What do you do when you get one of the most powerful women in Scottish local government in front of a microphone? Well you ask her all about the job, what she wants to achieve, and a few of your own hobby-horses too. Like buskers with amplifiers, who are too noisy for Derek Bateman's liking. Our podcast host raised all this and more with Susan Aitken, the ebullient leader of Glasgow City Council, who swept to power for the SNP last May. Susan, seen as one of the most creative leaders in local government, has a big job on her plate, with her party having displaced Labour for the first time in 40 years.

Newsnet Radio Podcast

The woman in charge at Glasgow's George Square

How should we in Scotland digest our international news? As the conventional Scottish newspaper industry grapples with the twin forces of intense competition from London titles and the Internet, foreign coverage has been marginalised. One of the few Scottish based journalists to continue to cover foreign affairs, Herald contributing editor David Pratt, returned to the Newsnet studio to discuss the media experience with our regular host Derek Bateman. He points to a lively international media surviving on the European continent, working in a mixture of mainstream and digital channels. Their conversation broadens to embrace the impact of social media, as well as Brexit, Trump and the double standards the West applies in the Middle East.

From almost our only foreign correspondent

Scots are watching the Catalan controversy with more than a passing interest. As Madrid and Barcelona slug it out over the region's future status, more than a few people in Scotland are seeking parallels with the UK. Scots writer, author and broadcaster Rachel McCormack lived in Catalunya for several years, and also set up a Catalan cooking school in London. She has just returned from Barcelona, where she struck up old friendships and took the temperature of the Catalan debate, just as Spanish authorities strengthened their grip. She visited Newsnet to tell podcast host Derek Bateman and producer Maurice Smith her impressions from the Catalan front.

Notes and impressions from the Catalan front

What’s all the fuss about? Priti Patel drops in on, er, 12 meetings while on “holiday” in Israel, including a friendly chat with the local prime Minister and before she knows it people are making a fuss and insisting she comes back early from a business trip to Kenya. It’s enough to make the ambitious International Development Secretary give up her job. Oh wait, she has. Then there’s dear old Boris, blundering through a statement that may condemn a British citizen to even more time in an Iranian jail. But never mind her, think of those nasty Remoaners trying to land poor Boris in the shite with the boss (whoever that is). In a week of glorious celebration for Scots everywhere, marking the anniversary when one of our own won the race to the White House and became President-elect McTrump, Derek Bateman invited writer and playwright Peter Arnott and TV producer Maurice Smith to the studio to chew everything over. You can tune in to their resultant indigestion now.

Days of chaos on planet Britannia

How was the 2014 independence referendum for you? It might seem a strange question, but academic and Yes campaigner Dr Peter Lynch has been reflecting on the local campaign he supported, in Edinburgh West. Now he has a new book, IndyRef to ScotRef, Campaigning for Yes, which details his impressions of that campaign ( which failed as Edinburgh West voted strongly No in 2014). He recalls the pride and partnerships that grew among activists as they leafletted, doorstepped voters and organised local events. And he draws a few conclusions about what went wrong, and what the YUes campaign might do better next time. Peter discussed the book and the campaign with Newsnet host Derek Bateman and journalist and producer Maurice Smith in a conversation that also embraced the Catalan crisis, sexism in politics and the week's events.

Author Peter Lynch on the referendum trail

Last June was an unusually nervous time for the SNP. Riding high in successive post-referendum elections, suddenly majorities were shaky and canvassers were finding life tough at some doorsteps where folk had grown concerned about a Brexit-related indyref2. David Linden was among those in new SNP seats – won in the euphoria of the 2015 UK election – with a lot to defend. The new candidate pulled through in Glasgow East, holding the seat by a squeaky majority of 75. A few months later he is scornful of Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and her 13 Scottish MPs and their performance since Theresa May’s hopeless June campaign. So what now? How is life for a nationalist MP in the Commons as the Government party tears itself to shreds over Brexit? Linden arrived at Newsnet to discuss all this and more with our regular host Derek Bateman. And he is frank about what he perceives as weaknesses on the part of Scottish Labour leadership contenders, and the debate over Brexit itself. Asked about his role as an MP, he quotes the veteran nationalist parliamentarian Winnie Ewing: “We are there to settle up, not settle down.”

Life as a nationalist MP in the Commons

The popular Newsnet podcast is back! Apologies, but a spam attack led to unforeseen problems, which resulted in a "lost week" for the podcast. Now we're back, with journalist Maurice Smith in the chair. His guest is Steven Purcell, for Labour politician turned business consultant, but still a keen observer of the political scene in Scotland. They discussed the latest turn of events concerning Brexit, with Theresa May once more prostrating herself  in Brussels while her spin doctors pretend she's in a powerful negotiating position. Then there's Scottish Labour, which is witnessing a struggle between Anas Sarwar and Richard Leonard for the right to lead the party back into second place.

Brexit, Scottish Labour, and the meaning of life

It has been a funny old week for the Labour Party in Scotland. While the UK wonders if it might actually elect Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister, Scottish delegates spent the party conference in Brighton sharpening their knives as their leadership campaign became publicly divisive. Who will win the leadership, and does it matter? Newsnet Radio host Derek Bateman invited Common Space editor and media commentator Angela Haggerty and journalist and producer Maurice Smith to read the runes.

Scottish Labour and its limited options

As Theresa May prepared her latest Brexit speech in the bizarrely chosen venue of Florence, Newsnet took time to record a fresh analysis of the European situation. This latest podcast features Kirsty Hughes, head of a new think-tank, The Scottish Centre on European Relations (SCRE), taking a broad view of the UK government’s lack of progress on Brexit, and how the EU nations might respond. Kirsty joined regular host Derek Bateman and journalist and producer Maurice Smith. So what happens next with Brexit? How will May’s speech go down in the EU capitals? What about trade? Scotland? The trio also discuss the ongoing situation in Catalunya, where the Spanish government has sent in federal police in an attempt to block an independence referendum scheduled for October.

Learning to sing a new song for Europe

What does Brexit mean for the devolved nations of Britain? We know so much about the political debate in Scotland, but what about Wales? Unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales voted by a majority to leave the EU. That was a blow to the nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, and the movement overall. So where is Welsh opinion now? What do people there make of the idea of a Westminster “power grab” as the UK parliament sets out to accrue powers as they return from Brussels, post Brexit? Derek Bateman invited Professor Richard Wyn Jones, director of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, to discuss the Welsh perspective. He looks back on the impact of the Brexit vote, the follies of the Cameron government and what it all means for the Welsh Government as it grapples to respond. The result is a fascinating discussion of issues with which we in Scotland are all too familiar, but from the Cardiff perspective (and some Norwegian perspective too – tune in to find out more…)

A Welsh perspective on Brexit and the nations

What is Scotland's place in the world? In the post-indyref, pre Brexit environment, can Scotland's voice be heard amidst the light and heat of global politics? As the EU faces upheaval, Russia flexes its muscles and Trump makes more protectionist noises in Washington, what of the Scottish perspective? John MacDonald thinks Scotland should indeed have that voice. He is the academic and thinker behind CABLE, Scotland's new international affairs online magazine. With just three issues online, he and his various contributors have established the venture quickly. He joined Newsnet Radio host Derek Bateman and journalist and producer Maurice Smith to discuss the ideas behind Cable and the need for Scottish voices to be heard internationally.

Casting an eye over global affairs

Another week in Scottish politics, another Scottish Labour upheaval with the abrupt resignation of erstwhile leader Kezia Dugdale. Another week in British politics came with more revelations of Tory malice / incompetence, not least in the UK Government’s cack-handed and unlovely handling of the so-called Brexit “negotiations”. Another week in American politics and … no, no that’s enough nonsense without adding Trumpets (reddit!)… Our regular podcast has Derek Bateman summoned renowned Scottish author and playwright Peter Arnott and journalist and producer Maurice Smith to read the tea-leaves – before promptly accusing them of being a pair of softies when they revealed Kezia sympathies… there’s just no pleasing some people. Have a listen, anyway…

The great Labour / Tory / Brexit crisis, discussed

Yes, this week witnessed "GERSmas", the annual frenzy that accompanies the economic figures that mean all things to everyone as soon as they are released. GERS - Government Expenditure and Revenues, Scotland -- is an attempt by civil service statisticians to show much tax is raised in Scotland by Government bodies, and how much public money is actually spent here.Always controversial and hotly disputed, the GERS figures became the focus of debate during and after the independence referendum campaign. Podcast regular host Derek Bateman invited Dr Craig Dalzell, an economist and co-authot of various Common Weal papers on the subject, to explain GERS and discuss their implications. The results, as ever, are fascinating and particularly to independence supporters in Scotland.

GERS and Scottish economic prospects

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Steven Purcell! Here at Newsnet Studios we have been waiting Steven’s arrival for some time since the June general election. And although it took a while, we think it’s been worth it. Why Steven? Well the former leading Labour figureBrexit was the first to say on this medium that Jeremy Corbyn would astound the critics, and also that the SNP would lose seats in the north east of Scotland. Podcast host Derek Bateman invited Scottish politics’ very own clairvoyant to come and share his analysis of the scene, and discuss what next for Scotland. Derek and Steven are joined by journalist and producer Maurice Smith. Is British politics re-aligning? How many Yes voters from 2014 are swayed by the Corbyn message? Can Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP win back seats lost to the Tories? Might the fall-out from Brexit still have a few twists and turns that might help or hinder the independence cause? How on earth are the Tories still in power?

What next for Scottish politics?

What next for the Scottish independence movement? With support apparently stalled in the polls, indy still runs high in terms of public support -- higher, indeed, than current support for the Scottish National Party? The loss of 21 SNP seats, and the apparent surge that favoured the Tories especially in north east Scotland, came as a blow. But is it really that great a setback, when considered against the greater scheme of Scottish politics and where it might be headed? Robin McAlpine, director of the left think-tank Common Weal, arrived in the Newsnet studio to chew over the current situation with our regular host, Derek Bateman. What does it mean for the pro-independence movement, and where could constitutional politics turn next? Above all, he urges a new form of conversation with those who have been opposed to change. It makes for a fascinating discussion.

Where next for the independence movement?

Newsnet.scot's regular podcast is a popular feature of Scottish political debate. reflecting the views of the pro-independence audience, but also tackling UK and international issues. Chaired by former broadcaster Derek Bateman and guests, it aims to encourage discussion of politics without the confrontational tone favoured by today political programmes.

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