Browse content similar to 10/07/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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From the heart of Edin-boro, capital of Scot-land, broadcasting | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
around the world, sort of, it's This Week with Andrew Neil. | :00:10. | :00:20. | |
Tonight, Michael "Choo Choo" Portillo. | :00:21. | :00:22. | |
Diane "never left London before" Abbott. | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
And chat show Charlie Kennedy. Dreams finally come true | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
for singing superstar Susan Boyle. Violinist extraordinaire | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Nicola Benedetti. Social-ist firebrand, | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Tommy Sheridan. And your host, cub reporter | :00:42. | :00:42. | |
and Paisley Boy, Andrew Neil! Evenin' all. | :00:43. | :01:32. | |
Welcome to the Ghillie Dhu in the heart of Auld Reekie, | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
and a special edition of This Weekie, with a barely live, over the | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
limit audience of tragic tartan This Week fans and Blue Nun Addicts. | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
Yes, against our better judgement, and strict BBC health and safety | :01:47. | :01:48. | |
guidelines, we've forsaken our spiritual home in the secure | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
ignorance of the Westminster bubble, packed the This Week Transit van, | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
programmed the sat nav and headed beyond the wall that | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
Hadrian built, for good reason, to visit my homeland, before I need | :02:00. | :02:09. | |
a visa and even more vaccinations. The Irn Blu Nun is extra chilled, | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
unlike Michael Portillo. But the rest | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
of us are far too excited to be nervous, because helping us dial up | :02:18. | :02:19. | |
the Scottishness volume all the way to 11, I'm joined tonight by | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
my very own personal ceilidh band. They follow me everywhere. | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
Take it away Carrie on Dancing. More from Carrie on Dancing later. | :02:28. | :03:00. | |
Now, we thought long and hard about the most authentically Scottish way | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
of kicking off tonight's show and decided blowing up a residential | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
block that nobody lives in, long since fallen into disrepair, that | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
fails to comply with any modern building standards would be, | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
to quote the Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers, an "unforgettable | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
statement of how Scotland is confidently embracing the future". | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
But before we cross to our live demolition of Edinburgh | :03:25. | :03:26. | |
Castle, let me first introduce you to our dynamite panel. | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
Because I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two docile | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
creatures who've always struggled to conceive of anything original, with | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
or without artificial stimulation. Think of them as the two giant | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
pandas of late night political chat. I speak, of course, | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
of #McBaffled Diane "where the hell am I - this isn't Hackney | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
" Abbott, and everyone's favourite half-Scot, #sadmanonatram Michael | :03:55. | :03:55. | |
"och aye the choo choo" Portillo. And not forgetting the forbidden | :03:56. | :04:21. | |
Lib Dem fruit of their loins #chatshowcharlie Charles "redheads | :04:22. | :04:22. | |
always have more fun" Kennedy. Now, you often hear about a once in | :04:23. | :04:41. | |
a generation decision in politics. But this September Scotland will | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
take a once in 307 years decision when it holds a referendum on | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
whether the 1707 Act of Union should be repealed and Scotland revert to | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
an independent nation-state. We wanted to cover this historic | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
moment with the gravity it deserves. But Sir Sean didn't return | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
our calls. Lines to tax havens can | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
sometimes be dodgy! The cast of Rab C Nesbitt were too | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
busy tucking into some deep-fried chicken and chips at the | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
Battered Together Bistro. And the Krankies are already | :05:11. | :05:12. | |
rehearsing for panto. Don't believe me? | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
Just look behind you. So here's socialist politician | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
and independence campaigner Tommy Sheridan instead. | :05:22. | :05:22. | |
This is his Take of the Week. Choose life, choose more jobs, | :05:23. | :05:39. | |
choose homes, choose free education, a living wage, choose spending in | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
hospitals and schools, not immoral nuclear bombs, choose a new, fairer | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
Scotland. Choose independence. On the 18th of September, Scotland | :05:48. | :05:58. | |
has a massive choice to make but it has nothing to do with Alex Salmond, | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
nothing to do with the SNP, nothing to do with any party or individual. | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
This choice is about Scotland's future. This referendum is about | :06:07. | :06:19. | |
freedom. Freedom to never have a Tory government in Scotland ever | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
again. Since 1951, Scotland has never voted for the Tories, but we | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
have had to enjoy a 35 years of Tory government. Never again. It is time | :06:29. | :06:40. | |
to reject the Westminster creed of greed. The privatisation agenda that | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
cells of public services for the City of London. We don't want any | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
more of that. We want a first-class health and education system in | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
public hands, run for social benefit, not private profit. We want | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
to invest in children, not bombs. We want to build a new, fairer | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
Scotland, a better Scotland, a more socially progressive Scotland. That | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
is what we are going to build. Together. I choose to reject fear. I | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
chose to -- I chose something else. And the reasons? Who needs reasons | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
when you have got This Week. And from the mean streets | :07:20. | :07:28. | |
of Edinburgh to our little mean street here at the Ghillie Dhu, | :07:29. | :07:30. | |
Tommy Sheridan joins us now. So, independence for you isn't | :07:31. | :07:49. | |
socialism in one country. It is freedom. Freedom to build a Scottish | :07:50. | :07:59. | |
socialist society? I hope so. My vision will be different from other | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
people, but we are not voting for political vision, we are voting for | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
the right to choose the vision we want two years down the line. That | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
is why freedom is important. If Scotland was, and I know this may | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
hard be, but if Scotland was a right of centre country... That is a very | :08:17. | :08:23. | |
hard to think. It was in the 1950s. Would you still be in favour of | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
independence. Very much so. One of your acolytes contacted me after the | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
meeting in Kirk all the when I said, vote for independence and there will | :08:35. | :08:36. | |
never be a Tory government in Scotland again. He contacted me and | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
said, the Tories get 15 or 20% of the vote and they might win an | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
election in Scotland. So I said, vote for independence and we will | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
never get a Tory government in Scotland again, unless the people of | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
Scotland voted for it, and there is more chance of my hair growing back | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
than that of the Tories getting in in Scotland. So there is a slight | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
chance. Diane, you must be attracted to this vision of Scotland. I am | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
sure you agreed with everything he said. Why shouldn't they go for it? | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
On the one hand, I can see the attraction of voting and never | :09:16. | :09:17. | |
having a Tory government again. This is not an argument I am putting to | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
the Scottish people but for the Labour Party in England it would be | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
disastrous. That is not his concern. I know. The only thing I would say | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
is that it does not seem that either party in Westminster, not your party | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
so much, but Tories or Labour, have a plan B if the Scots vote for | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
independence. That could be very difficult. If | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
independence. That could be very unthinkable, we don't seem to have a | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
plan B in Westminster. Why should he bother about that when he is | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
thinking of what he would like Scotland to be? I think Andrew is a | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
bit wrong by saying it would be a disaster for Labour. I never | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
mentioned Labour in England. Maybe it was Diane. Working-class folk | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
would be very impressed with what we do in Scotland. We are not going to | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
abandon English working-class people. We are going to lead them | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
and show them that the neoliberal privatisation agenda of Westminster | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
is not the only game and you can do things differently. That will | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
inspire people. Would an independent Scotland B is left as Tommy thinks? | :10:23. | :10:29. | |
No. This lengthy debate in Scotland, and Tommy is drawing a distinction, | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
the conflation of having the right to choose, but you can be certain | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
that that right will lead to the kind of a Gaelic Terry and | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
policies, non-nuclear policies, etc. -- a Gaelic Terry. The people who | :10:47. | :10:56. | |
grace your programme regularly, and we know them well in Scotland, he or | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
his points out, and it is a valid point, opinion polls are interesting | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
but the social attitudes survey that is conducted each year tells you | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
much more, and actually Scottish sentiment and opinion, politically | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
and across a broad range of issues, is not as out of kilter with the | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
other side of the border as is often thought. Michael, in purely party | :11:20. | :11:28. | |
political terms, Scottish independence would make Tory | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
government is more likely than now. Not always, but more likely. In | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
England, Wales and Northern Ireland, yes. Why has David Cameron made such | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
a commitment to the union? Because he believes in it. He also believes | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
that for a Tory Prime Minister to lose the union would be a personal | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
and political disaster. Would he have to resign? Definitely. Are you | :11:51. | :11:59. | |
Michael? I thought you were Tommy. You would want him to resign if he | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
blew his nose. Absolutely. He would be under tremendous pressure to | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
resign. Can I keep going? May I had dressed Tommy Sheridan's basic | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
thesis? I think an independent Scotland would move to the right, | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
not the left. Check the water. It is not water! The levels of public | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
spending in Scotland today, the number of people employed by the | :12:32. | :12:33. | |
state and housed by the state and the number of people on welfare | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
through the state is achieved by very large deficits. By English | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
transparent subsidy and by implicit subsidy, because Scotland is | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
guaranteed by association with England. It is able to do things, | :12:48. | :12:49. | |
fiscally, low-level soft Corporation tax and | :12:50. | :13:25. | |
try to be attractive. He is talking rubbish. He is arguing for the | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
legalisation of cannabis, and I think he has been smoking it. For | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
the last 33 years in a row, we in Scotland have paid more into the | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
Exchequer in London than we have got back. We are not subsidy junkies, we | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
are net contributors to the UK economy and you ought to get a grip | :13:48. | :13:57. | |
with that reality. Why is saving the union important, Charles Kennedy? I | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
think it is geographically, historically, rather a unique | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
example of an historic 300 year plus successful working union, on a | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
voluntary basis, of a mixture of countries that make up this part of | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
the British Isles. And I think that, through all its imperfections, is a | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
family. Families have ups and downs and quarrels but at the end of the | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
day you are still part of the family. I think that sentiment is | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
important. But it is more than that. So why are we having the referendum | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
if that is true? Well, this library is full of books dedicated to this | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
subject. One of the principal reasons is Margaret Thatcher. She is | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
the mother of devolution. I do not think she will prove to be the | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
mother of Scottish independence. But I think the extent to which she | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
alienate it so much of middle opinion in Scotland, which going | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
back to the 1950s, through my childhood, indeed until when I was | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
elected in the House of Commons, the Conservatives were still a viable, | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
vibrant force. She lost that. And what will happen, if we went | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
independent, and this is where Tommy's Rodman would be tested, is | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
what happens to the SNP as a force in independence. -- Tommy's | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
argument. It used to be the case that they would go their separate | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
ways, left and right. We have come to the end of this part, so I will | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
give you the final word. Charles and his friends believe UK is OK. We | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
have 900,000 people in poverty because of your government. We have | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
zero-hours contracts. We have 500,000 people surviving on food | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
banks. We have poverty all over Britain. UK OK is not good enough. | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
We should be ashamed and it is time for change. Tommy Sheridan! | :16:01. | :16:11. | |
APPLAUSE Now, it's late, babe station late. But | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
don't be tempted to turn over for you free ten minutes... Just yet. | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
Because we didn't come all the way to Edinburgh without something | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
special in store, even better than Michael Portillo going commando in a | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
kit, waiting in the wings, the flower of Scotland, global | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
superstar, the one and only Susan Boyle, is here, joining us to talk | :16:31. | :16:44. | |
about the importance of roots and violinist Miss Benedetti. Carry on | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
dancing, give us something to cheer us up? | :16:49. | :17:13. | |
APPLAUSE. Fan. Now, there are just over two | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
months to go until the big vote. Amid the trading of facts, figures | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
and fiction between the yes and No Campaigns, there are those who say | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
there's been a nasty part to the vote. What does that tell us about | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
today's Scotland? We turned to Sarah Smith. This is a round-up of the | :17:34. | :17:35. | |
referendum. The big news this week was unveiling | :17:36. | :17:52. | |
the Tartan team Scotland will be wearing many the quays. Now, I'll | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
not be putting it on myself, so why not try and make my own? -- during | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
the Commonwealth Games. I wish I had as much money to create my own | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
Tartan as both sides had on creating their own campaign. ?4 million has | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
been donated to better together, yet Scotland have raised less than half | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
that much because they say they get their money from struggling Scots. | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
Better together get their cash from billionaire bankers and English | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
Tories. This spat is typical of the campaign | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
so far. Just look at the abuse JK Rowling received when she dodo | :18:33. | :18:40. | |
negotiated ?1 million to the Better Together Campaign. | :18:41. | :18:42. | |
She was called names on Twitter. There is a name for the national is | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
who spout abuse on Twitter about anyone who disagrees, they are | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
called cyber Nates and I've had plenty of attacks from them and they | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
don't like how I'm covering the campaign. This nastiness isn't all | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
one-sided. Alex Salmond's had death threats. He's been compared to Kim | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
Jong-Il by Alistair Darling. He's calling for a less vitriolic | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
campaign. We should as a Parliament and society stand up against that | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
handful of people who're attempting to pollute this independence debate. | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
We have the most invigorating and livening debate almost in political | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
history taking place in Scotland and if all of us condemn such Internet | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
abuse and stand together, then we have a good chance of driving out of | :19:32. | :19:33. | |
the debate. But round and round the abuse and | :19:34. | :19:42. | |
the name-calling continues. Teak says it's not just the scribe e-Nat, | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
it's even the Scottish Government itself. | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
Huge amount of pressure is put on businesses by the Scottish | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
Government with all sorts of threats and warnings if they speak out and | :19:55. | :19:57. | |
say what they believe is the truth. I would urge them to speak out, talk | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
with their workforces, talk about the strength of our United Kingdom | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
and vote to keep it together. That is strongly denied by the | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
Scottish Government. Why is it bitter and nasty? This is the most | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
significant election the Scots have ever seen. It could be momentous and | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
irrevocable. Some will go to any lengths to win. What effect does all | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
this bile have on the voters? Many have just switched off. A poll | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
showed 63% of people say they have stopped listening to the debate | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
because both sides contradict each other all the time. | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
Obviously what you really want to know is who is going to win. The | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
momentum in the yes camp seems to have stalled a bit. If they are | :20:47. | :20:48. | |
going to win in September, they probably need a game-changer between | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
now and then. What could that be? There will be two TV debates between | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond. Alex Salmond is a strong performer | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
so he hopes that might just do the trick. | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
At the end of the day, it's all going to come down to who can get | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
their vote out. Scotland are convinced they have the better | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
ground campaign, so if they can get a high turnout, it could be all to | :21:12. | :21:13. | |
play for. You don't have to wait until | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
September to see the results of my efforts today. An true, we don't | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
want you feeling left out associations the McKneel Tartan just | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
for you. -- McNeil. | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
Thank you, Sarah. I'm told this is it. It's not the one she held up. | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
I'm not sure if we are allowed the wear it. | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
That was Sarah and we are joined by superstar SNP Member of Parliament, | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
the man who Alex Salmond fears even more than a no-vote, Stuart Hosey. | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
That's donior career the world of good. Why has the campaign, | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
certainly on the ens, been, as Sarah Smith described, so full of bile and | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
bitterness? I think the pont you made on the edge is that we are | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
seeing tens of thousands of activists, all walks of lifeall | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
backgrounds, all political persuasions and none actively | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
campaigning for a new, independent better Scotland. But you are right. | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
On the fringe, there are people saying mean and inappropriate things | :22:27. | :22:28. | |
on Twitter and Facebook and that needs to stop, as the First Minister | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
said. Has the debate, Charles, particularly on your side of the | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
argument? The Scots are... Has it made people stay schtum? Inevitably | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
on this, I use this word "unique" again, but this is a unique | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
circumstance. In these yew niching circumstances -- unique | :22:57. | :22:59. | |
circumstances, if you are running a small business, running a newspaper | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
and has public sector advertisements, the Scottish | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
Government says this could be an independent Scotland. You are going | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
to be careful about not burning your boats or bridges rather, depending | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
on the outcome. I've also had casually, if you like, informally, I | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
can't swear on the Bible and say here's the evidence, but quite a lot | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
of scenior people in different walks of civic economic life in Scotland | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
have failed. Whether they have been pressurised directly or whether they | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
just feel it. The fact is, perception is that they have got to | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
slightly pull the punches and I don't think that's healthy. | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
Vice-Chancellor as they are known in England, and businessmen? Is he | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
right or wrong? A lot is anecdotal. We had the Scottish whisky | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
association come out today and say they haven't been worried, they have | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
been having robust discusses with both sides and you would expect | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
that. When etalk about business people being afraid, I wouldn't buy | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
this. We are seeing the huge growth in | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
business and Scotland. People perfectly compared to put their | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
cards on the table fbt. This cuts both ways. | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
You are looking from the outside in, what do you make of the tone of the | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
campaign? I don't think the tone is unreasonably bitter and I don't | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
think it will be won or lost by Vice-Chancellors. My sense talking | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
to colleagues, can be won or lost by thousands of people who haven't | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
necessarily voted before in the Central Bank. So what | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
Vice-Chancellors do or do not do is not the same as young people voting | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
for the very first time and perhaps poor people voting for the first | :24:53. | :24:54. | |
time. What do you think of the tone of the | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
campaign, Michael? It reminds me of the tone of campaigns across the | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
untri-20 or 30 years ago. The fact is, in England, probably Scotland | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
too in general elections, we've gotten used to a kind of soft middle | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
sort of politics in which people have not been very barbed with each | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
other. If you go back to tell radio of Mrs Thatcher, things were barbed | :25:19. | :25:34. | |
and tough -- back to the era. Twitter is the modern day shouting | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
at people from your car. I thought you stopped doing that? That is the | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
way people using Twitter abuse each other. That is a feature of modern | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
life. Many are anonymous as well. Indeed. What is the evidence that | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
there is momentum behind the yes campaign, because the polls seem | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
to... It's Diane's point. People who don't normally vote, people haven't | :26:01. | :26:15. | |
engaged in party might be, it's about finding people who don't have | :26:16. | :26:27. | |
the campaign. The phrase the silent majority. You can't help but feel in | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
Scotland there's a big block that know how they are going to vote and | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
probably have known and can't change their mind. We are all competing | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
over this, I think we'd agree, 20% or thereabouts in the middle. That's | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
the silent majority. In what direction will may make their voices | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
heard? The next two months are crucial. The final month is critical | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
after the school holidays come to an end much earlier than the viewers | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
watching, out with Scotland, that will really be protests moving to | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
complete and utter decision and nobody really knows about the silent | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
majority. You are trying to chase a part of the electorate that it's | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
hard to get a handle on. I suggest it's probably concentrated in the | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
west of Scotland too. Let me put this point to you, Charles Kennedy. | :27:22. | :27:24. | |
The Better Together Campaign has tried to frighten the horses. Has it | :27:25. | :27:32. | |
made a compelling campaign? I think that if you like, the bad cop part | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
of the campaign came first and I raised my voice and said I thought | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
we were too negative. I thinker getting more of the positive good | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
cop that this should be a good discussion. Who is the good cop? If | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
people vote no and that wins, you are not just putting the clamps on | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
any further constitutional development, vis-a-vis Scotland. | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
What you are saying is, no to outright independence, maintenance | :28:01. | :28:10. | |
of the UK, but my goodness the UK has got to do better. There is a lot | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
of the silent majority wanting to hear more about it. Are we going to | :28:17. | :28:25. | |
have Salmond Darling debates? I think that's been agreed but the | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
dates haven't. What do you maybe of them? Remember | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
the impact of the first Clegg debate. That seemed to go well, but | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
if memory serves, the Liberals ended up losing three seats, so the hype | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
of the debate wasn't determining the outcome. I think this could be quite | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
significant. More importantly than the First Minister debating Alistair | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
Darling, as well as David Cameron starting to pull the strings from | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
behind-the-scenes and finding the guts to have a debate himself... | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
What are the strings he's pulling He's pulling the strings, heart, | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
mind, body and soul. He doesn't talk to me very often. Do | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
you think the debates will make much difference Michael? I think this | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
thing has not in any way begun. The opinion polls are of no interest or | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
importance whatsoever. I covered the Scottish election in 2011 alongside | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
Alex Salmond and, as he began the election campaign, he was behind in | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
the opinion polls and finished 14 points ahead of the Labour Party | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
with an overall majority so that is a movement that occurred if a | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
four-week period. So clearly, the Scottish electorate is volatile and | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
clearly Salmond is persuasive. Looking at it, the unionist campaign | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
has seemed very negative. Looking at it from the point of view from | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
someone whose family came from a former colony, I'm not saying that's | :29:53. | :29:55. | |
a precise analogy of Scotland, but what I do know is, you never | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
persuaded people not to fight for independence by telling them they | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
can't possibly manage without you, that has never worked. | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
Who are you going to blame if you lose? I don't believe we're going to | :30:08. | :30:19. | |
lose. Will you blame the media, the Tories in London? The yes | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
campaigners need to pray every waking hour to win this campaign. He | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
has not answered my question but I'm used to it. It is an occupational | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
hazard. Will you run for the Scottish parliament if Scotland goes | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
independent? History is littered with generals planning the next but | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
one battle and losing the one in front of them. Let's win the one in | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
front of us. I can't answer right now because that would be to concede | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
something I am not prepared to concede, comrades. That is what | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
happens when you sit beside Tommy Sheridan for five minutes. Right, it | :31:01. | :31:10. | |
is make your mind up time. I want a yes or no. No equivocating drivel. | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
What will the result be on the 18th? Too close to call. Too close to | :31:17. | :31:29. | |
call. Now you see what I have to put up with. No wonder. I am only 28. | :31:30. | :31:37. | |
That is what it does to you. It will be a no vote, but it will be tight | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
on the night, and I have thought that for two years. It will be a yes | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
vote with a larger majority than anyone can imagine. Very well. We | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
will see if you are right. Not you two. | :31:54. | :31:55. | |
Right, enough of this tedious political chat. | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
Carrie On Dancing, put a smile back on our faces. | :31:59. | :32:06. | |
Now, at the Tories' summer ball last week in London, the wife of a | :32:07. | :32:24. | |
Russian banker paid ?160,000 to play a game of tennis with David Cameron | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
and Boris Johnson. At the SNP annual ceilidh last winter in Inverness, | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
the wife of an Argyll crofter paid five whole Scottish pounds to spend | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
the day curling with John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon. The jury's | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
still out on who has more money than sense. But it goes to show that they | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
do things differently north of the border, which is why we've decided | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
to put "roots" in this week's Spotlight. | :32:54. | :33:01. | |
Singing superstar Susan Boyle has sold more than 19 | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
million records worldwide. Not bad for a small town | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
girl who dreamed a dream. But she certainly hasn't let fame | :33:08. | :33:10. | |
and fortune go to her head, staying close to | :33:11. | :33:12. | |
the roots that nurtured her talent, and always calling Scotland home. | :33:13. | :33:23. | |
Culture north of the border goes far deeper and | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
wider than just music, of course. So, for born-and-bred Scots, | :33:30. | :33:32. | |
how much are they shaped by the landscape, the literature, | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
the history, and the whisky? And with the Scottish uniforms | :33:38. | :33:39. | |
for the Commonwealth Games, doing tartan with a twist. | :33:40. | :33:42. | |
Should we always be proud of our roots, no matter where | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
the criticism comes from? But just how important are | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
our ancestral origins, and can they sometimes cause political tensions? | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
Whether Scottish, Spanish, Jamaican, or even French, does where you've | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
come from always end up influencing where you're going? | :33:58. | :34:05. | |
And we're joined on the sofa by two people who are proof that | :34:06. | :34:08. | |
Scotland's got more talent than almost anywhere else on earth, | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
the sensational singer Susan Boyle, and the astonishing violinist | :34:13. | :34:13. | |
Nicola Benedetti. Wright, Nicola, we will start with | :34:14. | :34:33. | |
you. How important are your Scottish roots to you and where you now are? | :34:34. | :34:40. | |
My Scottish roots are extremely important. I probably heard the | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
violin for the first time obviously in Scotland, but playing Scottish | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
music. The instrument is inextricable from Scottish folk | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
traditional music. In saying that, I started playing classical music very | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
young and through that immediately started playing the music of many | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
cultures across the world. I think that always gave me a very balanced | :35:03. | :35:08. | |
view of celebrating my Scottish nurse, and the music of Scotland, | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
but at the same time simultaneously celebrating and experiencing so many | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
musics of other cultures. Susan, how important have your Scottish roots | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
been to get to where you are? They are very important. It is a wide | :35:27. | :35:35. | |
spectrum of music I have begun to cover. I have been doing anything | :35:36. | :35:44. | |
from ballads to the Bard's music. When you were the winner of | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
Britain's got talent, actually you came second but we think you one, | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
but when that happened, it is a huge change for you. Suddenly you became | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
a world name overnight. Having a good, Scottish grounding, did that | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
help? It helped a lot because my parents told me never to be big | :36:08. | :36:16. | |
headed and I have stuck to it. Is it still important, do you think, that | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
we take our roots seriously? Or do we tend to romanticise our roots? I | :36:22. | :36:31. | |
think it is possible to romanticise. I left Scotland as my home when I | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
was ten years old. I think with a little bit of distance it is | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
definitely possible to romanticise. That can be the case of anything. It | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
may not be a bad thing but distance can also give you a more realistic | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
view, and perhaps a less grumpy one. I think coming back to Scotland, I | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
experience so many different facets of it, not just from within a home, | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
but meeting so many teachers, young people, groups of audiences that | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
come to my concerts. I manage, through those views, to have a | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
pretty wide view of the country. Susan, you have stayed very close to | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
your roots. Is that a conscious decision, or just the way you like | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
it? It is a conscious decision because it is part of one's identity | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
and you need your identity to survive. You tend to lose your | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
identity because people expect you to behave in different ways when you | :37:34. | :37:36. | |
become famous. It helps to keep you grounded. Do roots matter in | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
politics? You ask the strangest questions. I thought you were going | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
to ask me about my roots. Why would I do that? Because I have two | :37:50. | :37:57. | |
parents who are not English, which I have always found interesting. Your | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
roots are Spanish and Scottish, as we can tell from your accent! But I | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
would suggest your Spanish roots are more important to you than your | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
Scottish roots. I have a much bigger Spanish family. I have very little | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
Scottish family left so I am no longer in the habit of coming to | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
visit family in Scotland. But in my childhood I was a more frequent | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
visitor to Scotland than to Spain. And your Jamaican roots are | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
important to you, still. They are important but what matters in | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
politics is authenticity. For some people authenticity is tied up with | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
their culture. I want to say how pleased I am to be on with Susan | :38:42. | :38:49. | |
Boyle. My son always tells me I am meeting rubbish celebrities but this | :38:50. | :38:52. | |
time I have met and a list celebrity. You should have heard | :38:53. | :39:00. | |
what she was saying in the green room. It is just terrible. Tell me | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
this, why has the Labour Party lost its roots? The audience could | :39:06. | :39:16. | |
probably say as well as I do. The Labour Party was traumatised by | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
losing to the Conservatives three or four times in a row. But they won | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
three times in a row. They were traumatised by it and it got to a | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
position where it was about doing almost anything to win. We moved | :39:32. | :39:38. | |
sharply to the right. But the Tories have not lost their roots. They have | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
gone back to their roots, Eton and Oxford. I think all parties have | :39:43. | :39:49. | |
lost their roots, and I think that is quite a good thing. I think a | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
political system where you could count on 10 million votes in each | :39:55. | :39:57. | |
election without having to think about them, if you were working | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
class you were Labour and middle-class you were Conservative, | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
that was unhealthy. Of course, the turmoil in which we find ourselves | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
is agony for the Labour Party and for the Conservative Party. And it | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
may be that at the next election both the Conservative Party and the | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
Labour Party get about 30% of the vote. In other words, historically | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
bad results, although one of them will probably have to form the | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
government. It is turmoil and agony for the parties but I think it is | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
much more healthy that parties have to search around and reinvent | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
themselves and attract support. Susan, you travel the world, as does | :40:36. | :40:42. | |
Nicola, isn't it quite good to have Scottish roots, because people are | :40:43. | :40:44. | |
intrigued and they want to know more about where you come from and what | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
Scotland is like? They tend to be more accepting of Scots. Sorry. They | :40:51. | :41:04. | |
tend to be... That would not be hard to understand. I am frightened to | :41:05. | :41:13. | |
say anything. I think I just did. If you say you are from Scotland, they | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
find it interesting. I have to definitely agree. I think saying | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
that I am Scottish is definitely welcomed with open arms. And then I | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
often say I am Scots Italian, and that is even bigger open arms. | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
Sometimes. But I would say it is very... It has been interesting for | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
me recently recording much more Scottish music. When is that coming | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
out? It was out on Monday. Did you bring a CD, but I forgot it is now | :41:46. | :41:56. | |
2014. Downloading. Playing a lot of Scottish music, for me, was almost a | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
return to many of the origins of the instrument that I play. And it was a | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
meeting place for me personally, because I have been playing music | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
from other cultures for the majority of my time playing violin. And yet | :42:12. | :42:14. | |
violin is so integral to Scottish culture. When I was a lad, there was | :42:15. | :42:22. | |
a great Scottish tenor, another Paisley lad, I thought I would add | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
to the Edinburgh audience. And he did lots of Scottish ballads, as | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
well as classical music. You do Scottish ballads, too. I do some | :42:32. | :42:40. | |
Scottish ballads. I do some pop music and stuff like that. I am | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
Proby more well known for the ballads. We are delighted to have | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
you both here tonight. You do not get this on Newsnight. Susan Boyle | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
and Nicola Benedetti. APPLAUSE | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us. | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
I'm making a quick getaway to catch the last tram to Leith with | :43:07. | :43:08. | |
our two saucy sofa Sassenachs before the audience storms | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
the stage looking for autographs from Diane and kisses from Michael. | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
What's that? The tramlines never | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
made it to Leith? Never mind, Charles is still | :43:23. | :43:30. | |
moonlighting as a mini-cab driver. Thanks to everyone in Edinburgh | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
for coming out tonight, and any viewers still watching. | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
And you never know, if they pay us enough money we may | :43:41. | :43:49. | |
just come back one more time before the big vote in September. | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
Nighty-night, don't let Auld Lang Syne bite. | :43:55. | :44:00. |