Archive

THE reprehensible comments by Esther McVey about the so-called rape clause, the forced apology by Amber Rudd and Theresa May to the Windrush generation, and Ross Thomson belittling the victims of Saddam Hussein show once again the cruel inhumanity

I ALMOST choked on my cornflakes this morning when I read that Colonel Ruth Davidson had been listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. It’s clear to almost everyone outside the right-wing press and the Tory party

SCOTTISH faith leaders have sent a united message to the Scottish Parliament, calling for Holyrood's Climate Change Act to be strengthened. They said the move is needed to help "stem the tide of a growing climate crisis" hitting the world's poorest

SCOTTISHPOWER is increasing energy prices in a move that will affect 950,000 households.The company is hiking its standard variable gas and electricity prices for around a third of its customers from June1 , with affected households facing an average

SCOTLAND is experiencing a “mini housing boom” with prices rocketing by more than seven per cent in February – six times the rate for England and Wales and almost double the next fastest part of the UK, according to figures from estate agency Your

A ZIMBABWEAN parliamentary committee is summoning former leader Robert Mugabe to explain past comments on alleged diamond looting. It is the first time a public institution has called him to account for such claims, made during his 37-year rule

TWO Palestinians have been killed after Israeli troops opened fire on protesters across the border fence, health officials said.The shootings came as thousands of Palestinians joined the fourth weekly protest on Gaza’s border with Israel yesterday, with

BERLIN police evacuated thousands of people and shut down the main train station as a precaution while they defused an unexploded Second World War bomb.Some 10,000 residents and workers were forced to leave a square-mile area, including the train station

BREXIT has dominated British politics for the past two years, and that looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future. With this prospect in mind, the Scottish Socialist Voice newspaper has organised a forum for Saturday, April 28 with speakers

Unreported World, Channel 4, 7.30pmTHIS multi-award winning foreign affairs strand returns for a new series, beginning with a film following a volunteer ambulance service in Somalia’s war-torn capital, Mogadishu. Reporter Seyi Rhodes and director Sasha

HELEN Mirren and Donald Sutherland lead this disappointingly middle-of-the-road, golden years comedy-drama that should thank its lucky stars it has two such great actors to prop it up.Adapted from the book by Michael Zadoorian, the plot follows long-time

AN adviser to Theresa May during her time at the Home Office has deleted his Twitter account amid a row over the controversial "go home or face arrest" immigration vans. Nick Timothy had claimed in his column for the Telegraph this week that the

RUSSIAN foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the country has "plenty of evidence" that Britain staged the chlorine gas attack in Douma, including chemicals he claims were made in Salisbury. In an interview with the state-run Rossiya Segodnya

THE name of the first polar bear to be born in the UK for 25 years, at Highland Wildlife Park, is to be chosen in a public poll. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has drawn up a shortlist of four names for the young male cub – Artor

EU citizens could face problems similar to members of the Windrush generation after Brexit, an expert has warned. Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said there were parallels between the situations

BENEFIT sanctions introduced by the UK Government may have had an "adverse impact" on the mental health of the poorest Scots, a new report by the country's Chief Medical Officer has said. Scotland's top doctor Catherine Calderwood has published

DOWNING Street has insisted Britain is sticking by its proposals for keeping the Irish border open after Brexit, amid reports that they have been rejected by Brussels. A Number 10 spokesman said the UK does not recognise claims that the plans were

THE GLASGOW International has effectively been given national status, after the government opened up the coffers of their Festival Expo Fund to the biannual art gala. In recent years, the fund has only be open to Edinburgh’s festivals, allowing

IT was 50 years ago today that Enoch Powell didn’t quite say that immigration would lead to Rivers of Blood on the streets of the UK, but that was what he implied in probably the most controversial speech in British political history. It is important

THE optics, as they say, are not good. A Conservative MP grinning on Saddam Hussein’s gold throne, and striking a goofy pose in front of the Victory Arch in central Baghdad. On the face of it, this is jaw-droppingly insensitive stuff – even by

CONGRATS to Kevin McKenna for getting his piece about compassionate Tories published 17 days after the April fool date it should have been (Thank god for the compassionate Tories – finally a party that cares, April 18). Surely most, like me, guffawed

MAXINE Peake gives a jewel of a performance in this ramshackle, equally fascinating and frustrating tale of a woman who “has a funny bone for a backbone” attempting to break into the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy in the north of England in the

THE UK's Brexit divorce bill was estimated at between £35 billion and £39bn by the UK Government – but a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said it could cost even more. The financial watchdog said that while HM Treasury's estimate was a

A DNA breakthrough is hoped to help boost conviction rates for wildlife crime, including the persecution of birds of prey. Researchers have found human DNA can be recovered from traps outside for at least 10 days. It can also be traced from

THERE was a time when Hazel Peplinski harboured ambitions of becoming a jockey. Those plans may not quite have panned out but that is something the Scot is not too disheartened about - she is, after all, now one of the most influential women on the

COMPLAINTS about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) – Britain’s costliest consumer scandal – rose by 40 per cent in the last six months of 2017 to a total of 1.55 million, according to figures released yesterday by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority

A COLLEAGUE has a drinking crony with a standard quip. To explain away any incomprehensible development in public or private life, the barfly invariably invokes “legal reasons” with a nod and a wink. It’s an explanation that covers a multitude of sins

THE SCOTLAND Office has denied spending public money for party political purposes. SNP MP Deidre Brock said she had uncovered proof the Tory government department had spent money on adverts promoting Scotland’s trade with the rest of UK that would

THE First Minister has been pressed on whether Prestwick Airport, which is owned by the Scottish Government, was used by the United States military in its operation to deploy air strikes against Syria last weekend.The question came from the Green MSP

AN exasperated Nicola Sturgeon told Ruth Davidson to come clean over her own party’s links to Cambridge Analytica. The Tory leader had accused the SNP of hypocrisy during yesterday’s First Minister’s Questions. Davidson said that while SNP

THE Scottish Government will fight to keep Olya Merry with her family in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday. The First Minister said the Coatbridge woman’s case and the Windrush scandal prove the need for a “humane” system. The comments came

SHARES in Scottish engineering giant Weir Group rose yesterday after an announcement that it is to buy a US mining tools producer in a $1.3 billion (£740 million) cash-and-share deal. Weir also revealed plans to sell off a loss-making arm of its

NEIL Lennon has revealed that he considered taking Kenny Miller back to Hibernian from Rangers last summer and again in January and will consider signing him again in the close season. Miller has been suspended by the Ibrox club following a dressing

NEIL Lennon has claimed the statement Rangers chairman Dave King released in the build-up to the Scottish Cup semi-final last week undermined manager Graeme Murty and prompted the dressing room bust-up after the 4-0 defeat to Celtic. King cast

NEIL Lennon has been at eight Scottish title-winning parties with Celtic both as a player and a manager and has no particular desire to attend another one – especially with his Hibernian side chasing second spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership. Brendan

DEPARTMENT store chain House of Fraser brought in KPMG to work on restructuring plans as rival Debenhams announced an 80 per cent fall in half-year profits yesterday.It is understood the House of Fraser rescue plan could see stores close and jobs axed

Letter to the Editor, We are academics working in the in the fields of law, human rights, politics, sociology, history and related subjects in 19 different countries. Over the past two weeks we have seen a further escalation in the use of criminal

CRIKEY. That title is quite the mouthful, isn’t it? Don’t worry, the film itself is quite aware of that. As it turns out it’s a perfect sign on a door that opens up into a charming, quaintly picturesque period post-WWII drama that, in the nicest possible

SCOTLAND’S biggest city should get a little smaller, an official body has said. The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland recommends that Glasgow give up 150 houses to neighbouring North Lanarkshire. The homes are part of a wider

THE closure of the Pinneys seafood plant should be halted while a buyer is sought for its parent firm, MSPs have said.The Scottish Government has been seeking a new owner for the Annan plant, which is a major employer in the area, since the news came

HOURS of interviews with female workers will go live next month in a multi-media project marking the 25th anniversary of the Timex strikes.The industrial action in 1993 spanned almost seven months as staff rallied against job cuts.The period included

NICOLA Sturgeon threw her support behind Shona Robison yesterday after Richard Leonard said it was time for the Health Secretary “to go”.The Labour leader called on the First Minister to “face up to the fact” that Robison should no longer hold the portfolio

THE Scotland Office, the branch office of the UK Tory government, seems to be using Twitter and Facebook for political purposes. Ministers are using expensive promotions to target specific groups of people and they’re paying for it with public money

A PROJECT building a disease-specific database of population genomics in Ireland may extend to Scotland to explore connections between the two countries.Dr Sean Ennis, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Genomics Medicine Ireland (GMI), yesterday

IT may be just an office block but how many of them have a roof garden with stunning views over Glasgow, a fitness studio, spa-type changing facilities and stairs that can convert into a conference venue?The bid to build Scotland’s healthiest workplace

A GROUP of more than 100 academics working in law, human rights, politics, sociology and history from 19 different countries around the world are calling for the immediate release of Catalonia’s political prisoners and for the EU to act to end repression

THE frontrunner in the race to become Nicola Sturgeon’s depute has forecast a second independence referendum could be held as early as April next year. Economy Secretary Keith Brown made the prediction in an election leaflet posted on social media

MINISTRY of Defence plans to open up a £1 billion order for three new ships to firms in Germany, Italy and South Korea, has been described as an act of “blatant betrayal” by the First Minister.The UK Government needs three Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships,

IN the wake of the Commonwealth Games and with the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London, there has been another round of speculation about the organisation’s future, and debate about its past. Is the Commonwealth merely a legacy of

FIRST-time buyers in the capital are facing even more difficulties securing property as a dramatic shortage of homes on the market drives premiums up and selling times down.According to a leading city estate agent only around 1000 homes are for sale in

STAFF at Diplocat – the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia – have issued their last communique after it was “liquidated” by the Spanish government following its imposition of direct rule on the wealthy north-eastern state under Article 155 of Spain