Over the last few days, a succession of men have taken to print and to the airwaves to tell you there is no cause for concern about the new Hate Crime Act coming into force on April 1. One headline even proclaimed concerns were 'silly'. I'm here to tell you that these men are wrong as well as patronising, and that, if you are a woman, you have every right to be concerned.

On International Women's Day we need to be vigilant against a worldwide backlash against women's rights.

In July 2023, a joint report to the UN Human Rights Council by the special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, and Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, chair of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, indicated that the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan was the worst globally.

Many column inches have been expanded over the last 24 hours on the chaos that unfolded in the House of Commons on Wednesday. National readers should be in no doubt that what we saw was a very clear indication that at Westminster, when it suits the establishment, the rules and precedent will be set aside, whether to save political skins or blushes, even when what is at stake is of the gravest importance.  What happened was a very clear example of Britannia waiving the rules. 

Many column inches have been expanded this week on the question of whether the SNP should sit in the Lords.  I am clear that we should not. Quite apart from anything else the loss of face would be hard to bear. For years colleagues have railed against the place as if it was the devil incarnate. (It isn’t but it is a very flawed institution.) You cannot attack the place in the Commons, on the conference floor and on twitter and then trick in there yourself without looking like a monumental hypocrite.  Can you imagine the optics of former SNP MPs, who have declined to put themselves up for re-election or been rejected by the electorate, donning the ermine, and partaking in all the other flummery? It does not bear thinking about.