Rising above the mouth of the vale of Neath, the smoke hangs over the village like a dejected memory, a tragic reminder of what will soon evaporate. The recently announced closure of the blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks …
The suicide of Wales
Rising above the mouth of the vale of Neath, the smoke hangs over the village like a dejected memory, a tragic reminder of what will soon evaporate. The recently announced closure of the blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks …
Who will fight for Britain?
The year I was born, one of the most famous New Wave songs of all time was released: Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army”. It was written after Costello visited Northern Ireland during the Troubles. There, he described seeing “mere boys walking …
The case for Orkney nationalism
When John Maynard Keynes visited Orkney for two months in the summer of 1908, he wrote, enchanted, to a friend from Stromness, claiming “the view from this town is the Bay of Naples and the Island of Capri”.
This stunningly …
Why doesn’t Scotland love King Charles?
When the Queen died at her country estate in Scotland, crowds lined the streets as her hearse crept its way from Balmoral to Edinburgh. There were no indications that her subjects north of the border mourned her any less than …
Sinn Féin has given up on a united Ireland
A false narrative about Northern Ireland is in danger of becoming the accepted wisdom. If you believe the headlines, the United Kingdom is on the verge of breaking up. Scotland is on the brink of another referendum; Wales is wobbling; …
Nothing can save the BBC
It’s Valentine’s Day, 1922, and we’re in a rain-soaked field in the village of Writtle, deepest Essex. Night is drawing in. The clock ticks towards 7.15. In a low, chilly army hut, a man in a thick tweed suit leans …
Documents from a whistleblower within the UK government
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Options for increasing adherence to social distancing measures
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