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How did working-class girl from Ayrshire become one of Scotland and the UK's most prominent politicians?Identified as a rising star by the SNP leadership shortly after she joined the party as a teenager, when the Nationalists formed their first Scottish Government in 2007 Nicola Sturgeon swiftly became one of its most successful ministers. By the time Alex Salmond resigned as First Minister after the No vote in the Scottish independence referendum, she was viewed as his natural successor, leading her party to its remarkable success at the 2015 general election. In this book, David Torrance traces the life and career of a remarkable woman.
On 18 September 2014, Scots will decide their future: should the country quit the United Kingdom and take control of its own destiny, or should it remain part of what advocates call the most successful political and economic union of modern times? Everyone in the country has a stake in this decision. Now, in this fascinating and insightful new book, David Torrance charts the countdown to the big day, weaving his way through a minefield of claim and counterclaim, and knocking down fictions and fallacies from both Nationalists and Unionists. He plunges into the key questions that have shaped an often-fraught argument, from the future of the pound to the shape of an independent Scottish army. With access to the strategists and opinion-makers on both sides of the political divide, this book goes straight to the heart of the great debate, providing an incisive, authoritative, occasionally trenchant guide to the most dramatic constitutional question of our times - the battle for Britain.
David Torrance reassesses the relationship between 'nationalism' and 'unionism' in Scottish politics, challenging a binary reading of the two ideologies with the concept of 'nationalist unionism'. Scottish nationalism did not begin with the SNP in 1934, nor was it confined to political parties that desired independent statehood. Rather, it was more dispersed, with the Liberal, Conservative and Labour parties all attempting to harness Scottish national identity and nationalism between 1884 and 2014, often with the paradoxical goal of strengthening rather than ending the Union. The book combines nationalist theory with empirical historical and archival research to argue that these conceptions of Scottish nationhood had much more in common with each other than is commonly accepted.
Explores the history and ideas of the Scottish Conservative Party since its creation in 1912. You might not believe it now, but the Scottish Conservative Party played a significant role in the politics of Scotland during the last century. The party governed Scotland and the UK for much of the 20th century. But their support has nosedived from a majority of votes and seats at the 1955 general election to just a single constituency and 17 per cent of the vote in May 2010. This collection brings together academics, writers, commentators and analysts of Scottish politics to address the nature of the Scottish Conservative Party: its standing in Scotland, its influence on the Union, its role in the Scottish Parliament and why it fell so out of favour with the Scottish electorate.
What do two former Governors of Australia, Lord Macaulay's nephew and the owner of Scotland's finest salmon river have in common? They have all served their small nation as Scottish Secretary; some reluctantly and others with patriotic fervour. "The Scottish Secretaries" charts the trials and tribulations of the 38 men and one woman who have held the post since the position was resurrected by Salisbury in 1885. From humble beginnings as an ill-regarded offshoot of the Home Office, the department grew to become a mini-Whitehall by the 1920s. It was also an important wartime department in WWII and a testing ground for planning and social reforms during the white heat of the 1960s. But with the Scottish Parliament now established as the political centre of Scottish life, the re-christened Scotland Office is once again redundant. Drawing on first-hand accounts and contemporary correspondence, David Torrance paints a vivid biographical portrait of those figures - many now completely forgotten - who controlled Scotland's political agenda from both the Regency charm of Dover House and the Art Deco surroundings of St. Andrew's House.
Love her or hate her, there is no escaping the impact Margaret Thatcher had on post-war Scottish politics. The 1980s are indelibly marked as the Thatcher decade, and although her first visit to Scotland just days after becoming Conservative leader in 1975 was a success, her relationship with Scots quickly turned sour. She U-turned on a long-standing commitment to establish a Scottish Assembly, and on being elected Prime Minister in 1979 Scotland found itself disproportionately affected by the decline of heavy manufacturing a phenomenon hastened by a new economic policy dubbed monetarism. Thatcher frequently espoused the free market values of Adam Smith in an attempt to win over Scotland, whi...
This volume demonstrates how literacy is more than learning to read and write. Literacy creates communities, organizes personal and social lives, makes possible civil society and the rule of law, and underwrites the commitment of both modern and developing societies to universal education and ever higher levels of literate competence. Everything that is involved in being and becoming literate is the concern of this interdisciplinary group of distinguished scholars.
This book provides an important study of the theology of Thomas F. Torrance, who is generally considered to have been one of the most significant theologians writing in English during the twentieth century, with a view toward showing how his theological method and all his major doctrinal views were shaped by his understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Torrance pursued a theology that was realist because he attempted to think in accordance with the unique nature of the object that is known. In holding to such a methodology, he drew an analogy between theology and natural science.This book demonstrates how, for Torrance, God relates with humanity within time and space so that creation finds its meaning in relation to God and not in itself; this enabled him to avoid many theological pitfalls such as agnosticism, subjectivism and dualism while explaining the positive implications of various Christian doctrines in a penetrating and compelling manner. This book offers an important resource for students of theology and for scholars who are interested in seeing how serious dogmatic theology shapes and should shape our understanding of the Christian life.
'Thoroughly researched...brings superbly to life figures whom history should not have forgotten.' - Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph 'A highly readable, enjoyable and informative book.' - John McTernan, Financial Times The incredible story of the first Labour government, and the 'wild men' who shook up the British establishment. In 1923, four short years since the end of the First World War, and after the passing of the Act which gave all men the vote, an inconclusive election result and the prospect of a constitutional crisis opened the door for a radically different sort of government: men from working-class backgrounds who had never before occupied the corridors of power at Westminster. Who ...