In this episode Andrew and I spoke with Craig Gallagher, who is a doctoral student at Boston College.

We spoke about some of the historical legal wrangling between Scotland and England, the lack of Scottish history in our classrooms and the Union and the Scottish role therein from a historical perspective.

We moved on to talk about the most recent polls showing strong support for Independence among younger people. We asked why that might be the case.

LINKS...
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
https://twitter.com/Gallacticos87

We are back after a little unexpected break and this time Andrew and I were joined by Duncan Hothersall.

Our agenda included the recent equal marriage vote in Westminster and also how this issue has played out at Holyrood.

This led us to the idea of conscience votes as a concept and what our representatives are actually supposed to do, and it also moved the discussion toward the idea of how religion can still influence policy.

Finally, there was neigh way we could resist having a word about horse meat (see what I did there?).

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

We talked about the EU from a few different perspectives. The referendum and how it will affect things was one topic and we had a natter about some of the fundamental misunderstandings about what the EU is/does as well.

How the EU referendum might change things over at Holyrood got an airing. Could it strain the Unionist alliance?

The European Court of Human Rights has also been in the news a bit more than normal recently. Andrew has some interesting ideas as to why.


The rhetoric and the reality of what Obama had to say for himself this week was our final little topic.

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

It's been a busy week by any standards in Scottish politics and in this week's For A' That Andrew, Osama Saeed and myself tried to get through as much as possible.

Firstly, we had a discussion about how the Independence show is going down in the media abroad. We then moved on to talk about the section 30 debate this week, the pros and cons and having a constitutional debate now or later and what kind of constitution should we be aiming for.

We also found time to talk about the goings on at Glasgow City Council.

I hope you enjoy.

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

For our first episode of the 2013 Andrew and I spoke with Dominic Hinde who was able to give us a good idea about the Scandinavian model that is so often put forward as a future for Scotland.

We also discussed the stories regarding where Trident could be moving to and the strange hypocrisies that surround the issue at the moment.

Andrew was very interested in a major legal reform that is coming up this year.

Finally, we put forth our views on how convinced we are that Cameron can win hearts and minds to the cause of the union as he has promised.

Enjoy.

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

Back after the little break over the period, episode 16 of the Scottish Independence Podcast is here.

This time I spoke to Clare Galloway who is an artist that has been involved in some notable projects, at home and abroad.

About a year ago she wrote an article for Bella Caledonia called Lilliput Nation that began to cause a little bit of a stir and it is fair to say to she is quite an outspoken person, in fact, she says it herself in the interview.

We talked about what she sees as some of the problems in the Scottish psyche and how these might be mended. There is a discussion about what could be seen as a new growth in positivity and creativity that has come with the independence debate. We also talked about her current project in Italy and why it might be easier to do such a thing there rather than in Scotland as it currently is.

Hope you all enjoy

Links
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2012/01/14/lilliput-nation/
http://nationalcollective.com/2012/10/01/clare-galloway-it-is-time-that-scotland-shifted-up-a-gear/
https://twitter.com/claregalloway
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell

Happy New Year.

Silliness.

This special end of year episode features Andrew Tickell, Robin McAlpine of the Scottish Left Review and Reid Foundation, Alex Massie who blogs at the Spectator magazine and myself (Michael Greenwell).

We talked about our important events of the year and a little about how we think things might go next year. The phoney war we have all been watching so far was certainly a topic as were positivity and negativity. The rise and whys of Johann Lamont also get an airing.

There is a special end of year quiz that I predict you are going to enjoy.

LINKS

https://twitter.com/alexmassie
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier
http://reidfoundation.org/

For the 8th episode of For A' That Andrew and myself were joined by Ian Smart who it is fair to say, is not of the same mind as Andrew and I regarding independence.

We started off about whether Salmond is losing his mojo and whether it matters or not, and also if Nicola Sturgeon's standing is being aided or hindered by the controversial figure that is Salmond (as an aside, I for one have never figured out precisely why people find him a controversial figure but hey ho).

Andrew and Ian got into a very interesting legal discussion on cutbacks in legal aid and the problems this is causing/will cause.

Gay marriage and the various ructions (actual or perceived) surrounding the debate was another topic, as were the recent protests regarding flags in Belfast and Glasgow.

We even found time to give a (real) suggestion about where struggling graduates might find some work.

This is the second last episode before we take a break over Christmas (The Scottish Independence Podcast will continue but For A' That is taking a wee break over the period).

Therefore, our next episode will be the last episode of the year and will be a kind of review of the year. Are there any stories you would like us to bring up? Let us know.

Links
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/
http://ianssmart.blogspot.co.uk/
http://lallandspeatworrier.blogspot.co.uk/

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

The most popular sport in our country is still football by far and whether we like it or not, there are strong political undercurrents to what goes on in the stadiums.

Although players certainly get too much publicity, fans are often shunted to the side and treated as 2nd class citizens.

Therefore, with such a momentous decision coming up for Scotland in 2014, those in favour of a Yes vote would be making a grave error if they ignored the discussions on the subject that are taking place in the stadiums and between the supporters that make up a large part of the population of Scotland.

In that light, for the Scottish Independence Podcast I have decided to do an occasional series with supporters from as many different teams as possible to find out what discussions are taking place around the stadiums and in the clubs and how this might affect the referendum. They won't be consecutive, just mixed in with the other ones.

If football isn't your thing don't worry as we won't be talking about the matches themselves.

For the first of these I spoke to Krys Kujawa who is the host of the Celtic podcast The Paradise Report.


We talked about how approaching football supporters as a block group all with the same opinions is an error. We talked about how the situation looks among the Celtic support and some of the historical and current reasons for that situation and also what might be done to persuade more of them to vote yes. It was also necessary to talk about what many feel is the increasing criminilisation of football supporters.

Hope you enjoy it.

Links

https://twitter.com/krys1888
https://twitter.com/mgreenwell
http://www.spreaker.com/user/homebhoys/paradise_report_21
http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/