Ruth Wishart

Columnist

Journalist and broadcaster Ruth Wishart has won many awards for her columns over the years. She writes mainly about Scottish and UK politics, but also covers American elections, and a diverse range of social issues. Glaswegian born and bred, she currently lives in Argyll.

Journalist and broadcaster Ruth Wishart has won many awards for her columns over the years. She writes mainly about Scottish and UK politics, but also covers American elections, and a diverse range of social issues. Glaswegian born and bred, she currently lives in Argyll.

Latest articles from Ruth Wishart

A tube train passes the remains of Grenfell Tower

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Passing the buck seems to be order of the day right across society

IT’S not an Olympic or Paralympic event just yet, but passing the buck surely qualifies as a top sporting achievement right now. The most recent contenders for a gold gong are the folk mentioned in the hugely detailed report on the Grenfell debacle.

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Family, happy daughter with dad doing home repair, paint walls, together with love.

comment Ruth Wishart: Society is still held captive by Covid but it's not a bad thing

FOR some desperately unlucky folk, Covid was the shortest straw; they got long Covid which brought in its wake ME-type symptoms. However, I reckon that society as a whole is also suffering from a type of long Covid ...

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Given the state of the country, the arts sector is unlikely to see its earmarked £100m soon

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Short-sighted cutting of arts funding will impoverish all our lives

PREDICTABLY, the news that Creative Scotland was closing its “Open Fund” for individuals making new applications from the end of this month was greeted with howls of anguish...

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Every time we get shafted there’s an initial bout of hand-wringing and then a period of embarrassed silence

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: From GERS scam to electricity highway – Scots are being duped

THE recent Olympics with team GB plastered all over the place, probably didn’t help, but long before that, UK governments old and new, plus broadcasters on all the airwaves would talk about “the country” or “the nation” and they’d mean Britain. Which is neither!

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As both the police and the new UK Government warned, the bampot tendency may be temporarily in retreat, but they and their enablers are still with us

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Time to end long and ignoble tradition of blaming immigrants

WHEN one of the UK’s most reliably anti-migrant, right-wing publications published a front page last week in praise of people prepared to stand up for decency and against thuggery, it would have been tempting to think an important corner had been turned ...

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Scottish Independence supporters are seen at a demo outside Holyrood.

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Independence in Europe is not dead but the SNP must refocus for 2026

THE SNP have not been short of advice since they accidentally shed so many MPs (they have a paltry nine now) and not just from the usual suspects. And with the clock ticking ever louder before the Scottish elections in 2026, it would be a foolish government who thought business as usual was much of a motto.

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Ruth Wishart discusses the NHS in this week's column

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: NHS requires regulators and whistleblowers to be fixed

LIKE many new ministers before him, UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting called the Care Quality Commission “not fit for purpose”.

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Donald Trump has an undoubted talent for rousing an available rabble, writes Ruth Wishart

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Dear Leader Donald and State Opening prove a test of faith

AS a practising insomniac, my trick is to leave the World Service on all night on my bedside radio. The rationale is that if it’s boring, I’ll likely drop off – and if it’s riveting, it’ll be worth being awake!

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Joanna Cherry at Highland Hall for Edinburgh Count

comment Ruth Wishart: What now for the SNP after a mauling that has been a long time coming?

NOT sure if you’re allowed to say The Fat Lady Has Sung, these days, but the electoral opera is well and truly over. Some of the plot lines proved rather attractive – Liz Truss and Jacob Rees Mogg ejected and not before time.

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Joe Biden's last and greatest gift to the country he has long served would be to go before death or disease claim him, writes Ruth Wishart

COMMENT Ruth Wishart: Old age is not for sissies – or for political leaders

HERE are some truths about ageing – your body stops doing things it once never thought twice about. Your mind may still function fine but the retrieval system slows down ...

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