Stephen Daisley

The crisis of confidence in Scotland’s Crown Office Bain was summoned to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to answer questions about a minute she emailed to John Swinney

SNP leader John Swinney knew a month in advance that former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell (estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon) would go on trial for alleged embezzlement.

How did he find out?

Scotland’s chief prosecutor emailed to tell him.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: Parliament has standards to uphold It was his tone that gave him away. As he batted aside ­questions about his secret legal briefing from the Lord ­Advocate, John Swinney's voice ­thundered with breathless ­indignation at the insinuati...

“John Swinney told Anas Sarwar he was ‘unfit to lead the Labour Party’, which suggests he’s missed rather a lot of news about the Labour Party lately. Sarwar is Ned Flanders compared to some of his colleagues.”

My sketch of #FMQs.

The genius of Japan’s ambassador to Britain I don’t know if ‘gaun yersel, yer excellency’ translates into Japanese but the salutation is on the lips of many a Glaswegian after Hiroshi Suzuki’s visit to the city. Japan’s ambassador to the Court ...

I’ve written about the Japanese ambassador’s successful visit to Glasgow, his uncommon gift for diplomacy, and how Hiroshi Suzuki became a national treasure in Britain.

My latest for @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

St. Valentine’s Day massacres Ticket Stubs #17: Four horror movies that almost redeem the worst holiday ever.

‘Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine’s sucks, and so do you.’

Four Valentine’s Day-set horror movies for those appropriately cynical about the season of romance.

(This was fun.)

Britain has an antisemitism problem There were 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the second-highest total since the CST began keeping records in 1984

Imagine a country where there are 300 antisemitic incidents a month. Where Jews are attacked en route to synagogue, where kosher food aisles are vandalised, where Jewish cemeteries are desecrated.

You don’t have to imagine that country. You live in it.

This might be the first thing I’ve posted on Bluesky that is Bluesky-friendly, politically speaking.

What Farage fails to understand about working from home Being chained to the office desk, going to the pub and only getting home once the kids were asleep might have been acceptable in the Eighties

Nigel Farage’s rant against working from home highlights a big problem for Reform: it knows how to pander to retirees but hasn’t the faintest idea how to speak to workers.

I discuss Farage’s faux pas over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Swinney snubbed offer of pint with Russell, and it's Valentine's soon If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this: never go drinking with a politician. The tight gits seldom put their hand in their pocket. When it comes time for their round, there's always an ...

‘If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this: never go drinking with a politician. The tight gits seldom put their hand in their pocket. When it comes time for their round, there’s always an urgent call from their business manager.’

My latest @dailymail.co.uk sketch of #FMQs.

Jeffrey Epstein’s Critique of Catholicism - First Things At risk of being controversial, I must take issue with Jeffrey Epstein. Buried in the latest tranche of files released by the U.S. Department of Justice is a 2013...

‘At risk of being controversial, I must take issue with Jeffrey Epstein.’

Newly released emails show the sex offender decrying the idea that every human life is equal as ‘Catholicism at its worst’.

I argue in First Things that the defence of life is actually Catholicism at its best.

Going to say something controversial here lads: that Noam Chomsky fella? Not so keen on him.

My latest for @telegraph.co.uk.

Why Labour should stand by Starmer Labour MPs want shot of Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal. There is nothing new in that sentence until the mention of the former ambassador. Mandelson’s reported disclosure of government i...

Why dumping Keir Starmer at this time would be a bad idea.

My latest for @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Why are men still in women’s prisons? The women are at it again. For Women Scotland (FWS), specifically. They’re the pressure group who took on the Scottish government, which believes men are women if they say so, and secured a Supreme Co...

Transgender prisoners must be housed in safety and with dignity, but so too must women prisoners. That’s why prisons need to be single sex and why the state should invest in new custodial arrangements to meet trans prisoners’ distinct needs.

Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Democrats must ignore the witterings of Billie Eilish At Sunday night’s Grammys, Billie Eilish condemned Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement. ‘F*** Ice,’ she said.

‘No one is illegal on stolen land’ isn’t just the airhead cant of Billie Eilish, it’s fast becoming the formal position of the Democrat Party.

If Democrats want to avert a JD Vance presidency, they cannot be the party of open borders and America Sucks.

My latest for @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Thanks Barbara. Not least because this might be the first non-passive/aggressive reply I’ve ever received on Bluesky. On the issue, though, it’s frustrating that women with a reasonable claim, and in real material need, were shoved aside by the maximalists.

What Waspi Women Want Politics Notebook #32: Some Waspi women deserved compensation, just not the ones forever on television.

Did all #Waspi women deserve a payout? No.

Did some? Yes.

Unfortunately for them, they had no one to speak for them and no one willing to listen.

My latest Politics Notebook. Subscribe to get articles like this directly in your inbox.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: Only meaningful justice is this NEVER happens again In the days since Anas Sarwar tossed an incendiary into the fatal hospital bug scandal, it has been instructive to watch certain characters duck for cover.

There was ‘political pressure’ to open a Glasgow hospital before it was ready. Its faulty water system has been linked to several deaths, including children.

The SNP government says it didn’t apply the pressure.

So who did?

My @dailymail.co.uk column.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: The head of shredding had his head in his hands Unlike Westminster, Holyrood has no great tradition of parliamentary theatre.

‘Would he rather answer in the presence of his lawyer?’

Anas Sarwar puts John Swinney under the spotlight over the Glasgow hospital deaths scandal. Here’s my @dailymail.co.uk sketch of a dramatic revelation at Holyrood.

The SNP is deluded about the 7 May elections You’re the SNP. You’ve been in government in Scotland for 19 years on the trot. You have nothing to show for it besides ferries that can’t sail and blokes in women’s jails. Your leader has the persona...

Unable to defend their miserable record in government, the SNP is trying to trick voters into thinking the Holyrood elections are actually Westminster elections.

I explain their madcap scheme over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Over there, over here Ticket Stubs #16: Three groundbreaking but largely forgotten films about the Holocaust.

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day I review three forgotten films that were among the first to acknowledge or depict the Shoah, including a chilling propaganda film made by the Nazis themselves.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: The SNP couldn't give Milly Main's mum the truth The baby box is a rare thing about which I have no strong feelings. Some rave about it, others seem offended by the concept.

My latest column is on the Glasgow hospital deaths scandal — and the rotten Scottish state that tried to cover it up.

Does the SNP think it is above the law? Is the Scottish government above the law? The SNP-run devolved administration is being taken to court after it refused to comply with freedom of information legislation. While that might sound dry and...

The Scottish Government refuses to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Can it do that? Over to you, Court of Session.

My latest @thespectator1828.bsky.social dispatch from a totally normal, functioning democracy that in no way resembles a failed state.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: The dam had crumbled... the truth was gushing out The stench of cover-up clings to Holyrood, staining the walls like years of old cigarette smoke.

Contaminated hospital water. Dead children. Freedom of information disregarded. Secret files hidden from the public.

My @dailymail.co.uk sketch of #FMQs from Holyrood, the cover-up parliament.

Europe must give Trump what he wants By all means, break with the United States and militarise the European Union, but be prepared for the avalanche of invoices coming your way

‘Donald Trump sees America’s underwriting of European security as a sugar daddy arrangement. In demanding Greenland, he has read his credit card bill aloud to us and unzipped himself expectantly.’

Me in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Welcome to buffer-zone Britain It might well be that buffer zones are the future. Multiculturalism is unmanageable without fundamental changes to time-honoured customs.

As Scotland considers banning protests near migrant hotels, I argue in @thespectator1828.bsky.social that we are on the road to Buffer Zone Britain.

Why can’t a Jewish MP visit his local school? Ruth Wisse defines anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism as ‘the organisation of politics against the Jews’, and in Britain it is striking just how openly the organisers operate. During his remarks to Sunday...

A Jewish MP has been banned from visiting his local school ‘in case his presence inflames the teachers’.

Britain, 2026.

I have some questions over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Full Metal Racket Ticket Stubs #15: Timothée Chalamet serves up ace after ace in “Marty Supreme”.

‘Marty Supreme is the movie that makes male heroism and masculine glory acceptable again.’

Your humble critic over on my Substack.

The Emiratis are right to keep their kids out of Britain If you don’t want your kids joining the jihad, don’t send them to a British university. That is the view of the United Arab Emirates.

No wonder the UAE wants to keep its youngsters away from British universities. They are hotbeds of extremism.

Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

STEPHEN DAISLEY: Something's off when SNP seals stop clapping There was a theme ­evident as Russell Findlay clipped through his weekly questions to John Swinney.

This week’s #FMQs sketch features a scene that would be unremarkable at Westminster but is shocking at Holyrood: an SNP backbencher asked first minister John Swinney a politically awkward question.

All hail Michelle Thomson.

Trump shouldn't let Greenland distract him from Minnesota Reports that some of Minnesota’s alleged frauds have been ‘orchestrated mainly by members of its Somali community’.

Donald Trump should get a grip on the disaster that is Minnesota before he troubles himself with Greenland. He is meant to be America First, after all.

Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.