Author

Tories know they have to keep their new supporters ‘up north’ happy, even if it means dipping into the Labour playbook, writes Lesley Riddoch.

Downing Street sources busily briefed newspapers this weekend about the Prime Minister’s new tough stance. He will be love-bombing Scotland, standing up to Brussels and ensuring our diplomats don’t sit down with EU Ambassadors.

Liz Smith should be proud. The Scottish Conservatives’ education spokesperson has single-handedly propelled Gaelic to the top of Scotland’s cultural agenda with her roundly condemned snub to Scotland’s ancient language.

There is no point in the party simply switching to a pro-independence stance without creating its own particular position argues Lesley Riddoch.

Will life become unpleasant for EU nationals in 2020 as European leaders start playing hardball in tough and probably nasty trade negotiations?

Should Scots expect a Boris love bomb in 2020 - and if some communities receive wadges of cash “Direct from London with Love,” will that defuse the growing pressure for a second independence referendum?

The election shows there is a mandate for Scotland to choose, but the SNP must move carefully, writes Lesley Riddoch

‘Getting Brexit done’ will simply continue to overshadow everything else, says Lesley Riddoch.

It seems hell hath no fury like Waspi women scorned.

Labour’s radical ‘free broadband’ pledge has caught others off-guard, writes Lesley Riddoch

A Labour government will cost £1.2 trillion, say the Tories. Boris Johnson’s decision to block the Russian report was “politically motivated”, say Labour.

Boris Johnson has proclaimed himself a One Nation Tory, who will govern like a “Brexity Heseltine,” presumably intervening “morning, noon and night” to help folk hammered by Brexit.

The First Minister should look beyond the SNP for a new source of inspiration, says Lesley Riddoch.

Keir Starmer’s is the only constructive and democratic way out of the Brexit stalemate, and Sturgeon should follow, writes Lesley Riddoch.

‘We don’t need to be talking about Plan B when we have a perfectly good Plan A.’

Echoes of recent events in Northern Ireland can be detected in the direction taken by Scottish Tories, writes Lesley Riddoch

The Prime Minister has shown he is a master of distraction, writes Lesley Riddoch.

Nicola Sturgeon says Scots could hold another referendum to reverse independence, if the country changes its mind after voting Yes next time. Is that an own goal, a cunning plan or a statement of the blindingly obvious?