Welcome to the Full Scottish from our Cowcaddens Studio in Glasgow.
Full Scottish starts at 12:00 midday on Sunday 3rd March 2020
This week, the Full Scottish is presented by Kenny McBride with guests, James Dornan, SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart and Sam Paton from the Save Loch Lomond Campaign.
As the number of new Coronavirus cases in China falls, Australia and the US have seen the first deaths from the disease and here at home, the Scottish Government has issued updated advice and details of its preparations for dealing with the COVID-19 Coronavirus in Scotland.
There has been a strand of thinking for a long time which believes that farming and fishing are not important to the UK economy and food can be imported cheaply from the US and elsewhere. This metropolitan London neo-liberal thinking, takes no account of food security and the need of a country to feed itself regardless of what is happening elsewhere in the world. It also misses the fact that while it may be only a very small part of the UK economy, farming and fishing are of major importance in Scotland.
While some in the media would like to portray the spat between Priti Patel and Sir Philip Rutnam as a personality clash, there are many who believe it to be symptomatic of something much uglier. At its core it represents the dismantling of the checks and balances in the unwritten UK constitution, also reflected in the threats to the civil service, judiciary and the BBC by Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings.
Sometimes, governments need to be reminded that they cannot act with impunity. In the general election in Slovakia yesterday, the ruling party was ousted over aner the 2018 murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, and his fiancé Martina Kusnirova. Kuciak had been investigating high-level corruption in the country.
28 years ago today, Bosnia & Herzegovina voted declared independence following a majority vote in a referendum. Following the March 1st Independence declaration, on 6 April, the United States and the EU (then the European Economic Community – EEC) recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state and on 22 May it was admitted into the United Nations. Happy Independence Day of BiH.
On Friday, Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced a new Culture Strategy for Scotland which says that Scotland is a place where culture is valued, protected and nurtured. Scotland’s rich cultural heritage and creativity of today is inspired by people and place, enlivens every community and is celebrated around the world.
This week, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP, Gail Ross announced she would be standing down at the next Holyrood general election, because the distance from home and the size of her constituency meant it was almost impossible to do the job and have any time for her family. Is it time to make changes to constituency sizes and perhaps have regional chambers located around the country, connected by live video conferencing. Whatever happens, we would like to send Gail and her family our best wishes for the future.