With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass

WHEN Scottish Labour MSPs head back to work next week in Edinburgh, they might be forgiven for having a spring in their step, despite the best efforts of atrocious summer weather to put a damper on everything.
An opinion poll by Norstat for the Sunday Times on August 24 suggests that come the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026, it will be Labour and not the SNP that Scotland’s first minister will come from.
There now follows a flock of caveats. It is a long way to 2026, and the impact of both Westminster and Holyrood announcing a new age of austerity is as yet unclear. Furthermore, the Norstat polling numbers were very close.

That Scotland was an active participant and beneficiary of colonialism and slavery is not a question of blame games and guilt peddling, but a crucial fact assessing the class nature of the questions of devolution and independence, writes VINCE MILLS


