Annual Review 2025 / 1 Sept 2025

A look back on the parliamentary year 2024 - 2025

3 Editor’s note:
The Sandie Peggie case has shown up the NHS’s cowardly culture

6 2024/25 Roundup:
Pictures and numbers from the past year

Interviews

16 Mairi McAllan:
The housing secretary is not ruling out a tilt at the top job

34 Ian Rankin:
The Rebus author helps us take the pulse of the culture sector

40 Pam Duncan-Glancy:
On the fight against assisted dying

46 Book Review:
Joan McAlpine on Nicola Sturgeon’s Frankly

Party Leaders

24 John Swinney:
A generation has now passed – it’s time for another referendum

30 Russell Findlay:
Only the Tories can break the failed left-wing consensus

32 Anas Sarwar:
The election is a straight choice – John Swinney or me

34 Alex Cole-Hamilton:
The Lib Dems will deliver the change Scotland needs

Portfolios

49 The year in Economy & gaelic
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes

51 The year in Finance & Local Government
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison

53 The year in Health & social Care
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray

55 The year in Education & skills
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth

57 The year in Net Zero & energy
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin

59 The year in Transport
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop

61 The year in Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon

64 The year in Constitution, External affairs & Culture
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson

66 The year in Social Justice
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville

68 The year in Justice & Home Affairs
+Comment from Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance

70 Event Report:
Showcasing Scotland

72 Diary:
Summer laughs and Whollyrude’s best diary stories from the past year

74 Last Word:
Things get awkward at Trump Turnberry