Tom Harris, CapX

Tom Harris

CapX

United Kingdom

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Recent:
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Past:
  • CapX

Past articles by Tom:

Are the SNP's members really up for a sensible approach to independence?

The gloves are off… Pulling no punches… throw in the towel… Boxing metaphors are peculiarly appropriate to this SNP leadership contest. Because by the end of it, the party risks looking as if its leaders are punch drunk. This has already been a surprisingly ferocious contest, partly because the timetable drawn up to find a […] → Read More

How much will the trans rights row really damage the SNP cause?

Groundhog Day, before the 1993 movie came along, was no more than a North American tradition in which the weather for the next six weeks could be predicted according to whether the rodent of the title perceived his own shadow when emerging from its burrow. In this respect, Scottish politics can be analogous both to […] → Read More

Well, oil be damned! The SNP's dangerous North Sea gambit

Whatever you think about the SNP, they’ve always been pretty good at campaign slogans. Who can forget Alex Salmond’s hubristic ‘Free by ’93’? Or Nicola Sturgeon’s rather more effective ‘Stronger For Scotland’? Most famous, of course, was the 1970s clarion call to independence supporters: ‘It’s Scotland’s Oil’, which was best enunciated in an angry voice […] → Read More

The Supreme Court's ruling is the biggest setback to the SNP for years

The statement by Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar after today’s Supreme Court ruling on whether the Scottish Government can legislate for a rerun referendum on independence, warrants some attention. ‘It was right for the Scottish Government to seek legal clarity on this question. The Supreme Court’s answer was clear and I thank them for their […] → Read More

Trash talk – will Scotland ever face up to SNP incompetence?

It’s been a busy few weeks for TV’s Nicola Sturgeon. The showbiz personality and Festival Fringe favourite has been interviewed numerous times on Edinburgh’s stages in the last month, sharing her opinions with the likes of Iain Dale and Brian Cox (not the one who lives here; the other one). But, ever the trooper, she […] → Read More

How Keir Starmer can outflank the Government and the trade unions

Keir Starmer is facing what appears to be a no-win situation, a Kobayashi Maru, for Star Trek fans out there. Unlike his immediate predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer understands that general elections are won in the political centre ground, by making an appeal to those who voted for the Tories last time. This […] → Read More

Minimum alcohol pricing is the latest in a long line of SNP failures

The Scottish Government’s policy of mandating a minimum unit price (MUP) of alcohol went through a peculiar political journey before it was ultimately proved, like so many SNP policies, to have caused more harm than good. The fact is that when it was first mooted, back in 2011, it was welcomed by a range of […] → Read More

Sturgeon's claim about Scottish pensions is utter nonsense – and she knows it

I doubt Nicola Sturgeon wakes up in the middle of the night desperately missing the guidance of her former friend/mentor/nemesis, Alex Salmond. Nevertheless, there must be times when she wishes she, or the people around her, had the same effortless ability possessed by the former First Minister to control the media agenda, or at least […] → Read More

Keir Labour's the point

The wait is over. True, as publishing sensations go, the arrival of Keir Starmer’s Fabian Society pamphlet wasn’t accompanied by the excitement that greets a new JK Rowling book. But in its own terms it was an important event. Context is all, and the content of The Road Ahead is less important than the reasons […] → Read More

The BBC's 'privilege test' isn't as barmy as it sounds

I am only too eager to lambast the latest iteration of our so-called culture wars, and I invariably come down on the side of those who might broadly be described as sane. I’m usually against the social justice warriors who see offence in every aspect of our lives and history and want to cancel or […] → Read More

The SNP's four-day week gimmick is just the latest attempt to create a tartan utopia

Here’s some breaking news that will shock absolutely no one: an overwhelming number of Scottish workers support cutting the number of days a week that they have to work, with no loss of pay. Also: a large majority of voters are in favour of winning the lottery. We’ll bring you more as it develops. The […] → Read More

As the economic facts change, the SNP simply recalibrates the truth

Yesterday was a very special day in Scotland’s political calendar. GERSday comes but once a year but when it does, the air is filled with much excitement – and an equal degree of disappointment. Before considering the various political reactions to the Scottish Government’s annual analysis of what’s been spent and raised in Scotland, we […] → Read More

In SNP fantasyland, a hard border with England is now an argument for independence

While it is true that the result of the EU referendum in 2016 changed the political argument in Scotland, it is equally true to say that it made no difference at all. Conventional wisdom suggests that having been taken out of the EU “against its will” (62% of Scots voted Remain), the case for “independence […] → Read More

Starmer still doesn't understand why Labour keep losing

There is a very informative point in the BBC’s recent “focus group” of former Labour voters in Blackpool to which the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was invited. After listening to one participant’s pessimistic musings on the current political scene, the Labour leader asks her: “Don’t you feel angry that this government’s been in power for […] → Read More

Rhodes to ruin – students will suffer when dons act like children

As a Labour Party activist I used to campaign in the streets that bordered Hampden, Scotland’s national stadium. It became just an expected part of any canvassing exercise that at least one resident – sometimes many more – would complain about the difficulties of parking their car whenever an event was held there. They would […] → Read More

Nicola Sturgeon awaits the longest tightrope walk of her career

We have been here before. The most remarkable thing about the 2021 Scottish Parliament election results is their similarity to the outcome of the last contest in 2016. That was when Nicola Sturgeon lost the overall majority bequeathed to her by her predecessor, Alex Salmond, whose success at the polls in 2011 Sturgeon has tried […] → Read More

Competitions for all! A new 'national challenge' says it all about the SNP's dire record

You’ve really got to admire the SNP’s chutzpah. Most political parties wait until after polling day before admitting that they have no idea how to run the country. But not Nicola Sturgeon’s lot, oh no! In the absence of an economic policy of their own, the SNP have announced a “national challenge competition” that will […] → Read More

Even victory in May could leave a bitter aftertaste for Nicola Sturgeon

Those who observe Scottish politics from afar, like a visitor to the zoo might gaze warily at a vicious and rare beast from a safe distance behind the wire mesh, will have concluded that it is now way past feeding time. For the beast is indeed becoming very aggressive, more so than usual. Each tiny […] → Read More

Nicola Sturgeon offers a masterclass in dodging direct questions

Given that the crisis engulfing the SNP was entirely unexpected, we need to remind ourselves that the consequences of Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance before a committee of MSPs today are precisely the opposite. To an extent – and this is to Scotland’s shame – the actual substance of the answers she gave to the committee investigating […] → Read More

On Brexit, Keir Starmer is running against his own record

No Labour leader can easily escape his record. This is true of all the holders of that office. Even Tony Blair had to contend with observations (that did him no political harm, ultimately) that he had campaigned, as a Labour candidate in 1983, for a manifesto committing a Labour government to withdrawing from the EEC … → Read More