The Lesley Riddoch Podcast

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn MP will introduce a 10 Minute Rule Bill on WASPI women compensation on which the SNP say they will force a vote. Even if it makes it past this stage it has limited, if no chance, of being implemented as Private Members Bills normally require government support to pass. What then does Stephen Flynn hope to achieve?
Just as there seems to be dissent in Labour ranks both at Holyrood and Westminster over this issue Labour MP Brian Leishman has been extremely vocal over the future of Grangemouth. Is there more to his opposition than standing up for his constituents? Where do the Unions stand ? Why has a Labour government decided to continue with the Tory £600 billion loan to Ineos to set up a plant in Antwerp? What's the controversy surrounding that plant?
Just like its U-Turn on WASPI women Labour now seems intent on reversing its position on a third runway at Heathrow. What does this, when allied to Rachel Reeves making concessions after listening to the "non dom community" tell us about the direction of travel of this government?

Meanwhile the Trump "revolution" is in full swing in the USA. Deportations, threats of trade wars against nations who stand up to him, plans to take over Greenland, and a raft of distinctly dodgy health decisions. He has also shown his true colours on Gaza with his " we just clean out that whole thing" , and relocate one and half million Palestinians to neighbouring Arab nations. We discuss.
Lesley has updated her YouTube channel with two short films on Iceland and (soon) a Greenland (explainer) - if you can like and subscribe to this channel, I'd be very grateful and you will get notified about new videos as soon as they are posted.
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Monday saw the first election debate on STV and the return of Farage as leader of Reform and a candidate in the General Election.
Farage captured the headlines across the media but how relevant is he and his party to Scotland?
STV's "Leaders' Debate" was an odd affair in that it featured four male MSPs none of whom is standing for election to Westminster.
We look at the debate and the attack and defence lines all four took.
North Sea development and energy issues were central to the debate and Anas Sarwar punted a different line on the role of Labour's Great British Energy Company than that taken by Sir Keir Starmer. He also made promise after promise on spending and borrowing commitments which contradicted Rachel Reeves. Where does the truth lie?
Labour sticking to rigid fiscal rules has come under attack by John Swinney and respected economic institutions such as the IFS. How effective will the SNP's ABC mantra- Austerity, Brexit , Cost of Living Crisis- prove to be with the electorate?
Diane Abbott has now been given the all clear, by Starmer not by the NEC, to stand as a Labour candidate but disquiet is growing, not just on the Labour Left, with the selection process which has seen Starmer loyalists being parachuted into safe seats.
Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniel's "hush money" case. What impact will this have on the upcoming US Presidential Election?
Meanwhile we await to see the outcome of President Biden's Gaza Peace Plan. Will Netanyahu accept it or will he bow to pressure from the far right Zionists on whom he depends for his Knesset majority? How will the Israeli public react?
All this plus Tayport dooks, windae cleaner interruptions, and a great Scottish sporting triumph( spoiler not the 2 nil win v Gibraltar).

The General Election campaign is well under way and we look at how it's been going both in Scotland and the UK.
Will devolved matters dominate the debate in Scotland. How can the SNP focus voters minds on Westminster issues?
Lesley has particular insights on this after her sojourn in Orkney, Shetland and Caithness.
Can the Tories recover from the shambles of the first week? How will they solve the black hole of missing candidates? Are they focusing all their attention on capturing Reform supporters?
Labour has received backing from big business but can it withstand pressure from UNITE over watering down its New Deal for Working People?
Starmer has also maintained a distinct fence sitting position over the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant even after the latest Rafa outrage.
However he's been extremely vocal in demanding that the election debates should be head to head with Sunak, excluding all other parties in particular the SNP.
We ask how fit for the rough and tumble of the campaign trail are both Anas Sarwar and Douglas Ross after less than stellar recent media appearances?
Much has been made of the recent Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce survey on Energy Transition. It's safe to say no political party nor either government comes out well. However there are some nuggets not so far covered by either the press or broadcasters contained within it.
All this plus Bambie Thug, fitba( not Dundee United), and the Orkney folk festival.

In this podcast extra we speak with Stewart Kirkpatrick, the former head of digital for Yes Scotland who has launched a survey designed to find out just why the 2014 referendum was lost.
Since then Stewart has worked for the petition and campaigns website 38 Degrees before moving to openDemocracy as their head of impact.
His experiences there taught him the “power of asking people what they think”.
This is precisely what this survey sets out to do.
If you want to take part, and why wouldn't you, go to
https://yeswedidnae.scot/

The new Trump administration has continued its assault on the norms of political activity by appeasing Putin and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Representatives of the USA and Russia are meeting in Saudi Arabia but there's no place for Zelensky. Meanwhile the USA has made a bid to "buy" Ukraine's rare earth minerals.
What does this tell you about Trump's foreign policy? is there any more to it than an admiration for so called strong men and a desire to extend economic colonialism?
Meanwhile Vice President JD Vance in a speech in Munich lambasted the European liberal democracies claiming that they were in retreat from their most fundamental values, and that this ,not China or Russia, was the true threat to Europe.
This was echoed by Kemi Badenoch, hard on the heels of the mutually shameful exchange on Palestinian refugees at PMQs with Starmer, in a another speech given at the ARC -Alliance for Responsible Citizenship- conference in London. She clearly played the anti-immigration culture wars card.
Not to be left out UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting was quick to concur with Richard Madeley on Good Morning Britain that immigration was a key factor in pressures on the NHS.
Are we seeing the ground that the next UK General Election being fought on laid out in front of us as both Labour and the Tories seek to see off Reform?
Streeting has mad no secret of his intention to expand private involvement in the English health system this while privatised Thames water staggers from crisis to financial crisis.
Brewdog's James Watt has announced his intention to start up a "Shadow UK DOGE" mimicking Musk's cost cutting regime in the USA. How practical are Watt's ideas? Has he completely misread the reality behind the rhetoric in the States?
We also discuss David Tennant's BAFTA kilted singing exploits plus the other usual other meanderings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUr8QyTCph8
The Brewdog forest and Parkswatch https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2024/02/14/brewdogs-lost-forest-at-kinrara-lost-trees-lost-carbon-and-lost-finances/