scottish independence

The Scottish Independence Podcast 139 – Billy Kay

Did you know that it isn’t only Scotland that has “the cringe”? They have it in other places too, it just goes by a different name.

For the 139th (sort of) episode of the Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Billy Kay, and the above is only one of the subjects we talked about.

Billy has for years been writing, broadcasting and producing material on Scottish Culture and Scots language, for the BBC and internationally, and is often to be seen giving talks around the country. He also currently has a show you can listen to on the iplayer… Scotland’s Black History.

I asked him to come on because he is one of the best qualified people to talk about the importance of building confidence in Scottish culture, and how that plays into the campaign for Scottish Indepence.

At the end of the episode there is also a little Robert-the-Brucie bonus, which regards this.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download here if you click THIS LINK .

You can listen online via the spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

Ken Stott – “Straight Speaking Scot”

The Scottish Independence Podcast 137 – You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It

For the 137th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast, I didn’t speak to anyone.

rock-and-a-hard-place-resized-600 It is instead one of those episodes where I am bringing you a bit of an interview by and with someone else because I think it is of importance and should be heard.

That someone else happens to be Manfred Weber, head of the largest group in the European Parliament. When pressed on Brexit by BBC Hardtalk, he took a fairly strong line, best summed up by the title of this episode.

Whether you voted to leave or to remain, I think his comments are important to hear.

He also had a few words about Scotland and the levels of (dis)organisation and (lack of) direction being shown the UK government.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download here if you click THIS LINK .

You can listen online on the spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

The Scottish Independence Podcast 136 – Robin McAlpine of The Common Weal

For the 136th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast, I spoke with Robin McAlpine.

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Robin is a political strategist and the Director of the Common Weal.

In the interview he doesn’t waste any time getting on to what the thinks Yes supporters ought to be getting on with, and there is certainly a lot to chew on in the interview.

We talked about both logistics and strategy and how they are both equally important. We also spoke of what messages we need to be sending out and how to react to the inevitable negative tactics we will face from the unionist side in the next referendum.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download here if you click THIS LINK .

You can listen online at the spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

Who’s On First (Minister)?

There seems to be a weird tendency at the moment to portay Ruth Davidson as if she actually were the First Minister.

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In case you missed that story, that was the leader of the 2nd largest party, which does not form part of a pro-independence majority in the parliament,”ORDERING” the First Minister, who leads a pro-independence majority, to forget about something that the parties most people voted for support.

It doesn’t stop with the Daily Express though. Other outlets seem to go with the same tone, that being that Davidson is somehow capable of ordering anyone to be doing anything.

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Therefore, I think it is important in the interests of clarity to lay out some of the rules…

Ruth Davidson is currently not in a position where she is able to order the First Minister around.
Her policy pronouncements do not need to be followed by anyone.
The recommendations of any “teams”or “expert groups” that she puts together do not need to be followed.

The electorate said no to Davidson’s party at the last (and well, every) Scottish Parliament election. However, they will get another chance the next time around, that is called democracy.

In fact, that is very much like the referendum question. Scotland said no to independence in 2014, but things have changed, and we will get another chance.

angrytomkins So Adam Tomkins perhaps should realise that the electorate said No to having Ruth Davidson make any decisions or give any orders to anyone. But just like the Independence referendum, things will change for better or worse in the next few years and the Tories will get another chance.

Adam Tomkins was, of course, speaking (freely) in his capacity as an elected (not directly) member of the second largest party of the non-governing group in a democratically elected parliament in which no one party has an overall majority.

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The Scottish Independence Podcast 135 – Richard Walker of The National

ogsit1ad For the 135th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast, I spoke with Richard Walker.

Richard is now the consulting editor of The National, but was also involved in the formation of that paper and the decision made at the Sunday Herald to begin openly supporting Scottish independence.

We talked about those decisions and why they were made,and how The National has been getting on.

As well as that, we tried to get our heads around some of the unusual media appointments that have been made recently, and what could or should be done about the media in Scotland more generally.

4876083b471ff8eb10ab244e3a237015-1136946557 And of course, I asked Richard why he supports Independence for Scotland.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download here if you right click THIS LINK and “save as”.

You can listen on the spreaker page, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

The Scottish Independence Podcast 134 – Dr Craig Dalzell on Scotland’s Currency Options

Gt1wRDr8.jpg large For the 134th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast, I spoke with Dr Craig Dalzell.

Craig recently wrote a paper outlining the possible currency options for an independent Scotland. This is important work because an aspect of the Yes side that was much criticised during and after the 2014 referendum was the perceived lack of a strategy on what to do about currency. I say “perceived” because much of it came down to perception, not fact.

We talked about why the 2014 plan may or may not have been right at the time, but probably wouldn’t be the correct strategy for indyref 2.

Would the Euro work? Scottish Pound? A crypto-currency?

We also talked about what the hell a crypto-currency actually is.

And of course, I asked Craig why he supports Independence for Scotland.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download here if you right click THIS LINK

You can listen at the spreaker home page, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.