As Sir Keir Starmer, no matter what the apologists claim, follows in the line of Blair and Brown by praising Margaret Thatcher we look at the damage wreaked by the Iron Lady's policies of privatisation and her toxic legacy and wonder why Starmer thought it was essential to pay homage to the Blessed Margaret.
The Tories are going ahead with the immigration reforms we discussed last week, James Cleverly is in Rwanda seeking to formalise a new treaty which will magically make Rwanda a safe country, and Robert Jenrick claimed that asylum seekers were "breaking into the country". Labour's Yvette Cooper wouldn't condemn Jenrick and Labour looks set to support the new regulations. It was left up to the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to make the positive case for immigration. Lesley answers the claim that Scottish and English attitudes to immigration are in lockstep negativity.
Lesley was meant to appear on the Trevor Phillips Show but, perhaps luckily, she couldn't be, due to the snow. She did, however, watch and we examine how Phillips and most of the broadcast media are covering the Gaza genocide and the role of the Israeli propaganda machine.
Alba has put forward proposals that Scots be polled on extending Holyrood’s powers to allow it to call an independence referendum. It may be a smart plan but has it any chance of success in the current Scottish political climate?
We also examine the plans of the Westminster Northern Ireland Affairs Committee to try and break the Stormont impasse through, what appears on the surface, some rather odd and pedantic name and voting changes. Not so odd when looked at more closely.
All this plus district heating, tidal energy and the usual meanderings.
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What is The Lesley Riddoch Podcast?
Scottish politics dissected from a left, pro-independence stance. Each week, award-winning broadcaster and journalist, Lesley Riddoch chews over the week’s news with former media lecturer and Dundee United fan, Pat Joyce. If you like intelligent, quirky chat about Scottish society and culture, and Scottish, UK and international politics analysed from a Scottish perspective; this podcast is for you.