Shona Craven

1 week ago | thenational.scot | Shona Craven

Tomorrow’s judgment should be followed by a period of calm reflection and policy problem-solving (Image: PA) IT’S been nearly eight years since I first wrote in these pages about the gradual erasure of “woman” as a sex category, and the dangerous consequences of that erasure. Now, after years of legal wrangling, we are finally to learn what the terms “woman” and “man” mean for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

2 weeks ago | thenational.scot | Shona Craven

IT must have been at least 15 years ago when I first encountered a wannabe “pick-up artist”. The setting was a bar in Glasgow, and the context was the aftermath of a speed-dating night my friends had taken part in. Online dating sites existed, but were viewed with healthy suspicion. I doubt anyone present owned a smartphone. Many of the speed-daters had hung around afterwards, including a chap at our table who engaged in a lively conversation with one of the women.

3 weeks ago | thenational.scot | Shona Craven

WHEN a politician starts a sentence with “believe me”, it’s wise to sit up and take notice. Not because they’re about to speak the truth. Because they know the intended audience is going to need a lot of convincing. Keir Starmer says “compassionate and fair-minded” people in Britain are “angry about immigration”. But he also wants to imply their anger, like his, is directed towards the “vile people-smuggling gangs” who bring small boats across the English Channel. Who is he trying to kid?

1 month ago | thenational.scot | Shona Craven

AFEMALE actor sits on the edge of a table, her thighs streaked with blood, her character shell-shocked. The audience is hanging on her every word as she describes what has happened. You could have heard a pin drop. But what we heard instead was a man loudly retching. He was sitting only metres away from me, so as a crew member announced the halting of the show and the actress disappeared into the wings I sat in suspense, hoping no stench of bile would reach my nostrils.

1 month ago | thenational.scot | Shona Craven

When Streeting and I were growing up, young people did not carry with them at all times a device through which we were relentlessly bombarded with bad news, celebrity gossip, addictive videos and advertisements (Image: Newsquest) ‘DEATH OF THE WORK ETHIC” screamed the Daily Mail, as we prepare to hear whether Labour’s plans for cutting the UK’s benefits bill will be awful, appalling or totally obscene.