With a live audience at the University of Glasgow Stevenson Trust for Citizenship, Bernard and Alex are join by Professor Chris Carman and questions from the floor, including Prof Sir John Curtice.

PONSONBY & MASSIE – STEVENSON LIVE PODCAST

00:00 – 00:01:16 | Intro & Format

00:01:16 – 00:03:34 | Early Predictions & Polling Landscape

00:03:34 – 00:05:55 | Labour’s Misread of Momentum (2010 vs 2024)

00:05:55 – 00:12:15 | Reform UK: Mood, Populism, Immigration

00:12:15 – 00:18:45 | Starmer’s Weakness & Impact on Scottish Labour

00:18:45 – 00:23:34 | Independence as Tactical Messaging

00:23:34 – 00:33:00 | 27 Years of Devolution: Has It Delivered?

00:33:00 – 00:40:00 | State Size, Means vs Ends, and 2026 Prospects

00:40:00 – 00:41:47 | Election Predictions

AUDIENCE Q&A (Chaired by Prof. Chris Carman)

00:41:47 – 00:44:48 | Q1 – What’s the Offer to Young Voters?

00:44:48 – 00:49:50 | Q2 – State Size & Social Democratic Mission (Sir John Curtice)

00:49:50 – 01:01:35 | Q3 – Scrutiny, Misinformation & Media Trust

Audience question.

01:01:35 – 01:09:20 | Q4 – Social Media, Democratic Innovation & Greens’ Prospects

01:09:20 – 01:20:29 | Q5 – Edinburgh vs Glasgow & Sustainability of ‘Free Scotland’ Model

01:20:29 – 01:27:00 | Q6 – Is Social Democracy Still Represented?

01:27:00 – 01:29:10 | Q7 – MSP Exodus & Legislative Overload

01:29:10 – End | Closing

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bernard and Alex dig into the editorial crisis at the BBC, Comcast/SKY's potential takeover of ITV and Bernard (STV's former Political Editor and longest serving journalist of 34 years) says he no longer thinks the company has a future.

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bernard and Alex delve into one of the bigget topics of the modern political age. Why can't Westminster or Holyrood seem to manage our public finances?

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Part Two, in marking the 25th anniversary of the death of Donald Dewar, Bernard and Alex reflect on the Office of First Minister and how it has changed since Dewar's time as the first office holder. Plus they rate every First Minister out of 10.

PART ONE

Donald Dewar

Henry McLeish

Jack McConnell

Alex Salmond

PART TWO

Nicola Sturgeon

Humza Yusaf

John Swinney

Summary and Ratings

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Part One, as we approach the 25th anniversary of the death of Donald Dewar, Bernard and Alex reflect on the Office of First Minister and how it has changed since Dewar's time as the first office holder.

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(00:05) Set-up: Tory & SNP conference week — immigration, ECHR, and whether the Conservatives are “doomed.”

(01:29) Are the Tories finished short–to–medium term? Leadership vs timing and arithmetic after a crushing defeat.

(03:59) What the Conservatives are trying to sell: contrition on net migration; mooted ECHR exit; welfare/PIP tightening (incl. ADHD/mental-health references).

(06:49) Both main parties “dancing to Farage’s tune” — the Reform UK gravitational pull on immigration policy.

(08:56) “Can you out-Reform Reform?” Why the answer is no — and why growth/economic confidence is the real antidote to populism. Threats to Labour from the left (Greens/Corbyn).

(11:18) Tory identity crisis: talk of repealing the Climate Change Act vs the real problem of UK power prices — headline-grabbing vs serious policy.

(13:18) What are the Tories for now? From coherent Thatcherism to today’s knee-jerk opposition.

(16:45) Scotland: Tory revival rode the constitutional (pro-Union) wave; with independence parked, what’s their offer?

(19:27) A quarter-century in devolved opposition and still no centre-right blueprint for Scotland (state size, tax, business, justice, “wokery”).

(23:31) Holyrood “fanning around”: dog-theft bill as a symptom; why brand toxicity blunts “common-sense Conservatism.”

(26:41) SNP conference preview: independence strategy debate; polls, minorities parliament, and why activists may not “rock the boat.”

(30:06) “Steady-as-you-go” Swinney: on ~35% the SNP could still be largest party (≈58–60 seats) due to fractured opposition and candidate churn.

(32:23) Voter mood: if “they’re all useless,” stick with “the useless ones we know” — SNP success as least-worst option.

(32:56) Longevity shocker: after 19–20 years in power, SNP still in pole position; next episode trail — Donald Dewar at 25 years.

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Scottish polling: SNP still first; Reform’s rise fractures the unionist vote and could hand SNP an outsized seat haul on a modest vote share.
• Scottish Labour’s bind: must sell a credible policy offer while “owning” SNP record attacks — but Starmer’s unpopularity in Scotland limits Sarwar’s room.
• Reform dynamic: positioned as a “super protest vote”; mainstream parties risk losing if they try to outbid Farage on immigration.
• Electoral system: case made for shifting Holyrood to STV to avoid disproportional outcomes under a fractured party system.
• Approval ratings mood: Starmer underwater; Swinney seen as safer “adult in the room,” explaining SNP resilience despite policy discontent.
• Immigration: small boats symbolic of border control; debate increasingly about legal migration thresholds (ILR rules, salary/English requirements).
• Centre ground wobble: concern that political centre is collapsing, opening space for Reform beyond traditional limits.
• Leadership jeopardy: Starmer’s authority tied to Budget performance and spring elections; internal manoeuvring (incl. Burnham) noted.
• Fiscal outlook: expectation of a tax-raising Budget; VAT hike flagged as the most likely manifesto breach.
• Post-election arithmetic: conditional openness to SNP–Labour cooperation if both in mid-30s seats range.

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A big mixed bag of issues in this week's episode

“Deplore the Man. Respect the Office.”

→ How Starmer & Swinney played Trump for UK/Scotland gains

→ Moral vs national interest

“Love-Bombing Trump: Smart or Shameful?”

→ The realpolitik you weren’t told about

→ Starmer + Oval Office letter; subtle money/investment icons.

“The Real Opposition? The Auditor General.”

→ £2bn hole, welfare rules, and the bill coming due

→ Auditor General report

“Scotland’s Justice Pivot: What You Weren’t Told”

→ Not Proven scrapped — but did safeguards go too?

“Saloon-Bar Morality vs National Interest”

→ Engaging Trump: grown-up statecraft or sell-out?

“Buy Now. Pay Later. Government.”

→ Why Scotland’s books won’t balance by 2029

“Soft Words. Hard Bills.”

→ The welfare promise vs the budget reality

“Yellow Card Politics”

→ Hepburn v Ross, seagulls & standards at Holyrood

“Proven. Not Proven. Truth.”

→ Bernard’s case for how verdicts should really work

“Ego, Investment… and Whisky Tariffs”

→ How flattering Trump might pay Scotland

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• “The gap between theory and reality is often wide. Phase two has begun unpromisingly.”
• “Is he, as Kemi Badenoch put it at Prime Minister's questions this week, In office, but not in power.”
• “The journey from five MPs to 300 plus at the next election should be required to put Nigel Farage into Downing Street is the kind of leap that hasn't been made in an awfully long time, if indeed ever, in British politics.”
• “it's the Prime Minister's judgment that is the issue here much more than it is Peter Mandelson's judgment.”
• “it is always easier to blame the advisors than to blame the monarch himself. But most of the time, if there's a problem with the advisors, that is actually a reflection of the problem with the monarch itself.”
• “If Keir Starmer was a factional leader, that would be fine.”
• “So it's a government that is all things toward people and therefore absolutely nothing.”
• “it is never a good thing when you are resetting your Government for the reset to require a reset.”
• “the mere fact that we are even entertaining such speculation at this stage in the parliament is the real story there.”
• “the difference between a conviction politician and one who is a manager who doesn't like management, which is one of the problems with Keir Starmer.”
• “I still think it is more likely than not, but it is no longer completely inconceivable that he would be replaced… I think the chances have gone up from sort of 5 % to 25 % if I had to put numbers on it.”

• “Is the problem the Prime Minister himself? And I think with every passing month that becomes absolutely clear that the issue is indeed the Prime Minister himself.”
• “there is no such thing as Starmerism. He doesn't have any real ideological anchors within the Labour and Trade Union movement.”
• “this is a Prime Minister who... can't even sack a cabinet minister properly… These are not the actions of somebody who is on top of the job.”
• “I am increasingly of the view that he can't change because he doesn't have the political skill set and that at some point in this parliament the PLP will go into revolt.”
• “that now becomes a potentially very embarrassing visit… which would turn the visit into potentially a diplomatic disaster.”
• “At the end of the day, this was a decision of the Prime Minister. And therefore the key question, it's always that cliched questions, what did he know about Mandelson and when did he know it?”
• “Mr. Mandelson seems to have a penchant for people who are stinking rich.”
• “The content of some of those emails are on some levels beyond embarrassing and on other levels, plain revolting… and yet he's to be the British Ambassador.”
• “what they cannot accept is that this is all self-inflicted and a lot of it is self-inflicted in such a way where the current lot look every bit as incompetent and every bit as sleazy as the last lot.”
• “the buck stops with the guy at the top. The buck stops with the prime minister.”
• “you have to entertain the possibility that Reform UK might, might win a general election.”
• “and the parliamentary party will have its collective head and its collective hand and it will, I think at some point say, he has to go.”
• “both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch will not lead the respective parties at the next general election.”

Focussing on UK, Scottish and Global politics, if you like other great political podcasts like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, Questions Time, Holyrood Sources, Planet Holyrood, The Stooshie, The Steamie, Scotcast, Americast etc etc then The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast could be a great show to add to your list of favourites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.