Lesley Riddoch

Riddoch Questions 2nd May: Cllr Willie Young - Aberdeen council chief Kate Dean must go!

Aberdeen Council is under fire for cutting £27 million from its budget and Audit Scotland has condemned the sales of major assets for more than £5 million less than their market value. Willie Young, Secretary of the Labour Group on Aberdeen City Council, says the mismanagement of the city’s finances over the last 5 years has been so scandalous that the Leader of the Council, Kate Dean, must resign. Neil Fletcher, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, claims that when they came to power in 2003 they inherited a Labour mess, which they had to sort out. While the arguments rage about who’s to blame, local people are about to take to the streets for the second time in a month to protest about cuts which seem to target the poorest and most vulnerable. So, who is to blame? Will getting rid of Kate Dean do any good? Should Scottish taxpayers bail out Aberdeen council?

If you’ve got a question or comment call on Friday from 1pm on 0500 92 95 00 or email lesley@bbc.co.uk and text 80295.

Expertise in energy harvesting must be reused

No oil at Grangemouth, no wind turbines on Barvas Moor, no end to rising energy bills.

Spring 2008 has revolutionary potential.

Oil production across the world has peaked. Gas supplies are dwindling fast.
Demand from China and India is growing exponentially. We are nearing the end
of our oil dependent way of life. Never mind global warming. There is not
enough oil to satisfy world demand. So the cost of heating will rise and
keep rising. The price of petrol will rise and keep rising.

This will happen.

The Gaelic Aftermath

There is a new Aftermath available...and it's in Gaelic...well nearly. The Riddoch Questions team were surprised and delighted by the response to the Gaelic roadsigns and all have a tale to tell.

Comments from the Gaelic programme

The Caithness folks would be better to throw their lot in with us in Orkney, we (like Tom's Shetlander's I guess) have no truck with the gaelic up here for the same reasons as Mr Smith has outlined ie our heritage is Norse and before that probably pictish and gaelic has no place here.

We suffer a different type of nonsense up here in Orkney where evangelising archaeologists seek to change long established names for neolithic sites because they think they know best.  A good example is "Brodgar" as in the Ring of Brodgar which they have attempted to change to "Brogar" to the bemusement of most Orcadians - these initiatives are infuriating and a waste of time and resources.

Rant over!!

Douglas

Why batter people over the head and force an issue such as signs. If the gaelic language is to survive it has to come through education and giving people the chance to learn the language and the history. It is only when we have an educated and culturally aware population will Gaelic language make any inroads. The sign issue is a real "red herring"with regards language and I wish some of these evangelical gaels would realise that they are turning more people against them rather than creating popular support. The money should be used to create Gaelic schools and the revival has to come from grass roots rather than from on high. Being so heavy handed is just agitating people against the language.

Bruce

I find it rather hypocritical that the people of Caithness refuse to acknowledge their gaidhlig heritage, to the extent that they find it a problem having bilingual signs, however, are quite happy to accept and reap the eaconomic and cultural benefits the National Mod will bring them later on this year.

Marina, Isle of Lewis

Riddoch Questions 25th April: No Gaelic please - we're Scottish!

Graeme Smith thinks Caithness should be able to opt out of Highland’s Gaelic bi-lingual road-sign policy. He claims there is no tradition of Gaelic speaking in Caithness and the local dialect of Scots is under threat and underfunded by comparison with Gaelic. Fellow Highland Councillor Hamish Fraser, Chairman of the Gaelic Committee disagrees. He says there’s a Gaelic tradition throughout the Highlands and supports the street-sign decision -- pre-school Gaelic campaigner Finlay MacLeod agrees. With Gaelic at a cross-roads is it important to have signs in the native tongue of the Highlands and Islands for acceptance and survival – or tokenistic and out of date? One Caithness campaigner claims "We have more Polish speakers here than Gaelic speakers but we are not changing our signs to include Polish."

If you’ve got a question or comment call on Friday from 1pm on 0500 92 95 00 or email lesley@bbc.co.uk and text 80295.

All smiles for Salmond

As he approaches a year as Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond is a happy man. At the weekend's Scottish National party spring conference, Salmond hailed a "year of achievement" - lower prescription charges, abolished road tolls, scrapped student fees etc. And yet while recent polls are promising, they are anything but clear about the independence cause.

Click here to read more.

SNP council house plans needs renovation to be safe as houses

Alex Salmond's legendary assessment of form didn't pay off at the Scottish Grand National on Saturday, when his favoured nag failed to win.

Clearly, the First Minister's reserves of energy and intuition are being fully absorbed by the chess-board of Scottish politics. John Swinney's local authority love-in had already put Labour into check.

To read more , click here.

An offal slander

So Gordon Brown has a presentational style more porridge than champagne - more haggis than caviar. Solid, nourishing, but not exciting.

On behalf of haggis-loving, oatmeal-eating Scots everywhere, I must protest.

Click here to read the full article.

The Gaelic Aftermath

There is a new Aftermath available...and it's in Gaelic...well nearly. The Riddoch Questions team were surprised and delighted by the response to the Gaelic roadsigns and all have a tale to tell.

The Doctor will see you...the new Aftermath

There is a new Aftermath available and it's all about GPs as you would expect...