16/02/2017 Timeline

Poking fun at the politicians - we speak to Ian Hislop about how

satire is engaging a whole new audience.

We've got a former Justice Secretary on fixing Scotland's alcohol

problem, and Amy Macdonald is with us live.

Shereen, you've been talking to West Wing actor, Andras Schiff.

A personal hero. Yes, a personal hero of mine -

the actor who played Toby Zeigler on how he made a Scottish

anti-Trump hashtag go global. I think in this case,

this adds a little fun to the fury. Adding fun to the fury

is what satire is all about. But on this side of the pond

there hasn't exactly been an oversupply of it

in the past few years - even through the Indyref,

the elections and the But the election of President Trump

has been generating a wealth of material -

clips from US comedy shows are being shared

by millions all over the world, and sales of the satirical magazine

Private Eye have been soaring. I caught up with its editor

Ian Hislop earlier and asked why the satire business should be

booming at the moment. I think we've been noticing it for

the last year, the lead up to the referendum, then the referendum and

the Trump presidential election. Suddenly people were A, gloomy, and

wanted something to laugh at and B, they wanted information. There was

so much confliction, news, spin, coming out, that they wanted

something to come out with people to say this is like this. So jokes,

journalism, that came our way, which was very, very good news. Ian,

you've been editing Private Eye for 30-odd years, is there enough satire

in the UK at the moment? I'm game for more but it comes in waves. In

certain times when people are happier, it must be said, they say

"leave him alone" early Blair year, they were saying, "do you want the

Tories back?" Leave him alone. So it is variable, the interest in satire.

But I think it is obviously a good response. It is healthy.

Is there a gap in the market? On television, we see programmes like

Saturday Night Live doing well in the United States is there room for

something new here? It is great that Saturday Night Live is doing well.

It has not been for ages, this is a resurgence for it. Saturday Night

Live becomes popular when people are unhappy. In settled times people

said "they would say that" so again it comes when it is needed. I'm sure

that there will be more on television in Britain, there will be

a response. My worry is that the age of satire has come after both major

decisions. It would have been nice to have been more effective earlier

and may be people would have agreed with us! When it comes to President

Trump, does the satire come easy? The thing with Trump, is that it is

easy to see what is funny. What is harder is to find out where he is

vulnerable. That is where the satire becomes effective. What does he

hate? Saturday Night Live have got under his skin. He is tweeting about

how it is unfunny. That is the best response for a satirist for someone

to say that this is pathetic, that is when you know you have gotten

through. What makes good satire? What are the key elements? Good

observation, telling people essentially, something new, a

different take on what they have watched, so that they go "yes,

that's right. He does make it up, he doesn't listen. He twists it towards

himself. He does breathtakingly say what he didn't say in the first half

of the sentence" all of the observations that make it resonate.

Is a situation ever too serious to satirise? Not really, no. World

politics is never a complete laugh, is it? I don't any anyone doing

satire in the Second World War, the First World War, the middle of the

Victorian period, right back to my favourite, who was juvenile, who

said "things are getting very serious, I better do satire" that

was 1 AD. It is an old form of response.

Do you have to be into politics to enjoy satire, or does good satire

draw people into the political debate? If it is done well, it

should make you engage in politics. You are thinking you don't

understand it or see what is happening, good satire, this will

sound Reidy but it will entertain and inform.

We wanted to find out why there's so little satire here.

Be warned - a now famous Scottish insult is up ahead.

Hi there. I didn't see you. I'm doing real journalism, because when

I am, hang on, I'm a real journalist, yes, what is what I am!

People ask, where is the satire in Scotland.

Why don't we have more in our country? America has it.

I've been told, that to cut back on the gum chewing, I am now limbing

myself to one slice a day. So I will enjoy my one and only and you can

just sit and watch! Other countries have jumped on the: Scotland is the

funniest nation on earth bandwagon. I ballooned Donald Trump. I rubbed

it on his head, the hair stood up. It is amazing it reacts to similarly

to real hair?! And this guy, Andras Schiff, a man promoted to the patron

saint of Scotland as we are excited to use a word every day, to describe

odows, that we use every day. I can use it all the day. Does it

make me a hero? Are we two torn faced to make fun of our own

politics? Don't ask me, I'm from Edinburgh! What's the biggest joke

in politics? Westminster! Every bit of satire is American.

What do you think of satire? Is it good? In life in general if you make

her smile, it makes her day. It wasn't that fun but I haven't

recorded it yet. Why is there a dirth of satire in Scotland? I think

we are scared. Not here at the BBC, of course, this is the home of fair

and unbiassed journalism but to say Scotland can be polarised in

politics, it is not exactly a shock. Either half, I'm not singling anyone

out. But remember, it is good to laugh at ourselves. Remember, it

could be a lot, lot worse... Doors opening. But seriously, I do have

bills to pay, so I could do with the work. If we called all just bring

back Scottish satire. What else do you want me to do? A final dance?

Oh, I work hard for the money! So hard for the money! Please, give me

a job. We'll get back to him.

And my chat with West Wing actor Richard Schiff will be a bit

Do you enjoy a drink? Kenny McAskill is one with who does but believes

that strong, cheap alcohol should be more expense sieve.

That buying booze shot not be a normal purchase, with separate

enalcohol only tills in the supermarkets. Good ideas or not?

Kenny McAskill has made a film to set out his case.

Many Scots like a drink. I do too. There is nothing wrong with that.

But I've had issues with it, I'm ashamed to say and I'm not the only

one it can come at a cost. Every year more than 1,000 Scots

lose their lives through alcohol abuse.

It costs ?3.6 billion in total in Scotland through its impact on the

NHS and crime. That's ?900 annually for each adult.

Money that ultimately has to come from taxes. It's not just

statistics, there is a personal cost. A friend of mine died recently

from alcohol abuse, he was two years younger than me that is why medics

and campaigners are saying that action must be taken.

We have about 22 lives lost a week in Scotland due to alcohol. These

are lives that are lost often in what you may call in the prime of

people's lives in the late 40s, 50, 60s. So it adds up to individual and

family Raj Dirks but we lose a lot of working lives lost through

alcohol. Ten years ago when I became the

justice sec tear, the serve secretary tried to set levels on

drinking. This would be Vice-President alas three-quarters

of drinking is done in the home, not in the pub. It would have ended the

absurdity that a bottle of cheap cider is less than a bottle of

water. Years on and the minimum price is not in force as it is

challenged by the Scotch Whisky Association. Yesterday studies show

that lives cowl be saved. So does this show that Scotch Whisky

Association is putting lives before health? It does not tally. Alcohol

problems are coming from a range of different options. There is no

relation between alcohol consumption and price. In Scotland a loot of

what is called harmful drinkers are in a higher income bracket.

The public's view on the minimum price varies? Does it matter the

price? They will buy the cheaper stuff. If they put up the price,

people who drink will still drink and forgo something else like food,

which I don't agree with. I suppose that they must try to control it.

Too much drinking but I don't drink that much anyway, so I don't have to

worry. There are other things that must be

done and alcohol legislation must shift to keep up with the changing

drinking patterns. Surely it is time for a separate till as we do for

tobacco? It should not be a normal purchase like buying a tin of beans

or a loaf of bread. I spoke to the groups that represent the main

supermarkets, what were their views? There are good and clear reasons for

the tobacco to be dealt differently. Alcohol is different. Moderate

alcohol consumption is reasonable, a glass of wine a day may not be

unhealthy. We must be careful to ensure that the measures to target

alcohol targets the problem users, rather than moderate shoppers. And

there are the malts and the beers and the jobs and the wealth it

brings to the country, alcohol is to be enjoyed but it needs to be

controlled and regulate #d and regulate whered it is most likely to

be bought. That was the view of Kenny McAskill.

Joining us now is Pennie Taylor. Before we move on, where are we now

with minimum pricing for alcohol? It was passed by the Scottish

Parliament in 2012, having received widespread cross-party support and

the support of the medical community, nurses, people in public

health it would be welcomed by them. But it is described as ground

breaking legislation, so clearly challenging for the alcohol

industry. They took it to the court session in Scotland. They took it to

a European Court and that's been referred now back to the Court of

Session in Edinburgh for a local decision to be made it is

anticipated, obviously, not to prove judge a decision but that it will

finally get through. What about Kenny McAskill's suggestion of

allowing alcohol to be sold at separate tills only? I think it is

very different from tobacco. There is no safe level of smoking. Yet 80%

of people who drink alcohol do so responsible. Is it a licensed drug?

You would be running a system to address 20%, stigmatising alcohol

use. Some of us like the odd glass of wine and don't overdo it, so why

stigmatise and punish those? Now, 57% of alcohol is bought in

supermarkets or in off-licences and you could argue that they are

separate tills, they are separate shops for buying alcohol.

The Scottish Government is reviewing the approach to alcohol, what can we

expect? There was a refresh of the 2009 alcohol strategy due last year.

It is not published. I'm told it will be this summer. I'm hoping it

keeps up with the awareness of the #45r78s of overdoing booze. We saw

last Christmas that drink driving levels were up again. There is a

growing body of evidence to show for instance that older people, rather

than young people, who you may think are at greater risk of drinking too

much it is the older people living in isolation that are perhaps at

more risk than anybody else. We must tackle that and creditly, there has

been budget cuts in terms of treatment services. That is an issue

that must be addressed and I hope that the strategy does that.

What is the one thing you think we would have the biggest impact on

reducing alcohol consumption? Alcohol's misuse is associated with

cancer. There is issue with sponsorship of shorts by alcohol it

is about not normalising heavy drinking.

Pennie Taylor thank you very much. And and on and on this, using the

hashtag. And minimum pricing, a range of views -- lets look at what

you have been saying on this. One here from the Scottington Poat.

In Sweden there is a state owned monopoly and you have to go to their

stories to buy booze -- Scottington Post.

Now, from your tweets to a trending hastag, Shereen.

Yes, earlier we mentioned Richard Schiff who

played presidential adviser Toby Ziegler in the West Wing.

He's been very vocal in his anti-Trump tweets and he's

made a now famous Scottish hashtag - which seems to have been

originated by Edinburgh man Thomas Hind - go global.

I had a chat with him before we came on air and asked him

how it all started - I should warn you, you'll hear

the insulting hashtag mentioned a few times!

quite by accident. Somebody sent me a video of Samantha B, who has a

very funny political show, a funny woman, you're in the States, showing

demonstrations in Scotland and people saying the words out loud.

And then I just went off on the word bawbag. I thought it was the

greatest word I had ever heard. And of course know that I know what it

means I clearly get the sound and with the word comes from. Someone, I

am guessing from Scotland, I don't know, said, how about we start a

hashtag, #PresidentBawbag? And I tweeted, let it be so. I am loving

that word in an American accident -- accent. How does it feel to be an

honorary Scot? I was honoured. I accept. I have been to Scotland, to

Loch Lomond, and forgive me if my pronunciation is not good. To

Edinburgh, and of course Saint Andrews. I went up there for the

Dunhill. You are a big golfer. Would you go to a Trump course? I would

not. I have also been aware of Mr Bawbag for a long time because I

grew up in New York. I would dismiss him as someone I did not want in

front of my face ever. He has a great golf course in New Jersey, the

Trump National, and I refuse to go. There are so many good golf courses

in Scotland. Why would I bother going to his? I am sure it was a

great golf course once, but it has now been spoiled. Do you think this

hashtag will be on his radar and you can get him to react? I don't know

but I know I have not been arrested yet, and I think that is in the

realm of possibility as long as he is in power. So he has not taken a

personal vendetta by using the National Guard yet, but, yes, I am

pretty sure it has been on his radar because he looks at everything and

is aware of everything, because that is what he does. I think it is a

little tough for tend to react without spreading it even more, and

I think this is one he does not want to draw any further than it already

has. Do you think you will keep it going? -- does not want it to grow

any more. I think it had its little Twitter burst of them and, you know,

I encourage people to use it. And all Scottish people on that side of

the political spectrum who are not only scared but furious, enraged, by

this man and his power grab, that we should use it because I think, I

actually think, you know, I stayed away from insults for a long time

because I don't tend to live my life insulting people, but I think in

this case it adds a little bit of fun to the fury and gathers people

together with some humour, and anyway we can unify worldwide to

send the message to our Congress, because those are the people that

will determine our future, that we are fed up and we are not going to

stop, anything we can do to do that, I am happy to chip in, you know, my

part, and if bawbag is the way to do it, or one way to help, then I am

all in. How do you bawbag? I will probably get into trouble for this.

Bawbag. I love hearing you say that. You make it sound like a beautiful

word. LAUGHTER

A beautiful word! How did you see it again? We are in enough trouble as

it is, I think we have said it enough.

One 17-year-old in Kilbarchan is a professional lego-animator,

making films from lego sets he builds in his bedroom.

Morgan Spence has got his exams in May, but while revising he's been

working on his animations for companies like the Red Cross

Let's take a look at some of his work.

How did you start animating in Lego? I had to do a report on World War II

at school and my class had to write an essay and I decided to do

something different, a short film, using a technique called stop motion

animation. A technique of taking hundreds of pictures and playing

them together at high speed, so I spent two weeks at home and got my

model planes into a Battle of Britain fate. Commissions for the

BBC and the Red Cross -- Battle of Britain fights. Jimmy

you can imagine for a 13-year-old boy who just started high school it

was a bit of a shock. Suddenly I was doing with professionals and working

through storyboards and script and then bringing to life what this P J

Dobbs in Lego. Do you work? I do my animation is right here in my

bedroom studio, bring them to life in the small studio tent behind me.

It is quite a small working environment, so I think it is quite

magical. That it is all coming from a tiny bedroom studio. What is

involved? It is a very manual process. For every one second of

film there are 15 pictures. A person, for example. I take my first

picture of them, move them a fractional amount, then another

picture and I repeat that process hundreds of times. What is next?

University applications, exams in May, so I will be focusing on that

in the meantime but I certainly hoping to pick up a few more

projects when I have the time. What a talent!

And tomorrow, singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald's fourth album -

With her guitarist Sam, and you have busy time, just back from Germany.

But what were you doing deep-fried Mars bar on German television? It

was really sweet. It comes from such a nice place, they are all such

lovely people, and they thought it would make me feel at home, having

obviously done an Internet search and thought that was something we

did regularly. And on Valentine's Day! Yes, so romantic. Little

cocktail umbrellas in the deep-fried Mars bars. Your back and will be

performing at the store tomorrow and the release of the new album. Was it

important to you to be here to do that? It is the first time actually

I have been at home the day my album comes out. With all of my previous

ones I was always somewhere else. The last one, I remember, I was in

Stockholm the day the album came out, so it is nice to be here and I

will be doing a show on Argyle Street at six o'clock tomorrow. And

you have a European tour lined up, travelling across the continent just

at the point where the UK is negotiating its way out of the

European Union. Does that matter to you? It is actually a question I

have been asking more than anything else travelling around Germany and

France and all the other countries I have been to. And it is really

interesting, being able to see both sides, because the way the media

tends to reported in Britain is that Angela Merkel and everyone and the

rest of Europe is sitting saying, we don't care, get them out, whatever.

But over there the people I actually speak to are really confused and

they say it is truly bizarre for them and they actually feel a bit

heart and they think, why does Britain hate us so much? -- they

feel a bit hurt. The way it is reported in Britain and the UK is

completely off the reality. You're a supporter of independence a couple

of years ago. How do you feel about it now? The main reason I supported

independence is because I wanted to have a vote that mattered. Ever

since I have been able to vote my vote has not made one difference in

the UK election. Would you like to do it again or not? I think the

circumstances have changed massively, yes. Thank you for coming

in. I know you will play us out so I will let you get organised for that.

Thank you very much. Stay in touch with us and let

us know what you think we should be talking about -

we're on social media. And you can find us online,

or you can email us. Shereen and I will be back next week

- same time, same place. In the meantime, here's

Amy Macdonald with Dream On. # Never gonna cast my anchor out

I'm a free spirit, torn in a way # I can't stay here for too long

I got to keep on moving on # Nothing fades as nothing changes

This old place is driving me crazy # I'm on top of the world

and I'm on the right track # I'm on top of the world

and I won't look back # I'm on top of the world

and I'm on the right track # I'm on top of the world

and I won't look back # I was living for the weekend

And the drinks are on me # Skipping school and cutting out

I wish this world would let me be # Trying to catch a feeling

Trying to find myself # Cause this old place

is driving me crazy # I'm on top of the world

and I'm on the right track # I'm on top of the world

and I won't look back # I'm on top of the world

and I'm on the right track # I'm on top of the world

and I won't look back # The time to listen now

I cast my anchor down Every woman will go through it,

so why don't we talk about it more? His words were,

"You're far too young." Kirsty Wark finds out

the reality for some women... ..and looks at ways

we can help ourselves. I noticed a difference

almost within a week. The Insiders' Guide

to the Menopause. We really need to talk

about it more. (Whatever happens,

stay close to me.) MUSIC: Perfect

by Mason vs Princess Superstar # Four, three, two, one

One, two, three, whoo! # Let me hear you scream

if you want some more... # # Watch me work it

I'm perfect... # # I knew you were trouble

when you walked in