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Editor's note
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 Election fever
Mandy Rhodes
Two weeks ago Iain Gray attempted to put the First Minister on the racks during their weekly parliamentary bear fight over a leaked document from the Home Office which suggested Roseanna Cunningham, the environment minister, well known for her republican leanings, wanted to open paths around Balmoral to the public. This would have been against all advice from security bosses at MI5. It wasn’t a bad issue for Gray to raise. After all the implication that the FM had allowed the prejudices of a minister to risk the security of the monarch could have been deeply damaging to a Nationalist... |
Interview
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Focus
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Alive and kicking
Mandy Rhodes - 1 February 2010
Scotland’s Secretary of State says now is not the time to start writing the Labour Party’s obituary
It’s almost 18 months since Jim Murphy became the first full-time Secretary of State for Scotland with a seat at the Westminster Cabinet and a direct route to the Prime Minister. He came in like a whirlwind and the question of whether he was Scotland’s man in the Cabinet or the Cabinet’s man in Scotland was soon answered by his bullish approach to the... |
2020 vision
Rory Cahill - 1 February 2010
 The starter’s gun has been fired and although the journey is long, we know where the finishing line is. Now all we have to do is run the race of our lives
We’re very proud of ourselves here in Scotland for passing the Climate Change Bill. Look, we say, it’s got the most ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions and making... |
Insight
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Evolving practice
Katie Mackintosh - 1 February 2010
 Debating the future challenges for general practice
Becoming a GP was a deliberate choice for Dr Dean Marshall, chair of the British Medical Association’s Scottish General Practitioners’ Committee. It was sparked, he’s told, when he was nine years old and his grandfather was dying with cancer, prompting him to announce to his family that he wanted to be a doctor. Throughout... |
Portfolios
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| Local Government |
Accommodating change
Lynne Whitelaw 1 February 2010
A look at some of the arguments in the debate surrounding right to buy
When Deputy First... |
Outside looking in
Lynne Whitelaw 1 February 2010
Labour’s new local government spokesperson on what he’d like to see for councils and why the Concordat... |
| Education |
A fine line
Cera Murtagh 1 February 2010
The Dundee teacher convicted of pupil assault speaks out about his experiences and how Scottish education needs... |
Role model status
Cera Murtagh 1 February 2010
A new programme is using elite athletes to inspire pupils on and off the sports field
Kevin Simpson’s path to... |
| Health |
Running commentary
Katie Mackintosh 1 February 2010
Recently appointed chief executive of the Carnegie Trust UK Martyn Evans on observing change
Martyn Evans is a well-kent face in... |
Against the trend
Katie Mackintosh 1 February 2010
Looking ahead to a new diabetes action plan for Scotland
Jim Caldwell is one of life’s optimists. Caldwell was just 45 when he... |
| Business |
Recession’s upside
Will Peakin 1 February 2010
The overall outlook for Scotland’s financial services is positive beyond expectation, say observers
Scottish financial services firms have cut staff numbers... |
Race is on
Will Peakin 1 February 2010
This year marks a new era in transport on both sides of the Atlantic
Last week, President Obama doled out $8bn in... |
| Justice |
People power
Rory Cahill 1 February 2010
It would be fair to say that Labour’s James Kelly did not create a huge splash when he entered the Scottish Parliament as member... |
Across the spectrum
Rory Cahill 1 February 2010
Is there a hidden population of offenders with conditions like ADHD in our prisons and what can we... |
Columnists
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Also in this issue
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Henry McLeish |
| New thinking |
| THE Scottish Government’s budget has cleared its first hurdle in the Scottish Parliament – with... |
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Diary
Caught on camera
We don’t know who approved the We’re For Fife video promotional campaign but we applaud them. They have obviously managed to get the guys from South Park to write the song,... |
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John Curtice |
| Testing time |
| So a group of researchers produce a paper that suggests that in the last year of the previous administration, the health service... |
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Spotted - Issue 227
1 February 2010
Kenny MacAskill in the Holyrood Hotel gym … Mike Russell in Foodies…escaped Scottish Parliament hawk Tweed enjoying his new-found freedom on Arthur’s Seat…BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway walking up the Royal Mile talking on his mobile…... |
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Letter of the week
Making trade fair
January 2010 marks three years since the idea of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum (SFTF) was conceived at a gathering... |
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Rab McNeil |
| All at war |
| HAS the class war started again? I didn’t hear a siren go. It’s dangerous territory, war, with the risk of... |
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Letters
Devolution dividend
On 25 January, the Scotland Office, under Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, published a paper purporting to represent a “Time Series Analysis... |
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First Minister's Questions live blog
