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.

“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.

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.

‘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.)

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.

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.

‘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.

‘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 dumping Keir Starmer at this time would be a bad idea. My latest for @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

‘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.

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

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.

‘Marty Supreme is the movie that makes male heroism and masculine glory acceptable again.’ Your humble critic over on my Substack.

No wonder the UAE wants to keep its youngsters away from British universities. They are hotbeds of extremism. Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

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.

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.

SPOILER: John Swinney will not deliver another independence referendum. Not if the SNP wins a majority at Holyrood. Not if they win a majority with the Greens. Not if Scotland wins the World Cup on penalties. The. Constitution. Is. Reserved.

The Lords have given MPs one last chance to avert the disastrous Chagos surrender. I explain why over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Trump has won the first Great Meme War. Me on Venezuela in @thespectator1828.bsky.social. spectator.com/article/trum...

How the British state radicalised me. My latest for the @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

You’ll soon forget about Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein’s plot to smuggle AK47s and massacre Jews in Manchester. Other jihadists won’t. They’ll keep at it until they succeed. Which is why the UK must wage all-out war on Islamism. Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

‘The Bishop’s Wife looks like Christmas, feels like Christmas, and it’s not Christmas until I’ve watched it at least once.’ I’ve written about a 1947 Cary Grant movie that is ineffably optimistic about the human condition and thus a festive must-watch.

Starmer’s Labour has nothing to offer. Not to its core supporters, not to floating voters, not to anyone. It has no policies it won’t jettison before the day is out. It is clueless, listless, and gutless. Why would anyone support a government like this? Me over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

BREAKING: US Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett warns that ‘contrary opinions’ are being ‘criminalised’ in the UK. I reveal her comments in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a largely forgotten Irish priest, spent World War II hiding Jews from the Nazis. He is a compelling moral example to us today as antisemitism surges once again. A new essay from me.

‘Was Angela Constance’s committee appearance really so bad? Put it this way, I now think you should have to sit a practical and theory test before becoming a minister.’ My @dailymail.co.uk sketch of whatever the hell that was yesterday.

Scottish Parliament backs SNP minister who misled it over grooming gangs inquiry. Next time I point out how third-rate this institution is, don’t accuse me of disrespecting the parliament. The parliament doesn’t respect itself. Me in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

Fantastic Priests and Where to Find Them Irish cleric Mgr. Hugh O’Flaherty hid thousands of Jews and POWs from the Nazis during WWII. To mark the centenary of his ordination, I’ve written about movies featuring O’Flaherty and other heroic priests.

Israel is beleaguered by the twin menaces of Palestinian terrorism and settler violence. Here’s how it can address both. My latest post on Substack.

Eurovision is such trash, Israel should be boycotting *it*. My take in the @jewishchron.bsky.social.

As polls continue to show the SNP on course to win a fifth Scottish Parliament election in a row, my @dailymail.co.uk column asks a difficult question: what if Scottish Labour simply can’t win at Holyrood any more?

Living next door to Ireland is weird. It’s like having a neighbour who is super friendly and charming and then you go over for dinner one night and every wall is just photographs of random Jews with red string running between them. Me in @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

A shout-out to “Gaslight” (George Cukor, 1944), one of my favourite movies, in this week’s @dailymail.co.uk sketch. Incidentally, on the list of Things More Watchable Than Holyrood #FMQs, “Gaslight” is in the top 5,000. Top 500, in fact.

‘With his viral video explaining debt-to-GDP ratio through the medium of biscuits, Gordon McKee is putting the “nom” into economics.’ My @thespectator1828.bsky.social take on the custard creams debt video and why Number 10 should take note of a Labour MP who speaks Human.

Growing the economy is more important than cutting emissions. Death to Net Zero. My latest @dailymail.co.uk column is on the need to drill, baby, drill in the North Sea.

‘I don’t tweet from an air-conditioned basement suite at the Mossad headquarters – more’s the pity – but from right here in good old Blighty. Look, I have the certificate to prove it.’ I’ve written about the great Twitter unmasking for the @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

My @dailymail.co.uk sketch of #FMQs features The Football, the job-killing political class, and the grim plight of Anas Sarwar. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Northern Irish schools must no longer teach pupils that Christianity is an absolute truth. The Supreme Court says doing so contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights. Over at @thespectator1828.bsky.social, I consider the cultural and civilisational consequences.