Quirky Edinburgh restaurant building could become short-term let complex The Aghtamar Lake Van Monastery in Exile was once famous in Edinburgh for its all-nght banquets and elusive owner.

Aghtamar Lake Van Monastery in Exile building set for new lease of life www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Swinney: “I don't support the Internal Market Act, I think it erodes the exercise of devolved powers. So I'm making it clear in the manifesto that the UK Govt. has a dimension here that I want to make sure they do not use to undermine the exercise of our properly constituted public health powers.”

Hungary has pulled closer to the EU - the UK should follow suit While not usually a follower of Hungarian politics, I admit to being one of those in the UK who took a belated interest ...

Ten years on from the disaster of the Brexit vote, the UK is drawing closer to the EU once again, a welcome sign in a world where the US president considers himself the messiah. www.holyrood.com/comment/view...

Scottish parliament election 2026: SNP promise price caps on essential foods and bus fares Voters will go to the polls on 7 May to elect 129 members of the Scottish Parliament.

The SNP proposal for a price cap on essential food items is probably undeliverable and looks to be an attempt to start a bunfight with the UK Government over the Internal Market Act. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Hungary has pulled closer to the EU - the UK should follow suit While not usually a follower of Hungarian politics, I admit to being one of those in the UK who took a belated interest ...

Nigel Farage's reticence on Brexit is understandable given the damage it's done. During a week in which Farage’s old mate Trump picked a fight with the Pope and likened himself to the son of God, it was good to see Keir Starmer advocating closer ties with the EU www.holyrood.com/comment/view...

Hungary has pulled closer to the EU - the UK should follow suit While not usually a follower of Hungarian politics, I admit to being one of those in the UK who took a belated interest ...

"In a week where Trump picked a fight with the Pope and likened himself to the son of God, it was good to see Keir Starmer advocating closer economic ties with the EU," writes @chrismarshll.bsky.social www.holyrood.com/comment/view...

"Labour’s argument is more about personnel than policy. They would pursue many of the same aims as the SNP, but they claim they would deliver more and better simply because they are Labour and not the SNP."

My column on today's manifesto launch. www.holyrood.com/comment/view...

Text of a Your Party Scotland press release.

Your Party Scotland leadership has resigned en masse, citing "contempt" shown by Jeremy Corbyn and the leadership in London.

BREAKING: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian elections after 16 years in power - with opposition Tisza party on course for landslide victory.

Orbán on course to lose Hungary’s election, according to early results His opponent Péter Magyar is set to win more than 130 seats in the 199-seat parliament, the figures signal.

Finally some good news - Orban set to lose Hungarian election www.politico.eu/article/hung...

Always exciting to see the Avignon Papacy in the news

Poll: Greens to become Scottish Parliament’s second biggest party Scottish Labour predicted to slump to worst ever result

Just one poll but it has the Scottish Greens in second and Scottish Labour heading for its worst-ever result at Holyrood. www.holyrood.com/news/view,po...

The Gianni Infantino of international diplomacy

JD Vance comes to a foreign country to openly campaign for a candidate ahead of an election, and then accuses other countries of interfering in those very elections

JD Vance accuses EU of ‘interference’ as he visits Hungary to help Orbán win election US vice-president rails against ‘bureaucrats in Brussels’ interfering in Sunday’s vote as he arrives in Budapest

Flies to Hungary, backs Orban five days before an election, accuses the EU of 'interference'. What a piece of work Vance is. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Poll: SNP miss majority but well ahead of nearest rivals Reform would be second largest party, beating Labour by one seat

www.holyrood.com/news/view,po...

New poll puts SNP three seats short of a majority at Holyrood, with Reform the second largest party.

First Minister John Swinney has since gone further, saying Malcolm Offord is "unfit to be the leader of any political party, unfit to be a Member of the Scottish Parliament".

First Minister @johnswinney.bsky.social: "The homophobic joke - alleged joke - by Malcolm Offord as the leader of Reform is a warning to this country of what is coming our way.

"Because there is no place for homophobia, racism and intolerance - that's what Reform represent." #FMQs

Sick to death: Why poverty remains at the centre of Scotland's public health divide Twenty years on from the introduction of the smoking ban, Scotland is searching for similar interventions to reduce yawn...

This week marks 20 years of Scotland's smoking ban, but poverty-related health inequalities remain writ large, including a 25-year gap in healthy life expectancy.

Sick to death: Why poverty remains at the centre of Scotland's public health divide www.holyrood.com/inside-polit...

Sick to death: Why poverty remains at the centre of Scotland's public health divide Twenty years on from the introduction of the smoking ban, Scotland is searching for similar interventions to reduce yawn...

This week marks 20 years of Scotland's smoking ban, but poverty-related health inequalities remain writ large, including a 25-year gap in healthy life expectancy.

Sick to death: Why poverty remains at the centre of Scotland's public health divide www.holyrood.com/inside-polit...

from Fraser Nelson:

Don DeLillo’s Ribald Hockey Romp Will Return to Stores

Don DeLillo, 89, author of such dark masterpieces as Underworld and Libra, is republishing Amazons, the hockey romance he wrote as Cleo Birdwell in 1980 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/b...

Exclusive: Lord Ashcroft poll puts SNP ahead as Labour struggles before Holyrood vote Exclusive polling for Holyrood shows John Swinney’s party remains in a strong position ahead of May’s vote, but there ar...

The SNP is set to remain the largest party at Holyrood after May’s Scottish Parliament election, but with a reduced share of the vote and growing unease among voters over its record in government www.holyrood.com/inside-polit...

These were mayoral 🇫🇷 elections, so any national extrapolation is of course hazardous. But if you go by voting in towns with > 100,000 population, one cautious conclusion from last night’s voting is this : the broad non-populist centre can hold

A lot to digest 👇

Malcolm Offord pledges to cut taxes as he sets out his party’s Holyrood manifesto Reform UK’s leader in Scotland has pledged to cut income tax as his party set out its manifesto ahead of May’s Holyrood ...

Both Nigel Farage and Malcolm Offord went pretty big on immigration today for an election to a parliament which has no powers in that area.

Farage spoke of standing up for "Judeo-Christian principles", while Offord split Glaswegians into "locals" and "strangers". www.holyrood.com/news/view,ma...

Sadiq Khan: Labour must fight next election on promise to rejoin EU

The mayor of London told an Italian newspaper that readmittance to the bloc would boost growth and ease the cost of living

There are views around this city that you just presume will always be there.

#Glasgow

Did Don DeLillo Invent the Racy Hockey Novel?

"There’s even a character in 'Amazons', the sportswriter Murray Jay Siskind, who later turns up in DeLillo’s breakout novel, 'White Noise.'"

Did Don DeLillo Invent the Racy Hockey Novel?

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/b...