Labour’s approach to Scotland reveals a long-running tension between rhetoric and reality, warns PAULINE BRYAN

Art matters because stories, herstories, histories, and even flights of fancy matter, posits MATT KERR

After 27 years in Holyrood, the former first minister urged unity and respect — but,  says NEIL FINDLAY, her time in power told a very different story

The public recognise the corrosive influence of the rich over our democracy, argues MIKE COWLEY — it’s a shame the Labour Party doesn’t

Until ministers stop deferring to the market and start drawing hard lines, the public will remain at the mercy of private power, says MATT KERR

Five years ago a flash crowd of Glaswegian activists defeated the Home Office and the police; MATT KERR urges you to savour that day in a cinema

KENNY MacASKILL looks at the extraordinary political commitment of a Church of Scotland minister’s wife

Scotland’s deepening crises expose the human cost of political complacency — and the toll it is taking on working-class communities, says NEIL FINDLAY

Labour’s by-election defeat tells a story Scotland has known since 2008. A party that assumes loyalty while offering little more than managed decline will eventually discover that voters always have somewhere else to turn, says MATT KERR

KENNY MacASKILL reminds us of the unprecedented political career of a Scottish miner’s militant son who stayed the course and true to his roots

Uninspiring politics, weak leaders and party infighting could leave Scottish voters out in the cold come May, warns LYNN HENDERSON

Last weekend’s inaugural conference mixed warmth, unity and ambition with the unmistakable echo of old arguments. MATT KERR wonders whether the fledgling party’s difficulties can be overcome

Current polling shows Scottish Labour faces a stark choice: break decisively with Westminster or continue its slide into irrelevance, warns VINCE MILLS

ALISTAIR FINDLAY recommends the simple cadence, common prose, free verse, and descriptive power of a new collection by Julie McNeill

As assaults on transport staff rise and the Scottish Parliament heads for dissolution, promised legislation to protect rail workers has yet to materialise, says ANN HENDERSON