democracy

Beverley Knight and the cast of Sylvia perform onstage. Picture: Tristram Kenton

I hate musicals but hip-hop suffragette story Sylvia is amazing Janet Christie

Iranian students, carrying their school backpacks, walk along a street during the first day of school year in Tehran

Iran's classrooms of despair could be next battleground for freedom Struan Stevenson

Readers are split over Andy Burnham's overtures to the European Union (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Readers' Letters: Closer links with the EU would be fine – on our terms

Activists protest against data centres outside the Scottish Parliament last month (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)

Democracy in action shows how cynicism of populists can be defeated Dr Bernhard Blumenau

Protesters with a giant banner printed with the Preamble to the United States Constitution during a demonstration against the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 2010 (Picture: Chip Somodevilla)

How billionaires are wrecking US democracy and why UK must beware Henry McLeish

Reza Falahi, left, and Ahmad Ebrahimi gave evidence in the trial of Hamid Noury in Sweden. Noury was convicted of involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran during the 1980s but then freed from prison after Iran took Swedish citizens hostage (Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand)

Iran's attempt to destroy evidence shows it fears judgment is nigh Struan Stevenson

Members of the Scottish Feminist Network outside the Court of Session, Edinburgh, in 2023 where the Scottish government was seeking to challenge the UK government's use of powers under Section 35 of the Scotland Act, which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed by Holyrood from gaining royal assent. The Scottish government lost.

Tickle v Giggle highlights the consequences of making truth unsayable Jenny Lindsay

Winston Churchill makes a victory sign outside 10 Downing Street in June 1943 as the Second World War raged (Picture: Daily Express/Hulton Archive)

With far-right on the rise, we should remember Churchill's wise words Martin Roche

A man at a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong in 2020 holds a photograph of the famous 'Tank Man' standing in front of a column of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in June 1989 (Picture: Anthony Wallace)

How China's dictatorship has just reminded us all who they really are Scotsman comment

Donald Trump, fearful of a Republican defeat in the midterm elections, is trying to interfere with the process of voting by post (Picture: Kenny Holston/pool)

Prospect of election defeat forces Trump to show his true intentions Henry McLeish

Scottish Green co-leaders Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer, along with Mark Ruskell MSP, Lorna Slater MSP and Ariane Burgess MSP.

Exclusive Bring back district and regional councils, say Scottish Greens

The UK should demonstrate its commitment to Iranian democracy by inviting Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran, to address the UK Parliament (Picture: Simon Wohlfahrt)

Why UK must finally start backing Iran's democratic opposition to hilt Struan Stevenson

SNP MP Lara Bird

Attacks on new SNP MP 'outrageous', says her predecessor

John Swinney is questioned by journalists in the Scottish Parliament (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)

Why caging the free press in a Holyrood pen is a democratic outrage Jackie Baillie

Andy Burnham takes a selfie in Westminster Hall with his new Labour parliamentary colleagues.

Burnham enters amid hope - but not euphoria - as his real test begins Brian Wilson

Anas Sarwar unveiling Scottish Labour's manifesto in Edinburgh

Exclusive Sarwar stays for now but next Scottish Labour leader will be divisive

The Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh

Transparency row as Holyrood 'corrals' journalists in media pen

Peter Murrell with Nicola Sturgeon in 2019

Exclusive Former FM calls for joint Westminster-Holyrood Peter Murrell inquiry

Pictures of dozens of people executed by Iran's dictatorship are displayed during a protest in Paris in October (Picture: Martin Lelievre)

Why executed Iranian hero will be remembered as his country's Mandela Struan Stevenson

Holyrood needs to be a parliament for all Scotland’s people (Picture: Michael Wolchover/Construction Photography/Avalon)

Idea of human 'classes' is nonsense but Holyrood still has a problem Scotsman comment

Màiri McAllan MSP and John Swinney MSP

Explainer What's happening at Holyrood this week as new cabinet to be revealed

MSPs were offered wise words of advice by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Rosie Frew (Picture: John Devlin)

Kirk Moderator reminds politicians what their job is actually about Scotsman comment

A polling station at Pollokshields Burgh Hall

How can you have a mandate when voter turnout was so low? Rachel Amery

The Gazan Women will be performed at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.

Stories of Gazan women pitched to 'king of Scotland' told in new play

Voting really does matter as the alternatives to democracy hardly bear thinking about (Picture: Andy Buchanan)

Why the greatest lie ever told about democracy is so corrosive Scotsman comment

A low turnout would be a bad sign for the health of Scottish democracy (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)

Why turnout could be such a decisive factor in this Scottish election Henry McLeish

The former town hall in Paisley, seen in around 1940 (Picture: Hulton Archive)

How we are plotting a quiet revolution in truly local democracy Angus Hardie

Join our day of action.

How ‘legal bullying’ is silencing journalists and harming democracy

The historic Dunfermline Abbey is just one of many things that local people can be proud of (Picture: Jane Barlow)

Dunfermline’s £500 democracy experiment showed politics at its best Willie Sullivan

The executive orders issued by Donald Trump have been widely criticised.

Scottish legal body joins fight over 'chilling' Donald Trump orders

The annual Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris (Picture: Ludovic Marin)

Politicians who make people happy? Why France's mayors are so trusted Susan Dalgety

Nigel Farage and Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Jackson, Mississippi, ahead of the 2016 US presidential election (Picture: Jonathan Bachman)

Farage's election 'cheating' claims echo Trump's attacks on democracy Henry McLeish

The statue of Lady Liberty on the Reformers Monument in Kilmarnock before it was topped in a storm

Why it's time to restore Scotland’s 'Statue of Liberty' in Kilmarnock Dr Marie Macklin

Joani Reid is the Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven

Scots Labour MP's husband arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Riot police stand in front of a state building covered with a giant anti-US billboard in central Tehran (Picture: Majid Saeedi)

It's time to end 47 years of tyranny in Iran, and here's how Struan Stevenson

Lord of the Flies paints a decidedly bleak picture of human nature (Picture: Lisa Tomasetti)

Why BBC Lord Of The Flies myth about human barbarity is so wrong Joyce McMillan

NatureScot came in for criticism over the timing of a decision about releasing beavers in a Highland glen (Picture: Dan Kitwood)

Attack on NatureScot's headquarters is a worrying sign for democracy Scotsman comment

Makerfield MP Josh Simons

Exclusive UK minister investigated by own department 'dreadful look for the PM'

Malcolm MacDonald, fifth from left, on a fishing boat preparing to sail to Applecross

A lesson from 'vile' contest between two famous Prime Ministers' sons Scotsman comment

People protesting against the Iranian regime in Tehran earlier this month (Picture: Anonymous)

‌How my country, Iran, can become a peaceful, non-nuclear democracy Maryam Rajavi

Iran's security forces have been killing large numbers of their own people amid anti-government protests (Picture: stringer)

As death toll soars in Iran, UK must stand with pro-democracy movement Scotsman comment

The Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh. Picture: PA

'Democracy under threat' from disinformation at 2026 Holyrood election

Juries have been associated with democracy since it was invented in ancient Athens (Picture: Hulton Archive)

Exclusion of 400,000 Scots from jury duty is an affront to democracy Scotsman comment

Packed out community convention in Inverness on renewable energy projects in the Highlands

Highlands renewables debate set for Westminster and Holyrood

Increasing the youth vote by lowering the voting age should give the young generation a stronger voice in politics (Picture: Mark Runnacles)

Letting 16-year-olds vote could give Gen Z as much power as pensioners Cameron Wyllie

In a democracy, the more people who are able to vote, the better (Picture: Glyn Kirk)

Labour must act over scandal of 750,000 people robbed of their vote Scotsman comment

Sir Keir Starmer has said giving the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds is ‘really important’.

16 and 17-year-olds to be able to vote in next general election

The Scotsman Top Stories

Scotland has failed to meet its latest target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the latest official figures show. Picture: John Giles/PA Wire

Fail: Scotland misses climate target

Pro-independence protesters with Scottish Saltire flags (top) march for Scottish independence. Picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images

Yousaf: Growing popular support for Yes the only way to Scottish independence

Nadine Dorries. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

SNP MP cleared of bullying Nadine Dorries