Alison Rowat

Senior politics and features writer

I joined The Herald in 1998. Currently the paper's film writer and columnist, I was previously a leader writer, foreign editor and sub-editor.

I joined The Herald in 1998. Currently the paper's film writer and columnist, I was previously a leader writer, foreign editor and sub-editor.

Latest articles from Alison Rowat

Alison Rowat: Save us from this Tory lot and the dreadful Penny

What has sent the headless chickens running this time is a Spring Budget that fell flat, and new polling suggesting the coming wipeout of Tory MPs is going to be far worse than anyone has imagined. Even those MPs who thought their majorities were big enough to survive are worried.

TV REVIEW Welcome to this week's mad woman drama on Channel 5

A pattern is developing with Channel 5’s week-long dramas. First come the red-top titles like Cold Call, Intruder, Too Good to be True, and The Ex-Wife. Second, the lead character is female and overwrought to the point she fears madness taking hold. Her tormentors are invariably men who are fully paid up members of the Terry Thomas Absolute Shower Club. Third, said woman is played by Sally Lindsay, as seen in Cold Call, Intruder, and now Love Rat (Channel 5, Monday-Thursday), the latest offering in what I hereby name the second Mrs de Winter/mad woman slot.

TV PREVIEW Poet Len Pennie adds voice to film showing reality of domestic abuse in Scotland

A documentary airing tonight lifts the lid on domestic abuse in Scotland. Title and time? Disclosure – Surviving Domestic Abuse, Monday 11 March, BBC One Scotland & BBC iPlayer, 9.00-10.00pm What’s the approach? Using home footage and interviews, seven women tell their stories of surviving domestic abuse. Each case was followed by the filmmakers for a year to chart the women’s experiences of the justice system.

TV PREVIEW Manhunt: the search for Abraham Lincoln's assassin

The story is told from the viewpoint of Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, played by the British actor Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip in The Crown). Belfast-born Anthony Boyle (also in Masters of the Air) is Booth, with Hamish Linklater (American) as Lincoln.

Alison Rowat: Heard the one about Michelle Obama running for president?

Haven’t you heard? Normally we would not detain ourselves here with internet scuttlebutt, but the possibility that Biden might reconsider his run for a second term is edging into the mainstream. Biden is not the only one at risk from such speculation. More than a few Republicans are hoping Trump will have enough at one point and decide to spend his time between trials on the golf course.