http://davidtorrance.com Author, Journalist and Political Anorak Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:13:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en An interesting debate in the House of Lords today on the Barnett Formula, including a speech by the former Scottish Secretary, Ian Lang, in which he said that the position of Secretary of State for Scotland 'no longer has any influence in the Cabinet', 'pads out the Cabinet' and that 'the position ... http://davidtorrance.com/scottish-secretarybarnett/ So farewell then, Michael Foot, who died today aged 96. There's a fine obituary already on the Daily Telegraph's website, with undoubtedly more to follow tomorrow, but his death has reminded me of perhaps his finest House of Commons performance, his winding up speech on a motion of no-confidence in ... http://davidtorrance.com/michael-foot-2/ An interesting, if rather brief, documentary by the former political reporter Elizabeth Quigley on BBC Scotland this evening. Called The Duchess and the Fuhrer, it tells the much neglected story of the Duchess of Atholl, the Unionist (or Tory) MP for Kinross and West Perthshire in the 1920s and '30s, ... http://davidtorrance.com/the-red-duchess/ I've been looking through the recent release of Margaret Thatcher's private political papers from 1979 and distilled the following relating to Scotland: FULSOME press coverage, enthusiastic crowds and increased political support – that is how Scotland must have appeared to Margaret Thatcher as she negotiated her first year as Prime Minister ... http://davidtorrance.com/thatcherscotland/ I was on Newsnight Scotland last night, talking about Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy and how he compares with other, post-devolution, Scottish Secretaries. http://davidtorrance.com/jim-murphy-as-scottish-secretary/ Some interesting coverage in today's newspapers of what has been released under the 30-year rule at the National Archives in Kew. Not much, however, on Scotland, although David Perry of the Aberdeen Press and Journal has obviously been through what must be one of the last Whitehall files on the ... http://davidtorrance.com/from-the-archives/ I have an article in today's Times, detailing a hitherto unknown offer from the SNP to prop up Ted Heath's faltering Conservative government following the inconclusive result of the February 1974 general election. In the context of next year's general election, which could also produce a hung Parliament, might history ... http://davidtorrance.com/history-repeats-itself/ Well, not quite, but yet another story to confirm everyone's worst prejudices about Margaret Thatcher and Scotland - not only did she want to destroy the country, but the wicked woman wanted to bulldoze its national football stadium. Marc Horne of the Sunday Times (Scotland) has obviously been trawling through ... http://davidtorrance.com/tories-destroy-hampden/ I was on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Shereen' programme this morning as a guest pundit. You can listen to it on BBC iPlayer for the next week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pbmsn/Shereen_13_12_2009/ http://davidtorrance.com/shereen/ Interesting stuff in yesterday's papers about Justice Secretary Jack Straw vetoing the publication of Cabinet minutes of a debate on devolution just after the 1997 election victory. Straw was a well-known, and articulate, opponent of the constitutional reform agenda which was then Labour orthodoxy. You can read more in either ... http://davidtorrance.com/devolution-debates/