DIANE ABBOTT looks at the perilous political cul-de-sac Labour finds itself in
THE Scottish government’s Budget for 2024-5 is to be unveiled in two weeks, on December 19 2023. As a Christmas presents go, it couldn’t be coming at a more difficult time for the SNP and its leader Humza Yousaf.
Six in 10 people think that the Health Minister, Michael Matheson, should resign. Not for the horrendous waiting times for treatment, not even the hugely excessive hours worked by many nurses, nor for the long waits for ambulances, but for his cover-up of how he ran up £11,000 roaming charges on his Scottish Parliament iPad while on holiday.
Add to that, Yousaf’s predecessors as first minister won’t disappear quietly. Alex Salmond has launched a new legal case against the Scottish government, naming Nicola Sturgeon. Meanwhile the police investigation involving Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell continues.
Cuts are sweeping campuses as cash-strapped universities slash staff and politicians fail to act on a growing funding emergency. VINCE MILLS reports
On the release of her memoir that reveals everything except politics, Sturgeon’s endless media coverage has focused on her panic attacks, sexuality and personal tragedies while ignoring her government’s many failures, writes PAULINE BRYAN
Ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections, ROZ FOYER warns that a bold tax policy is needed to rebuild devastated public services which can serve as the foundation of a strong, fair economy



