The Lesley Riddoch Podcast
679 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsScottish politics dissected from a left, pro-independence stance. Each week, award-winning broadcaster and journalist, Lesley Riddoch chews over the week’s news with former media lecturer and Dundee United fan, Pat Joyce. If you like intelligent, quirky chat about Scottish society and culture, and Scottish, UK and international politics analysed from a Scottish perspective; this podcast is for you.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Professor Mark Blyth-Part 2
September 09, 2021 08:35 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBIn part 2 of our interview with Professor Mark Blyth we focus on "Angrynomics" the book on the rise of populism and solutions to tackle its root causes which Mark co-wrote with Eric Lonergan. http://cup.columbia.edu/book/angrynomics/9781788212793 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angrynomics-Eric-Lonergan-ebook/dp/B0888SG7Y7/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Headline News
September 02, 2021 14:28 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBGreta Thunberg's words on Scotland and climate change were definitely mangled by the BBC but should we patting ourselves on the back on our response to the emergency? Lesley reflects on the opportunities missed by the SNP government in terms of district heating and insulation in particular and what difference,if any, the agreement with the Greens will make to future decision making. Yesterday saw the FM field questions from opposition parties on that agreement. Has she and her party...
The Real Deal?
August 26, 2021 11:56 - 57 minutes - 39.5 MBAfghanistan continues to dominate the headlines and with no extension to the August the 31st deadline for US withdrawal what future awaits the people of Afghanistan,particularly the women,and what does the whole sorry saga say about the international order? The SNP and the Green Party have reached an agreement on the coalition,that isn't a coalition. We ask why,why now,and what impact it can have not only on tackling the climate crisis but in securing a majority for Scottish indepen...
The I word
August 19, 2021 12:12 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBAll of us have been shocked by the stories and images emerging from Afghanistan as the Taliban take over. Beyond the growing sense of horror what do they say about the future of that country,the competence of the UK government,the UK's relationship with the broader international community,and the injustice of Priti Patel's proposed refugee legislation? Indyref2 seems to have undergone a rebranding exercise and emerged from it as the Recovery Referendum. Is this a smart move to buil...
Duncan McCann-Our Land Report
August 12, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBREVIVE commissioned the New Economics Foundation and Common Weal to produce the Our Land report. They asked what steps a Scottish Government could take within the present constitutional position to tackle the acknowledged problems around land ownership and use. Together with leading Scottish figures, thinkers, and campaigners from the Scottish land reform movement Revive believes they have come up with a set of achievable and comprehensive recommendations on how land ownership cou...
Root causes and real solutions
August 05, 2021 11:58 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBThe horrifying Scottish drug deaths statistics are the main thrust of this week's podcast bringing into sharp focus the necessity of the Scottish government to challenge the reserved powers Westminster holds over this area.It's now time, we believe, for Holyrood to take control and enact progressive policies to tackle the root problems and defy the Tory government to stop them. There's a bizarre current paradox facing the Scottish islands,depopulation but lots of folk wanting to m...
What we did on our holidays
July 29, 2021 11:51 - 1 hour - 46.1 MBWe're back after our wee break and Lesley is full of the amazing things happening on Eigg as she reflects on all that's happened there since the community buy out nearly 25 years ago. As the UK government lurches more to the right with its policies on asylum seekers in particular, we look at how Scotland has done things differently and whether there's an inevitable conflict between Holyrood and Westminster looming. Johnson is also acting tough on criminal justice with talk of chain ...
Professor Mark Blyth Part 1
July 22, 2021 04:26 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBMark Blyth is Director of the William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance. He's also the William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics and Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs. Mark's a political economist whose research focuses upon how uncertainty and randomness impact complex systems, particularly economic systems, and why people continue to believe stupid economic ideas despite buckets of evidence to the contrary. ...
Seven Days Too Long
July 15, 2021 11:32 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBSometimes a week is a very long time in politics and this was one of them.We try and pick our way through the welter of Westminster controversies from accusations of racist dog whistling to the cuts in overseas aid and the controversial English health legislation. It began with Boris Johnson standing outside a number 10 Downing Street festooned with English flags and ended with the England team,apparently,turning down an invitation to the Prime Minister's residence because of the ac...
Parks Life
July 08, 2021 12:04 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBLike death and taxes there's currently no escape from the strains of "It's coming home". We reflect on the complexities and contradictions of a multi-cultural England football team representing,what seems to be,an increasingly xenophobic,insular English polity, and the hypocrisy of the UK government riding on the coattails of its success. Indyref2 in the first part of this parliamentary term was an SNP manifesto commitment. We explore the vital role of the SNP membership to delive...
1966 and aw that
July 01, 2021 11:14 - 1 hour - 42.8 MBEngland's win v Germany in the Euros unleashed a wave of exceptionalism across the media. We examine the,not inconsiderable,links between national success,and failure, on the football pitch and the fortunes of political parties. Precisely what impact will that result,when added to Starmer's lacklustre leadership and the intervention of George Galloway,have on the Batley and Spen byelection? Michael Gove's ill advised foray into satire on the short lived C4 show, A Stab in the Dark, ...
Oor hame
June 24, 2021 12:05 - 56 minutes - 38.5 MBSo Scotland is out of Euro 2020 and as far as football is concerned it's back tae auld claes and porridge and possibly supporting Wales, and anyone who's playing England. However back on the political pitch the UK government seems hell bent on privatising Channel 4. What's the real motivation behind this move,and why, as Scots, should we care? All predictions point to a massive surge in folk from the rest of the UK holidaying in Scotland. Should we welcome this boost to local econom...
Meeting ourselves
June 17, 2021 17:38 - 1 hour - 44.1 MBCummings,Covid, that dodgy Aussie trade deal,falling out with Joe Biden and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol. You would think that this would be a premiership and a government in crisis. However the Tories, yes we'll still call them that, are riding high in the opinion polls and Sir Keir Starmer still seems incapable of landing a telling blow. What is going on? There is a mounting housing crisis in the Highlands and Islands,exacerbated by Brexit, tourism,soaring land prices...
Revelations
June 10, 2021 12:02 - 53 minutes - 36.5 MBWill Joe Biden get Boris Johnson telt over breaching the Northern Ireland Protocol at the G7 Summit? Meanwhile,another week.Another court judgement.Another government minister under scrutiny.The latest in this long line of shame,Michael Gove. The English High Court ruled that a £560,000 contract to a firm run by former colleagues of Michael Gove and the PM's adviser Dominic Cummings was unlawful. However,yet again, Sir Keir Starmer missed this political open goal at PMQs.Just what ...
There's been a Murdo
June 03, 2021 11:40 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBThis week's podcast has leadership and history at its core as themes. However we begin with Murdo Fraser who seems to have undergone a road to Damascus conversion with his proposal that Scotland should move to STV for Holyrood elections. Lesley was stunned to find herself agreeing with him but reckons he should be careful what he wishes for while admiring his sheer brassneckedness given his silence on First Past the Post for Westminster. Joanna Cherry and Douglas Chapman are the la...
Cummings and Covid
May 27, 2021 13:01 - 1 hour - 44.3 MBDominic Cummings made his much anticipated appearance in front of a joint select committee on Wednesday. He'd already trailed a significant proportion of his revelations on Twitter but seeing the man himself make them in Parliament did make this a major political event. We examine what he said,how he said it,the circling of the wagons around him by the Tory Party,and place it all within the context of how this Conservative government "governs". We also ask if,as Hancock claims lesso...
The Bute House Shuffle
May 20, 2021 12:22 - 1 hour - 43.8 MBWe focus the first part of the podcast on Nicola Sturgeon's,somewhat underwhelming ,reshuffle of her Cabinet after her outstanding victory in the Scottish election. A sensible,steady as she goes,or picking pals to subdue debate? Sticking with Holyrood we wonder just what Willie Rennie was up to when he stood for election as First Minister earlier this week. We also challenge the Tory "no mandate for indyref2" narrative and caution independence supporters on getting sucked into that ...
The Dating Game
May 13, 2021 13:33 - 56 minutes - 38.7 MBThe aftermath of last week's Scottish elections has raised questions of when Nicola Sturgeon should go for indyref2 and has seen the Tories scrambling to deny the mandate pro independence parties have to call one. The Conservatives have been tying themselves in ever increasing arithmetical knots on this while folk like ProfessorJohn Curtice and Roz Foyer of the STUC say that there is an unequivocal mandate. We look at all this and the quandary Anas Sarwar faces being squeezed from ...
Holyrood 2021 Election Special
May 08, 2021 22:29 - 1 hour - 44.3 MBIn this week's late night episode we give our immediate reaction to the results of the Holyrood election trying to make sense not only of what it means to the political parties but also its impact on the path to indyref2 and Scottish independence. We also take a look at the Hartlepool by-election,and what it might tell us about Tory pro union strategy in Scotland. It also,inevitably, leads us to the state of the UK Labour Party.
Sleazy does it
April 29, 2021 13:50 - 1 hour - 55.8 MBAs more and revelations come to light concerning Boris Johnson how long will it be until something sticks to the Teflon PM? The Tory Party message on the mysterious funding of No 11 Downing Street's refurbishment is,"Who cares?" Will it survive an Electoral Commission investigation? Channel 4 News hosted the latest Scottish leaders debate. Was it simply an exercise in sound and fury signifying nothing? A brand new campaign group, supported by some very significant folk, called Europ...
Limbo land
April 22, 2021 12:39 - 1 hour - 42.9 MBParty manifestoes for the Holyrood election have been arriving thick and fast. We ask is this a phoney war where, despite all the promises and policies in those manifestoes, what it boils down to,with the parties and the electorate, is support for,or opposition to,Scottish independence? The SNP, the Greens, and Alba have all voiced support for Community Wealth Building as part of their electoral platforms. We look at the Preston Model and examine how those parties plans match up to...
Manifesto destiny
April 15, 2021 14:23 - 1 hour - 47.5 MBThe Holyrood election campaign is nearly at the half way mark and today,Thursday, saw the launch of the SNP manifesto. We give our immediate reaction to the headline proposals. STV hosted the second leaders debate and it was a very different affair to last week's BBC effort. Who were the winners and losers? Ciaran Martin,now of Oxford University, was the senior civil servant who negotiated the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012. He's now written a new paper analysing the the potential appr...
Following the leaders
April 08, 2021 14:22 - 1 hour - 47.3 MBWe're definitely smack in the middle of the 2021 Holyrood election campaigns with the first leaders debate on the BBC, the drop of leaflets from the parties through our letter boxes, and the appearances of the party leaders on radio and TV. We step back from this bombardment,focusing on personalities and process,and ask if this has drowned out policy, particularly from the pro independence parties on what an independent Scotland could and should look like? However we do also look a...
D'Hondt worry.
March 30, 2021 14:37 - 1 hour - 41.8 MBWe focus in this episode on the impact the creation of the Alba Party might have on the May Holyrood elections. The launch of the new party saw a couple of SNP MPs switch to Alba and the withdrawal from the election by Independence for Scotland and Action for Independence. We try and make sense of the past few days and ask, how will not just pro independence voters react to the return of Alex Salmond but the wider electorate. Will those who've switched support to independence preci...
In oor ain haunds
March 23, 2021 18:39 - 55 minutes - 38 MBTwo inquiry reports and a vote of no confidence in two days. We examine the events of the last 48 hours and their implications not just for Nicola Sturgeon but their impact on the SNP and the May Holyrood elections. The First Minister has survived but has she been politically and personally damaged? The Tories look,once again, to be the main party of opposition in those elections. How credible is their strategy of making that campaign all about character given the antics of th...
Let the sun shine in
March 16, 2021 15:18 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBBoris Johnson is set to announce the well-trailed shift in UK foreign and defence policy. We look at the proposals in terms of their impact on Scotland, if any, and in particular at the 40% increase in nuclear weapons to be based on the Clyde. The appalling scenes of the Metropolitan Police's aggressive handling of the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard were in stark contrast to the softly, softly tactics of the police in Glasgow to the "celebrations" of Rangers fans. Differen...
Listomania
March 09, 2021 14:33 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBWe begin with the behaviour of Rangers fans after their team won the league on Sunday, the police response,and the reaction/non reaction of the club to the blatant flouting of the Covid regulations. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's well trailed interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in the UK last night. Two self confessed republicans try to make sense of the whole thing and consider the role of the monarchy as the foundation of a fundamentally unfair society. The Holyrood elections in ...
Bring it on
March 04, 2021 13:08 - 58 minutes - 40.1 MBThis week,not unexpectedly, we focus most of the podcast on the appearance of Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond at the Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish Government's mishandling of harassment complaints against the former First Minister. Both of us faced the prospect of listening to these two heavyweights of Scottish, and indeed UK, politics slugging it out with a fair degree of trepidation in terms of what their evidence would mean to the cause of independence. It's fair to say th...
Whataboutery
February 23, 2021 16:48 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBAs we wait to find out if Alex Salmond will finally appear before the Holyrood Committee we reflect on the what might have beens for the SNP and the broader Yes movement if the Salmond Sturgeon rift had not opened up. Matt Hancock has been all over the media the past few days trying to gloss over the court decision that he acted unlawfully. How successful has his whitewash been? Boris Johnson has pinned his hopes fairly and squarely on a Covid mitigation strategy .Will the Scottis...
Dad dancing
February 16, 2021 14:55 - 51 minutes - 35.9 MBAs the fault lines begin to grow between the Scottish and UK governments over quaratine regulations for arrivals from abroad Lesley reflects on her invitation to appear on LBC this morning. And I clearly demonstrate,with my lapse into incoherent fury at Andrew Pierce's juvenile remarks,why I should turn down any similar request. The latest Savanta/ComRes poll makes very postive reading for the SNP before the May elections. Beyond the headlines though there are some intriguing find...
Jam Today
February 09, 2021 16:09 - 59 minutes - 41.3 MBWe just can't escape the continuing saga of the internal SNP leadership spat with the appearance yesterday of Peter Murrell before the Holyrood parliamentary inquiry committee and Alex Salmond's no show today. Just what does the whole sorry affair say about the nature of public debate and scrutiny of Scottish governance? Lesley did, however,make her presence felt on Sky News and Good Morning Scotland and we reflect on those very different experiences. The Big Questions this Su...
St Brigid's Day
February 01, 2021 16:22 - 1 hour - 43.5 MBToday saw the removal of Joanna Cherry from her front bench role in Westminster . This came hard on the heels of the controversial leaking of the procedures of yesterday's meeting of the SNP. Alex Salmond is also due to appear at the Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government's handling of the complaints made against him which saw him acquitted of all charges. We try and make sense of all these events in terms of what they mean for the individuals involved, the SNP, and th...
Borders and Polls
January 26, 2021 14:46 - 1 hour - 42.4 MBThe Sunday Times published its poll showing the majority of Scots want independence and suddenly the rest of the UK(okay England) has woken up to the reality of what we've known in Scotland for some time now. We examine the Tory government's Five Point Plan to "save the union" and the, by now inevitable, re-emergence of Gordon Brown and his latest devo max "vow". The Scottish and UK governments seem to have struck a neutrality pact when it comes to Coovid vaccine roll out but...
Tired of waiting
January 19, 2021 14:24 - 59 minutes - 41.6 MBIt's all change with Scottish Labour as Richard Leonard departs. Will it be Monica Lennon or Anas Sarwar who become the new captain of what appears to be sinking ship? The Alex v Nicola saga rumbles on.We ask if it's possible not to take sides? Over the USA Joe Biden has unveiled the first part of what seems to be a massive, progressive, green, stimulus package. Will he be able to get it through Congress in those vital first 100 days? While Biden plans to inject cash into th...
The invisible rope
January 12, 2021 14:03 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBThe storming of the Capitol in Washington by enraged Trump supporters was somehow both shocking and inevitable. We look at the events of January the 6th within the context not only of the day itself but also the entire four years of the Trump administration, and speculate on what havoc can be wreaked by the outgoing President in the last days of his tenure. There seems to be a growing clamour amongst unionist politicians and media to have the May Holyrood elections postponed. ...
A change is gonna come
January 05, 2021 13:32 - 1 hour - 45 MBWe're back after our festive break and the three big stories of 2020, Covid,Brexit, and the future of the UK still dominate the political stage. Boris Johnson made a foray onto the Andrew Marr programme on Sunday and this shambolic interview, on both his and Marr's behalf, provides us with the framework for our thoughts. With the latest polling showing the potential for another hung Westmister parliament in 2024 Lesley wonders if those Labour voters who switched to the Tories ha...
The happiest time of the year
December 15, 2020 14:51 - 56 minutes - 39.4 MBWe can't escape the two major stories of the year, Covid and Brexit, in this week's edition of the podcast. Yet another deadline for reaching a deal with the EU has passed and yet another last minute extension to negotiations was agreed. Has this all been brinkmanship designed to make us all heave a sigh of relief when any kind of a free trade deal is agreed or will the Tories actually welcome No Deal? Meanwhile there are increasing doubts being raised at the lifting of Covid ...
The name of the game
December 08, 2020 15:20 - 1 hour - 44.5 MBYes Alba name stooshie Johnson's premiership coat on a shaky peg? BiFab administration a sign of SNP lack of an industrial strategy? Kate and Will's trip to Scotland.A misguided tour?
All Change
December 01, 2020 15:16 - 54 minutes - 38.2 MBThe SNP annual conference. All change or more of the same? Did Nicola Sturgeon nail her conference speech? The SNP NEC election results. Who's in, who's out? The Pat Finucane inquiry, what next?
Reasons to be cheerful
November 24, 2020 13:18 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MBAstraZeneca & Oxford University vaccine breakthrough Trump accepts election reality, finally. Massive hike in UK defence spending Pete Wishart's Plan B? Selfies for Europe Small Axe & lovers rock
True colours
November 17, 2020 14:02 - 53 minutes - 37 MBWas Boris Johnson's latest devolution disaster gaff the nail in the coffin for the Union? Is indyref2 2021 simply wishful thinking? Is Alyn Smith's wheesht for indy plea another symptom of an increasingly centralised SNP power structure? Did the Daily Mail tip over into overt racism with its latest Marcus Rashford story?
Spread the faith
November 10, 2020 14:08 - 52 minutes - 35.7 MBWhat hope for the Biden presidency as the Republicans and Trump dig in? Will Boris Johnson announce a no deal Brexit this weekend? What now for a UK US trade deal? Major's two referendums, a unionist Trojan Horse? The silence of the SNP Media Team goes on
Hey Joe
November 04, 2020 13:38 - 54 minutes - 38.2 MBThe race to become US President Scots furlough fiasco Identity politics SNP conference agenda leak
Lesley the Grinch
October 27, 2020 12:53 - 57 minutes - 39.6 MBCancelled Christmas panic. Marcus Rashford, free school meals, and Tory intransigence. The SNP Rural Stimulus Plan. The Conservatives plan to take on the SNP and "save the union" The US Presidential Election Awards season
The in crowd
October 20, 2020 11:19 - 53 minutes - 37.4 MBJohn Sentamu snub and the House of Lords *That* Andrew Wilson interview in the Sunday Herald A new Tory strategy to stave off Scottish independence? Kate Forbes and Miriam Brett on Question Time The Dub's amendment defeated
Wheesht fir indy
October 13, 2020 14:08 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBNicola v Alex. The gloves are off Candidate wars in Edinburgh Central Resilient Scotland pledge Douglas Ross. The rebel without a cause. Westminster power grab and Andrew Bowie
Hard times
October 06, 2020 15:03 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBBoris Johnson. Blowing in the wind? The Lib Dems. Blowing with the wind? Nicola Sturgeon.Covid restrictions, what next? Rishi Sunak. PM in waiting? Plus Mossmorran flaring, Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill, and Mike Brearley.
Nae buts. Nae bens
September 29, 2020 11:58 - 58 minutes - 40.7 MBIs Sweden the best Nordic model for Covid response? Does land ownership reform need to wait for independence? Believe in Scotland .Another talking shop or a the way ahead ? Baron Moore and Paul Dacre. The new media overlords or stalking horses?
Follow the leader
September 23, 2020 12:38 - 58 minutes - 56.8 MBA tale of two leaders, two governments and two speeches. We analyse the very different styles, and substance, Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson's announcements on new measures to combat Covid. Keir Starmer relaunches Labour as under new leadership
Power plays
September 15, 2020 13:05 - 1 hour - 46.2 MBWe're back after the two week break and what a time to make our return. It was a massive day in Westminster with the Second Reading of the UK Internal Market Bill. Much rhetoric on the Union, breaking international law, threats of Tory rebellion, and, for us in Scotland, the whiff of what a post Brexit future holds for our Parliament. We try and pick our way through the day's events ,the significant performers( yes you Ed Milliband) and the very different reactions to them north and s...