I’m no longer going to post on X. Will only return if and when it stops promoting abhorrent and abusive content.

A #MerryChristmas to friend and foe alike. 🎅🏻

Happy St Andrews Day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I’ve always found Alf Dubs to be a voice of reason worth listening to. “Asylum changes seek to use children as a weapon”, says Labour peer Alf Dubs - The Guardian

@RogMull Thank you, Roger. In these difficult and challenging times it is good to feel that we can still make progress on such matters. (And I suppose we perversely have to thank the odious Trump for supercharging SLAPP awareness in many circles!)

@simonbarrow @RogMull Excellent news. But I can’t help wishing that David Gow was here to share it with us - he wrote many NUJ motions on this, and was a strong supporter of Roger’s campaign. 🕯️🌿

When I first raised my Scottish Parliament petition there were a small number of journalists, colleagues and academics who were supportive of my efforts. I am so grateful for there support which helped us convince the government to act. We beat the early cynics

But GDP per head even weaker at 0%…combined with other data this does not augur well for budget (to be boringly obvious!!).

Congratulations to all my friends in Plaid Cymru in a spectacular win in Caerphilly by-election. A truly remarkable result! ⁦@LSRPlaid⁩ ⁦@HywelPlaidCymru⁩

It won’t come as a surprise to see UK facing highest inflation in G7. But adds to the continuing failures of UK government policy in yet another pre-Budget blow for Reeves - The Independent

Let's be clear – painkillers do not cause autism and vaccines do not cause autism. Large-scale studies have shown that there is no robust, scientific evidence to support this claim. It’s nothing more than fearmongering. This is dangerous, it's anti-science and it's

SNP MSP Michelle Thomson has accused the Scottish Government of repeatedly re-traumatising survivors of sexual violence by dragging its feet on implementing the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling. https://t.co/TQunFWXWca

And excellent and impassioned contribution from @StephenFlynnSNP . This issue won’t go away. It is redolent of decay at the heart of government. Good to see cross party determination to pursue this.

Have to say @DavidDavisMP has just given an excoriating and detailed speech in UK parliament regarding #Mandelson ‘s appointment. It was absurd that he was appointed and there was a litany of failures involving number 10.

This morning Douglas Alexander out on airwaves to defend appointment of #Mandelson as US Ambassador. An embarrassing performance won’t have helped questions of judgment - both political and moral.

Incredible that No10, as revealed by @SkyNews over rode the briefing on #Mandelson by security services. A crises of the UK government’s own making.

Given their expertise in such matters, can we expect a UK government briefing on how best to dodge tax? Angela Rayner's stamp duty dodge might be legal - but it's politically toxic - The i Paper

It is both depressing and a threat to a democratic society, to find so many people keen to silence those with whom they disagree. I am with Noam Chomsky who has put it thus “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all”.

Thanks Andy for such clarity of analysis and conclusions 👇. My only quibble is that you are overly temperate in calling such inflammatory speculation irresponsible. Who Leaked the Salmond Harassment Report? - Land Matters

This is dreadful news. I had a long chat with George at the Memorial Service for Alex Salmond. I first met him many years ago via our mutual friend the late Michael Grieve. An extraordinary talented man will be hugely missed.