So, was Thursday’s election really as bad as it looks for the SNP? The answer is yes. The Labour party has just formed a new UK government having won 63% of the seats with just 34% of the votes. In a contest were two out of every five…
Fancy a flutter? Paddy Power has odds on Labour winning a majority at the next election. Fifty to one on. As any senior Tory aide knows, that means you have to bet fifty pounds to have the chance of winning one. At those prices it’s hardly…
The Tories are finished. Everyone knows it. The big question is: will the new UK government make any difference? On tax, Brexit, spending plans, nuclear weapons, Gaza and so much else the two big parties are saying pretty much the same…
Might the 2024 election be shaping up to be the most dishonest in recent history? Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean people wilfully telling lies about things, although some undoubtedly are. I mean the mendacity of omission. The real issues,…
VOTE SNP FOR SCOTLAND’S FUTURE IN THE EU As voting opens across Europe for the European Parliament elections, the SNP has called on people in Scotland to use the upcoming Westminster election to secure a future in the EU. Tommy Sheppard,…
So, we’re off. 4th July it is. In democracies elections are meant to be instruments of choice and change. A turning point in history when one set of ideas about how things should be run gives way to an alternative view, based on the…
The news that Summerhall is up for sale was greeted by shock and dismay by many. The maze of buildings in the former city veterinary school has won the affection of local people. Maybe you’ve been to a performance in one of the quirky…
They found it hard to get the words out; the unionist leaders in our national parliament. Protocol and common decency dictated that they congratulate John Swinney on his election as the parliament’s choice for First Minister. But after a…
Join Tommy Sheppard, Stephen Flynn and Jeane Freeman as they discuss what will happen after the next general election. Book here How will a large group of SNP MPs be able to influence the agenda at Westminster, hold Labour to account and…
She was just seven years old. Her whole life ahead of her. And now she’s dead, drowned in the English Channel on Tuesday when an inflatable boat overcrowded with desperate people capsized. Four others perished too. This is the third fatal…
I’m hosting a free advice event alongside Age Scotland and the WASPI campaign to support women affected by the UK Government’s pension policy. The event will update constituents affected by the pension shortfall as estimates have revealed…
Many people are still just making ends meet, still suffering from the tory cost of living crisis. So, imagine without warning, you get an overnight increase in your heating bills. Not by 10%. Not 20%. But by 500%! That’s exactly what has…
Get your ticket here for what will be a fantastic evening to raise funds for our re-election campaign: Val McDermid in conversation with Humza Yousaf and Tommy Sheppard Tickets, Tue 23 Apr 2024 at 19:00 | Eventbrite
Thinking about your holidays? Turkey seems nice. You’ll have seen the adverts on the telly. Happy healthy young people enjoying themselves on the Aegean coast. Looking like a cross between the casts of The Apprentice and Love Island, they…
THE clocks have changed. It’ll be brighter tonight. The year moves inexorably forward towards the coming General Election. Elections ought to be moments of change. A point in history where power transfers from one group to another, where…
Don’t take my word for it. Joseph Borrell, the EU’s foreign minister, and a man who is very careful with his words, said on Monday “This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.” Israeli ministers…
MICHAEL Gove gave a masterclass in silver-tongued sophistry in the House of Commons on Thursday. Usurping the role of Home Secretary, he launched the Tory government’s new “initiative” on “extremism”. Like a political matador, Gove parried…
As we limp towards a general election later this year, energy policy will feature high on the political agenda. Sadly, though, it looks as if one aspect of that debate will escape serious scrutiny due to a cosy consensus between the main…
Photo Credit: UNFPA Tanzania “Don’t go that way, there might be snakes”, says Mette. We keep to the trampled path that leads to the inflatable white tent. Inside a front room sits a nurse at a desk full of contraceptives and leaflets,…
This week we witnessed another act in the ongoing pantomime of elected members of parliament trying to hold the UK government to account for its policy on the Middle East. The man in charge, David, now Lord, Cameron isn’t there of course,…
WELL now, my last column seems to have touched a nerve for many. Usually, I don’t get a lot of reaction to my musings on the topics de jour, but my suggestion last time that people who support independence should vote SNP at the coming…
It’s 2024. Election year. And it really is all to play for. Under the UK’s unfit-for-purpose constitution, the incumbent gets to decide on polling day. Opposition parties talk up a May election. They will claim the Tories are running…
Was last Wednesday’s economic statement from Chancellor Hunt devised with the coming general election in mind? Of course it was. But whether it works in bolstering Tory fortunes is anyone’s guess. It was certainly a very Tory budget: tax…
With the UK media obsessed by Boris Johnson’s appearance at the Covid enquiry and Tory infighting over immigration, the war on Gaza has slid down the headlines. And yet, the past week since the pause in the fighting collapsed has been one…
COP28 is on right now. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, to give it its full name, is currently grinding through its agenda in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I suppose it is better that this event happens than it doesn’t,…
More people have written to me about what is happening in Gaza than anything else in the eight and half years I have represented this city. All bar a handful express solidarity with the Palestinians and demand a ceasefire now. I agree with…
“We can hear them crying out from under the rubble. There are more than a thousand buried now. Rescue teams are being bombed as they try to get to them.” The words of Palestine’s Ambassador Husam Zomlot as he briefed a packed meeting of…
Last week I was chosen by local members of Edinburgh East and Musselburgh SNP to be their candidate in next year’s general election. It’s a great honour. For me, that election cannot come soon enough. But I am under no illusions that it…
Surely the Labour Party must have run out of promises to break. In all my time in politics, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a party say what it won’t do as much as Sir Keir Starmer’s one. It is depressing and I take no pleasure from it. A…
The first week of the Fringe is over already. And its accolade as the world’s largest arts festival seems pretty safe. Organisers say ticket sales in the first weekend broke all records. Over 50,000 performances of more than 3,500…