Religious convictions, because they derive from faith in the Word of God as revealed in the Bible, are the most unshakeable of beliefs.

LEARNING that certain drugs are not available to patients on the NHS is no surprise.

Has the time come to halt the demonisation of bankers? Outgoing Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King thinks so. His point is not simply that it has gone on long enough and that it is time to move on.

SINCE the mid-1970s an important tenet of our system of law has been the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

In A speech he made in March last year, Alex Salmond cited Scotland’s first first minister Donald Dewar who said devolution was about more than our politics and our laws.

SCOTLAND’S treatment of cancer patients has been thrown into stark relief by the moving case of 63-year-old Maureen Fleming, a retired secretary from West Dunbartonshire.

THERE is no doubt it has become one of Edinburgh’s biggest eyesores.

THE taxman forces the closure of one Scottish business every working day of the year for failure to pay what is due to HM Revenue & Customs. This is just one of many brutal facts thrown up by the recession from which we are struggling to emerge.

THE referendum in September 2014 will not just be a vote on Scottish independence, it will also be a vote on whether Scotland has a future in the European Union. That, in essence, is what Alex Salmond said yesterday in what could be a landmark moment in the Scottish constitutional debate.

SINCE he left Number 10 in 2010, Gordon Brown has mostly shunned the political limelight.

FERGUS Ewing has been a well-regarded minister for energy, tourism and the economy.

GORDON Brown’s entry into the independence referendum campaign tomorrow, at the launch of Scottish Labour’s pro-UK campaign in the referendum, marks the return to the fray of one of the biggest beasts in modern Scottish politics.

WHEN you think about it, the idea of shops closing at 6pm seems contrary to just about everything else in today’s society.

NO-ONE could possibly disagree with Alex Salmond’s call for a return to the traditional values and probity of Scottish banking.

iF you want to make yourself really unpopular in Edinburgh there are a few quick ways to do it.

News that Eurosceptic Conservative MPs are preparing a revolt on their government’s European policy cannot but trigger a depressing sense of déjà vu. Have the Conservatives not been round this track before – not just once but several times?

WHEN David Cameron rose in the House of Commons yesterday to speak in the debate on the Queen’s Speech, he claimed his government’s legislative programme for the coming year was designed to boost economic recovery.

THERE seems to be something about the word “Europe” that produces an almost Pavlovian reaction among Conservative MPs, causing many of their number to start a lemming-like stampede for the nearest cliff-edge.

THE warning from Alan McDevitt, chair of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GPs committee, that doctors may not be able to deliver a new programme of vaccinations without extra help are deeply concerning.

WHAT is the explanation for the apparent astonishing surge in the numbers of children in Scottish schools with conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyper­activity disorder (ADHD) and learning difficulties?