The Scottish Independence Podcast

For the 41st episode, Robin McAlpine is back on the Scottish Independence Podcast.

Robin, as if you didn't already know, is the director of the Reid Foundation and the editor of Scottish Left Review.

We had a wide-ranging discussion on a number of issues surrounding the Independence Referendum, which also surprisingly included something about willow-coppicing, which is a thing I had never previously heard of.

We also talked about the Reid Foundation's latest paper on industrial relations and how they could be done better with a different political culture, the kind of one that maybe, a newly independent country might have.

Robin also outlined some possible taxation options.

Who are the real opponents to Scottish Independence, the people you find around Westminster or their real masters?

Has the referendum begun to create a new political community in Scotland that, regardless of the result in this referendum, will guarantee change in the future?

Why won't it get better for Better Together?

Find out some answers to all these in the podcast.

Also, Robin would like to invite you all along to the Common Weal launch party at The Arches in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon.

LINKS
http://www.scottishleftreview.org/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
http://reidfoundation.org/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

For the 40th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Stewart Bremner, who is a graphic artist, illustrator and designer.

He's been involved in the Scottish independence debate in a number of ways, making posters for Bella Caledonia, making an excellent short video called When I Was A Child (it's at the start of the podcast too).

We talked about his work and why they don't often stress the historical and cultural angles in the debate.

We also talked about the political poster as an art form. Has it had its day?

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS
http://www.stewartbremner.co.uk/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/stewartbremner
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

For the 39th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke to Anne Donohoe, who, amongst other things is a Yes Scotland activist.

The interesting thing though, is that she didn't start as an independence supporter but rather came to the conclusion that indy would be best after a long number of years working in various political campaigns around the country, and coming to some pretty damning conclusions about the nature of the British state.

She has also been a member of CND for a long time, and we talked about the decision of that organisation to join the Yes Scotland group.

More recently she's been working as a tour guide and I asked her what visitors to Scotland know and are thinking about the referendum.

Finally, we talked about how the Glorious Revolution probably wasn't so glorious after all.

Hope you enjoy…

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

For the 38th episode of For A' That, Andrew and I were joined by Ivan McKee from Business for Scotland and Juliet Swann who works for the electoral reform society.

Up for discussion were the IFS report. Were the numbers as accurate as they might have been? Who are the Institute for Fiscal Studies and were there deficiencies in the way the whole thing was covered?

Equal marriage was on the parliamentary timetable again and it appears to finally be on the way. Why has Scotland dragged its heels a little on this matter.

England. What about it, I hear you ask. Well, will it make any substantive difference what people in England think about it all to how Scottish people vote. If they come pleading us not to leave or if the Mail's "bugger off jocks" narrative continues, how will it affect things, if at all?

Hope you enjoy

LINKS
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
http://lallandspeatworrier.blogspot.co.uk/
http://muteswann.wordpress.com/
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/muteswann
https://twitter.com/BizforScotland
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier

For the 38th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast, I am reproducing a talk given by Shami Chakrabarti from the campaign group Liberty. This talk is reproduced with the kind permission of Liverpool John Moores University. It comes from their Roscoe lecture series.

The reason I am reproducing this talk is that with Cameron himself suggesting the UK may have to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights a month or so ago, these become important issues not just globally, but also in the upcoming referendum.

Chakrabarti was once, for the hideous crime of sticking up for human rights, described as "The most dangerous woman in Britain" by The Sun. In this talk she explains the importance of the rights we have, and what might begin to unravel if they were removed.

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS

http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/about/structure/liberty-director.php
http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/
http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/roscoe/101110.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10342403/Britain-may-need-to-withdraw-from-European-Convention-on-Human-Rights-says-Cameron.html
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/category/the-scottish-independence-podcast/

This time I was joined by Mark MacNicol, a Glaswegian novelist and playwright, who assured me his new novel, Finn McCool Rises, has more than a little to do with the Independence Referendum.

We talked about his new book and the mythology behind it.

We also got on to how it can be difficult for Scottish writers in the current climate and Mark was happy to give a concrete example.

Mark gave his reasons for supporting independence and also talked about some of the benefits he hopes it will bring to the Scottish people.

For the 37th For A' That podcast, Andrew and I were joined by Natalie McGarry and Rev Stu Campbell from the Wings Over Scotland site.

The first topic up was the recent problems surrounding the allocation of contracts for shipbuilding in Glasgow and/or Portsmouth. Ian Davidson's remarkable performances were discussed, as were the different narratives the story was run with depending whether you were north or south of the Tweed.

Second was the continuing travails of Johann Lamont. Where does she go from here? More to the point, where has she actually been going up to now?

The constitution of an Independent Scotland is obviously an important issue we're going to have a look at. What should be in what should be out? What are the dangers of basing it too much on the politics of today? Why shouldn't economic rights be in there? Finally, why are the dangers in holding certain other places up as examples.

The last topic was the poppy. Do the public necessarily go along with the examples being set by media and politicians alike? Are there dangers in the way remembrance services are currently portrayed?

Deep fried mars bars and Prince Philip also get a look in.

Hope you enjoy...

LINKS

http://lallandspeatworrier.blogspot.co.uk/
http://wingsoverscotland.com/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/nataliemcgarry
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/WingsScotland
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

In the course of these podcasts I'd like to include, along with our usual interviews, some debates that happen along the way that you may have missed.

These may be debates in Scotland on the subject of independence directly, like this one, or alternatively on subjects which, like the last episode, are related to the debate but deserve to be seen in a broader context.

This episode is the debate recently held by Clydebank TUC with the subject "Should The Working Class Support Independence?

The original audio was very poor but I've worked on it as best I can and it is now audible (the first minute isn't great but it gets better). In the bits where lots of people are shouting however, it still sounds like lots of people shouting in a room. It is interesting to note however, that Anas Sarwar was the person being consistently shouted down in such a labour heartland.

The speakers were Linda Fabiani MSP from the SNP, Anas Sarwar MP Deputy Leader Scottish Labour, Richard Leonard from the Red Paper Collective and GMB Scotland Political Officer and finally Jim Bollan WDC Councillor.

Hope you enjoy.

LINKS
http://www.clydebanktuc.org/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/

One of the major reasons the UK state does not want Scotland to leave, though it is not often spelled out in this way, is that the UK's ability to project its power worldwide would diminish.

There are so many assumptions wrapped up in this idea that it is sometimes hard to know where to begin unpicking them.

In what way is this power projected, and to what end?

Why is it automatically considered by many, and usually by the media, that the UK is using this power for good?

Those are good questions. However, the discussion is usually limited to ideas surrounding "Humanitarian Intervention", and whether it is the right thing to do this time around.

Recent examples of UK "Humanitarian Intervention" would be Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and many others.

The podcast you are about to listen to is a speech by Noam Chomsky from earlier this month in which he takes apart this doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention.

Though he speaks principally about the United States, what he says on the topic holds good for the UK which, for the most part, desperately tries to hang on to the coat tails of the US.

Are these the kind of interventions worth defending?

Have a listen...

For the 36th episode of For A' That, Andrew and I were joined by James Maxwell and Peter Geoghegan.

First topic up was the by-election in Dunfermalino. Predictable result given the circumstances or should we be reading more into it? Why don't the Greens do better?

The next topic was Grangemouth and this broadened into a larger discussion about nationalisation.

Finally, we got onto the definitions that are being used about what is happening in Scotland. Separation? Independence? Constitutional Change? Which of these, if any, really sums up what is going on?

Hope you enjoy...

LINKS

http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
http://lallandspeatworrier.blogspot.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/jamesmaxwell86
https://twitter.com/PeterKGeoghegan