As the dust settles on the SNP leadership question and the Cabinet reshuffle, the focus now shifts to what policies the Swinney government will pursue. Will it be a simple battle between "Left" and "Right"? Growth has been promised but what will this mean in practice and will there be a new openness to ideas outwith the usual lobbying suspects?
Change under a changed Labour Party has been the mantra of the Starmer project. This change has been so dramatic that Natalie Elphicke, most definitely not a One Nation Tory, has crossed the floor of the House. A master stroke or a sign that Labour has abandoned all pretence of socialism? Meanwhile ,they've been outflanked by none other than Suella Braverman on scrapping the two child benefit cap, still support the disastrous "Right to Buy", long abandoned in Scotland, and have no plans to re-open safe routes for asylum seekers. Even their much heralded New Deal For Working People looks like being watered down even further.
Anas Sarwar appeared on Good Morning Scotland this morning and was put on the back foot simultaneously opposing and defending UK Labour policies while justifying the parachuting of Labour candidates from the south of England into Scottish constituencies.
Rishi Sunak in his keynote speech yesterday launched what looks like his first salvo in his re-election campaign. It went way beyond Project Fear and lurched into Project Panic. It painted a picture of a beleaguered country assailed on all sides by extremists including those 50% of us who support Scottish independence.
It was a bad set of results for the parties supporting independence in the recent Catalonian elections. It marked a significant shift in Catalonia’s political landscape, with the Socialists winning big and pro-independence parties losing ground.
Lesley analyses the result, it's all a bit more complex than the British media would have us believe, and reflects on what significance they may have in a Scottish context.
All this plus the usual malarkey and Eurovision.
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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.