Jamie Maxwell is a Scottish journalist who has written for Foreign Policy, Vice, Le Monde diplomatique, and other publications.
It’s a year since the death of Alex Salmond, the most important Scottish politician of his generation. Although Salmond’s career ended in marginalization, there’s no doubting his achievement in popularizing the cause of Scottish independence.
Frankly, the memoir of Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, presents itself as a brave, plain-speaking account of her career. But this uninspiring book inadvertently reveals the blandness and conformism of Sturgeon’s political outlook.
The Scottish National Party suffered a heavy defeat in last week’s Westminster election. The result leaves Scotland trapped for now inside a British state whose deep-seated problems the new Labour government will be unable to address.
Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, broke a coalition deal with the Greens under pressure from his own party’s right wing. Yousaf’s move sabotaged his own leadership and has weakened the already flagging cause of Scottish independence.
The SNP has dominated Scottish politics for well over a decade, but Nicola Sturgeon left her successor, Humza Yousaf, with a dubious legacy. The party now risks being overtaken by Labour, even though support for Scottish independence remains solid.
Humza Yousaf narrowly won the SNP leadership contest against a conservative challenger. If Yousaf doesn’t follow through on the left-wing policies in his campaign agenda, his party and the wider cause of Scottish independence face decline.
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as SNP leader has exposed deep-rooted problems with the party’s centralized, secretive organizational culture. The contest to succeed her could result in a marked rightward shift with profound consequences for Scottish politics.
Nicola Sturgeon tried to channel the desire for change in Scotland with a political style that was resolutely anti-populist and technocratic. The contradictions of this approach caught up with Sturgeon, and she leaves office without a transformative legacy.
Britain’s current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, exemplifies a political class whose members are hermetically sealed off from the realities of everyday life. Sunak is the latest much-hyped figure to make the journey from hero to zero — but he won’t be the last.
The UK Supreme Court has blocked an attempt to hold a new referendum on Scottish independence. The setback has exposed the limits of SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s strategy, which channeled the independence movement’s radical energies into a centrist cul-de-sac.
British writer Ian McEwan wanted to deliver a literary manifesto for liberal centrism with his new book Lessons. But the result is an aimless, meandering novel that reveals his creative exhaustion and bewilderment at the state of the world.
The Scottish government says it wants a new independence referendum in 2023. But there’s every chance that politicians in London will refuse, leaving the Scottish National Party with a choice between helpless submission and risky defiance.
Conservatives like to paint a sanitized picture of British imperialism, but the empire was built on murderous exploitation. Modern Britain is finally coming to terms with the crimes on which its global power rested.
In the wake of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, support for Scottish independence is higher than ever. But the Scottish National Party still has many hurdles to clear before it can break up the United Kingdom.
Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP has teamed up with the pro-independence Scottish Greens. But Sturgeon’s rhetoric on climate change has never been matched by action.
The corruption of British politics by corporate “dark money” is part of a global phenomenon. But we can’t make sense of that trend without recognizing that capitalist oligarchies have always sought to undermine genuine democracy.