The Scottish Independence Podcast

A special episode for this most special royal event.

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

For the 27th episode of the Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Bill Ramsay.

He is an activist for the EIS, the oldest teachers union in the world. Aside from that, he has some very interesting views about the UK government's plans to have ceremonies/celebrations of the BEGINNING of the First World War.

The end, ok. The beginning? It's a curious position.

It was very much a discussion in two parts though, and the other part was to do with the unions. Will they go Indy? Will they declare pro-union? It's a complicated story.

Hope you enjoy it…

For the 29th episode of the For A' That podcast Andrew and I went back to doing a two-hander - it's been a while.

With a number of things going on this week we did our bes_68423209_aterixbigt to get through quite a few of them.

First up was the Scottish Referendum Franchise Bill. 16 and 17 year olds are ok apparently, but prisoners no. What are the progressive and regressive aspects of this?

We moved on to speak about the Gay Marriage bill that in Scotland is speeding towards ratification with all the speed of a stoned snail. Andrew had an interesting question to ask about whether countries often play follow-the-leader with such laws.

It's often suggested that some people react with the head, while others the heart. Where does this come into politics? Is it really a false premise to suggest that people have to be one or the other way? We got philosophical on the matter.

Asterix in Scotland or Duggy Dug? I think it will become clear which we prefer.

Finally, Andrew seemed more convinced than I am that the Labour reshuffle will bring something different into the Game Of Drones that Scottish politics can sometimes seem like.

For the 26th Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Jack Foster who is the writer and narrator of a few films I'm sure most of you have seen by now.

The first he made was Precious Few Heroes

"Whether you're for or against an independent Scotland, or maybe you're not entirely convinced either way, this film makes the positive case for Scottish independence in a light-hearted, self-effacing fashion.

Forget the historic grudges, the ancient battles and the unjustly romanticized idols, Scottish independence isn't about "us and them", it isn't about anti-Englishness, it isn't about ownership, it isn't even about the SNP!"

That was followed up with A Parting Hymn: Lies Deceit And The Death of The Labour Party

"'A Parting Hymn' is in some respects a tribute to the political party that was once a voice for the poor and the working classes, the embodiment of fairness and solidarity. On the other, it recognises the very real death of the Labour party, whilst unashamedly making the case for Socialism (however lonely a voice that might be in a post Thatcher/Blair era)."

More recently, the Top Ten Unionist Myths Debunked video caused a fair bit of fuss.

He's also recently put out a Let's Vote Yes video.

We talked about the inspiration behind his films and the reaction to them and we talked about why he supports Independence.

Hope you enjoy it...

LINKS
https://twitter.com/jackfostr
http://vimeo.com/12458284
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/

So we're back from our two and a half week break and this time we had Callum McCormick as guest. Callum is a contributor to Bella Caledonia and a PhD student.

Up for discussion were the SNP and Mark McDonald's victory last night in the Donside by-election. What can we take out of this? Good news for the SNP? What does it say that the turnout was as low as 38%? Did UKIP do well or badly?

Secondly we had a chat about the Road To Referendum documentaries that have recently been shown on STV. A good attempt or were there important omissions from the narrative?

Finally, William Hague came up to Edinburgh yesterday to tell everyone how lovely and spiffing every else seems to think the UK is. Did you find him convincing?

For this week’s episode of For A’ That Andrew were joined by Robin McAlpine of the Reid Foundation.

Up for discussion were the accusations of abuse being aimed at Chris Hoy. What constitutes verbal abuse and what constitutes mere disagreement? Does everyone need to calm down a bit or are there certain people that seem to be stoking these fiAt_-SCuCIAEQevNres a little more than others?

Is corporation tax and its possible reduction one of your priorities in an Independent Scotland? Would you like to see it or do you think it’d be a bad idea? Actually, do the SNP even think it is a good idea? Robin had some interesting ideas on that.

Is English nationalism so bad? Why shouldn’t the English be allowed to rediscover themselves?

Finally, Nigel Fauxrage is going to be back in town. Will/should he get the same reaction as before?

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS

Episode 25 of the Scottish Independence Podcast and this time round I spoke to Colin Fox who is the National Convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party.

We spoke about how the SSP has been a indy supporting party since its inception.

Why is the labour party in a seemingly terminal decline in Scotland? Personally, as someone said on twitter, I'd drive Tony Benn up personally to be the leader in an Indy Scotland to give them some backbone. Colin and I gave our views on that.

Do we need voter registration drives or do we need to work on registered non-voters, or both?

What is Colin's response to the idea that independence would be abandoning the English working class. And what did James Connolly have to say about that as well?

The SSP's fortunes have fluctuated over the years, where are they at now?

The SSP, the Greens and the SNP may not necessarily seem like happy bedfellows but in the yes campaign there is common purpose. Is it going down the right path?

Views on all that and more.

Hope you enjoy…

For the 26th episode of For A' That, Andrew and I were joined by Peter McColl, who is the Rector of Edinburgh University and a member of the Green Party.


Up for discussion were the recent moves in the Church of Scotland over permitting gay clergy and the Scottish Parliament dragging its heels over the issue of equal marriage, what's going on there?

Secondly, Andrew feels that it might be more useful to draw parallels with Ireland in the independence debate, rather than as is usually done with Scandinavia. What could be the reasons for a certain reluctance to do so?

Peter and Andrew held court as I waited to get into my stride after a hosting a Champions League final party the night before recording.

We also got on to discussing the extra 5 million pounds the BBC is going to pump into its Scottish politics/referendum coverage.


What kind of output can we expect? I was somewhat skeptical given the historical functions and output of the BBC, Andrew wondered if I wasn't being unnecessarily gloomy about the possibilities.

LINKS

https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/PeterMcColl
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

For episode 25 of For A' That Andrew and I were joined by Kate Higgins of the Burdzeyeview blog and others.

It was unfortunately unavoidable to talk about Farage, so we did.

We also spoke about the recent TV debates. Entertainment or real debate? Enlightening or just sound and fury? BBC or STV?

Kate spoke about the new victims and witnesses bill that is coming up and this moved us on to topics apart from the referendum. Should we be doing that more? That's "we" in the sense of the podcast and "we" as in the sense of the people.

Finally, it's about time someone gave Walt Disney what for, the question is, should it have been me or should Alex Salmond be doing it?

(The documentary I referenced is called "Mickey Mouse Monopoly" if you want to try and find it.)

Hope you enjoy…

LINKS

https://twitter.com/burdzeyeview
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v15800022cezMt3D6?h1=Mickey+Mouse+Monopoly+
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/how-to-get-arrested-in-disneyland/

For episode 24 of For A' That Andrew and I had THREE guests for the first time, namely Natalie McGarry, Doug Daniel and Ruaridh Waddell.

It was a busy week in Scottish politics and that was reflected in the number of subjects we had to get through.

Firstly, we beavered away trying to answer as many of the 500 questions as we possibly could.

Then we got onto the voluntary sector as some stories have come out recently saying that some organisations in this sector have some concerns about what might happen in an independent Scotland. We asked several things about this line of thinking, the first of them being is it actually true?

This led us on nicely to another commitment that the UK government has reneged on. I am sure you can think of a few so you'll have to listen to find out which one we talked about.

Finally, we explained why, in spite of some not so good recent polls, we are mostly still feeling optimistic for the referendum.

Strangely, during the recording this week some animals WERE harmed, but only by other animals (namely my cat). The now defunct bird has been buried with all due honours. Furthermore, a sheep that had recently become a mother created havoc in another place where recording was going on and in a third place a bee delayed our beginning. All of this will explain the outro.

LINKS
https://twitter.com/nataliemcgarry
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/RuairidhWaddell
https://twitter.com/DouglasDaniel
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell