COVID-19 has exposed huge inequalities in the UK which have been a main cause of the alarming death toll. Sunak’s Budget for business has done nothing to tackle any of these. He could have, for instance:

THE SNP have called for a vote on whether foreign aid should be cut after a leaked report showed Westminster is planning drastic reductions to some of the world’s most war-torn countries.

THE Scots charity head who helped write the Tory aid policy has accused the Government of “an attack on aid”.

ALL of them are women of our times. Brought together their individual stories represent a litany of lives spent on the margins, under threat, or on the edge of the abyss. But both individually and collectively their lives tell another st...

STUDENTS graduating from university in Scotland take on an average of three times less student debt than their counterparts in England.

THE UK Budget is normally an extremely secretive affair where the opposition benches only get sight of what it contains as the Chancellor is delivering it, but this time most of the big-ticket items were leaked ahead of time.

THE extended cut to stamp duty for house-buyers south of the Border will not be replicated in Scotland, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has confirmed.

THERE’S something “fishy” about Rishi Sunak’s flagship £1 billion town funding plan, Labour leader Keir Starmer has said.

THE budget turned out to be a bit of a damp squib because so much of it had been trailed already. The Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng managed to put his foot in it with the PM by admitting

THE European Parliament has delayed setting a date to ratify the trade and security deal between the EU and the UK over concerns Boris Johnson will go ahead with plans to break international law.

THE new US presidential administration has agreed to completely remove the tariffs which had been imposed on Scotch​ whisky.

LEADING environmental charities have said that backing their plan for nature’s recovery could create up to 7000 new jobs in Scotland.

ROBUST parliamentary exchanges are a common form of torture for any chancellor and yesterday’s were no different for Rishi Sunak.

THE furlough scheme will be extended until the end of September, as will the 5% reduced rate of VAT for tourism and hospitality firms, and the temporary £20-a-week rise in Universal Credit payments will continue for another six months.

THE contactless payment limit is to more than double to £100.

SPEAKER of the Catalan Parliament Roger Torrent has been charged with the crime of disobedience for allowing MPs to vote for self-determination and against the Spanish monarchy two years ago.

THE annual publication of the UK Government Expenditure and Revenue Report for Scotland (GERS) is routinely used by the unionist media as suggesting that an independent Scotland would sink under the weight of public spending that is sign...

LESLEY Riddoch has published her second weekly video column, this time focusing on the UK Government’s plan to slash international aid funding to Yemen.

A PARIS court yesterday found French former president Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence.

CASES of a new strain of coronavirus first found in Brazil have been identified in Scotland.

FURLOUGH looks set to continue until the summer, Rishi Sunak has hinted.

SCOTLAND'S Finance Secretary has urged the UK government to extend the £20 Universal Credit uplift and the furlough scheme ahead of this week’s UK Budget.

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has been urged not to ignore the plight of thousands of people who have “fallen through the gaps” in financial support during covid when he unveils the UK budget this week.

TED Cruz, the US Senator for Texas, finished a speech to a right-wing conference last night by screaming about William Wallace.

AN employee-owned audio-visual company is reaping the benefits of people working from home after winning major contracts to help drive its rapid recovery from the pandemic.