Iain Macwhirter

WHEN the obituary of neoliberal capitalism is written – as I’m confident it will be within the next decade or so – Royal Bank of Scotland will merit a chapter all on its own. Up to its neck in sub-prime mortgage lending in the US, it was a major figure in the 2007 financial crash, … Continue reading →

Say what you like about the royal family, and as a republican I often do, but their capacity for reinvention is truly remarkable. The Windsors rebranded themselves for the era of Britpop with the Diana cult and her bling entourage. When that ended badly they refreshed it with the fairytale match of modest, middle-class Kate … Continue reading →

STANLEY Kubrick’s brilliant Cold War satire, Dr Strangelove, was also one of the wisest meditations on nuclear deterrence. The US President, played in the film by Peter Sellers, was the only sane man in the room and tried his best, unsuccessfully, to prevent atomic war, after a deranged US Air Force general launched a first … Continue reading →

BLISS it was to be alive in those early days of devolution – except that it wasn’t. The rebirth of Scotland’s democracy after 300 years in spring, 1999 proved to be a painful affair, and plunged Scotland into a period of post-natal depression, which ended the careers, and the lives, of some of the architects … Continue reading →

Not for the first time it has been left to the unelected House of Lords to remind the Government that we are supposed to live in a democracy. A cross-party committee of peers has advised Theresa May that it would be “constitutionally inappropriate” for her to invoke Article 50, triggering the Brexit process without giving … Continue reading →

British business is its own worst enemy. The latest 10 per cent increase in top executive pay to an average of £5.5 million is another insult to the working population. These people seem to be under the L’Oreal delusion that “they’re worth it” – but few of their employees or economists agree. Executive pay in … Continue reading →

IT was never entirely clear whether Alex Salmond’s apparent infatuation with Her Majesty the Queen was genuine or merely theatrical. The former First Minister and Mrs Windsor certainly seemed to get on suspiciously well, perhaps because of a shared love of horses.  But did he really believe that she was “Queen of Scots” – a … Continue reading →

MALCOLM Tucker might have called it a “clusterf***mageddon”. Everyone said that last week’s treacherous political infighting was was like Shakespearean tragedy, but it resembled more The Thick Of It – the show producer Armando Iannucci says he can’t bring back because politics is now beyond satire. It’s just not funny any more. The parade of … Continue reading →

IMAGINE the scene: the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, clinking glasses with the Queen, riding in the gold coach down Whitehall, knocking back pints with the Prime Minister in a typical English pub. Outrageous. Unthinkable. The very idea. Putin is a deeply authoritarian figure who has threatened the security of neighbouring countries like Ukraine, exploited tensions … Continue reading →

“Another exceptionally lucid and thoughtful guide to Scotland’s ever shifting political scene will be of great interest whatever the reader’s political affiliation” Justin Reynolds, Scottish Fabians.   “Tsunami: Scotland’s Democratic Revolution” Out now.  Get it here:  http://www.cargopublishing.com/books/tsunami-scotlands-democratic-revolution-e-book-onl   Tsunami: Scotland’s Democratic Revolution is the third in Iain Macwhirter’s series of books attempting to map Scotland’s … Continue reading →

  Mountaineering books tend to follow a fairly predictable pattern. Expedition through exotic locations; long arduous haul up snowy slopes; a near death experience at high altitude; rounded off with some metaphysical reflections. Scottish mountaineer Sandy Allan’s account of his epic climb on the Mazeno ridge of Nanga Parbat (8,126 mtrs), observes the conventions. But … Continue reading →