Monday, 26 March 2012 04:25

40 Comments

By Paul T Kavanagh

This week two great exercises in elderly futility hit the news headlines.  Englebert Humperdink unveiled his Eurovision song entry, and the Scottish Tories held their spring conference in a portacabin in Troon.  One is a nostalgia roadtrip, a superannuated no-hope attempt to revisit the greatest hits of the 70s with a declining fanbase of pensioners, the other is a singer.

Saturday, 24 March 2012 21:13

5 Comments

By Gerry Hassan, The Scotsman, March 22nd 2012

George Osborne, rather like Gordon Brown, thinks of his Budgets, in acutely political terms and calculations.

The top rate tax cut gives a boost to 328,000 people, whereas the stamp duty hikes could at most affect 4,000 people – 1% of those at the top getting tax cuts. And that is if they all decide to sell their houses. In November 2011 a mere 121 homes were sold worth £2 million or more, 98 of them in London.

Friday, 23 March 2012 22:01

28 Comments

By Chad MacGregor

Scotland has always been a must-see destination for millions of Americans and Canadians looking to explore their family roots.  The United States and Canada make up the largest number of international visitors to Scotland each year contributing more than £806 million annually to the Scottish economy.  However, I have been extremely disappointed with the Visit Scotland campaign in the United States and Canada in recent years.

Friday, 23 March 2012 20:08

8 Comments

By Kenneth Roy

Christopher Small, Marxist, Oxbridge, fiercely intelligent, non-sporty, literary editor and dramatic critic:
‘Why is it, Willie, that working-class Scots are so addicted to the game of football?’
William Hunter, Old Left, Paisley Grammar School, of dark humour, sporty, columnist and football writer:
‘Because it’s all they’ve got’.

When this exchange took place, it was not true that football was all they’d got. They had full employment. They were still building ships on the Clyde and mass-producing cars at Linwood.