What a time to be alive eh?
The crocuses start their spring show in a surreal world as shockwaves from the USA reach everywhere, including Scotland. Here's a look at recent events in our bonnie land.
So the gloves are off and we emerge from the shock of the chaos unfolding in the USA. The hard truth is it has consequences for Scotland too.
Remember nearly 90 million eligible voters didn’t vote in the 2024 US presidential elections – or some 36% of the electorate.
Bear that in mind as Holyrood 2026 elections approach. Not voting has consequences too.
But now the world reels from the US election fallout as the established order is upended. We’re not here to discuss America’s historic geopolitical role, merits or otherwise, but we will say that the ideological frenzy of the Musk/Trump smashfest is inflicting misery on the most vulnerable people on the planet: the poor, the starving, the dispossessed. It’s a long list.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” is part of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. Just sayin’.
It’s a ‘real threat’
First Minister John Swinney has just announced a cross-party conference aimed at uniting Scotland’s political representatives and civic society against the “real threat” of the far right, both from within our borders and outside them.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Swinney said he would hold a conference in April with a view to establishing cross-party consensus on ways to combat the influence of the far right. We think he is the first leader in the UK to directly challenge the threat Reform poses within the country, including Scotland, and the first to convene a cross-party platform to do this.
“Storm clouds are gathering – we can all see them. The threat from the far right is real. But that leaves me all the more convinced that working together is not only the right choice, but the only choice,” the First Minister said at Bute House.
“I’ll provide the hosting environment, the courtesy and respectful debate to bring people together to say we are going to do things in a way that makes sure our country is protected from the bigotry that Farage represents.”
This doesn’t come from nowhere. Malign far right influence is stirring up culture wars in many countries and Scotland is not exempt.
Some predict Farage could be Prime Minister after the next UK elections, and pollsters also predict a small gain in Scottish politics, saying it is inevitable that Reform would gain some seats in Holyrood in 2026, picked up from disaffected Labour and Tory voters.
Reform in Holyrood?
Reform is not to Scotland’s taste generally, they are not likely to pick up many seats, but if they do it further legitimises a populist far-right party that peddles policies similar to those being rammed through in America right now: anti-immigrant, anti-climate change, stoking culture wars, and in favour of reducing taxes on the rich. Their strategy is to disrupt rather than work to build a stable society.
Nigel Farage’s most significant achievement to date is the part he played in bringing about Brexit.
The American far-right, now in government, have their eyes on Scotland too; they too are stirring up dissent through disinformation.
MAGA meddling in Scotland
In Munich in mid-February, American vice-president JD Vance claimed people who lived within Scottish abortion buffer zones had been sent letters by the Scottish Government forbidding them from praying in their own homes.
The reality? Scotland’s Safe Access Zones Act came into force last September and prevents protestors gathering within 200m (656ft) of clinics that perform abortions. In short, it is to prevent harassment and distress to both clinic staff and women seeking an abortion.
Nobody is prevented from praying anywhere whatever your religion and Scotland remains an accepting and tolerant society.
Meanwhile a senior US government official has made a call supporting eugenics. Yes, really.
Darren Beattie, undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, has repeatedly called for “lower-quality humans” to be sterilised, while Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jnr, is calling for mentally ill people to be sent to ‘wellness farms’. You can read more at Yorkshire Bylines (it’s free).
All eyes on the tribunal
Meanwhile the case of a transgender doctor and a NHS nurse currently before the workplace tribunal in Dundee is igniting the transgender debate.
Very briefly, NHS nurse Sandie Peggie took the Fife health board and transgender doctor Beth Upton to tribunal after being suspended following an incident on Christmas Eve 2023 in the female changing room.
As the National reported, Ms Peggie lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief under Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 regarding three incidents when the doctor and the nurse shared a changing room: indirect harassment, victimisation, and whistleblowing.
Ms Peggie was suspended on January 3 2024 after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment. The suspension was initially for four weeks but extended for another four weeks due to delays starting the investigation.
The case is ongoing and public opinion is running hot, stoked by our right-wing media. See this summary from Bylines Scotland for one perspective.
Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which passed in Holyrood in 2022 with 86 votes to 39 is currently stalled after the then-Conservative Government blocked it, saying it violated equality laws. First Minister John Swinney recently affirmed his support for it.
Here’s some happy news
Deacon Blue are going on tour to mark their 10th studio album. Enjoy this video of the band, with Dundee’s beloved son Ricky Ross on lead vocals, doing a cover version of Beyonce’s Texas Hold’Em in BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room.
The Great Western Road is already getting rave reviews, with Ricky’s wife and fellow band member Lorraine McIntosh coming in for special mention. The National called her performance “arguably her most definitive since their heyday in the late 80s and early 90s.”
Deacon Blue was founded by Ricky Ross in 1985; the band has gone on to top the pops and sell millions of albums.
“The Great Western Road is the most vital song that I’ve written in the last few years,” Ross told The National about the title track, about a 67-year-old man thinking about the fact he has lived more years than he has left.
“If I knew I was going to be hit by a bus, I’d say to people to listen to that song, because it’s really me - lyrically and musically, it’s a photograph of where I am,” Ross said.
For tour dates and tickets, click here. It starts on April 30.
And while we’re at it, Gary Barlow, lead singer of Take That, is also going on tour – including several dates in Scotland. That tour starts on the Isle of Man on April 17. For tour dates and tickets, click here.
More good news
In a further boost to Dundee’s tech and entertainment industry, Abertay University has launched the £9 million CoStar Realtime Lab which aims to advance research, innovation and economic growth within industries such as film, TV, and video games.
The cutting-edge facility at Dundee’s Waters Edge was launched in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and tech companies CodeBase, Interface and Chroma Developments, and the Scottish Government’s Techscaler programme.
The facility will be open to creative businesses across the UK and it offers augmented reality, motion capture and virtual production – a film technique that uses computer-generated imagery (CGI). For more, click here.
Destiny Bridge and the New Kingsway
The £150 million Cross Tay Link Road Project will officially open on March 31. It centres around the charmingly named Destiny Bridge (named for the Stone of Destiny, now housed in the Perth Museum).
Destiny Bridge is a three-span structure crossing over the River Tay while the New Kingsway is a six-kilometre stretch of new carriageway linking the A9 to the A93 and A94. It also includes two kilometres of realigned dual carriageway on the A9 just north of Inveralmond Roundabout.
You’ve got to live here to know how exciting this is, and to know what this can mean for smooth traffic flow in the area. For more, including details of the opening day, click here.
Nicola’s new life
Fresh from sharing DJ duties with Alan Cumming at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be taking to the stage with her good friend, author Val McDermid, at the Glasgow Comedy Festival.
Don’t expect timid conversation as the pair talk about books. They may even argue. They’ll also be joined on stage by special guests.
For more on the event at Glasgow’s King’s Theatre on March 22, click here.
Of course there’s also the matter of Nicola’s own book, due out in August this year we believe.
Publisher Pan Macmillan has said it will be “a deeply personal and revealing memoir from one of Britain’s most significant political leaders of recent times.”
An intrepid Scots woman
A Scottish journalist is aiming to become the first person to cross Saudi Arabia from north to south on foot, with camels Juicy and Lulu and a support team.
Edinburgh-born Alice Morrison, 61, averaged 23km per day for seven weeks and covered 930km as she walked from the Jordanian border to the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina in the blistering sun.
The walk is being done in two stages due to the timing of Ramadan and the extreme heat, with temperatures soaring above 50C in summer.
The second half of her journey will begin in October.
Alice, who studied Arabic at university and has lived in the region, told STV she hoped to shift perceptions and “amplify the voices” of the people she meets on her journey, especially women
“I thought this country wasn’t having its full story told,” she said. “We’ve got this image of women being oppressed and uneducated, kept at home, but that’s not what I’m seeing.
“I think the women I’ve met would be annoyed by that description and find it patronising.”
You can see the full STV report here, including video, and learn more about Alice, whose website is sub-titled Indiana Jones for Girls, here.
And that’s it from Scots Ink for now, but more from us very soon. Watch this space!