OPINION

As the Beatles said, I say it’s my birthday.

— If only B. Jay Cooper’s wishes could come true... if only!

OPINION

The ‘greased piglet’ oinks again (for the time being).

— Although Boris Johnson has yet again slipped through the cracks, the Conservative Party is now deeply divided and polls suggest that they could be headed for two catastrophic defeats in the Wakefield and Honiton by-elections.

OPINION

A Tory vote of self-preservation.

— The fact that Boris Johnson is in this position despite winning a huge majority just over two years ago is a testament to his gross unsuitability for high office.

OPINION

U.S. gun violence – We have to make it stop.

— Rank-and-file Americans, most Democrats in Congress and a handful of Senate Republicans support some form of common-sense gun control. But nothing ever gets passed.

OPINION

The graywash.

— The only lesson Boris Johnson has learned out of the Sue Gray Report is that his spineless party has let him get away with his bad behaviour which means that he can continue to get away with breaking the law.

OPINION

Independence and democracy, or jingoistic authoritarianism.

— The political struggle of our time is no longer left versus right. It is democracy versus authoritarianism.

OPINION

Parliament could burn down any day? Sell it. Turn it into a museum or a posh hotel.

— Our political system is packed with unimaginative, cowardly morons, trapped in aspic.

OPINION

Democracy is threatened in many ways.

— As the headlines keep bouncing us from right to left and upside down, maybe confusing us in so many ways, there are some things we need to remain focused on – our Constitutional rights.

OPINION

The English dreaming of Peter Hitchens.

— For decades opponents of independence have insisted that Scotland is financially dependent upon England, people in England have absorbed this message too, and naturally wonder if they would not be better off if they ditched an ungrateful Scotland.

OPINION

Anglo-British nationalism: Greater projection than an iMax screen.

— It is fair to say that over the past 20 years Scotland has forged a more inclusive notion of nationalism, while Anglo-British nationalism is characterised by British exceptionalism.

OPINION

The State pantomime of Parliament.

— A ritual introduced in Victorian times in order to distract and deflect from the popular demand for a government which was democratic, representative, and accountable. One hundred and seventy years later it is still performing the same role.

OPINION

True diamonds that we refuse to properly acknowledge.

— Currently, there are 567,000 fewer educators in public schools in America than there were before the pandemic.

OPINION

Johnson’s removal will not alter the British democratic deficit.

— Anyone chosen by the Tories to replace the PM will have been a party to, and complicit in, the lies, corruption, authoritarianism, and deceit which has characterised the Tory party under Boris Johnson.

OPINION

The power in front, beside, and behind.

— Without Coretta Scott King there would be no revolutionary Martin Luther King Jr.

OPINION

Suffocating democracy in a Tupperware tub.

— How Parliamentary democracy in the UK could die, suffocated in the Tupperware box containing the cake that Boris Johnson was allegedly ambushed by.

OPINION

Putin’s retaliatory list is a badge of honour.

— Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been included on a list of politicians from the UK who have been sanctioned by Vladimir Putin’s regime and banned from ever visiting Russia again. Wee Ginger Dug explains what it means for Scotland.