Lesley Riddoch

There is a new Aftermath available...about Economic Conspiracies

The crew got together after an economic whirlwind of a Riddoch Questions with Will Hutton, Colin Fox and Bruce Anderson...hear what they thought.

Scottish Secretary on Riddoch Questions - 6th Feb

Lesley will be joined by the Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy, for Riddoch Questions on Friday 6th February.  The minister, who's also the MP for East Refrewshire, will be taking calls on whatever YOU want to ask him - so get emailing now! 

• The Scottish budget – what can be learnt from Labour’s U-turn on the budget this week?
• Refinery strikes – what’s wrong with ‘British jobs for British workers’?
• Scottish Labour leadership – does London pull the strings?
• The economy – how well is Gordon Brown handling the recession?

Send us your questions or comments in advance to riddoch@bbc.co.uk. 

RIDDOCH QUESTIONS 16th Jan - BBC Radio Scotland 1.15-2pm

Lesley’s guests on Riddoch Questions this week are the former Observer editor and author of ‘The State We’re In’ - writer and commentator Will Hutton, right-wing political columnist for the Independent, Bruce Anderson, and former leader of the Scottish Socialist Party in Parliament – now their national spokesman, Colin Fox.

Making the headlines so far this week:

GORDON BROWN – Will his credit-crunch busting measures work? Or is he saddling Britain’s children with a burden of debt as the Tories’ latest poster campaign claims?

GEORGE W BUSH – Will anyone miss him? And how quickly will new President Obama bring new policies to bear on Iraq, Gaza and the Middle East and his own domestic financial crisis?

SCOTTISH BUDGET – Will the SNP’s budget get the green light from opposition parties?

TOMMY SHERIDAN – Why is he not up for eviction on Friday from the Celebrity Big Brother house?

Email your questions on these stories now to riddoch@bbc.co.uk. Add your phone number if you want to put the question in person. On Friday text your views to 80295 and call 0500 92 95 00.

RIDDOCH QUESTIONS - Environment Debate

We can reveal the final line up of guests for our Riddoch Questions Environment Debate in Pitlochry on Monday 19th January:

Minister for the Environment Mike Russell 

Shadow Deputy Minister for the Environment Sarah Boyack

Chief Executive of the Confederation of Forest Industries Stuart Goodall

Chief Executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust Simon Milne

Chief Executive Officer of the Community Woodlands Association Jon Hollingdale

They'll be taking questions from the audience on a variety of topics, including Mike Russell's controversial proposal to lease out Scotland's forests, the return of beavers to Scotland, climate change, deer control and land management - who owns Scotland?

Everyone's welcome at this event, there's no ticket required - just make sure you're in a seat in time for recording to begin at 6.30pm.

Even if you're not able to come, you can still put a question to the panel by emailing admin@feistyproductions.co.uk.  The  programme itself will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on Friday 23rd January

We'll see you in Pitlochry!

If we really want to tackle crime, let's start with the Finnish line

The Wire. I’ve been living with its incomprehensible language and banal brutality since a boxed set came our way at Christmas.

It may be Obama’s favourite TV series, it may be realistic about life in downtown Baltimore, but the world portrayed is grim beyond belief. Life’s cheap, humour’s deadpan, anger’s the only shared currency and guns are everywhere.

We sat over New Year watching the insanity of a gun-based culture, where minor arguments easily become multiple murders and thanked God (probably) it isn’t like that here.

Will Hutton on Riddoch Questions 16th January

Will Hutton, one of the smartest, most pleasant people I’ve ever come across is a guest on Riddoch Questions next week. He’ll be up for discussion and questions just a few days before Barack Obama becomes the new US President. So I’m getting busy reading a Hutton book -- A Declaration of Interdependence: Why America Should Join the World.Will’s a big supporter of the developing “European Way” and a long-standing critic of American conservatism. So it’ll be fascinating to hear what he thinks of Obama’s chances of sorting the massive problems facing him.

Mr H spent ten years at the BBC working as economics correspondent for Newsnight in the 1980s. Just think – if he’d stayed he could’ve been Robert Peston! He spent four years as editor-in-chief at The Observer before joining the Industrial Society, now known as The Work Foundation of which he’s Chief Exec. He’s been writing a Guardian column for 15 years.

He is also the author of "The State We're In"  and "The World We're In" and his most recent book is "The Writing on the Wall" which examines the West and its response to China. His books are never less than thought provoking. He was worried about growing global debt and its consequences before most of us heard the phrase 'sub prime' for the first time. 

We’re thinking about who to invite as another guest – so email asap with suggestions or questions riddoch@bbc.co.uk. If you want to speak to Will Hutton call 0500 92 95 00 and text 80295 on the day from 1 o’clock.  

The Gremlins in the Works Aftermath – an Apology

There’s a big SORRY from the Riddoch Questions team this week after a variety of technical difficulties prevented us from getting on air for 25 minutes. Which meant Lesley’s interview with Finance Secretary John Swinney and the subsequent analysis of his budget had to be somewhat curtailed. Many thanks and abject apologies to all – guests and listeners - who bore with us until the problems were sorted. And sorry to those who emailed and texted in with their comments, as problems prevail with our email system, and the ones which were received we were unable to read out. So, if you want to hear a rather shell-shocked RQ team discuss the fall-out from all of this, click HERE for this week’s Aftermath

SWINNEY MEETS PARK IN DUNDEE

There’ll be an unlikely tag-team in tomorrow’s Riddoch Questions in Dundee, which features Finance Secretary John Swinney. He’ll be in our studio at Abertay for the first 20 minutes of the programme before having to spring out on constituency business – as Labour's Economy Spokesperson and local man John Park leaps in!  Given that Lesley is still slightly reliant on Kleenex after a long bout of manflu, we’re hoping they’ve both had their flu-jabs!

It should be a bouncy programme with arguments about what the SNP can do to help Scots during the slump, whether towns like Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Clydebank, Rutherglen and Kilmarnock will be retail ghost towns, what projects will suffer to let the Forth Road Bridge replacement go ahead, whether the SNP's claims to have built 71 schools are true (or just what they inherited from Labour) and whether Annabel Goldie’s right when she says Alex Salmond’s happier to pick fights with Westminster than solve the financing problem of the Bridge.

 

Call 0500 92 95 00 and text 80295 on the day from 1 o’clock.  But we really need your emails now to have a fighting chance to read them for the short time John’s in the studio – so get going now - the address is riddoch@bbc.co.uk. The gremlin that saw our texts and emails freeze during the last programme with Iain Gray has been fixed (touch wood) so bring it on!

Riddoch Questions Friday 9th January BBC Radio Scotland 1.15-2pm

The first Riddoch Questions of 2009 on 9^th January kicks off with an interview with Scotland's Finance Secretary John Swinney. Lesley will grill the minister on issues topical and financial:

• Does the SNP back the Euro? Or would an independent Scotland keep the Pound?
• When will the much-vaunted Scottish Futures Trust begin delivering new schools and hospitals?
• How will funding for the new Forth Bridge affect the Scottish budget?
• And what does he think about M&S in meltdown and more job losses on the High Street?

John Swinney will be on the programme between 1.15 and 1.35 so email your questions now to Lesley now to ensure your views are heard.

As usual, Lesley will also be joined later in the programme by a panel of guests who will analyse and discuss the week's main news stories, such as Gaza, Marks and Spencer and the ongoing woes in the retail sector. Email your questions on these stories now to riddoch@bbc.co.uk. On Friday text your views to 80295 and call 0500 92 95 00.

Comment is Free podcast

I recently did a podcast for the Guardian's Comment is Free about 'Harnessing Scotland's energy '. As ever, it touched a number of issues which are becoming more important as the current economic situation unfolds.