The Scottish Independence Podcast

"When you say things like 'I'm a proud Scot', you've really got to think 'what is it I am proud of?'. Are you proud of Scotland as a nation, as a country, as everyone else understands understands a country to be in the whole world? Or are you proud of it as a sort of junior region of the UK?"

For the 78th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Karen Campbell.

Karen has written five novels: The Twilight Time, After the Fire, Shadowplay and Proof of Life and she has also recently become an active speaker on the Yes circuit, to much acclaim.

This is an episode you don't want to miss.

We talked about lots of things and I didn't miss the opportunity to ask an ex-policeman about the current policing situation in Scotland either.

I'm not going to do any more spoilers other than the above.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS

http://www.karencampbell.co.uk/index.html
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/writerkcampbell
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

For the 77th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Karine Polwart.

Karine is a folk singer, campaigns for the Yes campaign and is also a philosophy graduate.

We talked about the cultural aspect of the indyref campaign and how it may or may not be a driving element in the campaign.

We had a word about the kerfuffle when Karine wrote an article for the Scotsman a while back and we talked about the Bus Party tour she has been on.

And finally of course, we talked about why Karine supports independence for Scotland.

There's all that and much more.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS
http://www.karinepolwart.com/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/

"Ultimately what we want is our own government promoting us at the top level, not as an afterthought and not as an add-on."

For the 76th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Brandon Malone.

Brandon is a solicitor, he is the Chairman of the Scottish Arbitration Centre, he is a co-director of the International Centre for Energy Arbitration, is a member of Business for Scotland and when he is not doing any of that, might be writing or campaigning for a Yes vote on September 18th.

We spoke about how negotiations after a Yes vote might play out and the "we won't pre-negotiate" stance of the No camp.

We also spoke about Business for Scotland and their effect on the campaign and about Brandon's reasons for supporting Scottish Independence.

LINKS
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/brandonjmalone
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/
http://www.scottisharbitrationcentre.org/

No Comment

For the 74th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with someone a little further away from home than usual, specifically in Galicia.

Pilar Fernandez. Pilar writes a blog called A ponte entre Galiza e Escocia // The bridge between Galiza and Scotland.

She has also been working hard on a new campaign called Solidarity With Scotland, which describes itself thusly...

"A few months ago, a friend in the USA asked what she could do to help the cause of Scottish independence. "Nothing much," was my reply, before going on to explain that this is a debate that has to be held within Scotland. However that is not the view of the UK Government, despite Cameron's protestations that he cannae debate Alex Salmond because he doesn't have a vote in September. But it turns out that there is something she can do after all.

In January, the Sunday Herald published the news that the UK Foreign Office is heading a campaign to enlist support for Better Together in foreign countries. Wee Wullie Hague wants to hear from you if you have bad things to say about Scottish independence. According to the Herald, the Foreign Office has contacted the governments of China, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the 28 members of the EU in a desperate search for viagra to bolster the flaccid Project Fear."

One of the things on the site is this letter, translated into many languages, which she is encouraging people to send to embassies around the world. Find out why and much more in the new episode.

Hope you enjoy…


P.S.

She also translated her song for us...

Entre nós (Between us) by Uxia (oo-shee-ah)

A wee translation:
Aqui vin, aqui cheguei, aqui me mandaron vir,

I came here, I arrived here , someone told me to come here
Aqui está o meu corazón se o queren recibir
Here it is my heart if they want to receive it

For the 42nd episode of the For A’ That podcast two returning guests joined Andrew and I.

The first of those is Ivan McKee of Business for Scotland and the second was Ruaridh Waddell who is an Aid worker (usually to be found in Zambia, but not at the moment).

Our first topic was the CBI. Who are the winners and losers coming out of the storm regarding their involvement in the Independence Referendum? Who could we get impartial information from if not them?

Are there going to be some grey areas surrounding campaign funding? It would seem so, and Andrew outlined what he saw as some of the problems.

You won't be getting your pensions in Indy Scotland, except for the fact that, as the letter shows, you will.

Is the Sunday Herald coming out for Yes a big turning point in the campaign or much wahoo about nothing?

You can find out where Cybernat control distributes its orders too.

Oh and what's Rupert Murdoch got to do with chocolate?

There is all that and more.

Hope You Enjoy

LINKS
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
http://lallandspeatworrier.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rome-to-home-1421-miles-on-a-bike-for-yes#home
https://twitter.com/Ivan_McKee
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/RuairidhWaddell

For the 73rd episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Ash Regan-Denham. Ash is the parliamentary lobbyist for the Reid Foundation, works with Women For Indy and is also an activist for Yes Borders.

We spoke about her work in all three of these areas and also about the larger international picture and how Independent Scotland could work its way through some of the international financial arrangements in place at the moment.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS
https://twitter.com/ashtenRD
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/

For the 72nd episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I didn't speak with anyone as in some of the episodes I like to bring you some of the recordings of the hundreds of Yes events going on around the country.

This one comes from a Labour For Indy event that was held a couple of months back. The speakers were, in this order, Allan Grogan, Jeane Freeman, Bob Thomson, Alex Mosson, Deborah Waters and Denis Canavan, and the whole thing was hosted by Elaine C Smith.

There's a lot in there.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS
http://www.labourforindy.com/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/labourforindy
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/allangrogan
https://twitter.com/JeaneF1

For the 71st episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Craig Murray.

Craig is a former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, a post which he resigned in protest over what he saw as the collusion of the UK government in torture.

In his career he has also held Foreign Office positions in the EU and Africa, and wrote Murder In Samarkand.

He also supports Scottish Independence and apart from talking about why he supports it, we also talked about the Maritime boundary issue that could come up after independence. Blair and Dewar connived to move it hoping no one would notice., but will that realignment be allowed to stand? Craig has been involved in many maritime boundary negotiations, so he knows a thing or two on the subject.

We also talked about the idea that Britain is a "force for good™" in the world. We weren't convinced.

How will the negotiations go for Scotland entering the EU as an independent state?

There's all this and much more.

Hope you enjoy...

LINKS
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

"I think this is the first time in history that the Westminster parliament has had to justify it's existence. They've never had to actually make the case to the people of anywhere in the British Isles before that this is why we deserve to be your parliament, and they've really exposed themselves as being completely clueless."

For the 70th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke to Paul Kavanagh, who is the man behind the dug in the fantastic Wee Ginger Dug blog ("Biting the hand of Project Fear").

Our conversation took in why he loves the No campaign, why he enjoyed Douglas Alexander being made to look like Jesus, and why languages are important, particularly in terms of cultural memory.

We also spoke about the inspiration for the blog, how he found Scotland changed after a long time away and why he has been a supporter of Scottish Independence since he was a teenager.

Apologies for the sound quality not being quite as good as usual, I've tried to patch it up as well as possible.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS
http://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell