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I hope you enjoy this audio/video review from the Edinburgh International Festival.

You can read my Times column on the same subject here.

Please let me know what you think in the comments - The Jaggy Thistle is a conversation and a community.

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Be better informed about Scottish politics and Scottish culture!

Thank you for your interest in The Jaggy Thistle. It is much appreciated.

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“A chield’s amang you takin notes, And faith he’ll prent it.” Robert Burns

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We have a tricky issue to discuss today, and I hope I have dealt with it sensitively.

The issue is immigration, and the effect it has on the movement for Scottish independence.

If you want to explore this subject more deeply, I wrote about it this week in my column in The Times:

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/independence-or-more-immigration-why-scotland-cant-have-both-53mjkl9xv

And I also wrote about it, at length, in a Jaggy Thistle essay a couple of years ago:https://thejaggythistle.substack.com/p/are-new-immigrants-to-scotland-anti?r=23nr20

If you've enjoyed this chat, why not subscribe to The Jaggy Thistle for more on Scottish politics and Scottish culture?To become a free or paid subscriber, use this link:https://thejaggythistle.substack.com/p/are-new-immigrants-to-scotland-anti?r=23nr20-o0o-

Yes, this sixty-something boomer has done another video. Whatever next? A TikTok dance? Maybe not.

Today I talk about my latest column in The Times, which asks if we in Scotland are ready for the rise of Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

I suggest not. I explain why we need to get ourselves into a new headspace, especially when it comes to the tone we take in our day-to-day politics.

If you’d like to read my column in full in The Times you can find it here.

Please let me know what you think. Paid subscribers to The Jaggy Thistle can leave comments below this post.

If you’re not a paid subscriber can I gently ask you to consider becoming one?

As well as getting to join the conversation, you get full access to years of my long-form posts on Scottish politics and Scottish culture.

Put aside that trashy beach novel! Read The Jaggy Thistle instead! Be better informed! Be entertained!

Thanks for your time and your attention. As always, your interest is much appreciated.

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“A chield’s amang you takin notes, And faith he’ll prent it.” Robert Burns

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Bit of an experiment today. I’ve been wondering how I could use more video on The Jaggy Thistle. And I’ve come up with the idea of doing a piece to camera describing what I’ve been writing about in The Times this week.

Regular readers may be aware I write a weekly column on Scottish politics for The Times, and have done so since 2015. You can find my column in the Scottish edition of the paper most Wednesdays, in the main Comment section.

Usually it goes online the previous evening, around teatime.

So in this video I give a brief outline of my argument this week. You can read the column in full on the Times website here.

This week I ask the question: Who are Labour’s hero voters in the Holyrood election that will be held in May next year? And is Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, ruthless enough to put these voters at the heart of his campaign?

The Jaggy Thistle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is something that’s been on my mind for a while and it’s good to get it out there.

And yes, I make a factual error in the very first minute. I say the UK general election was in 2025. Doh! I meant 2024. Great start. There are also numerous fumbles and misspeaks.

Hey, I’m a typist not a talker.

Not to betray any confidences, but I recently had to chance to put my “hero voter” argument to some senior Scottish Labour figures in a couple of private discussions.

I have to say, I was given a hearing but not much more. Hence my lack of confidence, at this stage, that Scottish Labour will step up to the mark in the way I believe is necessary.

I live in hope. Somebody has to.

Whether or not I do another video like this, riffing off the top of my head about a column, I don’t know yet. Let’s see what kind of reaction it gets.

Please let me know your thoughts. Have I identified the right hero voters? Is there a group of voters I have overlooked? Is there something else Sarwar needs to offer? Am I being too demanding? Is the kind of shift I am talking about unfeasible for Labour, given its history? Or does the moment require a leader who rewrites the rules?

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Join the conversation! Join the community!

Please also let me know what you think of this experiment, and whether you’d like to see this as a regular feature on The Jaggy Thistle.

Have I told you lately that I very much appreciate your interest in The Jaggy Thistle? Consider yourself cherished.

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“A chield’s amang you takin notes, And faith he’ll prent it.” Robert Burns

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