Tsunami: Scotland's Democratic Revolution

by Iain Macwhirter

Following on from the critically acclaimed Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland, Iain Macwhirter casts his expert eye over the SNP’s victory in the 2015 General Election, which saw Scotland swept by an unprecedented wave of yellow. One of the UK's most insightful political writers, Macwhirter examines the factors behind this result including the demise of the Labour party in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP vision and leadership, the growing dissatisfaction with Westminster, and the enduring passion for independence.

Tsunami ends with Macwhirter looking forward to ultimately consider where Scotland, and the UK, must go next. Praise for Iain Macwhirter: "A truly important book, particularly at this moment." ~ Andrew Marr. "A terrific book [...] full of shrewd insights. I'd recommend it highly." ~ The Guardian. “His writing and broadcasting on politics in Scotland have been the benchmark by which many of us judge our own, more modest, contributions.” ~ The Observer.

Genres: Politics

121 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 29, 2015

About the author

Iain Macwhirter is the political commentator of The Herald and the Sunday Herald, an author and documentary film and radio presenter and a former Rector of Edinburgh University. He has worked at both the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament, presenting the BBC2 programmes Westminster Live, Scrutiny and, from 1999, the BBC TV Holyrood Live programme from the Scottish Parliament.

In 2013, he published Road to Referendum which accompanied a major new three-part television series of the same name on STV and ITV. Following the Scottish independence referendum, he published Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum but Lost Scotland, a retrospective on his experiences as a journalist documenting the campaign. In 2015, his book Tsunami, about the SNP's victory in the 2015 general election, was published by Freight Books.

Reviews

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little book explaining why the SNP managed to win 56 seats in the general election, with only a few minor errors (nothing on the 2 MSPs who left the SNP, in the Appendix it lists one MSPs date of birth as unknown and then quotes him as being 11 in 1971, and forgets to mention that a week before Ed Milliband refused to deal with the SNP David Cameron publicly asked him not to do a deal with the SNP which in context probably lost him the election).
Overall a must read as a primer on scottish politcs post referendum.

[Jason RB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of what is happening in Scotland politically .... makes a change to read someone who actually understands what is going on and sees that the assent of the snp is as much about the failings of the unionist parties as it is about nationalism