29/11/2011 The One Show

Hello. Welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker And Alex Jones. Tonight,

our guest shares a birthday with Mary, Queen of Scots and he was

born on Hogmanay. It is harder to get much skash than the First

Minister of Scotland, it's Alex Salmond. Your birthdays must be

massive? The entire country celebrates. We have to say a very

big thank you for the lovely box of presents you sent into us. It is a

big box. It is rammed full of stuff. Cheese. Bits of tartan there.

I cannot believe they gave all that to you.

I once went with them to New York. You know the updraft, they did that

with their kilts. A large crowd assembled in Times Square. There

was an understanding Irish policeman, so we did not get

arrested. Cheese and biscuits. To be fair, you cannot run a country

on cheese and biscuits. That's not biscuits, that's oatcakes. Rough

otmeal. We thought we would give you some

gifts. Here are some scarves. I have a Welsh one here for you, keep

you nice and warm in the winter. Here's a "come on England." You can

put this on. I want this on VT - OK! Tonight we are celebrating

Scottishness. We want to see the most Scottish photos you have. I am

back from a loch myself. Send in your pictures. We will look at them

later. Do you agree that independence should be restored to

Scotland? E-mail us at the usual address. First, time for some

horrible history, to warm us up for phrases like "devolution" and

everything between, we invited someone special here. Here from the

BAFTA winning comedy series Horrible Histories it's Bob Hale.

Right, that there is Scotland, currently part of the United

Kingdom. It has not always been a kingdom. It has not always been

united. Back to the late iron age we find it is home to the Picts.

The Romans turn up. By 122AD a giant wall is built across the

country, sealing in the Pickss. That is the end of that.

-- Picts. That is the end of that. This king conquered the rest of the

Picts. He is first king of Scotland. A Scottish king called Alexander

the third goes and dies. He left behind a power vacuum. No, the

other kind! Yes, since no-one can agree who should be the next

Scottish king, the English king, Edward I volunteers to sort out the

mess. What a nice guy - right? No, he appoints himself which makes him

the new king of Scotland. The Scots don't like being ruled by the

English which is where William Wallace came in. He had nice knees

and a better accent than Mel Gibson. He gets captured and has his brave

heart pulled out, and his brave liver, and lungs. In 1314 Scotland

wins back freedom. So it's all plain sailing, until in 1586 Queen

Elizabeth finds out Mary, Queen of Scots is planning to kill her. She

has her head cut off. When Liz dies in 1603Mary's son, James, claims

the English throne, making him the king of Scotland and England. When

the Act of Union was passed, making it into Great Britain, Scotland's

days as an independent nation are over. Or are they? Some people want

to see Scotland free again from what they see as English rule,

which is why in 1999 the Scots devolved, which does not mean they

turned back into apes, it means they have their own Parliament

within the United Kingdom. That is the end of that.

But, not for long. Some Scots say this is not enough, which is high

this man comes in, yes, it is Alex Salmond, who believes Scotland

should be independent from Great Britain or semi independent thanks

to a plan like devo-max. Will people choose to stay united with

England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Will they break away? Will they

choose something between the two? Will I ever shut up? One question I

can answer right now by doing this. Yes! What about that? Pretty good.

I am sure you would agree. I loved the stuff about devolution

and evolution. They used to say that devolution took longer.

Very good! Loads of people like the idea of a United Kingdom, with

Scotland part of it. Why is that wrong? Why do you want

independence? Scotland is a nation. Nations are independent. They does

not mean they don't co-operate. We will be on the same island. We

would have the same Queen. We would be best pals, occasionally, at

least! We would be the best of friends. We would govern ourselves.

We would make our own way in the world. Stand on our own two feet:

Opinion polls suggest the majority don't want independence. You have

another option, which is devo-max. Can you explain a little bit about

that? Well, devo-max is basically financial independence. You keep

foreign affairs still at Westminster. The economy would be

run from Scotland. We are after independence. The reason I want to

put it to the test is I want people to have the opportunity to vote for

independence. I think Scotland should become an independent

country. Horrible Histories is great. The books are magnificent.

They showed the bit about James I. It was 100 years when we had the

same king and Queen, but were independent countries. It is

feasible to do this. Be independent and share the same monarchy.

did you come one the idea of devo- max Well, I didn't actually come up

with the idea of devo-max. A lot of people in Scotland articulate that

position. All I said is, look, it would be reasonable to give people

a choice on that as well as independence. The choice I will

argue for is an independent Scotland. I want Scotland to be an

independent country. Independence is the normal status.

We have got viewers' questions. We have had one from Mr D Cameron from

Westminster. He would like to know, when will you give people the

chance to vote? I don't believe it is David Cameron, not after the

mauling you gave him on the show when he appeared earlier this year!

That is never David Cameron! The second half of the parliamentary

terms, that starts in 2014. That is what we said in the election. We

did win a big victory. We should stick to what we said in the

election. I know.... Sticking to what you said in the election, that

is a new concept for Downing Street. It is a useful thing to do.

other thing which is unclear is what will be in the ballot paper -

what options? There will be the question "do you want Scotland to

be an independent country?" the only question is whether there

should be a second question or another question on this option of

devolution max. We will ask people to say "Yes" or "No." All the other

political parties disagree. You are a competitive man yourself. Who is

going to win? Scotland will become an independent country. I am

certain of that. Parties are entitled to their point of view.

There are four significant parties in Scotland. We did out poll all of

them together. We got more votes than the other three put together

in the elections this year. Now, I am not saying that in a boastful

way, well, actually I am. Just because there are three parties

arguing against Scottish independence, it does not mean they

will win. If the arguments are right. If you argue a positive,

optimistic case for independence, my goodness we need optimism these

days. If we win the arguments then we'll win the referendum. We have

other questions for you. Here they are.

Hello, Mr Salmond. If Scotland has their independence, will we have

our free prescriptions? If we broke away from the union who would pay

my pension? I want to know if I receive further education in

Scotland will I receive the same fees as Scottish students? This

refers back to Scots having � 1624 more than others. Who will pay for

those things - education, prescriptions? We introduced free

prescriptions. And free tuition fees as well. If you look at both

sides of the balance sheet, revenue and expenditure Scotland has run a

surplus for the last five years. �1500 a head for every man, woman

and child in the country. Why? Scotland has more expenditure on

certain things. You have to look at both sides of the balance sheet.

Are you confident? I am extremely confident. Also about growing the

economy. Not just about the situation now. It is about how you

grow the economy in the future. After the Autumn Statement and the

goings on in the House of Commons, getting a bit of growth, movement

into the economy is really, really important. OK, we have another

question from Alex in Manchester. live in England - would I get a

vote on a referendum for Scottish independence? That is a good

question, what about people in Northern Ireland, England and Wales

would they be able to vote? If he moves to Scotland he would get a

vote. When you decide on independence, it's the people who

are living in the country, regardless of where they are from.

They can be Scotland, England or Wales or Northern Ireland, or

Timbuktu for that matter. It is people who have chosen to live in

the country, on the electoral role. Every single nation on Earth, which

has had a referendum on independence and there have been

many, many of them, it has always been people on the voters' roll.

There is talk about a referendum on the European Union, a lot of Tories

at Westminster want that. If there were such a referendum you would

not expect people in France or Germany to vote about the European

referendum. It feels so connected. One argument I am putting across is

I want Scotland to be an independent country. I want us to

be best pals. You want to keep the Queen? Why not? She is Queen of

Scots. She is Queen of Australia, why not Queen of England and Queen

of Scots as well. Like Australia then? Yes. Were you at the races

there? You offer tips, I understand. There is a great formalty of these

things. What I say to the Queen and what the Queen says to me, it is a

strict secret, but the answer is yes. Mike Dilger has been to the

Cairngorms a couple of miles away from Mr Salmond's home from

Strichen. Pine martens climb trees or roam the ground, hunting birds,

rodents in prime habitat. Historically they are one of our

most abundant karnvors. By the early 20th century they were

persecuted to near extinction and were running out of places to hide.

Hunted by gamekeepers they lost their woodland habitat when it was

axed for crops and could only be found in tiny pockets of north-west

Scotland. There is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel

because these little critters are making a comeback. Miranda

Krestovnikoff is doing field work here in the Cairngorms. The numbers

have increased in the past 20 years. There is a lot more forest cover.

There is more plantation. Natural forest cover is regenerating. They

are protected now. Laura thinks that pine martens need more than

extra woodland to thrive here. need mature forests. They will

use... Like here? Yes, they will use it for den sites. They need

open areas like this. Their main food is field voles.

To see if her hunch is correct, Laura is trying to count the pine

martens in thicker area of grass land. -- grassland. Finding them is

You can look for tracks, but even if you find some you don't know if

there is one or 100. Nor has turned to simple CSI science to get an

accurate count. This is a Hare tube. We put a small trail of peanut

butter up the tree and some based inside. When the pine marten puts

its head inside the tube, we have sticky pads inside here. We can

collect a hair sample. From that, we can get DNA. We can tell which

individual pine Marten has left the sample. It gives us a more accurate

way of telling how many are in the forest. Nor has placed 58 traps

like these across different types of woodland habitat. And she has

collected plenty of hair. We have about 70 samples so far. That is

some really healthy populations of pine martens. It looks like, with

increased levels of fragmentation, you actually get more of them.

nutshell, a few trees, a bit of grassland and a bit of heather, and

it is a very happy animal? Exactly. The variety of habitat provides

plenty of food to see them through the bleak months. They are true

opportunists and take advantage of any offering. Here, it is no

different. This is an average holiday cottage on the outskirts of

an average Scottish town. But it has an above average visitor. A

pine Marten has been seen regularly coming to free handouts just

outside the window. Using some tried and tested peanut butter and

jam, I have been told it should He is a little bit unsure. But he

knows the food is there. He knows I am here, he has just looked at me.

My word. He is letting the jam. That is fantastic. I am so close,

you can see all of those amazing features. That pointed snout, the

beautiful, creamy coloured ears and that fantastic, thick, bushy tail.

Of course, pine martens will eat birds eggs, mice, carry on, fruit.

Life is pretty tough, so they are not averse to a freak handout. I

love the way they stand up like that. Persecuted almost to

extinction, the pine marten's recovery has to be one of the

A bit of stubble on Mike Dilger, I haven't seen that before.

wonderful creatures, as well! haven't been lucky enough to see

any, but you do have otters in your garden? I haven't seen pine martens,

but we do have otters up in Strichen. But they detect you

straight away and go back into the river. Miranda is here to give us

some news on more creatures that are seen mainly in Scotland.

Absolutely. I am going to introduce you to the pilot of the seas. It is

the great skua, sometimes known as the bonxie. It is very aggressive.

It eats puffins and it attacks other sea birds, like gannets,

forcing them to give up their food. It must be rock hard to go and try

and get into a fight with a gannet. They have been known to take small

arms. There is hopeful that they have even taken babies in the past.

They have got protection at the moment. Another bird that has been

persecuted in the past, one that is really associated with Scotland, is

the golden eagle. It is a real sight to see, with a wingspan of

over two metres. They thrive in areas where they are away from man.

They have no natural predators, just us. They don't really badly in

areas where there is grouse shooting and they have been shot

and poisoned. There are now 442 breeding pairs. They are doing well.

And a couple of brand new animals arriving? Berwick's lighting used,

Edinburgh zoo is going to receive the first pandas in the UK for 17

years. They are called Tian Tian, which means naive -- Sweetie and

I have brought you a present to celebrate. This is trying s

Scotland tartan. You never miss an Red for China, blue for Scotland

and green for the connection. I am going off to China on Friday. The

pandas arrived and I go off to China. All we need for this little

party is a little bit of singing. You an excellent singer. In fact,

# Oh, Rowan Tree. You know how to end a political

career, don't you? I haven't done any dancing yet. Which do you

prefer? You did the Charleston last week. It was great, Craig was very

mean to you. But that helped you get the votes. Did you vote for me.

Well, I will next week. Speaking of contests, would you plan on doing

Eurovision? I think you should, after that. If Scotland were

independent, you would have to do that. It would have to be someone

at write their own stuff, quality material. That's another argument,

we would enter, you would enter, it would give us more chances. Anyway,

over to you for some more questions. People from both sides of the

border have been asking about the armed forces. Mr Salmond, what will

happen with the British troops abroad, when the Scottish are

separated from the English troops? I aim to join the RAF after I leave

school, if Scotland get independence, what they remain part

of the armed forces? What is your answer to that? The answer is that

any country in the Commonwealth, people can join the British Army.

There are 80,000 members of the British Army from Commonwealth

countries. So people would have the choice. They could stay in the

British Army, joined the British Army or they could join the

Scottish defence forces. The overall riding reason why we want

the Scottish defence force is that we do not want a new generation of

nuclear missiles in Scotland. We do not want a replacement for Trident.

That is a pretty powerful argument for having your own armed forces.

But people would have the choice. Nobody is going to have anything

taken away. It is an additional choice that people would have.

have a question from South Wales. was wondering if Scotland is going

to become an independent country, will it still be involved in The

Lions' British team? It all comes down to Sport! Remember, it is the

British and Irish Lions. So it will be the British, Irish and Scottish

Lions. What about Team GB? We would have our own Olympics team, like in

the Commonwealth Games. The British, Irish and Scottish Lions, that has

a ring to it. I will bring all of my Sky Arts. What about the BBC?

I wouldn't deprive people of The One Show. We should say hello to

everybody in Northern Ireland, watching us at the moment.

would people in an independent state be able to watch you now?

Ireland, they are showing EastEnders after this programme

this very night. The same episode. But you would be able to watch the

BBC programmes as well. We are drilling you! Can I rephrase the

answer, yes, as long as you keep inviting me on! We are looking for

a new arts expert, actually... Tuffnell has been taking a look at

the work of Ford Maddox Brown, a man who would stop nothing until

the job was done. Drinkers at the Ford Maddox Brown

in Manchester probably haven't given much thought to the pub's

name. They are here for a pint, not a painting. This is the only pub

and Manchester named after an artist. Ford Maddox Brown lived

from 1821-1893. His work is quite literally at the centre of

Manchester's industrial heritage. You can see it in an unexpected

place. No, not here. Or even at the major retrospective of his work

that is currently taking place across Manchester. Some of his

greatest paintings are not found in a gallery at all. It is in here,

Manchester Town Hall. Northern, industrial cities like Manchester

wanted to show they had arrived on the world stage. Editor and it is a

local historian who knows the town hall Inside Out. �70,000, it cost.

He wanted to say, look what we have done, look what we can build here,

look how important we are now. a fantastic hall. This is the great

hall inside Manchester Town Hall. John Ruskin called it the finest

apartment in Britain. It is like a medieval banqueting hall. When it

opened, the walls were bare. They needed an artist to come in. That

is where Ford Maddox Brown came in? He was one of the greatest artists

of the day, mentor to the Pre- Raphaelites. He was known for his

attention to detail and historical storytelling. He was the perfect

choice to paint scenes from The 12 murals were commissioned to

be a highly visible celebration of Manchester's emerging power as an

industrial centre. They are terrific. But I can't help thinking

that they don't really fit with the dirty, smoggy, industrial

Manchester I learned about at school. Dr Julian Treuherz is a

Victorian art expert who are think can tell me why. Are these

paintings are a true representation of Manchester's history? Not really,

they were done in the Victorian age and they are a very Victorian idea

of what history was about. The Victorians thought it was in

artistic to show anything to real about industry. There is only one

painting that I know that shows a mill, with mill girls, in the whole

of Victorian art. This represents the industrial revolution in these

murals. It doesn't look very industrial. We have a little bit of

coal at the front. Otherwise, it is a scene of colour, celebration. It

doesn't really show the dirt and the grime, the smoking factories

that were characteristic of Manchester. He started work on his

highly personal vision of Manchester's History in 1879 and he

spent the last 14 years of his life completing the works. As you might

imagine, for such a major project, the work was hard. He ran into a

few problems. Being a true Pre- Raphaelite, he wanted to be very

realistic. He brought a live pig to model for this picture, into the

town hall. There was an organ recital going on. The pig escaped,

causing absolute mayhem. This one was the last one he painted. He had

a stroke while he was doing it. He had to paid most of it with his

left hand. That is why it is a bit rough looking. The murals are by no

means a literal record of Manchester's history. But they are

the work of a visionary. It's amazing to think that one of the

most important works by such an important artist is permanently

available. Just not quite where you I have to say, I think you have

answered more questions than anybody else on The One Show. We

are going to hit you with some more. We have one from Bob. He says, of

course we should not split from the UK. What happens to the millions of

exile Scots who left for economic reasons? Do we have to have an

English passport? I think that is a reason for Scotland becoming

independent, so we do not have to have people leaving the country to

find employment. You would not need a passport to get from Scotland to

England, no more than you do now from the Irish Republic to Northern

Ireland. What about Scots living outside Scotland? Would they have a

vote? In terms of the referendum, the people that vote will be the

people in Scotland. I am hoping that as Scotland becomes

independent, many expats around the world will come back and take part

in what is going to be an exciting new adventure for the country.

Thank you for your pictures on Her mum and sister being eaten by

the Loch Ness monster. Gammie writes, is the Loch Ness monster

real? Absolutely. OK... This is Dale Martin on St Andrews Day at

base camp in Mount Everest. Talking of separation, you mentioned Craig