The Labour Party and Northern Ireland
At the risk of sounding like I have too much experience of this, I imagine that being voted out of government must be a lot like getting chucked by someone…
How Green Parties can avoid an Irish-style collapse
The Irish Green Party has just elected a new leader. He is Eamon Ryan, former TD (member of parliament) for Dublin South and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources…
Helping ourselves to imagine better
At the Scottish Green Party conference 2009, Robin McAlpine was one of the closing speakers. At the time, the party's then two MSPs often held the balance of power at…
On internet history and regulation
So, we learn that one of the big areas on which the US and the UK are supposed to still have a special relationship is that of 'cyberspace'. Or rather, I learned…
After the election… where next for Scottish Politics
Just days after a watershed election many observers are struggling to understand what happened. Perhaps they need to learn about Scottish politics. Well, that certainly caught the attention… Nobody who…
Trumped by experience
In every election, the press make the same mistake. They decide that this election, this time, people will vote for their new exciting celebrity candidate. They are, almost always, wrong.…
Chris Huhne and the right wing press
It has been a rollercoster couple of days for Chris Huhne. After his recent spats with the Tories over the AV referendum campaign reminded Lib Dems that he was nearly…
The incompetence question
I try to shy away from the easy trap of saying that Tory ministers are just incompetent. If they are so ineffective, how come they are succeeding in dismantling our…
Time for reflection
Like many people, I've spent much of today asleep. The day after results night is always a strange one - a day of jubilation, or a day of disappointment. For…
Lessons for Labour (and the left)
It should have been Labour's year. Only 12 months ago, Scots turned out in droves to send Gordon Brown back to Downing Street. Yet today, it looks like Iain Gray's…