Kenny MacAskill

With the SNP in trouble, many independence supporters may stay at home at the next general election (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

SNP needs to stand on cross-party independence ticket or many MPs are doomed

Labour celebrated the local election results in England but it does not appear to be on course for a majority at the next general election (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Tory-lite Labour can't muster a majority despite Conservatives' disarray

Photographs by Harry Benson, including pictures of US Presidents Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and John F Kennedy, at a retrospective of his work in West Hollywood, California (Picture: Alberto E Rodriguez/Getty Images)

A photographer's inside take on presidents from Nixon to Trump – Kenny MacAskill

Tom Paxton's song We Didn't Know seems to sum up many recent comments by SNP figures (Picture: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

As SNP descends into chaos, the indy movement will no longer wheesht

Scotland is expected to send vast amounts of electricity south of the Border by 2030 (Picture: William Edwards/AFP via Getty Images)

Renewable energy is a big reason why UK wants to keep Scotland – Kenny MacAskill

Humza Yousaf was described as the continuity candidate during the SNP leadership contest (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Yousaf is not the new broom that the SNP desperately needs – Kenny MacAskill

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, on his way to defeating Sonny Liston during their world heavyweight title fight at Miami Beach, Florida (Picture: Harry Benson/Getty Images)

Harry Benson, the Beatles and Muhammad Ali dressed as a slave… things got tense

Plans to close at least ten per cent of Scottish inshore waters to all forms of fishing are a scandal (Picture: Steve Parson/PA)

SNP's centralising mentality has put a curse on Scotland – Brian Wilson

CMAL has been condemned for sending executives on a £1000-a-night Mediterranean conference cruise

CMAL condemned for sending execs on £1000-a-night conference cruise

Nicola Sturgeon's reputation will not survive, regardless of what happens to her husband Peter Murrell (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

Indy movement needs a convention as SNP starts to drag it down – Kenny MacAskill

Photographer Harry Benson stands in front of his famous picture of The Beatles, having a pillow fight in a Paris hotel in 1964, during the 2016 Greenwich International Film Festival (Picture: Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for GIFF)

Benson's Beatles photos are testament to genius and hard work – Kenny MacAskill

Prime Minister John Major waves to supporters in Downing Street after his shock victory in the 1992 general election (Picture: Jim James/PA)

Rishi Sunak could pull off a John Major-style election victory – Kenny MacAskill

Reorganisation of Scotland's forces into a single unit hasn't always made for happy days, says reader (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Readers' Letters: Decade of Police Scotland nothing to celebrate

New First Minister Humza Yousaf poses with his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, step-daughter Maya, left, and daughter Amal at Bute House (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Yousaf's 'New SNP' faction won but his hubris will see it all end in tears

Nicola Sturgeon's resignation as First Minister has been followed by several other resignations, with her husband Peter Murrell quitting as SNP chief executive (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

'New SNP' has more to worry about than its membership figures – Kenny MacAskill

A statue of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is toppled at al-Fardous Square in Baghdad, Iraq, in April 2003 (Picture: Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)

For many countries, the Iraq War is a lasting reminder of western hypocrisy

Labour leader Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in Glasgow last week.

Internal polling suggests Scottish Labour would take several key constituencies

The SNP is now flying a different flag to those raised by independence supporters in 2014 (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

SNP has raised the white flag and given up on independence – Kenny MacAskill

The increase in the number of food banks is emblematic of growing poverty, but the problems run even deeper (Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

Politicians must ensure a decent standard of living for all – Kenny MacAskill

Humza Yousaf on the campaign trail with supporters in Glasgow (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Nationalists won't rally to cause of enshrining devolution – Kenny MacAskill

Workers do not have the same rights at sea as they do on land or even when tied up to a turbine (Picture: Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images)

Offshore workers’ rights must improve as part of ‘Just Transition'

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City after Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave on February 23 (Picture: Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

World turns blind eye as Israel crushes the Palestinian people – Kenny MacAskill

Religious faith can inspire conviction politicians (Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

‘Church of the Latter Day Woke’ is more worrying than believers like Kate Forbes

Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Iain Livingstone, poses with his medal after being appointed as a Knight Bachelor during an investiture ceremony at the Palace Of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh earlier this year

Readers' letters: Police Scotland is another SNP failure

Like Kate Forbes, SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan is opposed to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Criticism of Forbes and Regan over transgender debate isn't from the left

Nicola Sturgeon faced mounting criticism of her track record in government (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

Why history will not be kind to Nicola Sturgeon – Kenny MacAskill

Work continues on the delayed and over-budget ferries being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard (Picture: John Devlin)

Talk of 'fixed-price contract' for CalMac ferries is nonsense – Kenny MacAskill

Douglas Alexander, a former minister in Tony Blair's government, who is seeking to make a comeback at Westminster, almost a decade after losing his seat. Picture: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Former Labour MP bids to make comeback after losing seat to Mhairi Black

Workers attempt to make safe a residential building partially destroyed by shelling on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine (Picture: Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine needs peace talks, not warlike rhetoric from the West – Kenny MacAskill

Many people who struggle to pay energy bills are forced to switch to pre-payment meters (Picture: Susannah Ireland/AFP via Getty Images)

'Self-disconnection' from energy supplies is a cruel euphemism – Kenny MacAskill

American journalist, abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass, working at his desk in the late 1870s, was a fan of Robert Burns' poetry (Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Why Robert Burns does not deserve to be shamed over slavery

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has failed to make the case for an independent Scotland, says reader (Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images)

Readers' Letters: There’s no evidence-led case for solo Scotland

Trans rights activists demonstrate outside the Scottish Parliament (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Trans people being used as political football in SNP-Tory row

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in the Israeli parliament as his new government is sworn in last month (Picture: Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Israel's new gangster government should be shunned and condemned by UK

Ireland's economy has the kind of dynamism that could transform Scotland (Picure: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Ireland's economic success should inspire Scotland to quit UK – Kenny MacAskill

Two ships being built by Ferguson Marine for Scotland's island communities have been vastly delayed and will cost millions more than first anticipated, but it is time to dig deep into the facts surrounding the contracts, writes Kenny MacAskill.

Let's look at the hard facts of the Ferguson Marine debacle - Kenny MacAskill

The owners of Aikengall Community Windfarm have donated £1m to a fuel poverty fund in East Lothian, but questions still need to be asked about the significant donation, writes Kenny MacAskill. PIC: geograph.org/Richard Webb.

Green energy is a great bounty but I'm fed up with the crumbs left at the table

Rishi Sunak's government seem determined to crush the RMT and demonise its leader, Mick Lynch (Picture: Ming Yeung/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Tories' demonisation of unions contrasts with SNP's approach

Protesters demonstrated outside the Scottish Parliament during discussion of the Scottish Government's Gender Recognition Reform Bill (Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images)

SNP's gender Bill rebellion will come back to haunt Sturgeon – Kenny MacAskill

Wind turbines on the hillside behind Stirling Castle (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Scotland's wind is making huge profits – for China, France, Ireland, Norway...

Douglas Alexander served as Scottish secretary under Tony Blair. Picture: John Devlin.

Former Labour Cabinet minister 'submits' bid to stand in East Lothian

New SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, left, sits next to his deputy leader Mhairi Black in the Commons (Picture: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP via Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: After coup, SNP's new Westminster leader should be more radical

A man pushes his bike on a snow-covered street next to destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, near Kyiv, earlier this month (Picture: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)

As casualties mount, Ukraine needs a winter peace drive – Kenny MacAskill

Wildfires, like this one in Madera County, California, are just one of an array of threats that are getting worse because of climate change (Picture: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

World may be sleepwalking to climate disaster but armed forces are wide awake

Nicola Sturgeon's bid to persuade the Supreme Court to allow the Scottish Government to hold an independence referendum was doomed to failure (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)

Kenny MacAskill: Sturgeon's mistakes have led SNP astray. Party members must act

Fans of Freiburg in Germany made clear their feelings about the Qatar World Cup earlier this year (Picture: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Greed, abuses and corruption make this World Cup the beautiful game’s nadir

Estimates of Scotland's share of European wind energy capacity proved to be significantly wide of the mark (Picture: William Edwards/AFP via Getty Images)

Scotland’s wind is an incredible, if reduced, natural bounty – Kenny MacAskill

Scotland's offshore wind energy is a vast natural resource that should be providing jobs and a boost to the economy (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Wind farm workers replaced by cheap overseas labour is worse scandal than P&O

Relatives of Russian serviceman Nikita Avrov, 20, who was killed in Ukraine in March, at his funeral service in the town of Luga (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Seminal WWI novel reminds us not to cheer Russian deaths

Joining Efta would give the UK access to the single market and enable public services and companies to employ much needed staff from the EU (Picture: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: With economy in serious trouble, UK must join EU single market

A jubilant Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives at No10 Downing Street, but his appointment reflects the democratic malaise infecting our political system, writes Kenny MacAskill.
PIC: Simon Walker/ No 10 Downing Street.

We should all be worried about the democratic malaise that is setting in

Rail safety is paramount and must not be jeopardised by maintenance budget cuts (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Rail dispute is about passenger safety as well as pay

Nicola Sturgeon's strategy to achieve independence has been truly lamentable, says Kenny MacAskill (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA)

Whatever Supreme Court decides over Indyref2, it's game on either way

US President Joe Biden has warned that if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon, this could lead to Armageddon (Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Kenny MacAskill: Nuclear bomb threat means there must be peace talks with Russia

The Fillmhouse cinema in Edinburgh has been closed since the charity which ran the venue, the Centre for the Moving Image, went into administration (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Kenny MacAskill: Tory failure to protect arts venues is damaging our culture

Wind turbine firms are being paid compensation to stop producing electricity because of a lack of storage capacity (Picture: John Devlin)

Kenny MacAskill: The £1 billion wind turbine scandal amid energy crisis

The Scotsman Top Stories

Lorna Slater. Picture: PA

Deposit return scheme compensation dismissed as 'hypothetical' by Lorna Slater

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has once again been accused of breaking the ministerial code.

Tory MPs claim Braverman speeding leak 'undermines democracy' amid SNP fury

A hard border between England and Scotland would be inevitable as a result of independence (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Are nationalists getting real about Indyref2 and a hard border with England?