On St Andrew’s Day we speak to the campaigners and politicians seeking to make the event a seriously big deal to rival St Patrick’s Day. Falkirk MSP Michelle Thomson chairs the all party Committee in the Scots Parliament while Dennis Canavan, who led the legislation to make our national day a bank holiday some 20...

Two celebrated commentators with diametrically opposed views give their estimation of the consequences of a Trump return to the White House. Anthropologist Wade Davis describes the constitutional trauma that would come with a Trump victory while Ed Martin, President of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, believes that a...

The new session of Parliament has seen rapid changes in UK politics with the Braverman sacking, a surprise return of former Prime Minster David Cameron as Foreign Secretary, and a serious Labour split on Palestine. Top commentator Steve Richards assesses the underlying state of play as we move into the election year....

In this second programme on the recent ALBA Conference in Glasgow, we focus on the range of debates on the floor of Conference. The Conference will be remembered for the dramatic move of Ash Regan MSP from SNP to ALBA, to give the fledgling party its first-ever member of the Scottish Parliament. However, of equal...

Scotland Speaks reports from last weekend's ALBA Conference in Maryhill, Glasgow where the mainstream media were caught totally on the hop by Ash Regan MSP joining the Party. We present a flavour of the Conference from the newly reopened Woodside Halls where ALBA gained their first ever member of the Scottish...

Scotland in Europe is not just next summer’s destination of the Scotland mens’ football squad but the rallying cry which has underpinned the independence case for a generation. However, many Scottish nationalists are now looking towards Geneva and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) rather than Brussels and...

On the day which was promised by the Scottish Government as Scotland’s new date with destiny, Alex Salmond ponders on whether a referendum might be an answer to the impasse between the Wyndford Residents Union and the Wheatley Group over their controversial demolition plans for the four high rise blocks at the...

In the first of a two part series, Scotland Speaks presents a tenants’ perspective on the Wheatley Group’s plans for the Wyndford Estate. Is Scotland’s largest social housing association and Glasgow City Council riding roughshod over the views of community activists in their plans for demolition of the high...

How a working class lad from Springburn became one of Scotland’s finest artists and the foremost portrait painter of this age. In this stunning interview, Gerard M Burns explains the influences which have directed his artistic output including the triptych which newly adorns the departure lounges of Glasgow,...

Meet the remarkable lady who has been to more Scotland football internationals than anyone else on earth. From the Victory International at Hampden in 1946 to victory in Cyprus, 90 years young Moira Brown has been following in the footsteps of her team, this month to the AEK stadium in Larnaca, Cyprus. Scotland’s...

With the economy flatlining, are there policies available to the Scottish Government which would promote economic growth? In our second programme on the economy Alex asks three experienced politicians what their formula would be to kick the economy into life. Former MP George Kerevan and former Cabinet Secretaries,...

“It’s the economy stupid” was the maxim which propelled the Clinton campaign to the White House. But where stands the Scottish economy right now and what is the connection with the case for independence? Alex asks two world leading economists, and friends of Scotland, what needs to be done on the economy.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 was back in full swing but, with attendances still below pre-pandemic levels, sharply rising costs undermined the viability of many productions. However, does the real threat to the world’s greatest celebration of the arts come from within and the creeping challenge to its founding...

This episode of Scotland Speaks with Alex Salmond examines the paradox of Scotland, a land of energy plenty but covered in fuel poverty. Campaigning MP, Kenny MacAskill, underlines the starkness of the position while economists Graeme Blackett of Biggar Economics and Robin McAlpine of Common Weal examine the options...

Can an Edinburgh Fringe Show reset the level and nature of political debate? David Davis MP explains why he embarked on this aim by taking part in The Ayes Have It. Meanwhile, Fringe veterans ,Peter Duncan of Blue Peter and producer Denise Silvey assess the progress of this year’s event while the “real” Speaker...

How do political developments in the other Celtic nations impact on Scotland? Alex speaks to Dafydd Wigley, the most successful political campaigner in the history of Plaid Cymru and Ian Paisley Jnr MP, of the Northern Ireland political dynasty, about the future of these islands. Historian, Owen Dudley Edwards...

This episode examines Scotland’s rights as a nation, under international law, to self-determination. Following the Scottish Government’s ill-fated foray to the UK Supreme Court, Neale Hanvey MP commissioned a legal opinion from one of the world’s foremost international lawyers, Professor Robert McCorquodale....

Join us from the 4th to the 13th at the Edinburgh Fringe in the famous Spiegeltent in George Square for intense, fiery and entertaining debates on a range of topics from Independence to Brexit to the abolition of the House of Lords to the right to strike!

We have a star-studded cast from across the political...

With parliaments south and north of the border in recess, Scotland Speaks with Alex Salmond anticipates what the new terms might hold in the autumn. At Westminster, commentator Steve Richards and Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws give their view on the state of the parties as the General Election approaches, while Paul...