Lesley Riddoch

The end of the present run ...but we return

The Riddoch Questions programme and team are taking a short break for August. We are back on 7 September and the Alastair Campbell interview will be available on the podcast site from Friday. In fact the entire run of the first 12 Riddoch Questions will be there for you to relive.

However, a short break doesn't mean a holiday, there is a film to premiere in Dundee, a book to launch and I will be doing something at the Edinburgh Fringe...so please check this web site and check my blog for more details.

Alastair Campbell is Lesley's guest Friday 27 July

Alastair Campbell is Lesley's guest on Riddoch Questions -- but since he is roaming Yorkshire on Friday punting his new book -- The Blair Years Lesley grabbed twenty minutes of his time today (Thursday) and the conversation was quite ... choice.

Including gems like "You people (Scottish Media) were relentlessly cynical about Tony Blair's intention to deliver devolution. You deliberately misunderstood the relationship between Tony Blair and the Scottish people (and) you are always looking for points of difference (with England) "

Campbell referred to Tony Blair's "parish council" remark about the spending powers of the new Scottish Parliament in 1997 as "a media driven frenzy which added absolutely nothing to the debate on devolution," and suggests I am boring listeners into switching off by even raising the issue.

Asked to offer Alex Salmond some advice, Tony Blair's former spin doctor compared the First Minister to Ken Livingstone -- mistrusted by Campbell, Blair and the Labour establishment -- but finally admired because of his focus on "substance and policy" even though he "still says some daft things."

The advice? "Cameron and Salmond both believe Tony Blair won through presentation -- as a result they are obsessed with spin. In the end it's not spin but policies that win votes." Well, are Scots obsessed with ourselves and unable to thank the architect of devolution? Is the Scottish media oversized and overblown -- in Campbell's words "a huge media infrastructure for just one tiny part of the UK?"WANT TO COMMENT? -- CALL 0500 92 95 00 after 1pm on Friday 27th July OR EMAIL lesley@bbc.co.uk

Lesley is in St Andrews tomorrow - Thursday 26 July

The "Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides" book tour comes to Waterstone's, Market Street at 6pm. Lesley will be there talking about the book and signing copies.

Check out other dates in the Book Tour.

Meet Lesley in person in Stirling tomorrow night - Wednesday 25 July

Lesley will be at Waterstone's, Thistle Marches at 6:30pm for 7pm. She will be talking about and signing copies of her new book "Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides".

Come and meet her in person.

Check out other Book Tour dates.

The BBC has got to stick with the programme

Should a well-loved Scottish comedy programme suffer because someone in London "sexed up" a film clip of the Queen? Still Game looks set to become a casualty of the BBC ban on programmes from RDF Media, the independent film-makers who misled the public with shots of the Queen apparently storming out of a photo-shoot by photographer Annie Liebovitz.

Riddoch Questions - July 20, with Stewart Maxwell

The chronic lack of affordable housing in Scotland has become a huge political issue. House prices are still soaring, there's fierce debate about the number and type of houses being built, a Labour MP has asked for the 'offers over' system to be examined, there's speculation that sales of council and housing assocation houses may be halted, and people are commuting across Scotland because they can't get on the property ladder where they work.

All big issues for Scottish Communities Minister, Stewart Maxwell - my guest on Riddoch Questions this week.

Time for Salmond to board the magic bus

I haven't  been to Glastonbury or Woodstock. I haven't been abusing substances or taken a happy pill. And despite spotting smock-wearing teenagers in the street and bell- bottom-clad detectives on the TV in Life on Mars reruns, I know this is not the re-dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

But since reading that Alex Salmond's political role model is the former Labour premier Harold Wilson, I've been wondering if Alex is leading Scotland where Harold tried to lead Britain in the sixties.

The latest news from Stornoway - July 13

This week Lesley's in the Western Isles, asking why Stornoway ISN'T making the news this week with a Sunday sailing of the Cal Mac Ferry to the mainland. Many people involved with this week's Hebridean Celtic Festival -- headline act the Proclaimers -- had hoped for a one-off Sunday ferry service this year. But Cal Mac say they won't consider that until they are asked "properly." Is it time to hold a referendum on Lewis to see whether the majority are now in favour of Sunday sailings? Planes started flying on Sundays back in 2002, a Sunday sailing operates from Harris to the south and a recent report found that Sunday operations would provide the biggest single boost to the island's economy. But would 7 day access destroy a way of life ? And are there perhaps bigger transport fish to fry -- like high fares and long, slow journeys? Join me on Friday from 1:15pm on BBC Radio Scotland. You can email me at lesley@bbc.co.uk or call the programme after 1:00pm on 0500 92 95 00.

Riddoch Questions - July 13, from Stornoway

This week I'm on the Isle of Lewis, taking part in the Hebridean Celtic Festival. I'm also taking the opportunity to talk to people here about the need for a Sunday ferry service between Stornoway and Ullapool.

Recent surveys suggest people here really want a seven-days a week connection to the mainland and that it would benefit the local economy - but there are those who want to preserve the sanctity of the traditional day of rest. Should Stornoway admit that it has lost its battle against the demand for twenty-four hour services? What difference would it really make to the region and to Scotland as a whole? 

Join me on Friday from 1:15pm on BBC Radio Scotland.  You can email me at lesley@bbc.co.uk or call the programme after 1:00pm on 0500 92 95 00.

Public transport 'sysyem' is a national disgrace

It seems Mother Nature has been helping Al Gore ram home his message about climate change. The Inconvenient Truth for the summer of 2007 has unquestionably been rain. Soaking June - the UK's wettest on record - has given way to sodden July with Wimbledon so badly disrupted, officials must be regretting the decision to give refunds for interrupted play.

At Glastonbury, Dame Shirley Bassey wowed the sodden, mud-caked crowds with diamond studded wellies, but her helicopter had to make a forced landing during a thunderstorm on the way home. And - of course - music fans heading for T in the Park had to abandon cars for shuttle buses after car parks turned into mud baths on Friday night, temporarily closing the venue. The downpour across Britain was suspended on Saturday - perhaps a celestial thank-you to Keane, the only rock god green enough to take the train to Al Gore's Live Earth gig in London.

The planet isn't happy. But neither are the good people of Perth.