David Torrance was born and brought up in Edinburgh and educated at Leith Academy, the University of Aberdeen and Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. He has a background in television and print journalism and also worked as Parliamentary Aide to the Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell at the House of Commons. He currently works as an Edinburgh-based freelance writer, journalist, public relations consultant and broadcaster, covering politics for STV, supplying obituaries to the Herald and writing historical comment pieces for the Scotsman. David’s first book, ‘The Scottish Secretaries’, was published by Birlinn to critical acclaim in 2006; his second, ‘George Younger: A Life Well Lived’, followed in 2008, while his third, ‘We in Scotland’ – Thatcherism in a Cold Climate, was published in 2009. He is currently working on an unauthorised biography of Alex Salmond. In between all of the above, David is also studying for a part-time PhD in political history at Queen Mary, University of London.

Independence in a world that’s moved on

The SNP, who won a stunning election in Scotland in May, now finds itself facing fundamental questions about what it precisely wants next

So why exactly is the Union worth saving? Part II

Unionists need to wake up and smell the coffee argues our regular Scotland correspondent, in the second of today’s articles on the impact of last week’s Scottish elections

The next big questions for Unionists

Earlier this month a most interesting debate took place at the Scottish Conservative conference. Here is an account of a discussion that has much to say to us in Wales

A letter from Edinburgh

To mark St Andrew’s Day, here’s a view from Scotland on the challenges facing the SNP government as constitutional and fiscal matters continue to dominate the agenda

Cold comfort for Burns

It’s North Korea’s national day – a place few outsiders get to visit. David Torrance was one of them, and what he saw still baffles him – particularly the presence of a book by a fellow Scot in an unlikely place

A Scottish perspective on Barnett

On the day after the Holtham Commission delivered its final report, recommending tax varying powers for Wales, we hear how “full fiscal autonomy would take years, if not decades, to become a reality”