Andrew Tickell

1 month ago | thenational.scot | Andrew Tickell

Kemi Badenoch is just the most recent politician to have disappeared into the public relations abyss being leader of the opposition can represent MICHAEL Cockerell tells the – possibly apocryphal – story of a Yugoslavian woman’s response to the news that Winston Churchill had lost the 1945 General Election. Churchill was confident he could parlay his reputation as a war-time leader into being returned as a peace-time prime minister after the conclusion of the Second World War.

2 months ago | thenational.scot | Andrew Tickell

‘WE’RE the Labour Party. The clue is in the title.'  From time to time, elected representatives of the People’s Party will dip into their party playbook searching for a witty slogan to justify their latest round of benefit cuts. They almost always end up here – singing the same auld sang about work being the difference between the deserving and the undeserving poor.

2 months ago | thenational.scot | Andrew Tickell

THE atmosphere in the room was palpable. The video feed had just cut out. A woman, her face blurred, had just finished speaking about the loss of her child. A hard topic on any day – but this loss wasn’t down to accident, illness, or misadventure, but the actions of another human being. Sat around the table were a range of people – politicians, police officers, publishers, prosecutors, officials, academics and journalists. I was there to provide legal context. After she finished, the quiet was heavy.

2 months ago | thetimes.com | Andrew Tickell

It was one of the most high-profile cases of the 1980s. "Carol X", as she came to be known in the public consciousness, was subjected to a brutal sexual attack by a group of men in the shadow of Celtic Park. The authorities had a strong case. Carol X identified her attackers. There was significant forensic evidence. The teenage suspects were promptly arrested by the police. But before the trial prosecutors took a fateful decision.

2 months ago | thenational.scot | Andrew Tickell

ONE of the more surprising headlines of the week came from Westminster’s Women and Equalities Select Committee. MPs have concluded that British culture has a problem with ageism, arguing that “age discrimination is widespread in the UK and often minimised” in comparison with other kinds of prejudice.