Journalist. Scottish. European. Harvard & U of Glasgow alumnus. Harkness Fellow. Kennedy scholarship. Ex US Senate speechwriter, BBC & ITV news anchor and Member of Parliament. He/him. http://www.youtube.com/@JohnNicolsonChannelhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mldqdgc6qs22Amaryllis bulb bursts into bloom! @JonathanAdler pots in the background.08 May 2026 12:31 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mldqdgc6qs22https://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3ml4mc6aixc2qOdd that #AnasSarwar should cite the #PeterMandelson appointment as his breaking point with #Starmer Here’s Anas in Washington with the former Ambassador describing warmly their longstanding friendship. (BTW think Anas means resile not “recoil” in his @SophyRidgeSky i/v05 May 2026 16:30 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml4mc6aixc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3ml3xiiwtqs27Heading home. I’m going to miss waking up to this ceiling view above our bed in #Palermo #Sicily05 May 2026 10:18 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml3xiiwtqs27https://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3ml3r7ipq2c2xAnd we think Scottish election campaigns are brutal… Disagreements, as recorded in marble for posterity, here in #Palermo museums. A bit of decapitation. Some leg biting…. #Sicily05 May 2026 08:25 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml3r7ipq2c2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkzhfkbyt22tBona sira. Pizza restaurant serving lunch opposite the Opera House in #Palermo The chef, apparently, has Glasgow family and visits regularly. Passa na bedda jurnata.04 May 2026 10:24 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkzhfkbyt22thttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkzc7alsr22uBon jornu from Sicily. Michaelangelo’s Risen Christ with the Cross at the Palazzo Reale, Palermo. Sublime.04 May 2026 08:51 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkzc7alsr22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkxdxaje6s2cSitting on the front steps of the glorious Sicilian national opera house in #Palermo reading my uncle Bobby’s 1950 novel ‘The Gradual Day.’ Italy was his favourite country & he disappeared throughout the 50s & 60s for mysterious solo holidays there. So I think he’d approve….03 May 2026 14:17 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkxdxaje6s2chttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mksmfnszi22sThe petty tribal provincialism of UK Labour & its branch office unionism. First Minister @JohnSwinney has just schmoozed Trump into removing his tariffs on whisky. Douglas Alexander bitched about him intervening & is having a tantrum now he’s succeeded.01 May 2026 17:05 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mksmfnszi22shttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkpxctlf7s24At the #Palermo catacombs. An astonishing place. Not sure though that I’d want to spend eternity hanging from a hook surveying the gloomy corridors below as the generations pass me by….30 Apr 2026 15:42 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkpxctlf7s24https://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mknekro3ak2iA torrent of racism. A sprinkling of homophobia. A desire to fight independence, curb Holyrood’s powers, and oppose any return to the EU. This is the #Reform kick Joanna Cherry thinks Scotland needs?…. And people wonder why she was so isolated in @theSNP group at Westminster.29 Apr 2026 15:02 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mknekro3ak2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkmxagukn22fBrutal. Damning. Accurate. “The reason #Starmer is failing has been exposed in the very way he has chosen to fight for his survival … he holds everyone to account but himself.”29 Apr 2026 11:03 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkmxagukn22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkla6ive2k2bAnother strong poll for @theSNP The Labour / Tory collapse continues. #BothVotesSNP #sp26 Polling: @Survation Graphics: @LeftieStats28 Apr 2026 18:38 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkla6ive2k2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkksi7s7uc2u"Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!" Nurse!28 Apr 2026 14:33 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkksi7s7uc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkk4q6ym7c2uEU/EEA citizens can use their minutes, texts, and data abroad just as they do at home with the European Union's "Roam like at home" rules. But not Brexit Britain. Keir Starmer says there’s no case for rejoining the EU in his lifetime.28 Apr 2026 08:03 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkk4q6ym7c2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkd27ncrvc2gOut and about campaigning in beautiful Dunblane with this top team! Vote Keith Brown! @theSNP #sp2625 Apr 2026 12:30 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkd27ncrvc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mkclp4ygj227Today is the birthday of the #PanchenLama of #Tibet In 1995 - aged 6 - he and his parents were kidnapped by the brutal Chinese occupiers of Tibet. He has not been seen since. #FreeTibet25 Apr 2026 08:10 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkclp4ygj227https://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mk6qwlm6m22bThe @ScotTories are running a truly pitiful election campaign. “We’ve lost. We know we’ve lost. We’ve no policies. Our opponents have won. Vote for us to prevent them winning by even more.” And this in a part of Scotland which was once their heartland. #SP2623 Apr 2026 19:33 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk6qwlm6m22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mk5zarxums2v“Oh, to be in England Now that April’s there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England—now.’ #StGeorgesDay23 Apr 2026 12:29 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5zarxums2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mk5x7255i22mPaul McCartney has dedicated #StGeorgesDay to Georges everywhere, loved & lost. Here’s mine: J George Stant, the suave Grandpa I never met. Served in the Great War & killed in his shipyard during the #ClydebankBlitz. My Mum adored him and, I know, thought of him every day.23 Apr 2026 11:52 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5x7255i22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mk5wzucf322mHappy #StGeorgesDay to all my English friends. “In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility.” (Henry V, Act 111, Scene 1) #Shakespeare #ShakespeareBirthday23 Apr 2026 11:50 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5wzucf322mhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mjorhm64es23Starmer misled Parliament over Mandelson. He says that’s because he hadn’t been told Mandelson had failed security vetting. That’s hard to believe. If it’s true his government is even more chaotic and dysfunctional than previously suspected. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn53pnd5wr0t?post=asset%3A732d3f6c-24ea-4bf9-acfe-21b38b49e39b#post17 Apr 2026 11:00 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjorhm64es23https://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mj2jf7evhs2oHappy birthday to my favourite architect - Alexander #GreekThomson born #otd 1817 🏛 🎂09 Apr 2026 09:42 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj2jf7evhs2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3miz6ms3nzk2gLabour slip to fourth place in latest Holyrood poll. #ReadMyLips #SP26 Polling: @IpsosScotland Graphics: @LeftieStats08 Apr 2026 20:57 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3miz6ms3nzk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3miu7gbbe2k2vLovely evening at St Martin in the Fields listening to Handel’s Messiah. #EasterMonday #Baroque #Handel06 Apr 2026 21:28 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3miu7gbbe2k2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mitbqym2y22sThe Declaration of Arbroath was signed on this day - a letter to the Pope asserting Scotland’s right to independence and self determination. Principles we hold dear to this day.06 Apr 2026 12:37 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mitbqym2y22shttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mioi7cdvds2vBeautiful #Easter flower delivery from my lovely wee brother Torquil.04 Apr 2026 14:49 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mioi7cdvds2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mij5mmdi6s2mSixteen point lead for @theSNP as, far behind, Reform & Labour battle it out for 2nd / 3rd place. But - every vote counts! So vote…. #SP26 #bothvotessnp02 Apr 2026 11:56 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mij5mmdi6s2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mihahq66f22zLife in the Faslane. #ScottishLabour01 Apr 2026 17:42 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mihahq66f22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3mickkjt4n22oMy two wee rescue cats - Grace & Karl made starring appearances on @SkyNewsPolitics tonight. @CatsProtection30 Mar 2026 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3mickkjt4n22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/johnnicolson.bsky.social/post/3micgocx46c22Always fun to pop into @SkyNews for the news review with this top team. @oma_salma @AliFortescue @SkyNewsPolitics30 Mar 2026 19:50 +0000at://did:plc:wiglqibfpc4psbj6xjoedzqt/app.bsky.feed.post/3micgocx46c22