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Daily Record
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
BBC Debate Night to broadcast from Hamilton ahead of crucial by-election
Audience members are wanted for the show's first visit to the town on May 28 A television politics show will be broadcast from Hamilton in the run-up to the constituency's crucial Holyrood by-election – with local voters being invited to take their place in the live audience. BBC Scotland show Debate Night will come to the town for the first time for a by-election special to be screened next Wednesday, May 28. Panellists for the show, hosted by broadcaster Stephen Jardine, are due to be announced later this week ahead of the filming and broadcast, eight days before residents in Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse go to the polls in the hotly-contested ballot. Interested prospective audience members can apply for free tickets by visiting and clicking 'apply to be in the audience'. The weekly political discussion show travels across Scotland and has previously been broadcast from Rutherglen in 2023 ahead of that constituency's Westminster by-election, as well as from North Lanarkshire venues at Motherwell and Cumbernauld. Now local residents are wanted 'to be part of the studio audience and have their say on who should be the next MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse' in the special episode, to be shown on BBC Scotland at 9pm and then BBC1 at 10.40pm. Producers say: 'Debate Night is the only television programme of its kind in Scotland. It gives you the opportunity to put your questions to the country's decision-makers and public figures. 'We want people from all walks of life – you might be a parent, carer or student, perhaps you run a business or are a frontline worker; retired, self-employed, unemployed or just starting out in the workplace – we need you. It's your questions, stories, experiences and opinions that lead our discussion.' A total of 10 candidates are standing in the constituency's by-election on June 5. The full list of those appearing on the ballot paper is: Collette Bradley (Scottish Socialist Party); Andy Brady (Scottish Family Party); Ross Lambie (Reform); Katy Loudon (SNP); Janice MacKay (UKIP); Ann McGuinness (Green); Aisha Mir (Liberal Democrats); Richard Nelson (Conservative); Davy Russell (Labour); and Marc Wilkinson (independent).
Daily Record
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Be in the audience for BBC Scotland's Debate Night political discussion show in Dumfries
Former Dumfries Academy pupil Stephen Jardine will be returning to his hometown for the recording next week. People in Dumfries and Galloway are being offered the chance to be in the audience for BBC Scotland's Debate Night. The political TV discussion show will be recording an episode in Dumfries on Wednesday, May 21. And presenting the show will be journalist and former Dumfries Academy pupil Stephen Jardine. Debate night is the only television programme of its kind in Scotland, giving people the chance to put their question's to the country's decision-makers and public figures. The producers want people from all walks of life – including parents, carers, students, business owners, frontline workers, retired and the unemployed. Previous panellists have included still game stars Patrick Grant and Jane McCarry, musicians Ricky Ross and Stuart Murdoch and comedians Karen Dunbar and Susie McCabe. When the show visited Dumfries last autumn, guests included local MSPs Oliver Mundell and Colin Smyth as well as Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton. To apply for a free ticket, click here and fill in the application form. The programme is shown on the BBC Scotland channel every Wednesday at 9pm and again on BBC One Scotland at 10.40pm.
Scotsman
10-05-2025
- General
- Scotsman
VE Day: Why those among 'lucky' generation who wish we'd stop remembering war are plain wrong
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Until I was 10, I believed my father had been shot by a Japanese sniper. It made sense. He'd served in the Far East during the war and had a wound on his hand as a souvenir. I never doubted the story he used to tell, despite the fact that his service on an aircraft carrier would have made that one remarkable shot. Then one day my mum tired of the old joke and the truth emerged. The mark was actually the result of my dad trying to remove a wart one day with a cigarette. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad War stories at that time seemed so believable. Ordinary men had been thrust into extraordinary situations. Butchers, bakers and bankers were handed guns and told to get on with it. They found remarkable reserves of energy, ingenuity and ability because they had no other option. The Second World War still cast a shadow when I was growing up. My father and all my uncles served and survived but knew many who had not. A Japanese sniper didn't get my dad but he had watched Kamikaze pilots crash into troopships killing thousands. And he knew men who'd suffered unspeakable horrors in Japanese prison camps. During the Second World War, Stephen Jardine's father witnessed Japanese Kamikaze pilots crashing into Allied ships, killing thousands of people (Picture: Keystone) | Getty Images A quiet, sombre presence Commando comics were a staple growing up with the nasty Nazis always getting a good pasting from the brave Tommies. The World at War was on TV in primetime, bringing the horrors of those six years into all our front rooms. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And a distant relative was always a quiet and sombre presence at every family gathering, never the same since he'd spent 12 hours in the North Atlantic after a U-boat torpedoed his ship. These days, that all seems so faraway. The 80th anniversary commemorations of VE Day have concentrated on the celebrations and the relief that came with the end of the war. That's understandable. But the voices remembering those days will soon leave us and living testimony will be no more. Of the millions who fought, only a few thousand are now left. In our lifetime, the last WW1 veterans have gone and the WW2 veterans are a diminishing number. What happens then? Some believe a shift should then happen and, as a nation, we should stop 'banging on' about the war. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad An enormous privilege That would be a dreadful mistake. We need to understand and learn from our history. But more than that, it would also be a betrayal of all those who gave so much. Not just the soldiers who served but the families who lost loved ones, the kids who did without and the communities dented and bruised by loss and destruction. Both my father and my grandfather were called on to fight for their country. The fact that my generation has lived without that threat and fear is an enormous privilege. We are the lucky ones. It's also a responsibility. We're not being sent into battle far from home via land, air or sea with no sense of what the outcome will be.
The National
27-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Debate Night – where impartiality goes to die
Of course, this will not surprise those who thought that BBC Scotland was set up to fail, and given that the channel has persistently ignored the fact that more than half of the population thinks that Scotland should at least have the democratic right of Northern Ireland to hold a referendum should polls indicate support for constitutional change, it appears they were correct. The first question posed by the host Stephen Jardine related to public institutions moving forward after the recent Supreme Court ruling, but although the host pointed out that there were no representatives of the Scottish Greens or LibDems on the panel and that the SNP representative, Fergus Ewing 'has taken a different position on this to the Scottish Government'. No mention was made by the host that all parties, except the Tories, supported the Scottish Government. The second selected audience question posed to the panel asked: 'Is the NHS safe in the SNP's hands?' During this so-called debate, not once did the host point out, even during a nearly three-minute sermon by the Labour representative, Torcuil Crichton, that the NHS was struggling across the UK and that in Labour-run Wales, NHS waiting times are longer and the standard of service is generally poorer than in Scotland. The third question posed about what can be done 'to stop people moving away from the Highlands' was not contextualised by the host with the information that for many decades people throughout Scotland have been drawn away from their local communities because of the lack of infrastructure investment by the UK Government. That said, panellist Lesley Riddoch did make the constructive suggestion of changing the ridiculous and deplorable UK electricity pricing system which sees the Highlands, 'blessed' with 'massive' renewable energy resources, paying among the highest prices in the developed world. The final question posed related to the length of time being taken to dual the A9 and while again more political propaganda from Mr Crichton went unchallenged, no mention was made by the host that the SNP were outvoted by the other parties when they wished to divert funds earmarked for the Edinburgh trams to the A9 project back in 2007. Certainly I am not the biggest fan of the BBC's Question Time and host Fiona Bruce, but there is no doubt that Ms Bruce is 'well-briefed' to defend UK Government policies – whenever an SNP representative appears on the 'show', not only do interruptions from the host often immediately follow, but Ms Bruce repeatedly interjects with counter-arguments generally slanted in favour of the UK Government. This approach does not reflect the impartiality we should expect from the BBC and the apparent determination by BBC Scotland to vilify, rather than 'defend', the Scottish Government makes a mockery of any stated claims of achieving political balance. Of course the SNP in government have made many mistakes and could do much better, especially if not constrained by a perverse devolution settlement. However, proper scrutiny by a public service provider should not extend to blatant political bias and unless BBC Scotland's directors cease dancing to London's tune then 'Debate Night no more' should be followed by 'BBC Scotland no more'. Stan Grodynski Longniddry, East Lothian OH Lesley Riddoch, you've clouted the SNP nail on its heid (again). Independence must be up front and central in the upcoming Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. As a grassroot flyer deliverer, I have decided that if election printed material doesn't include a call for independence then I will not deliver any. There's several ways to include independence, here are some samples. Scotland stronger ONLY with independence. Make Hamilton better ONLY with independence. Reduce lecky and gas bills ONLY with independence. John Swinney has publicly committed to advancing the independence cause and must follow through beginning with the by-election. Let us see independence flying in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. John Swinney will be familiar with the question asked by the king in the ballad Sir Patrick Spens. While drinking his 'blood red wine', he asks: 'Where can a find a skeely skipper to sail this good ship o mine?' Is John Swinney the 'skeely skipper' able to sail the SNP ship to independence? His reputation will be on the line if he backs away from using independence and of course if he fails to win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. Thom Cross Carluke A GOOD and interesting long letter from Iain Bruce (April 22). While there are many things within his debate and analysis, there is one stand-out paragraph, the second, where instead of a reasoned argument as elsewhere in the letter, Iain makes a positive assertion, if not assumption, about a third party's intentions, ie John Swinney and colleagues. There is no foundation for such a statement especially as Iain then goes on to give reasons why the headline will not happen. That second paragraph is a throwaway and adds nothing but a prejudiced diversion away from what really needs to happen. Elections are about the next up administering our country – that includes the very many things and policies that affect us all and is not and cannot be about a single issue. Those elections are also about our current working within the constitution as it stands. And that is why when there is a single issue to be discussed, we seek a referendum on that issue, so voters are not distracted by all the other factors. So, while it is correct to say that post-2014 we have not held another referendum, it seriously ignores the reasons why we have not had one. Every election since 2014 has included a desire to hold another test of opinion, and indeed many discussions have been had and rebuffed by the Unionists who hold the constitutional authority to hold one. We have even had a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not we could go it alone with a referendum and been turned down. Whose fault is that? The principal problem is that at each of the elections since 2011, the electorate has not given us a single-party majority authority, we have even already tried a coalition vote in favour of a referendum, twice. The only thing we do know is that in 2011, we gained a single-party majority which gave formal authority for the then first minister, Alex Salmond, to get a Section 35 order approved which we then lost. No amount of hand-wringing and complaints by the activists alters the lack of electorate support when it was needed and counted. A little bit of thought also shows that in the event of independence, our MSPs will still be there and continue to be paid, so how does a statement about being comfortable with the salaries etc relate to the rest of the letter? Nick Cole Meigle, Perthshire THIS is just a random note summarising a sense of what has gone on this year – globally, in the UK and here in Scotland. We're understandably mesmerised by the mess in the US and (even for Trump) the astonishing chaos. What I'd take from that implosion would be the big Democrat win in Wisconsin's recent court race, decisively overturning a Republican majority – despite Elon Musk literally paying voters $1 million and the Trump cabal spending more than $21m on their guy. Here in the UK, we have the other big mess which is the latest Labour administration. It began with the abandonment of poor children (two-child benefit cap), the abandonment of the elderly (winter fuel payments) and the abandonment of principles with designer swag paid for by Lord Alli for the Labour leader. If Starmer is unable to buy his own or his wife's clothes, how does he think the rest of us cope? How does that affect Scotland and the political branch of the indy movement? Well, on the issue of funds. We always bang on about wealthy Tory donors (including, until the Ukraine invasion, Russian oligarchs). Labour have their union fees plus some wealthy donors who like to hedge their bets. The SNP have – well – their membership. But Wisconsin showed us that perhaps the electorate are sick of having their votes bought – directly or indirectly. As for the party that were swept to power on a wave of anti-Conservative sentiment – well, as I mentioned above – that credit was spent before the autumn. Farage and his vile mob – though he's tried to wriggle out of it – are damaged by the Trump/Musk associations he hoped to benefit from. In the background to all this, Finland came out top again as the country with the most contented global population. Finland – a small independent nation and EU member. There has never, ever been a better moment for the SNP to boldly put independence front, centre and top of their campaigning message as we begin to focus on the Holyrood elections. Those who think that keeping schtum, pussyfooting around, equivocating, vacillating, being mealy mouthed (not mentioning it during hustings!) – however you want to put it – are very much missing the vibe. There are times when you're trying to choose between stealth or hefting the battering ram not realising that the door is open, soup's on and the bed is made … Amanda Baker Edinburgh PEOPLE all over the world are mourning the passing of Pope Francis, especially people in Palestine. The Pope phoned Christians in the West Bank every day, while the Western Christian church bought into the Zionist fairytale and ignored the violence. The Western Christian churches have just celebrated Easter, but Israel barred the Christians in Bethlehem from attending church. It's not just Palestinian Muslims who are suffering from the actions of the IDF, there is a Christian presence in Palestine, and those Christians are also being targeted by Israel. In fact, the Christians worshippers in the church in Bethlehem at Christmas 2023 were SHOT by Israeli snipers, while they were in front of their church. Where is the outcry from the Christian churches in the UK at what is happening to the Christian community in Palestine? Where is the outcry from the European Christian churches? I do not have a television, but I do have a radio, and I heard NOTHING on the hourly news broadcasts about the IDF attacking worshippers trying to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. What does Easter mean? According to the message of Jesus, he brought peace and hope! Where are the peace and hope he brought? What does it mean if the Western Christian churches are silent? By their silence, they are complicit! Margaret Forbes Blanefield
