Tom Devine

I first became interested in Orangeism at the academic level after I was appointed in the 1990s to the Foundation Glucksman Chair of Irish and Scottish Studies and became the first Director of the AHRC Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies at Aberdeen(in association with Trinity College, Dublin and Queen's University, Belfast).

IN the referendum of 2014 the Scottish people emphatically rejected independence by a margin of 55 per cent to 45%.

Last week I had a fascinating discussion at their invitation with senior officials from the Museums Service of Toronto City Council.

In an exclusive Herald on Sunday essay, Scottish historian Sir Tom Devine asserts his belief that the abolition of slavery was ‘nigh impossible in the late 18th century’ and that Henry Dundas is now a ‘scapegoat’

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot: The Great Mistake of Scottish Independence

When the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by the Queen in 1999 the expectations from many in Scotland were high.

THE recent BBC2 mini series, Slavery: Scotland’s Hidden Shame, has stirred much interest and some controversy in social media and the Letters Pages of The Herald.

Recent reports in the national press have conveyed the impression that anti-Catholicism in Scotland has reached new and virulent levels of hostility in the last few years.

IT came out during a long radio interview with Sally Magnusson last year. I was asked among other things about Brexit and its implications for Scotland. Probably more in hope than in any expectation, I blurted out that Brexit would probably not happen. The prediction easily slipped off the tongue because I believe the Leave vote of June 2016 is an act of political and economic self-harm without equal in the modern history of the United Kingdom. Indeed, deciding to leave the biggest single trade bloc in the world as the result of a narrow majority in a referendum has to be seen as a collective act of potential economic suicide.

Passchendaele: A New History