Scotland’s elections confirmed that our nation’s leftwing identity is part myth, part reality | Rory Scothorne

There is optimism even after Nigel Farage’s party swept to victory in many postindustrial areas – as radical progressives won more seats than ever James IV, King of Scots, never had to worry about elections. This freed him up to satisfy his voracious curiosity with strange experiments: according to one old tale, in 1493 he trapped two children, and a nurse who couldn’t talk, on Inchkeith Island in the Firth of Forth. James hoped that the children, deprived of modern influences on their speech...

By Rory Scothorne