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Scotland is fast becoming to British politics what Ireland was in the 19th century: a country with endless, seemingly unresolvable, political grievances and issues defying easy answers. It has voted against independence but since 2007 has voted into power a party whose raison d’être this is. The current travails (today’s development a whistleblower about SNP finances claiming threats by the police, whose chief retired earlier than expected shortly before Sturgeon announced her resignation) are what almost inevitably happen when a…

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Criminal justice, especially for sexual offences against women and girls, is much in the news lately. See Labour’s ad accusing the Prime Minister of being soft on child abusers, remarkable since Sunak has been PM less than 6 months, not enough time for a sex abuse case to be investigated let alone go to trial. Not to be outdone, during his election campaign, Scotland’s new First Minister, promised to uphold women’s rights. He showed how much he meant it by…

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Happy Valley, Line of Duty, The Bay, The Gold, Broadchurch, Inspector Morse, Endeavour, Unforgotten, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Cracker, Vera, Prime Suspect, Bodyguard, Luther, Criminal, Heartbeat, Inspector George Gently, Between the Lines, Foyle’s War. The view we lap up, given the preponderance of TV police dramas, is of basically good hearted, if understandably grumpy, policemen (and the occasional ballsy policewoman) doing their best for us. If they occasionally stretch or break a rule or two, well it’s all…

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It is a measure of how seriously the Swiss authorities view Credit Suisse’s position that they are, according to weekend reports, orchestrating a UBS takeover. It is not the first time that a merger of these banking behemoths has been considered. Last time it was Credit Suisse which considered acquiring UBS when it was in serious difficulties after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. UBS survived, with Swiss government backing, shareholder cash, endless cost-cutting and, eventually, a return to its strengths:…

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Tories are always keen to present tax cuts as essential to business confidence and investment, growth and making a country a desirable place to work and live. They are markedly less keen to focus on other factors affecting business and personal decisions. Let’s take two of them: good governance and certainty about the laws affecting you. Yes, I’m afraid it’s time to revisit the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill and the Bill of Rights Bill. (Yes, it is…

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I have finally found a Brexit benefit. No, really. But first, the journey. For someone trained at Goldmans and The Children’s Investment Fund, Sunak is remarkably lacking in ruthlessness. He had a wonderful opportunity to present himself as a clean break with the seediness and shameful self-interest of the Boris years. He could, for instance, have put the ethics advisor on a statutory footing, given him or her the right to start investigations without being asked, differentiated himself from his…

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Good question. In a week when we’ve learnt that a Met officer known as “Bastard Dave” by his colleagues was left uninvestigated on 9 separate occasions when allegations were made, why did those colleagues and his bosses do nothing and say nothing? How is it possible that people turn a blind eye to what is being said and done in front of them, the nature of the people they associate with, listen to and, all too often, enable? By their…

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Holyrood has been considering ca. 150 amendments to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. All the amendments must be considered and voted on in one day because the Scottish government insists the Bill be enacted before Xmas. There are many issues arising with this Bill but one – which has nothing to do with people with gender dysphoria – is worth highlighting. It is this: should men convicted of sexual offences against women, girls or children be allowed to take advantage…

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