Scottish independence has long been a political fantasy. Before the elections, the SNP allowed for conflicting visions of an independent future. Now, whatever the referendum result, we must listen and engage with each-other's hopes for Scotland
How should we talk about Scotland and the coming referendum on independence? A non-partisan debate is needed that includes all the nations, acknowledges the English question, and exists outside of the Westminster circle. But how will this be achieved?
David Mitchell has said that the prospect of Scottish independence makes him worried about his British national identity. Gareth Young responds by asking Mitchell and other Brits who wish to save the Union to imagine a multi-national Britain that embraces hybridity instead of relying on Anglo-cent
Something profound and genuinely radical is taking place in Scotland.
Following the SNP's unexpected triumph, full or fiscal independence for Scotland are suddenly real possibilities. Salmond has five years to call a referendum, and the result is critical for the whole UK. Both the Conservatives and Labour will fight to protect the Union, but the centre-left has mor
On February 1st, a building owned by Glasgow University was occupied in protest against attempts to model the university on a business, in solidarity with the wider student movement against the rise in tuition fees and privatisation of higher education. Yesterday, the Free Hetherington celebrated
It's been a long journey since 1970, when the SNP gained its first MP in a general election, to the 5th of May, 2011, when the party won an unprecedented majority in the Scottish Parliament. After the historic result, Ryan Gallagher asks his father, a long-term SNP supporter, what does the future
The debate in England over Scottish independence misses the point. It was the SNP's ambition and positivity, not the independence issue, that won them the Parliamentary majority. Now they must be more bold still, and build a path towards a distinctively Scottish future
It has taken 40 years for the Nationalists to become the dominant force in Scottish politics. The SNP's victory has changed the story of Scotland and of the UK itself. But a referendum on independence is not enough. We must open a pluralist conversation about the kind of Scotland we want to live i
Scottish independence would spell the end of Great Britain. The UK would live on, but would need to be radically re-defined and re-designed. Constitutional reformers should grasp the opportunity presented by Scotland’s possible departure from the Union would open the doors to large-scale constitut
Scotland emerged from its election completely and utterly changed. A huge historic Nationalist victory and the worst Labour result in seats since 1931. In its own way, the country has undergone its very own Scottish Spring
The Scottish Parliament elections, for all their drama, have not given us bold, imaginative politics. Scotland needs a new story, that breaks out of our comfortable myths and default positions. Scotland's future story will be about inter-dependence, a politics of a self-governing nation
