Does Scotland have a party we can trust?

Let’s face it, the Scottish Government are just as bad as the UK Parliament when it comes to keeping promises.  Take our highly anticipated referendum over independence for example.

According to YouGov, the last opinion poll came in at only 34% saying yes to independence, showing that it probably would have been a waste of time to organise the referendum.  But is this change of heart a bad decision for the SNP?  For many Scots it has been, resulting in a lack of trust and confidence that the party can’t practice what they preach.

One area where the SNP gain respect is their determination to put Scotland’s education as a key priority.  With David Cameron (and sidekick Nick Clegg) pushing education cuts down south, we are lucky enough that our government are adamant that education in Scotland should be a free right.  However, we will still be affected by the cuts.

The Scottish left should resist any temptation to support this bloated egotist's bid for Holyrood

by James Maxwell

Scotland’s fragmented, under-nourished left is in desperate need of a hero - although there are precious few of them about these days.

The death of Jimmy Reid last year and the incarceration of Tommy Sheridan this year serve as reminders of how few genuinely inspiring figures are currently active in the cause of Scottish socialism.

Scottish government plans for a small levy on large retail outlets to help offset cuts to the Scottish block grant have been rejected after Labour joined with the Tories to back a Lib Dem motion.

The SNP proposal would have raised £30 million at a time when Westminster is about to impose a cut of £1.3 billion to the Scottish budget.

The proposal, which would have brought Scotland’s rate into line with rates in England, was described by all three of the unionist parties as “anti-competitive”.

by Paul Kavanagh

Read part 8

1800 AD : It was during this period that both Scotland's major languages became minoritised, but Scots and Gaelic were affected by the advance of English in different ways.  A minoritised language is something different from a minority language although the two categories often overlap.  A minoritised language is one that has been driven from public use and whose use is not recognised or supported by the state, which works exclusively through the medium of another language.  The state sees its goal as the spread of this language to the exclusion of other languages.  Speakers of the minoritised languages are expected to learn and use the state language.  Speakers of the state language are not expected to learn the minoritised languages, and most often view them at best with patronising condescension, at worst with outright hostility.  A language can become minoritised even when it remains the majority language of a country.  This is exactly what happened in Scotland.