Cabinet reshuffle

Claims of 'east coast Cabinet' misinterpret geographical truths

I CAN’T remember who it was who first coined the idea that Scotland is made up of a loose confederation of “city-states” – but the notion always appealed to me. The phrase might more naturally conjure up Machiavelli’s Italy and the warring Italian republics of the 15th century rather than Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dundee – but it nicely captures something of the many distinctive civic and regional identities which make up the complex geographies of our