My 2016 vote

In which I declare my hand for the Scottish Parliament elections next month (spoiler: constituency vote SNP, list vote Green. There, I’ve saved you the effort of reading the whole post).

Scotland’s council elections

I voted today in the local council elections. Being something of a politics and electoral systems geek, I always enjoy voting. Especially when it is the Single Transferable Vote, introduced for Scottish councils in 2007. STV is by far my favourite electoral system, because it is roughly proportional, it gives you multiple representatives (a good…

Against the Odds: a review of Alex Salmond’s biography

I like to say that my political retirement must be one of the earliest on record: I quit the Scottish National Party when I was twenty-one, and after being active nationally for some years in the party I am quite sure there is a “Sliding Doors“-esque parallel universe version of me who is still heavily…

Why the royal wedding might drive me to republicanism

The impending royal wedding is bringing the institution of the monarchy into sharp focus recently, and I am beginning to rethink my stance on it. Up until now, I’ve held an admittedly unusual view that ties the issue of whether we retain or abolish the monarchy up with the issue of Scottish independence. Many of…