:00:00. > :00:07.Will national testing in schools drive up standards
:00:08. > :00:30.Pupils will be tested on reading, writing and numeracy
:00:31. > :00:36.Nicola Sturgeon claims it will help narrow the attainment gap between
:00:37. > :00:42.But critics warn it will undermine teachers.
:00:43. > :00:45.As the Scottish Parliament takes on more tax-raising powers,
:00:46. > :00:48.who should judge if the money's being well-managed?
:00:49. > :00:53.the Office for Budget Responsibility.
:00:54. > :00:56.And the new Chief Constable of Police Scotland says he'll put
:00:57. > :01:09.more armed officers on the streets if the terror threat rises.
:01:10. > :01:14.Scotland lays claim to a long and proud tradition in education.
:01:15. > :01:18.But the First Minister has made driving up standards in schools one
:01:19. > :01:22.Nicola Sturgeon wants to close the attainment gap between
:01:23. > :01:26.children from poorer and better-off backgrounds.
:01:27. > :01:29.Today, she's announced plans for new national tests.
:01:30. > :01:32.They'll be piloted later this year, and introduced
:01:33. > :01:45.Laura Maxwell has been looking at the plans.
:01:46. > :01:50.These are perhaps the only children and the country who are pleased
:01:51. > :01:55.about the plans for more tests. But then they were at the launch of the
:01:56. > :01:59.new National Improvement Framework. It will see standardised national
:02:00. > :02:05.testing in reading, writing and numeracy. Peoples will be assessed
:02:06. > :02:12.in primaries one, four and seven. And again at secondary school.
:02:13. > :02:16.An education is a rate that we ought to every single young person in our
:02:17. > :02:21.country. The First Minister made the
:02:22. > :02:24.announcement at a national education conference in Glasgow were she
:02:25. > :02:29.promised to close the gap. This fundamentally is about
:02:30. > :02:33.improving education for children saw a teacher will now if each elders
:02:34. > :02:39.doing well or if they are struggling and need help. It will feed into
:02:40. > :02:45.data on teacher judgment that we publish that will allow us to look
:02:46. > :02:54.at the picture across the country to help formulate government policy to
:02:55. > :02:59.close that attainment gap. Standardised testing has already
:03:00. > :03:02.been and gone. School league tables and performance
:03:03. > :03:07.tests for 5-14 -year-olds are to end.
:03:08. > :03:15.It was scrapped back in 2003 by the Lib Dem coalition. Since then, local
:03:16. > :03:19.authorities have used different systems which cannot be compared
:03:20. > :03:24.like for like. You would think some form of national benchmark would be
:03:25. > :03:28.welcomed but of course opposition parties are not convinced.
:03:29. > :03:32.No framework will ever close that attainment gap in our schools. What
:03:33. > :03:39.will close the attainment gap is adequate resources targeted
:03:40. > :03:45.properly. That is why Scottish Labour want a bigger fund that
:03:46. > :03:48.follows children from poor families whenever they go to school.
:03:49. > :03:54.We are not convinced that this should the top of the list. What
:03:55. > :03:58.about making sure we have enough additional support teachers? Or
:03:59. > :04:04.reducing ever-growing class sizes? Or reducing the work of teachers?
:04:05. > :04:07.This is a throwback to the days of Margaret Thatcher. The days of
:04:08. > :04:15.national testing that will inevitably leads to leak tables --
:04:16. > :04:21.league tables. This won't help teachers improve the performance of
:04:22. > :04:25.peoples, it will just set it back. The Conservatives have welcomed the
:04:26. > :04:30.new tests. This is about insuring consistency
:04:31. > :04:36.and best actor so there is better quality rather than more testing. We
:04:37. > :04:40.always have the question of league tables but if we have good teaching
:04:41. > :04:43.there is nothing to be frightened of.
:04:44. > :04:45.The Scottish Government says the percentage of pupils Regini required
:04:46. > :04:53.levels of literacy and numeracy will be published nationally as well as
:04:54. > :04:58.by a local authority. Crucially, those figures will rely entirely on
:04:59. > :05:05.results of tests. Teacher judgment will also play a large part.
:05:06. > :05:13.We are pleased that the Scottish Government seems to listen to our
:05:14. > :05:23.advice. That in itself offers some protection against league tables.
:05:24. > :05:29.The most important question of all, what do you want? Because the
:05:30. > :05:39.curriculum was supposed to be about teaching, not testing. Well these
:05:40. > :05:41.moves helped make Scotland a world leader in education or Crickmore
:05:42. > :05:47.problems? -- create more problems. We're joined now from Edinburgh
:05:48. > :05:49.by Professor Lindsay Paterson, Professor of Education Policy
:05:50. > :05:51.at Edinburgh University, and Keir Bloomer,
:05:52. > :05:52.an independent education consultant and Chair of the Commission
:05:53. > :06:06.on School Reform. What do you make of the plan?
:06:07. > :06:12.It is interesting and being able to compare different people in
:06:13. > :06:19.different parts of the country is useful. People who complain about
:06:20. > :06:21.evidence because they want improvement are providing no
:06:22. > :06:27.alternative. What do you make of it?
:06:28. > :06:30.Testing itself doesn't drive up standards but it does let us know
:06:31. > :06:35.how the current system is operating, whether it is improving or not. So
:06:36. > :06:40.we will not make improvements unless we have the evidence base upon which
:06:41. > :06:43.policy can be determined and it seems to me that this is a step
:06:44. > :06:51.forward. So you are both in broad agreement
:06:52. > :06:56.on that. The outcome of these tests will be subject to what is called
:06:57. > :07:04.teacher judgment. What do you understand that to mean?
:07:05. > :07:07.It seems like a lot of political spinning was going on today and we
:07:08. > :07:13.are not clear what will be published. It is clear from the
:07:14. > :07:19.First Minister speech that results will be based on the percentage of
:07:20. > :07:26.children that have reached certain medals. It means there is
:07:27. > :07:33.relationship between test results and the curriculum. But the general
:07:34. > :07:36.secretary of the EIS said he expects percentages not to be published in
:07:37. > :07:41.that form but some to be fault of the roof some rather mystical
:07:42. > :07:49.concept called teacher judgment. So there is a lot to be clarified. If
:07:50. > :07:54.results are being collected by schools and local authorities, it is
:07:55. > :07:56.not the vehicle before local newspapers to exercise freedom of
:07:57. > :08:01.information and get the data anyway. It is quite metaphysical because it
:08:02. > :08:04.will be in public domain in due course.
:08:05. > :08:09.Just returning to that issue of teacher judgment, do you foresee the
:08:10. > :08:12.prospect that teachers will be given the chance to cover up earlier if
:08:13. > :08:17.there is that sort of sifting mechanism?
:08:18. > :08:26.As has been said, it is not entirely clear what will be published for
:08:27. > :08:35.what the rules will be so -- surrounding the evidence. We don't
:08:36. > :08:41.know whether or not there are will be any kind of framework upon which
:08:42. > :08:47.teacher judgment have to be framed. But it does look that what will be
:08:48. > :08:52.put in the public domain is some kind of combination of the outcome
:08:53. > :09:03.of the National assessment and teachers' views on how the child is
:09:04. > :09:08.progressing. It seems to me that the value of these tests is in
:09:09. > :09:13.monitoring the progress of the system and that is about publication
:09:14. > :09:19.of national statistics and to a lesser extent local statistics. The
:09:20. > :09:28.publication of statistics on those levels does not carry any particular
:09:29. > :09:32.risks with that. More CDs so, is the publishing of school level
:09:33. > :09:35.information. It looks on the government has gone for some kind of
:09:36. > :09:38.compromise and it is not clear to me what value will be attached to that
:09:39. > :09:46.combination of teacher judgment and test results.
:09:47. > :09:51.The First Minister wants to drive up standards. Is this a starting point
:09:52. > :09:56.or a sideshow? Neither because in itself it is
:09:57. > :10:08.nothing at all but a necessary part of it. Has to be strategy and policy
:10:09. > :10:15.in place to approve containment -- achieve improvement. There is still
:10:16. > :10:21.an enormous vacuum. Where are we going to get experimental policies
:10:22. > :10:25.and the possibility of trying out different approaches to tackle the
:10:26. > :10:30.attainment gap or other issues facing Scottish education? Although
:10:31. > :10:36.there have been lots of find words -- fine words spoken by various
:10:37. > :10:40.parties, there is little in the way of radical thought. The Scottish
:10:41. > :10:44.Conservatives did carried some radical other day and maybe double
:10:45. > :10:52.stimulate debate but there has been very little day thinking on -- new
:10:53. > :10:55.thinking on improving qualities of attainment.
:10:56. > :11:00.What would you do to narrow this attainment gap that all the
:11:01. > :11:04.politicians are concerned about? The attainment gap is very
:11:05. > :11:14.long-standing. There has been concern for at least half a century.
:11:15. > :11:18.Virtually every education body has had narrowing the gap as a challenge
:11:19. > :11:25.over that time. This is an intractable problem. The present
:11:26. > :11:29.government has an aspiration to raise standards for everybody and at
:11:30. > :11:35.the same time to narrow the gap. Combining those two is difficult
:11:36. > :11:41.because if you do both simultaneously then standards at the
:11:42. > :11:49.bottom end I going to have to rise at a rate that we have never
:11:50. > :11:51.achieved in the past. The question is how you can combine standards
:11:52. > :11:56.that apply to everyone overall with something that is additional and
:11:57. > :12:02.special and effective and targeted at individuals who most need it. At
:12:03. > :12:08.the present moment, policy is not clear.
:12:09. > :12:26.So what is this silly? We know that getting -- so what is
:12:27. > :12:32.necessary? It is not just about resources and
:12:33. > :12:39.probably not even importantly so. It is about the quality of teaching and
:12:40. > :12:43.learning and working with communities. What we lack is an
:12:44. > :12:45.overall strategy. We must leave it there. Thank you
:12:46. > :12:47.both. Now, the Scottish
:12:48. > :12:48.Parliament is changing. It's taking on more
:12:49. > :12:51.tax-raising powers. That brings with it
:12:52. > :12:53.the need for oversight by a spending watchdog to make sure
:12:54. > :12:56.the money is spent wisely. We already have the independent
:12:57. > :13:01.Office for Budget Responsibility, set up by the UK Government
:13:02. > :13:04.five years ago, to scrutinise Its numbers are quoted
:13:05. > :13:11.by the Chancellor in his budgets. But there's another one -
:13:12. > :13:13.the Scottish Fiscal Commission. Set up 18 months ago,
:13:14. > :13:16.to provide scrutiny of the Scottish Government's
:13:17. > :13:19.forecasts for devolved taxes. And some want its remit to be
:13:20. > :13:23.widened so it produces the official forecasts for all
:13:24. > :13:25.future devolved taxes. Earlier today, I caught up
:13:26. > :13:29.Robert Chote, who's chairman of the Office for
:13:30. > :13:32.Budget Responsibility, and I began by asking him how
:13:33. > :13:48.the OBR remained independent, If they want to put those views
:13:49. > :13:53.forward, I am relaxed about that, but at the end of the day, I and my
:13:54. > :13:58.two colleagues have a responsibility to deliver the best forecast that we
:13:59. > :14:02.can, explaining the uncertainties that lie around it, but the
:14:03. > :14:06.responsibilities are clear. We produce our best view and it is up
:14:07. > :14:11.to ministers to use our forecast to do their policies on the bases of
:14:12. > :14:16.another one. These forecasts, it is difficult to get it right. You are
:14:17. > :14:21.attacked in the run-up to the independence referendum for
:14:22. > :14:27.publishing the lowest of the oil revenue. It ended up being
:14:28. > :14:33.overoptimistic. You don't always get it right, do you? Nobody does.
:14:34. > :14:46.Absolutely not and no policy maker should set policy on figures being
:14:47. > :14:49.right. But argument I was making is that not that I'm confident that our
:14:50. > :14:54.forecasts will be more accurate than those of the Scottish Government or
:14:55. > :15:00.any one else, but look at the record. Look how big the forecast
:15:01. > :15:06.changes have had to be in the past. Oil receipts are about seven times
:15:07. > :15:11.more volatile than the 80 receipts. Policymakers need to take into
:15:12. > :15:16.account not just your best view, but the realistic confidence they can
:15:17. > :15:20.put into that. Certainly it will be hubris to think that you will get
:15:21. > :15:25.these things right. We talked about political pressure, what is
:15:26. > :15:29.necessary when we are talking about the setting up of a Scottish Fiscal
:15:30. > :15:36.Commission to ensure it is at arm's-length and it is independent,
:15:37. > :15:39.truly independent? Obviously the legal underpinning and the nature of
:15:40. > :15:44.the agreements that are reached between the fiscal commission, the
:15:45. > :15:48.government, revenue Scotland with coming up with taxes. It is good to
:15:49. > :15:52.have the rules of the game set out clearly so if things go awry, you
:15:53. > :15:56.can point back to the rules and said, this is unacceptable and
:15:57. > :16:01.things need to change. For example, whether you are being given the
:16:02. > :16:05.access to the information you need to do the forecast. But the reality
:16:06. > :16:09.is it is in the way in which you conduct yourself and your partners
:16:10. > :16:14.in this exercise conduct themselves, week in, week out, that actually
:16:15. > :16:18.works. The personalities matter as well, but that is not to say the
:16:19. > :16:22.legal underpinning, the other administrative underpinning is
:16:23. > :16:27.important, but at the end of the day, a lot depends on people on both
:16:28. > :16:30.sides of the table having a sensible working relationship. Not being
:16:31. > :16:36.sober nicotine that you expect everyone to behave perfectly all of
:16:37. > :16:40.the time, but knowing what is acceptable and unacceptable and
:16:41. > :16:44.sticking to it. Looking ahead, the Scottish Parliament's hours are
:16:45. > :16:51.changing. It is getting more tax powers, but that comes with risks
:16:52. > :16:55.attached to it. From your view, I wonder, how much of the challenge is
:16:56. > :17:01.therefore most peas, the Scottish Government to change their mind set
:17:02. > :17:04.about moving from being a spending Parliament and a spending government
:17:05. > :17:09.to one that raises money and a parliament that raises money as
:17:10. > :17:12.well. What are the pitfalls? As more of those decisions are devolved, it
:17:13. > :17:19.is recognising that you are having to make judgments over a wider range
:17:20. > :17:25.of issues. For example, over how buoyant tax receipts are going to
:17:26. > :17:28.be. The key issue is not just to come up with an estimate, but to
:17:29. > :17:33.recognise there will be uncertainties around those estimates
:17:34. > :17:36.and you need to set policy recognising that and being alert to
:17:37. > :17:42.what happens if the forecast is wrong in one direction of the other.
:17:43. > :17:46.There can be some errors you make that don't matter much for the
:17:47. > :17:51.bottom line, but there will be others that do. Those decisions for
:17:52. > :17:55.policymakers to make, but the those of us providing the numbers, whether
:17:56. > :18:00.it is the fiscal commission or anyone else, providing rich
:18:01. > :18:03.information that helps Parliament and the politicians to recognise
:18:04. > :18:06.uncertainties is the best contribution you can make. We are
:18:07. > :18:12.likely to get new income tax powers over the next New Year 's. I wonder
:18:13. > :18:17.with the direction of travel apparently heading towards higher
:18:18. > :18:22.rate tax payers bearing a good burden of tax in Scotland in the
:18:23. > :18:26.future, that seems to be the way the political parties are going. I
:18:27. > :18:29.wonder whether you have a view on whether we can learn any lessons
:18:30. > :18:35.from what has happened across the UK? Are there unintended
:18:36. > :18:39.consequences we should be aware of? If you do end up with higher tax
:18:40. > :18:44.rates in part of the United Kingdom and others, there are two issues
:18:45. > :18:50.that come to the fore. The first of which is predicting what behavioural
:18:51. > :18:54.response there will be. If you have a higher tax rate in Scotland
:18:55. > :19:00.relative to the rest of the UK, the insensitive of a person -- the
:19:01. > :19:06.incentive for a person to identify them as Scottish gets greater. The
:19:07. > :19:09.larger the difference between the rest of the UK rates and the
:19:10. > :19:14.Scottish rate, the more of a challenge it will be. For both us,
:19:15. > :19:21.the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fiscal Commission there is
:19:22. > :19:24.not clear evidence to say how big those behavioural responses are
:19:25. > :19:30.likely to be and I suspect for all of it will be a question of lick
:19:31. > :19:33.your finger, stick it up, see what direction the wind is blowing. There
:19:34. > :19:38.will be huge uncertainties. The second issue is if you have,
:19:39. > :19:43.particularly in a Scottish context, a change in those tax rates that is
:19:44. > :19:48.announced well ahead of it taking place, that lesson of the changes in
:19:49. > :19:55.the higher rate of income tax in the UK when we went from 40 to 50, at
:19:56. > :19:59.240 5p, is if you pre-announced those things, you are dealing with a
:20:00. > :20:03.part of the population that is relatively able compared to those of
:20:04. > :20:07.us on normal wages and salaries to choose in which year you take
:20:08. > :20:11.income. If you have a high income tax rates coming down the road, the
:20:12. > :20:16.incentive is to take your income early. If it is cut, the incentive
:20:17. > :20:22.is to take it later. The amount of money that can be moved across the
:20:23. > :20:26.year to year is very big and it makes understanding what is going on
:20:27. > :20:29.with the underlying health of the income tax position that more
:20:30. > :20:34.difficult. We have seen that on a smaller scale here with the
:20:35. > :20:37.introduction of LB TT. That was preannounced and you have seen a
:20:38. > :20:42.discouragement to relatives of high level transactions when the rate
:20:43. > :20:46.goes up and different effects at lower levels as well. So both the
:20:47. > :20:50.question of what the long-term behavioural effects will be and
:20:51. > :20:53.whether the pre-announcement of the major causes distortions will be
:20:54. > :20:58.headaches for us and anyone else trying to forecast these things. I
:20:59. > :21:06.week -- as we are looking to more tax powers shifting from West
:21:07. > :21:11.Munster to Holyrood -- Westminster to Holyrood, the political framework
:21:12. > :21:13.seems deadlocked. It seems the Treasury wants to continue setting
:21:14. > :21:18.the rules and the Scottish Government simply will not accept
:21:19. > :21:24.Smith Commission powers if the framework is not right. I wonder, is
:21:25. > :21:31.there the need for an independent judge of what is fair, or an appeal
:21:32. > :21:36.for which can decide whether the outcome of a particular year's
:21:37. > :21:41.allocation has been fairly allocated? What do you think? If you
:21:42. > :21:46.are in an environment where you end up with potential disputes over the
:21:47. > :21:49.fairness of the political set of decisions overspending or taxation
:21:50. > :21:55.whatever it be, whether Scotland is using treated fairly relative to
:21:56. > :22:00.other nations in the UK, you how to ask whether that is the sort of
:22:01. > :22:04.issue that a technocrat ik body like ours can sensibly be given, or at
:22:05. > :22:08.the end of the day is it simply political and you have to go back?
:22:09. > :22:12.Take the example of an independent committee being set up to decide
:22:13. > :22:17.whether or where there should be another runway in South is England.
:22:18. > :22:23.You can come up with a technocrat ik view, but it comes back to a
:22:24. > :22:28.political decision as to who the winners and losers are. I am
:22:29. > :22:34.relatively sceptical about having technocrats dealing with issues that
:22:35. > :22:37.are too political. Technocratic bodies are better dealing with
:22:38. > :22:41.bodies that are not political, coming up with the best forecast
:22:42. > :22:48.rather than deciding who will win or lose. Obstinately politicians have
:22:49. > :22:52.to get together and agree? That is the case. If you have independent
:22:53. > :22:57.analyses that come provide the evidence base that both sides can
:22:58. > :23:02.reach decisions on, but deciding who should win or lose in a particular
:23:03. > :23:08.judgment is a difficult if not impossible one. Thank you very much
:23:09. > :23:10.indeed. Now, today saw the first episode
:23:11. > :23:12.of the year of that long-running Today, a new story line emerged
:23:13. > :23:16.with the SNP's Angus Robertson attacking David Cameron,
:23:17. > :23:18.over the looming threat of strike action by junior
:23:19. > :23:31.doctors in England. Angus Robertson. The Scottish
:23:32. > :23:35.Government has been investing record levels of funding in the NHS in
:23:36. > :23:44.Scotland and works hard to have the best possible relations with the
:23:45. > :23:51.doctors and nurses and NHS staff. With two will be Home Secretary
:23:52. > :23:57.speak to his Scottish counterpart to stave off any form of industrial
:23:58. > :24:03.action. There should always be good relations between the Health
:24:04. > :24:05.Secretary and health ministers in the devolved administrations. When
:24:06. > :24:11.we make a decision to increase funding in the NHS as we have done,
:24:12. > :24:16.?19 billion more in this Parliament, that has consequences for Wales and
:24:17. > :24:20.Scotland and Northern Ireland under the Barnett formula and I find it
:24:21. > :24:24.very depressing that the Welsh have decided under Labour to spend less
:24:25. > :24:26.than we are planning to spend and Scotland has done the same thing.
:24:27. > :24:28.Well, joining me in the studio are the journalists David Leask
:24:29. > :24:41.Thank you for joining us. As we saw there, Pennie, Angus Robertson
:24:42. > :24:47.making political capital about junior doctors in Scotland not
:24:48. > :24:53.striking and a strike is looming. Was a move, making a direct
:24:54. > :25:00.comparison? Junior doctors in Scotland are not going on strike
:25:01. > :25:04.next week as they are in England, but Scotland has no room for
:25:05. > :25:10.complacency as far as our health and care services go. Over the last year
:25:11. > :25:14.or so they have been warnings of ?450 million shortfall is in
:25:15. > :25:19.Scotland. We have had audit Scotland saying that things are per Kerry is.
:25:20. > :25:24.We have had the one medical colleges and the Royal College of Nursing
:25:25. > :25:28.saying change as to happen all the way that we operate is not
:25:29. > :25:33.sustainable. Actually, saying there is record levels of spending in
:25:34. > :25:36.Scotland is another kind that can certainly be analysed. England has
:25:37. > :25:41.spent a far higher percentage on health than Scotland has over recent
:25:42. > :25:45.years. Yes indeed and this disputes with junior doctors is because the
:25:46. > :25:51.English NHS wants to move to a seven-day week service. We are not
:25:52. > :25:55.doing that here, are we? We are not. I have been doing a lot of
:25:56. > :26:01.interviews recently with defeated Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs may
:26:02. > :26:05.have been saying the same thing, how does the SNP managed to be an
:26:06. > :26:11.opposition and a government at the same time? We just saw Angus
:26:12. > :26:20.Robertson doing that. We are comparing our services with those in
:26:21. > :26:25.England. Tomorrow marks a year since the attack on the French magazine
:26:26. > :26:37.Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The gunmen shot dead of people. The Scottish
:26:38. > :26:41.Government is planning to mark the day. The new Scottish Chief
:26:42. > :26:45.Constable says he would deploy more officers if the threat from
:26:46. > :26:51.terrorism deemed impossible. David, what more did he have to say? This
:26:52. > :26:54.is a familiar line from policing, that if the terror threat is high up
:26:55. > :27:01.we will have two adapts to it. There are a lot of myths regarding armed
:27:02. > :27:07.policing. A lot of us think that there are more armed police around,
:27:08. > :27:17.but they aren't -- but there aren't, they are just more visible. When
:27:18. > :27:22.they are armed, do they do normal duties? Do they wait around in cars
:27:23. > :27:28.to see if there will be some horrible Paris style attack? If you
:27:29. > :27:35.put more effort into that, we have a budget crisis in the police system,
:27:36. > :27:43.can you do the things you want to do? There will be people who say,
:27:44. > :27:47.here we go again. Stephen house tried to introduce more armed police
:27:48. > :27:53.on the beat. Will this be more of the same? The problem with the
:27:54. > :27:57.earlier incident is that it was not that transparent. Photographs
:27:58. > :28:01.started circulating of armed police in supermarket aisles. The
:28:02. > :28:04.difference would be that if it was very transparent because frankly, I
:28:05. > :28:08.then see any point having armed police who are not very visible
:28:09. > :28:12.because you would want to know that there are armed police out there if
:28:13. > :28:20.that is the way you went. It does concern me that there would be some
:28:21. > :28:25.blanket go-ahead for it because as you have said, David, I would want
:28:26. > :28:28.to know, for instance, if a car spun off the motorway that someone would
:28:29. > :28:34.not have to live there for three days before they were picked up,
:28:35. > :28:38.even though it was reported to the police. There are fundamental police
:28:39. > :28:43.issues that need addressing as well. You spoke to the Chief Constable.
:28:44. > :28:48.Did you get the impression that he was keen to put bums on police
:28:49. > :28:53.officers, or is it a last resort? My impression was that he was in
:28:54. > :28:57.thinking mode. He was trying to understand what the needs of
:28:58. > :29:00.policing in Scotland are. He did give me the bridge and that he was
:29:01. > :29:05.rushing to make any judgments. Let's move on to something more
:29:06. > :29:11.light-hearted. A new shock jock is taking to the airwaves. Alex Salmond
:29:12. > :29:16.is to host his own radio phone in show. Let us take a look at him in
:29:17. > :29:28.action. He is reading some tweets about himself. I wish I had a
:29:29. > :29:34.machine that could zap Alex Salmond 's voice when he is on the radio. It
:29:35. > :29:42.is called the off switch. The Alex Salman phoneme. Pennie, would that
:29:43. > :29:47.make you tuning? Certainly for the novelty will. He says he is going to
:29:48. > :29:52.shoot from the hip. I suspect it will be more shooting from the lip.
:29:53. > :29:59.He is in good company. That radio station has Boris Johnson and Nigel
:30:00. > :30:04.barrage. He can be quite blunt, a good starting point for a shock
:30:05. > :30:10.jock. I wonder how much Nicola Sturgeon is looking forward to him
:30:11. > :30:15.shooting from the hip. If they've been robbed of thousand of us had
:30:16. > :30:21.voted differently, this man could be the leader of a sovereign state.
:30:22. > :30:27.Instead he is doing some slightly embarrassing radio show. Is he in
:30:28. > :30:36.good company? Nick Clegg, Tommy Sheridan. Let us see how he does.
:30:37. > :30:43.The proof will be in the listeners. And you will be tuning in? Perhaps.
:30:44. > :30:49.He could do off the ball. He was quite good at that. Thank you very
:30:50. > :30:51.much indeed. Shelley will be back at the same
:30:52. > :30:56.time tomorrow night. The link between the cars
:30:57. > :31:06.we choose to drive, air pollution and ill-health is under
:31:07. > :31:12.greater scrutiny than ever before.