Iain Macwhirter Now and Then

 University principals have been up in arms again over the abolition of university tuition fees.  “It’s a catastrophe for the university sec...

  The silence has been deafening.  Since the major Scottish political parties all came into line behind the policy of keeping Scotland tuiti...

      T here is a long established protocol for dealing with accidents at nuclear power plants.    First. the authorities insist there is no...

    The sharks are circling again. The cost of debt rising inexorably in the Club Med countries.  After a couple months of respite, the spec...

At their conference in Glasgow this weekend the Scottish National Party faithful are doing their best to keep their spirits up. Everything t...

    Negative equity.  It's not something we have been hearing much about since 2008, when UK property prices started falling.  Prompt ac...

                  One of the very few achievements of the Liberal Democrats in the UK coalition has been the decision to review the repla...

 Now we know.  That handshake in the desert wasn't just about oil and al Megrahi.  Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi, shoulder to shoulder in t...

   If as seems increasingly likely,  the day of the dictator is drawing to a close in North Africa and the Middle EAst, what should we be do...

Wendy Alexander has walked out again, resigning her Paisley seat and citing the oldest and lamest excuse in politics,  “to spend time with h...

  It is hard not to be inspired by the example of the young people of North Africa and the Middle East who have launched and sustained the m...

It was a bad day for monkeys. It has long been said that, in large parts of Scotland, you if you put a red rosette on a monkey it would stil...

  A hundred pounds to fill a tank. At first I couldn’t believe it - staring at the pump in disbelief.  Ok,  my VW campervan has a slightly l...

     It’s called the “bleeding stumps” strategy.  How managers of publicly-funded organisations resist cuts in their budgets.  They propose ...

   I have been bad tempered all day.  It's because I had the misfortune to listen to Tony Blair on Egypt - sticking very much to the lin...

 Forget the Egyptian revolution, all hail the heroes of Holyrood who have saved the nation  from the iniquitous SNP Tesco Tax.  Thousands of...

  Is there anyone left in public life who has not been the target of Rupert Murdoch’s sleazy evesdroppers? We’ve had Prince William, Gordon ...

   George Galloway for the Scottish Parliament?  Bring it on. At least he’d liven things up a bit - and no catty remarks at the back, please...

 Politicians in trouble traditionally say that they are resigning to spend more time with their families.  Alan Johnson’s resignation last w...

 What a performance.  Gail Sheridan’s declaration of faith in her husband Tommy on the steps of the High Court yesterday was straight out of...