:00:15. > :00:19.implications that are only now is the satire in the saltire?
:00:19. > :00:26.Salmond will be in charge of Scotland. This title is not clear
:00:26. > :00:31.yet. He may be King. Unionists and nationalists are fighting for the
:00:31. > :00:36.soul of the nation but where are the jokes? And 50 years after her death,
:00:36. > :00:40.we go in the footsteps of the artist Joan Eardley to the village of
:00:40. > :00:48.Catterline, now battling the effects of coastal erosion.
:00:48. > :00:50.Good evening. When Susan Calman cracks jokes about the
:00:50. > :00:56.post-independent Scottish currency on the Radio 4 news quiz at the
:00:56. > :01:02.weekend, she was not expecting a response is she got. She was accused
:01:02. > :01:09.of betraying her country and being racist. Does it betray the absence
:01:09. > :01:18.of political satire at a time when we might most expect it? Why no
:01:18. > :01:23.satire in the saltire? It is often regarded as the area
:01:23. > :01:33.went satire was born. Deference was dead and that was the week that was
:01:33. > :01:33.
:01:33. > :01:39.became the first show to lampoon the establishment. Is anyone not
:01:39. > :01:48.unanimous? By the 80s, stand-up comedians and of course spitting
:01:48. > :01:53.image or continuing the tradition. Political satire usually blossoms
:01:53. > :02:00.during times of great political or economic upheaval, kind of like what
:02:00. > :02:04.we are going through right now. Where is the satire? Tommy Sheppard
:02:04. > :02:07.runs a comedy club in Edinburgh. There are not the characters they
:02:07. > :02:12.used to be in politics, in part because of the increased media
:02:12. > :02:19.scrutiny of people. It leads to everyone trying to play it safe and
:02:19. > :02:24.be the same. Also in political terms there is a very overcrowded centre
:02:24. > :02:32.in British politics and there are not money differences between the
:02:32. > :02:34.policies and personalities in individual parties. Last week the
:02:34. > :02:40.issue of what currency and independent Scotland might use
:02:40. > :02:42.dominated the news programmes. By the weekend, it was dominating the
:02:42. > :02:48.London based satirical programmes. Alex Salmond who will be in charge
:02:48. > :02:56.of Scotland on his title is not clear, he may be King. Last year, he
:02:56. > :03:06.was keen on having the euro but something happened. Shall we tell
:03:06. > :03:08.
:03:08. > :03:13.them to hugger off? Hands up who says go away? No! When it comes to
:03:13. > :03:17.the vote on Scotland's future, is it the case it is no laughing matter?
:03:17. > :03:21.Scots comedian Susan Calman had a laugh at the expense of the SNP.
:03:21. > :03:25.What is going to happen is that they are not going to build a broader, we
:03:25. > :03:33.will keep the pound, we will still have the royal family, I am not sure
:03:34. > :03:40.what is going on. It seems to me that is just what is happening right
:03:40. > :03:44.now except we are not part of the UK. The joke fell flat with some
:03:44. > :03:51.pro-independence campaigners. Susan Calman they said they took to social
:03:51. > :03:56.media. If Scotland are uncomfortable with satire and poking fun at our
:03:56. > :04:00.leaders whoever they are? Do we still defer in a way others do not?
:04:00. > :04:04.Is it simply that Scottish comedy has no real tradition of satire?
:04:04. > :04:08.think there is a case to be made that says if Scotland were
:04:08. > :04:13.independent and more of a grown-up country, it might feel more at ease
:04:13. > :04:23.with itself and able to laugh at itself better than it does in the
:04:23. > :04:26.
:04:26. > :04:33.shadow of a much bigger country? That I would be faithful... The
:04:33. > :04:37.former Socialist MSP now forging a career in stand-up comedy. I think
:04:37. > :04:42.politics is hilarious and I think politics is full of characters and I
:04:42. > :04:46.think everyone is political. Therefore, unleash the humour. It is
:04:46. > :04:52.painful enough and at times of pain and poverty and asperity, people
:04:52. > :04:56.need to laugh. It does help a lot. That is why I am building a new
:04:56. > :05:04.career at laughing to the madness that surrounds me. How do our
:05:04. > :05:10.current MSPs do when it comes to bringing in the last? I think we can
:05:10. > :05:18.make an offer to George Osborne. Let us pay his bus fare in coming to
:05:18. > :05:22.Scotland to sink the no campaign. talks about credibility. He changes
:05:22. > :05:27.his position on the currency more time than I change my shoes. Maybe
:05:27. > :05:31.they were just having a bad day. Of course, comedian Rory Bremner has
:05:31. > :05:35.been working on a BBC show looking at life in Hollywood. There are a
:05:35. > :05:40.few laughs to look forward to. Until then, we can always rely on the
:05:40. > :05:44.boxed sets of TV's most recent and possibly best critical satire. Ella
:05:44. > :05:51.Macri you want the opposition to do this? We through the looking glass
:05:51. > :05:58.now, folks. I enjoyed in the studio by the
:05:58. > :06:02.communion Bruce Morton, Edinburgh's MSP Mark McDonald who has also been
:06:02. > :06:06.a stand-up comedian. And David Torrance, an associate director of
:06:06. > :06:14.the Five Million Questions project at Dundee University. I do not think
:06:15. > :06:20.that is a stand-up comic outfit. David Torrance, were you surprised
:06:20. > :06:26.at the reaction Susan Calman got? She is clearly a bit upset about it.
:06:26. > :06:31.Not surprised at all, sadly. I heard Radio 4 news quiz on the weekend and
:06:31. > :06:36.I thought it was quite amusing as it always is. Susan Calman went out of
:06:36. > :06:41.her way to avoid saying which side she was on. But became one of the
:06:41. > :06:47.running jokes that the other contestants kept needling her on.
:06:47. > :06:52.She was careful yet still she got this rather predictable reaction. I
:06:52. > :06:59.do think people have just got to lighten up. Yes, independence is a
:06:59. > :07:03.serious question. At the same time, politics is incredibly good fun and
:07:03. > :07:12.it is full of very witty and amusing characters. I think we have got to
:07:12. > :07:14.relax. Mark McDonald, we will give you an award tonight. I think you
:07:14. > :07:20.are the first Nationalist politician I have seen publicly criticise some
:07:20. > :07:25.of these people who crowd in and criticise people like Susan Calman.
:07:25. > :07:30.You have suggested on twitter that the best thing some of them could do
:07:30. > :07:38.would be to give up their Internet. I think one of the problems is that
:07:38. > :07:42.I think there are people on both sides of the divide who
:07:42. > :07:47.unfortunately seem to be lacking in a sense of self-awareness and a bit
:07:47. > :07:52.of a sense of humour. The joke is often funny until the joke is on you
:07:52. > :07:58.in politics. I think being able to take a step back and realise that
:07:58. > :08:03.these are professional comedians and it is not their job to play up to
:08:03. > :08:06.one particular side of a debate. do not know whether you heard Susan
:08:06. > :08:11.Calman but it was pretty innocuous. If you take offence at that, you
:08:11. > :08:19.would take offence at anything. not think it was the kind of thing
:08:19. > :08:24.that got me hot under the, hot under the collar. I might choose to take a
:08:24. > :08:29.different line if it were a political debate, but I was always
:08:29. > :08:33.told that a joke is a joke and you do not necessarily get needled into
:08:33. > :08:38.arguing about a joke, you engage in a political argument. I do not think
:08:38. > :08:48.we should be dragging comedians into political debate. If they wish to
:08:48. > :08:53.comment on it through the medium of their choice, be it... Do you think
:08:53. > :08:56.there is an issue here? One of the points Susan Calman said is if the
:08:56. > :09:04.English took a similar attitude to English comedians, there would be no
:09:04. > :09:09.comedy in Britain left. That is true. I am amazed that there was a
:09:09. > :09:14.fuss about this. I do not know who it was who came down on Susan so
:09:14. > :09:23.hard. It was a very innocuous remark. If they want to get
:09:23. > :09:28.offended, they ought to come to a comedy club sometime. Not in the
:09:28. > :09:34.sanitised confines of the BBC. will be more offended? Yes. Bring it
:09:34. > :09:44.on. I come back to this point, there seems to be a lack of hard-hitting
:09:44. > :09:44.
:09:44. > :09:49.political satire in Scotland. lay that at the door of the comics.
:09:49. > :09:57.I see lots of comics, not all of them are doing political stuff, but
:09:57. > :10:02.there are a few where politics does infuse their craft and their output.
:10:02. > :10:07.But you do not see it represented in broadcast. The reasons for that, I
:10:07. > :10:17.do not know them. Are you saying it is happening in the clubs, on the
:10:17. > :10:19.
:10:19. > :10:24.Internet? Lots of people.You think there is an issue, David Torrance?
:10:24. > :10:28.think there is. Listening to the report, it reminds you of what they
:10:28. > :10:33.used to be. Ground-breaking series in the 60s. They did not touch on
:10:33. > :10:37.spitting image but it was the defining satirical show in the 80s
:10:37. > :10:41.and shaped how the public saw many politicians, not least Margaret
:10:41. > :10:45.Thatcher and John Major. The concerning thing is in Scotland even
:10:45. > :10:51.quite modest outlets for such ire, those that do not cost much money,
:10:51. > :10:54.sketch writers and newspapers. At the start of the Scottish
:10:54. > :11:00.Parliament, we had a lively tradition of that. None of it is
:11:00. > :11:04.there any more. All we have are a couple of cartoonists. Ian Green in
:11:04. > :11:11.the Scotsman newspaper, he is very good at Woking fun. But not much
:11:11. > :11:15.beyond that. Is this you writing a job application? It is not where my
:11:15. > :11:19.talents lie. I think it is hugely important because it is a great
:11:19. > :11:23.leveller, humour. It takes politicians of all his back down to
:11:23. > :11:27.earth and reminds them they are mortal human being is that the end
:11:27. > :11:32.of the day and not towering statesmanlike figures. Politics is
:11:32. > :11:38.good fun. Satire can combine serious points with a bit of a laugh.
:11:38. > :11:42.wonder, Mark McDonald, whether if you think back to spitting image and
:11:42. > :11:46.all of the jokes about Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet, it made them
:11:46. > :11:53.well known. No one had heard of them before. Perhaps something similar
:11:53. > :12:00.for some of your colleagues and the opposition people at -- Holyrood, it
:12:00. > :12:05.might make them more popular. not even a household name in my own
:12:05. > :12:08.household! I think the point Bruce makes is a good point. Someone who
:12:08. > :12:13.has done a little bit of stand-up prior to coming into politics, I
:12:13. > :12:19.think there is a lot of good comedy output going on in the clubs. One of
:12:19. > :12:26.the difficulties is that... Did you do political satire? I shied away
:12:26. > :12:33.from the political angle. I felt it would perhaps lead me as a hostage
:12:33. > :12:37.to fortune given that I was politically involved at the time.
:12:37. > :12:41.There is a lot of good comedy output in the clubs. One of the
:12:41. > :12:44.difficulties is I do not think it is necessarily being given an
:12:44. > :12:49.opportunity, given the oxygen of publicity through the radio and
:12:49. > :12:54.television, but perhaps it might. A lot of good comics would maybe
:12:54. > :12:57.benefit from a leg up and perhaps the television companies and
:12:57. > :13:07.production companies, they need to take a look at whether they have a
:13:07. > :13:13.
:13:13. > :13:18.here? The point made in the film, Scotland, wee country, big England
:13:18. > :13:23.next door? There is a strange thing that happens. I see this very, very
:13:23. > :13:30.often in Scottish press where a comedian, who is Scottish, will be
:13:30. > :13:36.described as "Scottish comedian so-and-so... " I've never seen Phil
:13:36. > :13:41.Jupitus described as an English comedian. I never know whether using
:13:41. > :13:45.this adjective all the time is because we are very, very proud of
:13:45. > :13:53.our Scottish comedians or whether he we are saying- he is only a Scottish
:13:53. > :14:00.one. It goes on all the time. make a suggestion, which I am also
:14:00. > :14:04.scared to make. I'm not sure there is a great from a dish of la poneing
:14:04. > :14:08.satire in Germany, Belgium or France either. Could it be that in Scotland
:14:08. > :14:14.we are particularly bad at this, the English are particularly good at it?
:14:14. > :14:18.They have a tradition on this sort of thing going back to the Regent
:14:18. > :14:22.Sid period right back to the civil war, foreheavens sake, that
:14:22. > :14:26.tradition doesn't really exist up here I would be cautious about
:14:26. > :14:29.drawing that distinction. There are differences between Scottish and
:14:29. > :14:34.English cultural tradition there is are great similarities. I think
:14:34. > :14:40.sense of humour is one of them. The traditional satire does exist in
:14:40. > :14:44.other countries, the United States has a strong tradition, even now, of
:14:44. > :14:49.political satire and lampooning their leaders. It has lapsed to an
:14:49. > :14:54.extent. There was a lot more before. The other guests make a good point
:14:54. > :14:59.there is plenty going on in clubs, they are not communicated to a mass
:14:59. > :15:04.audience. Right. What do you think, do we have a tradition up here?
:15:05. > :15:11.think there is a tradition of that. I think, if you look... To counter
:15:11. > :15:17.my own point I was making a moment ago, I mean, the abolition of
:15:17. > :15:21.deference that happened some times around the late '70s early 80s's
:15:21. > :15:31.happened as much in Scotland as it did anywhere else in the United
:15:31. > :15:32.
:15:32. > :15:37.Kingdom we all laughed at Spitting Image Yes. Rory bream natural is a
:15:37. > :15:41.Scot. There is a fine Scottish tradition. That is not the same. You
:15:42. > :15:46.can be Scottish doing it in London, another thing doing it up here?
:15:46. > :15:51.True. There is is a good tradition out. There we are capable of looking
:15:51. > :15:54.at ourselves and having a wee bit of a laugh at ourselves from time to
:15:54. > :15:58.time. I don't think a bit of levelty in this debate would be any harm
:15:58. > :16:08.what so ever. What would you tliebg see happening? What I'd like to see
:16:08. > :16:09.
:16:09. > :16:19.happening, I would like to see a commitment... I would like to see a
:16:19. > :16:20.
:16:20. > :16:24.space this is my move tonight see the south side of Glasgow, it is
:16:24. > :16:31.getting support. General terms?I would like to see a little bit
:16:31. > :16:34.more... Development of some is a tiercle ideas from BBC Scotland, for
:16:34. > :16:39.instance. We don't have anything like that. We have sketch shows. The
:16:39. > :16:43.tradition here has been sketch shows and variety shows Ando casual bits
:16:43. > :16:49.of stand-up, not shows like the classic ones you mentioned a moment
:16:49. > :16:55.ago. No tradition of that. From your view, from your show that you, do
:16:55. > :17:02.there is demand for this? 100 people come down to our basement and they
:17:02. > :17:12.like it. It's difficult to... It's all right to do it there, we work it
:17:12. > :17:14.
:17:14. > :17:15.This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of Scotland's
:17:15. > :17:18.greatest modern artists, Joan Eardley.
:17:18. > :17:20.Eardley forged her reputation by her paintings of poor city children in
:17:20. > :17:21.Glasgow. But in the 1950's she began to
:17:21. > :17:24.immortalise the Aberdeenshire village of Catterline.
:17:24. > :17:27.Her dramatic seascapes remain among her most important works and still
:17:27. > :17:30.inspire visitors to the village. But if she were to return to
:17:30. > :17:34.Catterline today, she'd be shocked by the damage caused by coastal
:17:34. > :17:36.erosion. Our arts correspondent, Pauline
:17:36. > :17:42.McLean, has gone in Eardley's footsteps to hear about the
:17:42. > :17:48.struggles today's villagers are having with the elements. 50 years
:17:48. > :17:52.after her death, Joan Eardley is more in demand than ever.
:17:52. > :18:02.Exhibitions in Edinburgh and London offering a chance to snap up her
:18:02. > :18:08.work. She's still best-known for the portrait she made of local children
:18:08. > :18:14.in her studio in Town Head in glass glow in the 1950s. The more you know
:18:14. > :18:18.something, the more you can get out of it. The more it gives to you.
:18:18. > :18:25.That was her approach when she began a new and very different strand of
:18:25. > :18:29.work. This is Catterline, where Joan Eardley moved in 19 55, it was in
:18:29. > :18:35.complete contrast to her studio in Glasgow. What she loved about it was
:18:35. > :18:45.the fact it was so exposed to the elements and rugged. She immersed
:18:45. > :18:45.
:18:45. > :18:50.herself in it all. She would go out in all weathers and do as much
:18:50. > :18:55.painting as she could. With snowstorms, for example, she could
:18:55. > :18:59.last 10 minutes and she would go in and get warm. Her friend, Angus
:18:59. > :19:03.Neil, attached an anchor to her painting quipment so that it didn't
:19:03. > :19:07.have to be taken in over night. She was hoping that the thaw hadn't set
:19:07. > :19:12.in by the next morning. She was dependant on what she was looking
:19:12. > :19:16.at. She was a subject painter, in that way, for example, with the sea.
:19:16. > :19:21.I mean, she didn't paint it remotely, go up into her studio and
:19:21. > :19:25.do it by memory. The whole point was that the oil paint and the foam and
:19:25. > :19:35.waves should will being enter mingle. This was a retrospective
:19:35. > :19:39.held 12 years ago or so? 2001, 12 years ago. Tim Cabbs and Annette,
:19:39. > :19:48.herself an artist, brought Joan Eardley to Catterline. She soon had
:19:48. > :19:55.a home there in a little cottage she would later capture on canvas.
:19:55. > :20:01.lived, sort of, platform, sleeping platform me neon with a ladder up to
:20:01. > :20:05.it. She slept there. Down stairs was studio and cooking and stuff.
:20:06. > :20:10.that part of the attraction for her, it was a basic place? I think Joan
:20:10. > :20:20.was the original hippie. You know, she had a whole different concept of
:20:20. > :20:21.
:20:21. > :20:27.living to our way of thinking. She fitted in over time. She fitted in
:20:27. > :20:34.very well. Now that community faces a new challenge, battling the very
:20:34. > :20:39.elements Joan Eardley immortalised. Last December the storms,, which
:20:39. > :20:46.battered this coastline, caused a landslide. Locals worry it will put
:20:46. > :20:51.visitors off. We don't want to be able to walk down the road for
:20:51. > :20:55.instance. If it's covered in mud it's no fun at all. People use it
:20:55. > :21:00.all year round. Tourists come in the middle of winter. They normally want
:21:00. > :21:04.to drive down, particularly if they have old relatives with them. At the
:21:04. > :21:10.moment, they can't bring a car down here. The sooner that gets sorted,
:21:10. > :21:16.the better. And, help could be at hand. The community has already been
:21:16. > :21:23.offered assistance by Glasgow Ical University who will carry out a
:21:23. > :21:27.survey shortly. Scarred or not, this landscape still offers inspiration.
:21:27. > :21:31.Like Joan Eardley, Stuart Buchanan moved here from Glasgow, one of a
:21:31. > :21:36.long line of artistes who have lived and worked here. The fact that we
:21:36. > :21:41.are talking about her and her paintings and this village 50 years
:21:41. > :21:45.after her death, that is her Legacy. Her paintings are still... They
:21:45. > :21:49.stand up. They are reapraised. You know, people still want to look at
:21:49. > :21:54.them or find out where the they were painted. People still come to the
:21:55. > :22:00.village after seeing paintings in cities far away. They will make the
:22:00. > :22:09.trip to see where Eardley stood and worked and other artists she
:22:09. > :22:15.inspired to come here and do the same. Now the front pages: The
:22:15. > :22:25.Scottish Daily Mail, legacy of the ladette life. Drinking and smoking
:22:25. > :22:25.
:22:25. > :22:29.blamed for a huge rise in female cancer victims. The Guardian, spend
:22:29. > :22:37.aid cash, public spending arguments within the Government. Spending cash