagre...

Going, going, gone? Nope, still there
8 Dec 2025 at 4:52pm
By Liz S BBC headline Scottish pages : ?Our kids are killing each other ? we need to do something? Meanwhile what was formerly and very recently the top article on the main Scottish page of the BBC website on the 5th December, that is now no longer there and it was also formerly the top article on the Scottish Politics page, but now it has descended to being the 6th article on the Scottish poli...

Our kids now hardly ever kill each other but BBC Scotland is killing our spir...
8 Dec 2025 at 1:53pm
BBC Scotland, careful to put the above as a quote but still hitting readers with the same message and one that does not inform us about the reality of our world. They know the scared and the anxious don’t vote for change. The family of a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Glasgow say police should be given more powers to search young people for knives. Kory McCrimmon’s family were spea...

?Scottish? Daily Express front page claim on grooming gangs loophole applies ...
8 Dec 2025 at 12:04pm
John Robertson OBA The ‘Scottish’ Daily Express front page claim that ‘unregistered emergency carers are able to operate on a short-term basis with no regulatory oversight due to a legal anomaly might place children directly into the hands of predators‘ is in the Scottish context, a complete lie. The English edition makes that clear.1 A quick AI question gets an unambiguous response: In Scotlan...

There are no reports of GP referrals not being added to waiting lists in Scot...
8 Dec 2025 at 11:33am
Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today the above and: One in seven people in England who need hospital care are not receiving it because their GP referral is lost, rejected or delayed, the NHS?s patient watchdog has found. Three-quarters (75%) of those trapped in this ?referrals black hole? suffer harm to their physical or mental health as a result of not being added to the waiting ...

NHS England?s high risk repair bill backlog is FIVE times greater per head th...
7 Dec 2025 at 12:28pm
By stewartb The Herald amplifying and elaborating upon ? on its front page no less ? Tory health spokesperson, Dr Gulhane?s sighting of buckets catching rainwater from a hospital?s leaking roof, presents a fine, cutting-edge example of the best of mainstream news media serving Scotland ? doesn?t it? In its article The Herald reports: ?Earlier this year, it was revealed that the NHS in Scotland ...

?We?ve had a lot from Scotland but the tail cannot go on wagging the dog any ...
7 Dec 2025 at 12:10pm
By Liz S ?Nigel Farage was once run out of Edinburgh . Now Scottish voters are embracing his rabble rousing?. Really ? Which scottish voters (with a small ?s?)? Is it not really, in reality , just actually some scottish (with a small ?s?) voters ? Some who may live in Scotland and so then get to vote in various elections. However their allegiance is not with Scotland but instead it is elsewhere...

Scotland and Independence

"scotland independence -guardian" - Google News

Scottish independence could 'reduce energy bills by more than a third', First...
8 Dec 2025 at 3:23pm
Scottish independence could 'reduce energy bills by more than a third', First Minister John Swinney says  Sky News

Scottish Labour MP's independence question awkwardly shut down in Commons - T...
9 Dec 2025 at 1:04pm
Scottish Labour MP's independence question awkwardly shut down in Commons  TheNational.scot

SNP claims Scottish independence could cut energy bills - Energy Voice
9 Dec 2025 at 12:03am
SNP claims Scottish independence could cut energy bills  Energy Voice

The new hero of Scottish independence? Nigel Farage - politico.eu
13 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
The new hero of Scottish independence? Nigel Farage  politico.eu

Scottish political snapshot, November 2025 - YouGov
17 Nov 2025 at 8:00am
Scottish political snapshot, November 2025  YouGov

The State of the Scottish Independence Debate - Brig Newspaper
8 Dec 2025 at 2:46pm
The State of the Scottish Independence Debate  Brig Newspaper

Swinney sets out latest plan for an independence referendum - BBC
4 Sep 2025 at 8:00am
Swinney sets out latest plan for an independence referendum  BBC

Scotland casts fresh eye on independence vote as UK's political landscape shi...
24 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
Scotland casts fresh eye on independence vote as UK's political landscape shifts  Courthouse News

John Swinney humiliated as energy bills would actually rise after Scottish in...
9 Dec 2025 at 3:21pm
John Swinney humiliated as energy bills would actually rise after Scottish independence  Scottish Daily Express

Twenty-five years of data shows how link between identity and views on Scotti...
9 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
Twenty-five years of data shows how link between identity and views on Scottish independence has grown stronger  The Conversation

SNP

"SNP" - Google News

?It?s Scotland?s energy?: SNP to focus on renewables in Holyrood election - T...
8 Dec 2025 at 7:25pm
?It?s Scotland?s energy?: SNP to focus on renewables in Holyrood election  The Guardian

What do the experts say about the SNP's energy campaign? - TheNational.scot
9 Dec 2025 at 5:01pm
What do the experts say about the SNP's energy campaign?  TheNational.scot

How the SNP failed to keep teacher numbers promises - The Herald
9 Dec 2025 at 12:33pm
How the SNP failed to keep teacher numbers promises  The Herald

SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner SE: Release according to Article 40, Secti...
9 Dec 2025 at 4:15pm
SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner SE: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG the German Securities Trading Act with the objective of Europe-wide distribution  TradingView

SNP Technologies Inc. steers Managed Health Care Associates, Inc. into a new ...
5 Dec 2025 at 9:57pm
SNP Technologies Inc. steers Managed Health Care Associates, Inc. into a new era with Microsoft Azure  Microsoft

SNP claims Scottish independence could cut energy bills - Energy Voice
9 Dec 2025 at 12:03am
SNP claims Scottish independence could cut energy bills  Energy Voice

SNP health secretary told to sack NHS Fife chief executive over Sandie Peggie...
9 Dec 2025 at 3:58pm
SNP health secretary told to sack NHS Fife chief executive over Sandie Peggie ruling  The Scotsman

Development of a cost-effective, multifunctional SNP panel and analysis workf...
19 Nov 2025 at 8:00am
Development of a cost-effective, multifunctional SNP panel and analysis workflow for Wolf monitoring in Finland  Nature

It?s Scotland?s Energy ? the campaign for lower energy bills - snp.org
8 Dec 2025 at 12:33pm
It?s Scotland?s Energy ? the campaign for lower energy bills  snp.org

SNP claims about Rachel Reeves ?chaos budget? are Mostly True - The Ferret
8 Dec 2025 at 6:02am
SNP claims about Rachel Reeves ?chaos budget? are Mostly True  The Ferret

Referendum (Google News)

"Scotland referendum -guardian -telegraph" - Google News

Scottish independence could 'reduce energy bills by more than a third', First...
8 Dec 2025 at 3:23pm
Scottish independence could 'reduce energy bills by more than a third', First Minister John Swinney says  Sky News

Swinney sets out latest plan for an independence referendum - BBC
4 Sep 2025 at 8:00am
Swinney sets out latest plan for an independence referendum  BBC

The State of the Scottish Independence Debate - Brig Newspaper
8 Dec 2025 at 2:46pm
The State of the Scottish Independence Debate  Brig Newspaper

Why Alberta?s push for independence pales in comparison to Scotland?s in 2014...
27 May 2025 at 8:00am
Why Alberta?s push for independence pales in comparison to Scotland?s in 2014  The Conversation

Scottish political snapshot, November 2025 - YouGov
17 Nov 2025 at 8:00am
Scottish political snapshot, November 2025  YouGov

Scotland casts fresh eye on independence vote as UK's political landscape shi...
24 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
Scotland casts fresh eye on independence vote as UK's political landscape shifts  Courthouse News

The new hero of Scottish independence? Nigel Farage - politico.eu
13 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
The new hero of Scottish independence? Nigel Farage  politico.eu

In the United Kingdom, prime minister rejects possibility of Scotland indepen...
3 Jun 2025 at 8:00am
In the United Kingdom, prime minister rejects possibility of Scotland independence referendum  ConstitutionNet

Part Two: What an independent Scotland could look like - A Fresh Start with I...
8 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
Part Two: What an independent Scotland could look like - A Fresh Start with Independence  The Scottish Government

John Swinney's independence strategy backed by SNP members - BBC
11 Oct 2025 at 8:00am
John Swinney's independence strategy backed by SNP members  BBC