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New Statesman
39 minutes ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
The populist right are infiltrating Scotland
Hamilton may – just possibly, just perhaps – shock Scotland again next Thursday, when yet another by-election takes place there. This time it is for the Holyrood Parliament, which didn't exist back in 1967, and the constituency is formally Hamilton, Stonehouse and Larkhall. This time the SNP is the incumbent. And it is not Labour that could snatch the seat away, but Reform. A year ago, the very idea would have been unthinkable, the proposition instantly dismissed. Reform was an English phenomenon – a very English phenomenon – and the party was barely making a dent in the debate north of the border. To adapt Ayn Rand: 'What do you think of us?' 'We don't think of you.' Well, Scotland's thinking about Reform now. The party is rising in the polls, perhaps not to Westminster levels, but to a significant degree – one recent survey suggested it could even form the next opposition at Holyrood. Richard Tice has visited Hamilton, and Nigel Farage is expected to do so before the vote. In the past both would have risked being chased out. No longer. Ordinary Scots are as fed up with their lot as their counterparts across England, Europe and the US. An enduring cost of living crisis, underperforming public services, government cuts to welfare – there are lots of reasons that people are now willing to hit the panic button. And Hamilton is a bellwether ahead of next May's devolved election. In an article for yesterday's Daily Record, First Minister John Swinney described Thursday's vote as 'a straight contest between the SNP and Nigel Farage's Reform UK'. Farage was 'a clear and present danger to our country and must be stopped', and Labour's campaign was 'in collapse'. Labour supporters who value liberal, progressive politics should therefore vote SNP to freeze Reform out, he argued. There's a neat symmetry to this request. When Scottish Labour was flying high ahead of last year's general election, Anas Sarwar asked SNP supporters to lend him their votes in order to remove the Conservatives from power at Westminster. Plenty did so. Until recently, he was making the same request to secure a change of regime in Edinburgh. But Labour's prospects now appear grim. The mis-steps of Keir Starmer's administration have seen many Scots lose faith in the party, and its polling numbers have slumped precipitously. Less than a year from a national election, Hamilton, Stonehouse and Larkhall is exactly the kind of seat an incoming government should be winning, but it's hard to find anyone, commentator or pollster, who thinks Labour has much of a chance. Coming third would be a humiliation, and would surely mean there is no way back. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Of course, it suits Swinney to talk this way. Sarwar remains the only real threat to his continuing as first minister, and a narrative of Labour as declining also-rans fits the SNP's strategy perfectly. The Nats aren't losing many voters to Reform, so suggesting it's a straight shoot-out may push more staunch unionists into the Farage camp, further undermining Sarwar's position. Suppressing Labour at Reform's expense is not without consequence, though. Scotland has never experienced the kind of divisive racial politics that have played out in England. Reform has introduced them in Hamilton, with Farage falsely accusing Sarwar of saying 'he will prioritise the Pakistani community' and questioning whether he shares British 'values'. A tactic adopted by Reform in England will now be tested afresh in Scotland. Depressingly, this is likely to be just the first deployment of such racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. How will the voters of Hamilton, and wider Scotland, react? Those drawn to Farage do seem to support the positions he has taken on immigration, the woke agenda and net zero. Scottish voters are not exceptional or especially progressive, whatever their mainstream politicians tell them. It's also true that we don't know exactly what is going on in Hamilton. There has been no constituency polling, and so most of what has come out is anecdotal – voters furious with the Labour government over its cuts to the winter fuel allowance and to health and disability benefits, disillusioned with the 18-years-long SNP administration, contemptuous towards what are seen as the distant elites at Westminster and Holyrood. Farage's recent pivot to the left – promising to restore winter fuel payments and end the two-child benefit cap – could prove persuasive to switherers, however wonky the financial calculations behind his pledges. The pollsters I've spoken to think it likely the SNP will hold on to the seat, simply because its vote is bearing up and because it is Labour that is losing people to Reform. But even they are uncertain, given the speed and sharp trajectory of Reform's rise in Scotland. They are unclear how the race-baiting tactic will play. Turnout and the strength of each party's ground operation will matter. Whatever happens on Thursday, there is more to follow. Rachel Reeves' expected cuts and tax rises, coupled with their impact on the Scottish Government's spending capacity, which is already hugely stretched, will have consequences. There is little to suggest disillusionment with the mainstream will cool any time soon. And here comes the Holyrood election. In a sense, Scotland is providing a perfectly timed storm for Reform, and Nigel Farage, to sail into. Gulp. [See also: How Scotland learned to love Nigel Farage] Related
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Anas Sarwar is right to say Scots want treatment, not apologies when it comes to the NHS
Anas Sarwar is right to say Scots want treatment, not apologies, when it comes to the NHS. One in six people are currently stuck on a waiting list of some kind, a dire insight into the challenges that continue to plague our health service years after the Covid pandemic. Outpatient waiting times only worsen, with more than 5000 Scots left waiting more than two years for some procedures. The First Minister again apologised when pressed on the matter at Holyrood yesterday, something that is becoming a regular occurrence. But it's action, not words, that patients need. The SNP government points to the fact that a record £21billion will be spent on the NHS in Scotland this year. But it's how that money is spent that counts. Chucking money at problems will not make them go away. It won't solve staff retention issues when nurses report feeling burned out and overworked. There is also no denying Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is still living with the intolerable burden of the pandemic. Health chiefs are warning of the risks of measles after more cases were recorded in Scotland in the first five months of the year than all of 2024. Too many adults have bought in to internet conspiracies in recent years about the safety of vaccinations. Two years ago there was just one case of measles in Scotland but last year that rose to 24 laboratory-confirmed cases. It is vital every child receives every vaccination they are entitled to. We can all play our part in getting the NHS back on track. Getting vaccinated is part of that national effort. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Old bill blunders rack up huge bill Police bosses will no doubt be lobbying for greater resources the next time Scottish Government budgets are being set, with a strong case for a bigger slice of the pie. More frontline cops are certainly needed to combat Scotland's youth violence epidemic. And officers are currently engaged in a massive operation to nail the culprits responsible for the recent war between crime gangs. So it is frustrating that the force has shipped out £18million in compensation claims in the last six years. That money could have been spent on frontline officers, new equipment or community outreach programmes. Instead, it has been paid out to members of the public and former officers after a variety of blunders. If Chief Constable Jo Farrell wants more public cash, she has to make sure her force stops making so many mistakes.
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘Dept Q' review: Gripping Netflix mystery is the stuff of sweat-drenched nightmares
It's a shallow, lazy comparison, seemingly based on nothing more than the fact that both series feature a spiky, disagreeable lead character with a habit of getting on people's wick, in charge of a group of rejects and screw-ups. It also does a great disservice to The Queen's Gambit creator Scott Frank's excellent series, which transplants Jussi Henry Adler-Olsen's Denmark-set book series to Edinburgh. The switch works a treat. The granite and gothic streets of the Scottish capital are the perfect setting for a dense, gripping mystery that plumbs dark and disturbing depths. Matthew Goode is terrific as DI Carl Morck, a brilliant detective who's loathed by most of his colleagues for his arrogance, abrasiveness, sarcasm and sense of superiority. Being a sassenach among the Scots doesn't help matters. Morck takes a steep fall from grace after his carelessness results in the death of a rookie officer in a shooting incident that also leaves his own partner, DS Hardy (Jamie Sives), partially paralysed. Morck himself takes a bullet in the neck. He's emotionally scarred and suffering from PTSD, though bottling it all up. He's given a cavernous office in the basement – a former toilet where the urinals still stand When he returns to work, unwelcomed and unwanted by his resentful colleagues, he's mandated to have counselling sessions with police therapist Dr Rachel Irving (the great and seemingly ageless Kelly Macdonald). Morck's boss Moira (Kate Dickie) tells him a budget has been made available to set up a new cold case unit, the titular Department Q, and he is to be its leader. He's given a cavernous office in the basement – a former toilet where the urinals still stand – an ancient car, a single laptop, a mountain of unsolved case files, and no resources or staff. It's a department of one. Morck knows it's a cynical PR exercise to deflect attention away from low case-clearance rates and that the money will be spent on other departments. Gradually, however, he begins to warm to the job and assembles a small team of fellow misfits. Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov) is a Syrian immigrant who was a policeman back home, but is now reduced to doing casual menial work around the office. Initially dumped on Morck to get him out of the way, Akram, who's deceptively mild-mannered, turns out to be an ace detective with a tough streak who's every bit the equal of his new boss. Rose (Leah Byrne), a cadet who was sidelined into tedious filing work after a breakdown, badgers her way on to the team, eager to prove herself. Morck also draws on the experience of Hardy, who analyses cases from his hospital bed. Elsewhere, a ruthlessly ambitious state prosecutor called Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), whose preening overconfidence in court allows a wife-murderer to walk free, disappears while on a ferry with her mentally disabled brother William (Tom Bulpett). At first, all this appears to be happening at the same time, until an ingenious twist near the end of the slow-burn first episode reveals Merritt has been missing for four years and hers is the case Morck and his team have chosen. We learn that Merritt was abducted and is being held captive by a mysterious older couple who taunt, torment and torture her 24/7. The location of her captivity, I can't reveal, but the setting, a marvel of disturbing set design, is the stuff of sweat-drenched nightmares. In fact, to give away too much of what happens over the course of the nine episodes would be to spoil a complex, riveting thriller in which character development is as important as suspense. The excellent cast features Scottish stalwarts Shirley Henderson and Mark Bonnar.
North Wales Chronicle
10 hours ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Labour's Hamilton by-election candidate ‘in it to win it', says Rayner
The Deputy Prime Minister visited the Holyrood constituency to campaign on Thursday, but protesters forced her to change the location of planned media interviews. Voters go to the polls on June 5 in the by-election in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency, which was called following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie. SNP leader John Swinney has appealed to Labour supporters to back his party in order to defeat Nigel Farage's Reform. Scottish Labour's campaign for the seat has also come under scrutiny as candidate Davy Russell refused to take part in a TV debate ahead of the ballot and did not appear on a morning radio show. Speaking to journalists during her trip, Ms Rayner said Mr Russell is a 'local person who has lived here all his life, he really believes in championing his community'. Asked about suggestions Labour could finish third behind Reform, she said: 'Davy Russell's in it to win it. He wants to be here, not for the short-term, but he's been serving his community here for 45 years. 'Once the by-election is over, he'll be here still serving his community, that's what this campaign is about, it's a grassroots campaign.' The Deputy Prime Minister said she has not seen a campaign video by Reform attacking Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and accusing him of prioritising the Pakistani community. The online ad – which the SNP and Labour have demanded be removed by Meta – shows clips of Mr Sarwar calling for more representation of Scots with south Asian heritage, although he did not say he would prioritise any one group. Ms Rayner repeated her attacks on Mr Farage, calling him a 'snake oil salesman that just wants to sow division'. Reform UK has defended the video and said it was merely highlighting Mr Sarwar's own words. Asked about the protests which led to her planned media interviews moving locations, Ms Rayner said: 'I know that those protesters are upset about what's happening in the situation in Gaza, and that situation is intolerable, and I completely understand why people are upset about that.'
Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Gerard Butler pays tribute to ‘beloved mother' at premiere of new blockbuster
Fans of the star flocked to the comments to send their condolences following the sad news IN LOVING MEMORY Gerard Butler pays tribute to 'beloved mother' at premiere of new blockbuster FILM star Gerard Butler has paid tribute to his late mum who died earlier this year. The Scots actor, 55, stepped out for the Brazilian premiere of the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake this week. 2 Gerard Butler's mum was honoured at the premiere of his new movie Credit: gerardbutler/Instagram 2 The actor stepped out for the Brazilian showing of How to Train Your Dragon Credit: gerardbutler/Instagram He is reprising his role as Stoick, the Viking leader in the upcoming flick. Butler's late mum, Margaret Coll, was honoured at the end of the showing. She died earlier this year aged 81. A post shared by Butler on Instagram shows a slide reading: "Dedicated to the loving memory of Margaret Coll." Butler was a regular in the village of Comrie, Perthshire, where his mother lived for more than 20 years. Fans of the star flocked to the comments to send their condolences following the sad news. One wrote: "She'll always be by your side, supporting you and loving you more than anyone else. "And yes, she was definitely there with you, smiling and making those funny faces." Another said: "Your mother is watching you from above and is very, very proud of you." A third put: "That's a very sweet dedication." Inside Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – Action, Drama, and On-Set Challenges A fourth added: "Beautiful memories, God bless you." The Paisley-born star, who shot to stardom playing a Spartan hunk in movie 300, was recently spotted cosying up with his ex at a star-studded Hollywood gathering. Butler and former flame Morgan Brown, 52, rubbed shoulders with the likes of Brooklyn Beckham and wife Nicola Peltz at a 45th birthday bash for actor Oliver Trevena. The actor now spends his time between Los Angeles and Glasgow.
