The Hollow Drum

Since the Second World War Scotland has been profoundly altered. Its native tradition of entrepreneurial capitalism has disappeared. Its heavy industries have rapidly declined. It has become a branch economy soliciting international investment. Its crowded old cities have spread themselves into the country dormitories. By the 1990s, the grip of the Kirk had been much weakened. The Conservatives had slumped from their 1955 high-water mark to a very low ebb. The Nationalists came and went, but Labour's strength seemed geological.

This is Arnold Kemp's personal history of the post-war period, drawing on his experience as a newspaper editor and journalist. He suggests that Scotland, which often seemed confused and divided, had in fact been articulating a reasonable set of expectations which were well within the gift of the British state.