Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator.
Even in an age of ridiculousness there is something preposterous about the sight of so many prominent Leavers clutching their pearls in horror as they contemplate the possibility – the real possibility – that Andrea Leadsom could become the next leader of the Conservative party and, by golly, Prime Minister too. I mean, where do
So where are we now? Pretty much in the same position as the traveller who asks for directions to Limerick and is told, ‘Well, I wouldn’t start from here.’ But we are where we are, for better or, more probably, for worse. Not before time it is slowly dawning on people in England that while this was
Tacitus argued that, after 68, ‘the secret of imperial rule was revealed: an emperor could be made somewhere other than Rome’. It has taken metropolitan observers some time to wake up to the fact the same is true in Britain today. A star can be born far from London. The difference, however, is that not all
No, there was never a Golden Age of genteel and elevated discourse. Never a time when the fate of the country didn’t seem to hang in the balance or when politics was ever played for anything less than all the marbles. Check old election-day copies of the Daily Mirror if you doubt this. Check the hammers and
Events have a multiplier effect. And when they come in bunches the effect can be overpowering. This was already a sad and demeaning day, even before we heard the ghastly news a Labour MP, Jo Cox, had been murdered outside her constituency surgery in Yorkshire. Politics is, figuratively speaking, a contact sport. It is a
In the final, frenzied, all-things-seem-possible days of the Scottish referendum on independence – the days when it seemed there was something in the air and perhaps the water too – some people outside Scotland began to ask a disconcerting question: Has Scotland gone mad? Scots, whether Unionist or Nationalist, disliked the question but while their huffiness
You don’t have to like Hillary Clinton to hope she becomes the next President of the United States. But, by god, this year, in this election, she is, as you might say, likeable enough. Of course there is something dispiriting about Mrs Clinton’s campaign. But, based on time-served entitlement and identity politics as it may be,
Everyone respects doctors. Some people even love them. They may not be quite as nobly exalted as nurses but they’re still worthier-than-thee. And why not? It’s a job that’s as demanding as it is vital. Everyone knows this too, which is one reason why no-one objects to the fact that doctors with modest seniority are
Sometimes, in this game, it’s tempting to over-complicate things. The lesson of Talleyrand’s death – What did he mean by that? – has been all too well absorbed. And so we search for hidden meanings and a deeper truth whenever a politician says something. The real story always lurks beneath the surface, nothing should be taken at
Something remarkable is happening in British politics right now. Something rotten and disgusting too. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Her Majesty’s loyal (sic) opposition, is trying to rewrite history. Here is what Corbyn said to Robert Peston at the weekend: “I do make the point that if you are to develop a peace process in
For people who profess to be utterly uninterested in the fortunes of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party, SNP parliamentarians and the usual ragbag collection of independence supporters seem terribly keen to demonstrate that the so-called Tory revival witnessed on Thursday is no such thing. Hence this entertaining poster that’s been doing the rounds on
Nicola Sturgeon has her mandate but it is a smaller, feebler, mandate than almost everyone thought likely as recently as 18 hours ago. The SNP remains the natural party of government in Scotland – a position it is unlikely to relinquish for the foreseeable future – but it no longer enjoys an overall majority at
At the 1997 general election the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party won 17.5 percent of the vote and lost its last remaining 11 seats in Scotland. Scotland was now a Tory-free zone, at least in terms of its parliamentary representatives. Nearly twenty years later, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party might, if next week’s elections
What is Theresa May playing at? I mean, it’s one thing to treat the Conservative party’s remaining members as fools but it’s quite another to think the same of the rest of us. Her speech yesterday in which she attempted to carve a middle way through the Tory euro-forest has been generally well received. And,
Something very strange and rather disturbing appears to be happening to the British right. Or at least to a large and noisy segment of it. It seems to have decided that the Republican party is something to emulate. Of course Ukip has always had a Tea Party tendency but this once-niche persuasion appears to be going
It’s the rage I struggle to comprehend. There is, I am sure, an entirely reasonable case to be made for leaving the European Union, it’s just that, for the most part, we’ve not heard it. Instead, the dominant feature of the Out campaign has been its anger. Many of these people really do seem to
The SNP launched their manifesto for the forthcoming election to the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh today. 1,400 party members gathered for morning worship at the Edinburgh International conference Centre. Members of the media were forced to wear security bracelets emblazoned with the slogan “I’m with Nicola” which, given the contempt with which many nationalists view
Today’s starter for ten: how does this photograph make you feel? Does it make you angry? Does it do more than that? Perhaps your are the kind of person who feels this a truly shameful photograph. Perhaps, if this is the case, you need to get out more. Perhaps you also need a holiday from politics. Now, of
Behold, the Tweet that banned the internet. Has it really come to this? Evidently so. It is necessary to laugh at Greater Glasgow Police and you’d be advised to do so while it remains legal to do so too. Doubtless this latter consideration is simply the result of an administrative oversight but we must make
Faith, has it really been two score years and ten? It has you know. Well, would you credit that? I know. Fifty years! Seems appropriate, though. What? That he’d leave this day. For sure. I mean, of all the days to pick! This one would be among the best. Possibly the very best. You’re not