@mohope.bsky.social

@mohope.bsky.social

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Scottish and European #scotsabroad, Luxy. Proud of both my homeland and adopted country. Scottish independence supporter. Tiresome typos blamed on ebullient enthusiasm and paltry proofreading.

THIS is a slightly odd “Behind The Headlines” newsletter this week, because there aren’t really any headlines to get behind. We don’t have a story about what Andy Burnham told the Scottish media during his visit to Glasgow on Thursday, because he refused to speak to any of us. The National: We equally don’t have a headline on what his new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh thinks about North Sea oil and gas, for example, because despite an official visit to Aberdeen, none of the Scottish media were allowed to speak to her. We have also been unable to report any headlines about what Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander had to say during his visit to BAE Systems in Govan, or what Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock thought of his time north of the Border
Deciduous trees in front of rocks with wooden bridge in foreground.
There’s a simple way of sorting all this out. It works as follows. The only money a party can receive is a standard fee (say £25) for membership. The government then matches that fee on a fixed multiple. For instance, if you have 100,000 members each paying £25, and the multiple is three, your annual budget is £10m. And that’s it: no other sources permitted. The parties would agree between themselves, with public input (perhaps a citizens’ assembly), on what the membership fee and multiple should be.
Conservatives and centrists often make a catastrophic miscalculation: by co-opting racist language, or striking deals with the far right to hold onto power, they help normalise antidemocratic behaviour.  In doing so, they disable themselves as democracy’s first line of defence, clearing the path for even more extremist voices.  Then there are journalists whose neutrality is compromised when they treat extremists as ordinary politicians and reward provocation with airtime. There are voters who assume inflammatory talk is just election rhetoric, and that real power will bring responsibility. All in a political landscape in which the Left is cast as the far right’s natural opposition, obscuring the real fault line that runs between democracy and its enemies. Every age confronts its own variant of fascism.
Conservatives and centrists often make a catastrophic miscalculation: by co-opting racist language, or striking deals with the far right to hold onto power, they help normalise antidemocratic behaviour.  In doing so, they disable themselves as democracy’s first line of defence, clearing the path for even more extremist voices.  Then there are journalists whose neutrality is compromised when they treat extremists as ordinary politicians and reward provocation with airtime. There are voters who assume inflammatory talk is just election rhetoric, and that real power will bring responsibility. All in a political landscape in which the Left is cast as the far right’s natural opposition, obscuring the real fault line that runs between democracy and its enemies. Every age confronts its own variant of fascism.
Collage of recent UK political economic scandals that have not received headline status as they were committed by unionist parties. Summary: Scottish Labour's treasurer embezzeling Scottish Labour councillor awarding £4 million contact to son Charges of Conservative ex-MP using donors' money as pay-offs dropped as he repaid Michelle Mone £122million, Conservative Malcolm Macaskill embezzlement £1 million, Nigel Farage £5 million, Richie Sunak's wife tax avoidance that he knew nothing about Conservatives Covid related PPE scandal £10 billion and more Nigel Farage far-right beliefs and friendships
While XX and XY are the most common chromosomal patterns, biological sex is a complex spectrum determined by the interplay of chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and internal and external anatomy. These traits do not always align perfectly with the traditional male or female binary. Intersex condition - such as born with XXY or X Genetic Variations like the SRY gene Hormonal influence such as AIS which can result in an XY developing female characteristics as their bodies do not respond to male hormones.
Income inequality has been fluctuating since the beginning of this data collection in the mid-nineties. In 2022-25, the Gini coefficient (before housing costs) was 30%. The Gini coefficient is usually calculated from income before housing costs, but we have included it for after housing costs income as well. After housing costs incomes are distributed more unequally. Figure 14: Gini ratio of income inequality, Scotland Graph begins 1994-97 Before housing costs: 31% After housing costs: 33% Graph ends 2020-2021 Before housing costs: 30% After housing costs: 33%
Gini coefficient for equivalised disposable income (OECD) List of gini coefficients for OECD countries. UK at 37%, 4th from top (100% = perfect inequality, 0% = no inequality). Only Turkey, Mexico and US have greater inequality. Chile highest with 45%. Slovak republic lowest at 20%
An elderly woman with white hair and glasses and a young girl with long braids look at each other and smile. The woman has her arm around the girl's shoulder. They are framed by a circle of large yellow stars. The text "Europe Day 2026" and a small European Union flag are in the top corners
LABOUR activists have been caught breaking electoral rules at multiple Scottish polling stations by putting party campaign material at voting booths, The National can reveal. As voters head to the polls across the country on Thursday to elect the next crop of representatives at the Scottish Parliament, leaflets from the Scottish Labour Party have been discovered in voting booths at two polling stations in North Lanarkshire. The National understands that when staff at a polling station in Chryston were alerted to one Labour leaflet at a voting booth, officials also found more at another booth in the community centre. A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council confirmed that Scottish Labour campaign leaflets were not only discovered in voting booths in Chryston, but also at a polling station in Coatbridge.
A graphic showing the outline of a house with the text “€18.1 Billion for affordable housing” inside. The word “housing” and a heart shape behind the numbers are highlighted in yellow. The EU flag appears in the bottom right corner.
From the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2024/25: Main findings published yesterday, see the above striking images. From the first year of SNP-rule until their 18th in 2023/2024, worry about all forms of violent crime, based on what people say themselves and not the often under-reported police figures, has fallen, in the case of physical violence of a personal nature, by around just under half.