The Scottish Independence Podcast

Yesterday, for episode 21 of the Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with Scottish writer Alan Bissett.

Alan is the author of numerous books and plays but made an entrance onto the political scene, and in particular the debate surrounding the Independence Referendum, with the publication of his poem Vote Britain, which almost immediately went viral.

Since then he has been speaking at many campaign events as well as writing for websites such as Bella Caledonia and National Collective.

In our conversation we mulled over why Alan supports Indy, how Vote Britain was written and the reaction to it and about the difficulties that expressing things in a way that might be considered too Scottish might bring for a writer or artist. This neatly led us on to the manufactured hullaballoo regarding Alasdair Gray’s comments on the lack of Scots leading Scottish cultural institution and some ideas on James Kelman too.

Furthermore, we talked about Alan entering into some debates on the subject of feminism and how this can be tricky territory for those born with a y chromosome.

Finally, we talked about what Alan has coming up at the Edinburgh festival in the summer.

Hope you enjoy…

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

For the 19th episode of the For A' That podcast Andrew and I were joined by Stewart Lochhead of the 3 Men In A Blog site.

This week there was a lot going on down Holyrood way, from the usual shenanigans at First Minister's Questions to the Iraq war debate and finally the announcement of the referendum date as September 18th 2014.

On the announcement we discussed not any historical significance the date itself may have, but rather the lack of respect in the tone of some of the members of the Holyrood parliament towards the announcement and indeed referendum itself. Andrew gave an example from his own history as to why this tone was a little off.

On the Iraq war debate, we had a think about whether the claims of some members that the whole thing was orchestrated only in order to make the SNP look statesmanlike before the announcement of the date itself. Was it justified to have such a debate?

Finally, we took a look at some of the polls that suggest that a majority wish to have all decisions about tax, spending and welfare made in Scotland. On the face of it, where's the difference between that and Independence? What would it take just to help people to make that final little jump?

Finally, why do Better Together now have one more reason than the rest of us to dislike Barbara Streisand?

LINKS
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/djwomble
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://3meninablog.wordpress.com/
http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2013/mar/poll-majority-want-all-decisions-made-scotland

Last Thursday, for episode 20 of The Scottish Independence Podcast I spoke with the Rev Stu Campbell from the Wings Over Scotland website.

That website has now become so popular it is not merely an observer of but could even be considered an actor on the Scottish political stage.

Strangely, given that introduction, one of the things we talked about was the pretty poor behaviour of Scottish politician when they are (metaphorically at least) on the big stage.

We also talked about the site itself and what was the motivation for it, and Stu filled some of that mysterious history of his too.

Whether or not Yes Scotland should be trying to be more aggressive or not came up, as did the (mis)fortunes and (mis)adventures of Scottish Labour.

We came up with some reasons to be optimistic even though polls aren't showing Indy in the lead yet - they didn't involve pandas.

Finally, will some of the overtly pro-union media jump ship?

Hope you enjoy...

For the 18th episode of the For A' That podcast Andrew and I were joined once more by Natalie McGarry who is standing for the European Parliament this week.

We discussed a rather unfair measure Europe seems to be imposing this week and for the second time in 3 weeks I was sort of accused of being wealthy.

We then got on to Natalie's run at the European parliament and how she feels about it.

Shetland's independence movement got a look in and we tried to see where all this was coming from.

Andrew was more than a little bit concerned about the recent report regarding media regulation in Scotland and I think it is fair to say Natalie and I shared his concerns.

Finally, we talked about where we thought the various parties and politicians actually stand on human rights issues and how much of it is just opportunism or hot air, or indeed both.

The sound quality isn't magnificent in a couple of parts.

Please send complaints to:

The Get Bloody Decent Broadband As A National Right Committee

If you want to know how that tune at the beginning really finished, I suggest you do a youtube search for "Vatican Broadside".

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

For the 17th episode of the For A' That podcast, Andrew and I were joined by Lynda Williamson from the Newsnet Scotland site, and whom you may know as snowthistle.

Up for discussion were Alistair Darling's problems with constitutions, why Lynda is considering going Green or not and the call for election observers to be brought in to observe the Scottish Referendum. We also talked about what difference it might make if they do come.

This led on to a discussion of how the media influences people in their political opinions.

We talked about our hopes for making Richard Branson just go away. This was part of a wider discussion on the oft-repeated (and not just in Scotland) claim that higher taxes would make business leaders leave the country.

Andrew also had an interesting question as to whether or not public figures should be held to higher moral standards than mere mortals such as you and I.

Finally, we talked about something silly we all got in our mailshots this week.

For this unusually wednesdayed episode of For A' That, Andrew and I were joined by writer Pat Kane of Thoughtland. I believe he once had a band too.

Up for discussion this week were the Luxembourg Foreign Minister's little intervention (or not), how offensive is the offensive behaviour bill, wee Dougie's speech this week and a more general look at the the media and how strange it seems that none of them seem willing to take the plunge and go Indy, even though this may reap some financial rewards.

In the middle of all that, Andrew changes the normal question around at one point by asking what exactly Theresa May finds intolerable instead of what we usually ask which is "Exactly how intolerable is Theresa May?"

Finally, at one point Andrew conjures up a hideous image but he shouldn't be so offended - a list of 100 best green bloggers once had me put directly beneath Peter Tatchell...which is not a place I'd ever imagined I'd find myself.

I think almost every Scot will at one time or another have been told off for using a word that, although perfectly acceptable Scots, is not standard English.

How could such a situation come about?

This was one of the topics of the discussion when I spoke to Michael Hance, who is the director of the Scots Language Centre.

We also spoke about the cultural importance of the language, the work of the centre itself, how the situation has changed since devolution and finally about how the situation might improve in the future.

If you're wondering why it is not For A' That today, we've flipped them over this week and For A' That will be on Wednesday. Next week we'll be back to normal.

I also declined to include my rendition of the poem/song that I have included below the links, not because of worries about the pronunciation but rather that I just don't think poetry comes good coming from me!

Enjoy

LINKS
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/scotslanguage

Listen Tae The Teacher

He’s 5 year auld, he’s aff tae school
Fairmer’s bairn wi a pencil and a rule
His teacher scoffs when he says “hoose”
“The word is house, you silly little goose”
He tells his ma when he gets back
He saa a mouse in an auld cairt track
His faither laughs fae the stackyard dyke
“Yon’s a MOOSE ye daft wee tyke”

chorus:

Listen tae the teacher, dinna say dinna
Listen tae the teacher, dinna say hoose
Listen tae the teacher, ye canna say maunna
Listen tae the teacher, ye maunna say moose

He bit his lip an shut his mooth
Which one could he trust for truth
He took his burden o’er the hill
Tae auld grey Geordie o’ the mill
“An did they mock thee for thy tongue
Wi them sae auld and you sae young?
They werena makin a fool o’ ye
They were makin a fool o’ themsels ye see”

Say hoose tae the faither, house tae the teacher
Moose tae the fairmer, mouse tae the preacher
When yer young it’s weel for you
Tae dae in Rome as Romans do
But when ye grow an ye are auld
Ye needna dae as ye are tauld
Don’t trim yer tongue tae suit yon dame
That scorns the language o’ her hame

Then teacher thocht that he was fine
He kept in step, he stayed in line
Faither says that he was gran’
He spoke his ain tongue like a man
An when he grew and made his choice
He chose his Scots, his native voice
And I charge ye tae dae likewise
Spurn yon pair misguided cries

"Dodging riots and tear gas in Livingstone today. There is a by-election tomorrow and the leader of the opposition has been arrested and charged with inciting violence, personally I think Mrs Lamont should watch out as she does that every Thursday afternoon."

I just got that email from the latest guests on the Scottish Independence Podcast when I emailed them to tell them I was just about to publish their episode.

The guests are Ruaridh and Keith Waddell who are Scottish aid workers who have been in Zambia for some time.

It's important to consider not only the good things we could get or do at home as an independent nation, but also the good we could do abroad. The conversation we had considered how our aid policy could be better than that currently offered by the United Kingdom, which often used aid to suit some more Machiavellian aims.

We spoke about what they are doing over in Zambia and we also talked about the role of Scots in the British Empire, and how is not as clear cut as some people like to present it.

Furthermore, we had a chat about some, and one in particular, of the less well-known independence movements that can be found around the world. People tend to know about Catalonia and Quebec and so forth but I'd be prepared to bet most of you haven't heard of this one.

Enjoy.

P.S. This is the advert I mentioned in the podcast that they decided you weren’t mature enough to make your own mind up on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kRJ2-vZS34

LINKS
https://twitter.com/RuairidhWaddell
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://idaandkeith.blogspot.com

For the 15th episode of the For A' That podcast Andrew and I spoke with Kate Higgins of Burdz Eye View fame.

We had a quick natter about the AAA rating story and why it may be more interesting in a political rather than economic sense.

The recent mock referendum at the University of Glasgow was a subject of discussion as were land reform and the recent case about shooting rights that came up at First Minister's Questions this week.

Finally, we got on to the possible changes to the trial by jury laws.

LINKS
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/burdzeyeview
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier

The Scottish Independence Podcast is back after a little break.

For this 17th episode I spoke with poet Lorna Waite and we had a few topics of conversation.

Firstly we speak about Lorna, herself and her work, and why she believes creating a division between the cultural and economic aspects of the Independence debate is a false way to go about things.

We talked about the role of women in the Indy debate and also the more unpleasant colonial aspects of the union, and how we might combat the lack of self-respect that those colonial problems have created in Scotland.

Language got a look in as we spoke about the historical suppression of both the Gaelic and Scots language.

Lorna is also a Rangers supporter and in the second part of the conversation we moved on to talk about a topic that I began with Kris Kujawa in a previous podcast, and talked about how the debate is playing out among football supporters, this time specifically amongst Rangers fans.

We didn't come up with the brightest prospects in that bit.

LINKS
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue12/Aberdein.html
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/tag/lorna-waite/
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell