Archive

By Lindsay McGarvie, Director 3x1 Group SO Scotland’s electoral hamster wheel has had another frenetic spin with yesterday’s local council vote. And just as elsewhere in the UK the big loser is the Labour Party, with the Tories the major winner. Inevitably these local elections are expected to be an indication of ...

By Campbell Gunn, 3x1 Strategic Adviser IN the excitement over the announcement by Theresa May of the surprise general election on 8 June, the local council elections, due next week, have been almost forgotten. These are important elections, with the 32 councils across Scotland controlling billions of pounds of spending, and control ...

By Lindsay McGarvie, Director, 3x1 Group WESTMINSTER is a difficult place to keep a secret. The bars and tearooms of the mother of parliaments has always been a hotbed of whisperings, briefings, leaks and gossip. There was a time when secrets existed in politics. When reshuffles and budgets were closely guarded to ...

The summer of 1998, Scotland have the honour of playing Brazil in the opening game of the World Cup in Paris, the Spice Girls classic ‘Viva Forever’ is knocked off the number 1 spot by Boyzone classic ‘No Matter What’, and a cub reporter makes tentative steps on the road ...

SCOTTISH politics took a back seat this week, as events were dominated by the terror attack in London. Arguments about the date of a possible independence referendum, were overshadowed by the terrible news from 400 miles south. By chance, I was in the capital on Wednesday with 3x1 colleague Lindsay McGarvie. ...

By Campbell Gunn, 3x1 Strategic Adviser The old adage – usually attributed to Harold Wilson, though he claimed that he didn’t recall actually using it – that a week is a long time in politics, has surely never been more true than in the past few days. First, Nicola Sturgeon wrong-footed the ...

By Campbell Gunn, 3x1 Group Strategic Adviser This week’s Westminster Budget will be the last to be held in springtime. From now on, the annual speech on the state of the nation’s finances will take place in the autumn. This is a positive move, particularly for the devolved administrations, who have ...