Irish talent has stormed the Oscars. Colm Bairéad’s An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) has become the first film in Irish Gaelic to be nominated for best international picture at the Academy Awards and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin performed beyond expectations with nine nominations. Five Irish actors find themselves competing for awards (four of those are ..read more

Britain is not in a good place. The everyday challenges that people face are the worst in peacetime. A belief in a positive future is hard for many to believe in. Statistics show a country plagued by endemic low growth, falling living standards, crumbling public services, and increasing poverty and inequality. The last time the ..read more

Matt Qvortrup (2022) I want to break free: A practical guide to making a new country, Manchester University Press, Paperback: £12.99. Reviewed by Hannah Graham. Dressed like James Bond at a cocktail party, communicating with humour and clarity, Professor Matt Qvortrup is immediately more engaging than his academic profession might otherwise imply on paper. He ..read more

The question isn’t as abstract as you might think. Since Bruce Millan (Labour, 1976-1979), the Secretaries of State for Scotland have been: George Younger (Conservative, 1979-1986); Malcolm Rifkind (Conservative 1986-1990); Ian Lang (Conservative, 1990-1995); Michael Forsyth (Conservative, 1995-1997); Donald Dewar (Labour, 1997-1999); John Reid (Labour, 1999-2001); Helen Liddell (Labour, 2001-2003); Alistair Darling (Labour, 2003-2006); Douglas ..read more

Are you, like me, finding it difficult to keep up with the stream of cronyism and greed that seems to be woven into the fabric of this decaying government? As one scandal emerges a second arrives, while the first is put out for ‘investigation’ the next is uncovered, as it is put to to an ..read more

This episode of 56 Degrees North I interview Paul Malgrati, author of a new book on Robert Burns. Paul was born in France and earned his award-winning PhD in Scottish History and English in 2020. He currently lives in Switzerland where he works as a teacher and researches Scottish literature as an independent scholar. His ..read more

This is probably what you’d call ‘elite despair’: Al Gore on World Economic Forum 2023 about fossil fuel industry and arresting Greta Thunberg in Germany from tremoniamedia Filmproduktion on Vimeo ..read more

In America they call it Pork Barrel Politics. Here you could call it vote-rigging. The levelling up fund, the last vestige of Boris Johnson’s disgraced regime, is being used as a Tory pre-election bribe, a blatant party political inducement, and they’re doing it in plain sight. Labour’s Chris Bryant called it out saying: “The Levelling ..read more

Recently, BBC Scotland has confirmed plans to wind up shows: Classics Unwrapped, Jazz Nights, and Pipeline. An update from Tommy Smith on the campaign to defend against programme cuts at BBC Radio Scotland. Today, I heard from Angus Robertson, MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture (and musician). He told me he was ..read more

The residents of the run-down high-rises on Glasgow’s Wyndford estate are battling a proposal to demolish the towers and rebuild under the banner of ‘regeneration’. They are true climate champions, writes architect Malcolm Fraser. Wyndford high-rise resident Norman Cunningham put it best when talking to Chris Leslie, as he took these elegiac photographs: ‘Did Cop26 ..read more