Lesley Riddoch

The new Aftermath is now available...the Lib Dem aftermath

There is a new Aftermath available...it's all about Harris Tweed, everyone's Liberal background and the definition of 'Janus'. Enjoy!

With Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Deputy Scottish leader Tavish Scott live from Aviemore

Download nick_clegg_mix.mp3

Nick Clegg – due to make a keynote speech at the Liberal Democrats Scottish conference in Aviemore today (Friday) says in todays Riddoch Questions that Gordon Brown was “Janus-faced” over Wendy Alexander’s Constitutional Commission proposal, appearing to welcome it but then changing its purpose to allow the direction of devolution to be reversed. He describes the Prime Minister’s suggestion that powers might be taken back to Westminster as “extraordinary” but says the Lib Dems should stay in the Commission to ensure Brown’s “mealy-mouthed response” doesn’t kill the process stone-dead. Mr Clegg dismisses SNP proposals for a multi-option referendum as the call of a “one–trick pony party” trying to re-invent an argument it didn’t win at the ballot box. He says an SNP-provoked media referendum debate would leave Scottish politics entirely fossilised and allow politicians to play games endlessly with the questions. He maintains the simple yes/no question on Scottish independence is resolved every time a majority of the electorate doesn’t vote SNP.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Scottish Deputy Tavish Scott are the tag-team on this week’s Riddoch Questions live from the party’s Scottish conference at Aviemore.

Lesley Riddoch spoke to Nick Clegg earlier this week after the party’s Commons walkout and asked why he wants us to vote on staying in the EU when it’s the Treaty of Lisbon – not Britain’s membership – that’s up for grabs? This is what he had to say.

Riddoch Questions 29th February - Nick Clegg and Tavish Scott: live from the Liberal Democrat conference in Aviemore

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Scottish Deputy Tavish Scott are the tag-team on this week’s Riddoch Questions, live from their party’s Scottish conference at Aviemore. Did the Scottish Lib Dems make the right decision when they opted not to go into partnership with Alex Salmond last year? Are they making the right decision now, remaining part of Wendy Alexander’s Constitutional Commission – which appeared to be downgraded last week by Gordon Brown to a mere “review”? As long term advocates of the constitutional position Scots probably support – a federal Britain – why aren’t the Lib Dems leading from the front? Is Nick Clegg right to say he would consider a deal with the Tories? And with a heavyweight team of former leaders around him -- Vince Cable, Ming Campbell and Charles Kennedy – why aren’t the Lib Dems more visible?

Put your questions to the Lib Dem team……

You can call every Friday from 1pm on 0500 92 95 00 or email lesley@bbc.co.uk and text 80295.

In case you missed this superb video

New Aftermath available and more

Although I was away , the crew put together a new Aftermath which you can check out here.  As you know, you can subscribe for free at iTunes and each episode will be delivered for free. There is a great video of Benjamin Zephaniah in the Black Cab sessions, check it out here. It is an inspiring work of poetry - well worth the visit!

Scotland has the right balance on DNA – but not on investigation

The case for a compulsory database was hurt by the over-zealous search of the Sheridan home.

Their young faces look out from pictures taken at a time happiness was still possible. They smile at the camera not to seduce, not to entice, and not to score.

They were model school pupils, beloved daughters and ordinary women. They had outlooks, attitudes, expectations, hopes and habits. But the five victims of Steve Wright got hooked on heroin and crack cocaine and became vulnerable to a man who killed repeatedly and almost got away with it.

Riddoch Questions 22nd February - Prisons

Former prison governor Alec Spencer, tells guest presenter Iain MacWhirter no-one sentenced to less than six months should be in jail. Scotland’s prison population is at an all-time high and we jail twice as many people as neighbouring countries like Ireland or Norway. Alec believes community-based punishments will reduce the strain on our bursting-at-the-seams jails and offer a better chance of rehabilitating offenders. He also claims money saved from smaller prison populations could be spent in different ways -- eradicating illiteracy, providing better drugs services in the community and building hospitals. But without jail, how do communities get respite from persistent trouble-makers? Is it realistic to stop locking up short-term offenders? Does restorative justice work? Why are Scots more punitive towards offenders than our European neighbours when our offending rates are roughly the same? And can Scottish prisons cope with more chronic overcrowding?

On Friday, call from 1pm on 0500 92 95 00 or email Lesley@bbc.co.uk and text 80295.

How expensive does oil have to get before you change your habits?

THE day after the M74 extension got the go-ahead, I passed a group of young people in the centre of Dundee with flasks, sleeping bags and fold-up chairs. Not a campaign against Scotland's most expensive motorway but a 24-hour subzero queue for tickets to T in the Park.

Pondering my own naivety I was reminded of a German student who joined an anti-Apartheid campaign 25 years ago. We occupied a Barclays Bank secretarial pool instead of the bank's operations centre and disrupted "milk-round" interviews of a washing powder manufacturer after they swapped rooms with the sanctions-busting RTZ.

'New Hands' starts every Sunday from 17 Feb !

'New Hands' with Lesley Campbell is a Feisty Production and it did debut on the wireless at 11.05am Sunday 17 February ! It is a six part series and will be available as a listen again both on the BBC website and on its own website over at www.newhands.co.uk .
The first programme charts the progress of Cava, a Glasgow based promotions business.

This Friday ...Ms Green and bring back tolls

Lesley tees up the Riddoch Questions programme for Friday 15 February.

In the week Scotland became bridge toll-free, a leading green argues the tolls should’ve stayed. Alison Johnstone -- Edinburgh councillor and co-convenor elect of the Green party -- says it’s insanity to encourage more people to use the Forth and Tay crossings when urgent action is needed to tackle pollution, climate change and repair the Forth Bridge itself. The Greens are trying to block the M74 extension in Glasgow and want to extend the life of the current Forth bridge instead of planning for a new crossing now. Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson, will defend the decision to scrap tolls and assert the SNP’s environmental credentials.  Is it too early to say if scrapping the tolls has made life easier for commuters? Is congestion worse already?  Should the M74 project be completed? And what should be done about the deteriorating, but now toll-free Forth Bridge?

To have your say on Friday, call from 1pm on 0500 92 95 00 or email Lesley@bbc.co.uk and text 80295