Writing Media About Industrial
BBC Scotland 24 February 2026

BBC Scotcast

Appearance on BBC Scotland’s flagship news and current affairs podcast with Martin Geissler.

iScot Magazine 31 December 2024

The Man Who Re-Empowered Scotland’s Wee Fowk: Alex Salmond (1954–2024)

A personal remembrance of Alex Salmond – strategist, patriot, and the leader who believed Scotland’s strength lay in its ordinary people.

The Spectator 27 July 2023

Why the SNP Lost Its Supporters – and How It Can Win Them Back Again

An examination of the Scottish National Party’s decline under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership, arguing that ideological narrowing and internal stagnation displaced the broader independence movement.

kirkjtorrance.com 30 November 2022

On a Road to Nowhere

Scotland stands this St Andrew’s Day, like a hitchhiker on a closed road. A call for reconciliation and renewal of the independence movement.

Kirk J. Torrance 16 July 2020

Bordering on Sanity

On the case for temporary border controls between Scotland and England during the COVID-19 pandemic, and why practicality should trump politics.

Medium January 2020

Dear Scotland

An open letter on Scotland’s political trajectory and the case for a different path forward.

The National 28 March 2018

Why the SNP Had to Be Brilliant at Social Media

Op-Ed on the strategic imperatives that drove the SNP’s pioneering adoption of digital and social media campaigning.

About

Strategic adviser, technologist, and dealmaker. Two decades operating at the intersection of government, technology, media, and capital markets across four continents.

Technologist behind two successive Scottish First Ministers, pioneering the use of digital and social media in UK and European political campaigning. Helped deliver the first outright majority in the Scottish Parliament in 2011, a second Holyrood majority in 2016, and played a central role in the campaign that delivered Scotland’s 62% Remain vote in the 2016 EU referendum.

Beyond politics, facilitated c.£500m in acquisition discussions for a Chinese consortium targeting UK media assets and advised on the £30–40m attempted acquisition of Johnston Press Scottish titles. He now works with a small number of clients on sensitive political, transactional, and strategic matters – alongside building technology platforms through Industrial Capital.

Founder and principal of Industrial Strategic.

Credentials

  • Digital & technology strategist to two successive Scottish First Ministers
  • Fellow & Board NED, British-American Project
  • Invited twice to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Davos
  • MIT Technology Review – Invited panellist
  • Published in The Spectator
  • University speaker at LSE and Tarleton State
  • c.£500m+ in cross-border transactions advised
  • Featured as a case study by Facebook and NationBuilder