Opinion

The UK government’s Business Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee is running an inquiry into the UK labour market “post-pandemic”. Part of its remit is seeking to understand whether current employment law is fit for purpose or requires reform. This is interesting because

Last month was a particularly busy period in the Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) sector. On 1 June, Klarna, one of the largest BNPL providers, began reporting its customer data to credit reference agencies in the UK for the popular short-term credit products such as Pay in 3 instalments and Pay in 30 days.

The sun is shining in the Highlands (well, at least it has been intermittently) and farmers are busy making hay and silage. When long grass fields are cut, they often attract walkers and horse riders who fancy taking access across the nice open fields – is it okay for them to do so? In Scotlan

With Scotland’s constitutional issue set to take centre stage once again, many will be fearful that division and rancour may follow. Back in 2014 and in subsequent years, the debate has often generated more heat than light. Arguably, the 2016 Brexit referendum was even more acrimonious.

With our separate legal systems, the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) regime does not operate in Scotland, and as a result civil recovery remains the only option short of prosecution for Scottish prosecutors to resolve bribery cases. In contrast, in England and Wales, DPAs have effectively displ

An­drew Walker, partner and head of corporate growth at Morton Fraser, discusses the role employee businesses could have in boosting the wider UK economy. The Scottish government’s Programme for Government included a goal to reach 500 employee-owned businesses (EOBs) by 2030. We currently

Solicitor Fiona McPhail writes about the case of Abdelwahab-Kaba Dafaalla v City of Edinburgh Council, which concerned the issue of repeat or subsequent homeless applications where a local authority has already considered an application and acted upon the outcome of that application. In Mr Dafaalla&

Clerk of Faculty, Richard Pugh, details how the Faculty of Advocates encourages those aspiring to a career at the bar. The Faculty of Advocates recently admitted 28 new members, the second-largest ever annual intake. This follows another large intake in 2020, when 24 new advocates were admitted.

As the cost-of-living crisis puts pressure on pay negotiations, employers need to take care to ensure collective bargaining procedures are not inappropriately circumvented, writes Innes Clark. Late last year the Supreme Court judgment in Kostal UK Ltd v Dunkley and others made clear that direct

David J Black looks at how the Golden Turd plopped onto Edinburgh's skyline. Read part one here. It is true that every judgement as to what constitutes good or bad architecture is subjective, yet searching around Edinburgh to find someone who likes the Golden Turd Hotel is a fruitless task. The Scot

Recent council motions may be well meaning but they are at odds with licensing, writes Stephen McGowan. Every now and again a local councillor or even a full council proposes or approves a motion which relates to the operation of licensed premises. This has happened recently, on 24th June 2022, with

The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 which came into force on 1st December 2017 replaced the previous short assured tenancy with the residential tenancy. The stated purpose of the Scottish government was “to improve security of tenure for tenants balanced with appropriate safegu

Charles Livingstone and Jamie Dunne respond to last week's announcement from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which provisionally found more competition law breaches in the construction sector. The UK's competition law enforcement body, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has anno

Alexandra Dumble writes about the evolution of Pride in London. The first official UK Gay Pride rally took place in London on 1 July 1972. This date was chosen as it was the nearest Saturday to the three-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969. This uprising was a consequence of police haras

In 2018, unbeknown to anyone but my wife, I applied for a non-executive role with a leading cancer charity. I was thrilled to make the shortlist. Two weeks before the interview – in a bitter twist of fate – I was myself diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. It was, I was told, incurable.