Lesley Riddoch

Riddoch Questions - The Faith Debate - Friday 13th March

The Riddoch Questions Team have been on the road again, this time holding a Question Time event in the ‘pure deid brilliant’ city of Glasgow. Tune in for a unique opportunity to hear from Scotland’s Jewish community who have been largely silent since the invasion of Gaza. Religion is never very far from the news – even when it’s hardly directly involved. What exactly were the recent killings in Northern Ireland about? Religious belief or constitutional conflict? Billions of dollars are being pledged to rebuild Gaza and yet tensions have hardly subsided – in the Middle East or here at home. And that’s true of Scots with faith and without a formal religious tie. And as the credit crunch bites all “extra spending” will be under scrutiny – should that include separate faith schools? Big questions this week – maybe the biggest, but all with an audience of a multitude of faiths gathered and a prize panel including...

Ephraim Borowski - Director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities. Vice-Convener of BEMIS.

Ian Galloway – Church of Scotland minister of Gorbals in Glasgow. Convener of the Church and Society Council.

Magdalen Lambkin – Roman Catholic PhD Candidate in Inter-faith studies. Member of Scottish Inter-faith Council.

Ruzwan Mohammed – Sunni Imam Educational and Curriculum advisor to Muslim organisations in Scotland.

This week's Riddoch Questions - the Faith Debate

Welcome to fantasy politics – much better than the real thing

Celebrity culture has created an over-weaning interest in physical appearance. Serious-minded political types have overcompensated – preferring endless debate on the minutiae of policy change to five minutes consideration of the personality, background and skillset change needed to deliver. Our political class is full of time-servers. That’s the system. But it creates the most appalling timelag in talent when circumstances change. Our current “top table” appears temperamentally unsuited to change and few have experience of success in the real world. So what can Britain expect in her hour of need?

The Brown Barter Poverty Aftermath

There is a new Aftermath where the Riddoch Questions crew start by talking about Gordon Brown and meander through local barter systems and end up in poverty. As usual, all the opinions of the contributors are their own and are not those of Lesley Riddoch or Feisty Productions Ltd. Heavy metal music, we all accept, is an acquired taste.

Riddoch Questions update...

Here's the final guest list for Riddoch Questions this week - Alastair Carmichael, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and MP for Orkney & Shetland; SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, Christine Grahame and Professor Andrew Fulton, Chair of the Scottish North American Business Council and Chair of the Scottish Conservative Party.

They'll be discussing the week's main news stories, including: the SNP's independence referendum in jeapoardy; Brown in america; the government's alcohol crackdown; the Brandon Muir case and child protection.

You can get in touch before the programme even goes on air - 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.

This week's Riddoch Questions...Brown in America

Lesley’s guests on Riddoch Questions this week on Friday at 13.15 are Alastair Carmichael, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and MP for Orkney & Shetland; freelance youth and community worker Max Cruickshank; and Professor Andrew Fulton, Chair of the Scottish North American Business Council and Chair of the Scottish Conservative Party.

Making the headlines so far this week:

BROWN IN AMERICA – is the special relationship between America and Britain dead?  How is the Prime Minister performing in the US?  Can the visit revive his beleaguered reputation?  

ALCOHOL CRACKDOWN – will the SNP’s plans for a minimum price on alcohol and a ban on cut-price drinks really have an impact on the Scottish booze culture? 

BRANDON MUIR/CHILD PROTECTION – another young life has been lost through abuse – but will the inevitable reports and investigations following this case really do any good?  What can be done to improve trust in the child protection system?

ATTACK ON CRICKET TEAM – a shocking terrorist attack in Lahore on the Sri Lankan team leaves seven people dead – what are the consequences for Pakistan and for international sport?

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

Ministers must grasp the banking nettle, not be stung by it

Let’s face it, Sir Fred was cute. Facing the end last year, he kept his wits about him, generously waived his 12-month notice period (and therefore one year’s salary) and helpfully jumped before he was pushed from the top spot at RBS. Behind that smokescreen – considered by Financial Services Secretary, Lord Myners to be an “appropriate and sufficient recognition of the circumstances,” – he negotiated a bonzer payout.

According to one independent pensions consultant, buying a £693,000 annual pension at age 50 would cost at least £25m, not the £16m being bandied about. And Sir Fred can take up to a quarter as a tax free lump sum.

How was this allowed to happen?