The Common Weal Policy Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Episode 214 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, and for the final time for the podcast in this format, Craig talks to Robin McAlpine about the General Election results. How did Labour win such a massive landslide despite losing voterse, what happened to collapse the Conservatives, why didn't smaller parties do better and what is next for the UK, Scotland and the SNP.

You can read Robin's blog on how the SNP could revive themselves ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election here: http://robinmcalpine.org/the-snp-one-thing-at-a-time/

This is the final episode of the Common Weal Policy Podcast in this format, please listen to the announcement at the end of the show for more information but we'll be back with a revamp and a new format soon. Thank you to all of my listeners over the past six years. We won't be gone from your podcast list for long - Craig

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 213 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Nadia Shaikh from the Right to Roam campaign, who are seeking the same right to access land in England as we in Scotland have enjoyed by statute for over two decades and by custom for many years longer than that. They discuss how 92% of England came to be locked away from the public, some of the parallels and points of divergence between Scotland and England in this regard, the peculiar case of the "access island" where land that is technically open to the public cannot be reached without trespassing and how land access isn't just a rural issue, with cities experiencing limits to land access via parks and other greenspaces being locked behind private gates.

You can learn more about the Right to Roam campaign here: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/

More about Access Islands here: https://practical-emu.pikapod.net/access-islands/

And more about private parks in London here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHvKvOUSor4

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 204 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Andy Wightman, possibly Scotland's foremost expert on land reform, about the Scottish Government's new Land Reform Bill and his updated analysis of his Who Owns Scotland? report which shows that in the past decade or so, Scotland's already very concentrated patterns of land ownership have got even more so with just 433 people now owning 50% of Scotland's rural land.

Andy's report can be read here.

And his blog, including a detailed analysis of the Government's Bill, can be read here.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/donate/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

Image Credit: NASA Worldview

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Excerpts from "Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode 115 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks to Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the Scottish Trade Unions Congress. STUC has campaigned on issues large and small around workers rights in Scotland and Craig and Roz discuss how unions have adapted to changing workplaces and more precarious employment, how companies have pushed back with anti-union campaigns of their own and where STUC members have safeguarded and expanded workers' rights in Scotland.

Roz will be speaking at an event on women in unions on March 2nd - details here.

The Common Weal paper on automation and other disruptive technologies in the workplace can be read here.

If you want to know more about how to join a union, organise labour in your place of work or what union memberships could mean for you, you can visit the STUC website here.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Episode 114 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week Craig talks to Common Weal's new Networks Coordinator Leo Plumb about the importance of community organisation has in Scotland, how it has led to impressive changes in the face of seemingly overwhelming political power and what Common Weal is now doing to help organise and empower our own activists and volunteers.

If you want to join Common Weal's new Campaign Centre you can sign up here.

The Policy Podcast covered the Kenmure St demonstrations here and the campaign against the incinerator here.

If you are part of a community campaign and want to come on to the Policy Podcast to talk about it and to help encourage others with their local campaign please contact Craig at the email address below.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Support the Show.

Episode 113 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig is joined by Billy Kay. Writer, broadcaster and author of Scots: The Mither Tongue which has recently been released as an audiobook on Audible.
Scots is the second largest of Scotland's extant indigenous tongues with over 1.5 million speakers across Scotland and more in the broader Scots diaspora.

Once the primary language of court and law in Scotland it has been significantly eroded in use and prestige over several centuries both passively and by acts of deliberate repression.
However, recent years have seen a revival of interest in the language and Billy tells us how we can promote it in the public sphere and, most importantly, to speak and write it with the same pride as anyone would use any other language we know.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Support the Show.

Episode 112 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig is joined by two members of Common Weal's Energy Working Group - Keith Baker and Iain Wright - to discuss the ScotWind offshore wind auction and its implications for Scottish renewables.

ScotWind is the largest auction of Scottish offshore wind resources resulting in promises of 25GW of generating capacity built over more than 7,000km^2 of Scottish seabed and split across 17 different sites around the north of Scotland.

Proponents hail the billions of investment that will be required to build the project. As well as the £700 million in option fees collected by Crown Estate Scotland and the prospect of Somewhere in the region of £30-£50 million a year in annual rents.

Whilst the winners of the auction are almost entirely made up of foreign-owned energy companies (with 20% of the capacity being won by fossil fuel giants Shell and BP alone) Proponents promise that Scotland could still benefit from jobs created in the supply chain.

Common Weal produced our response last week calling for Scotland to build up capacity to Ensure that next time, we can have a much greater level of involvement from Scottish companies including a National Energy Company.

The article about Scottish supply chains with regards to ScotWind can be read here.

You can join Common Weal's weekly newsletter by signing up here.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Support the Show.

Episode 111 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

You can download the episode directly here.

Welcome to 2022 and Season 4 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

To start the year, the entire Common Weal team joins Craig on the show to talk about a film we all watched over the winter break. Don't Look Up is a film about a couple of astronomers discovery of an asteroid on collision course with Earth and their attempts to get politicians, the media, the public...anyone! to listen to them and do something about it.
The team discuss the analogy the film draws towards the reaction to climate change and our lack of action to avert it.

Caution, spoilers for Don't Look Up are present from the start of the podcast and continue throughout.

If you would like to read something a little more hopeful, you can buy a copy of our Common Home Plan here.

The T-shirt that Robin refers to can be purchased here.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Episode 110 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast

 You can download the episode directly here.

Apologies for the drop in audio quality in this episode. This was due to technical difficulties and Craig remote working due to (non-Covid) illness.

This week, Craig is joined by Bill Johnston to discuss their mutually co-written book All of Our Futures: Scotland’s ageing population and what to do about it. This book presents a comprehensive strategy for Scotland's ongoing demographic transition, how that must be done in a way that breaks down ageism systemic to our politics and economy and how doing this can present Scotland's older people with a Social Contract for a better, healthier and more inclusive life. They discuss some topics within the book such as how a neoliberal economy inevitably leads to ageism, how the politics of ageing is often far too short term and some specific policies from the book such as how an independent Scotland could overhaul the UK's broken pension sector.

You can buy a copy of All of Our Futures in the Common Weal shop here.
And check out our other merchandise here.
https://commonweal.scot/shop/

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

Image Credit: Maisie Mackenzie - Produced as part of a joint project between Common Weal and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design 

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"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Episode 109 of the Common Weal Policy Podcast 

You can download the episode directly here.

This week, Craig talks once again to Tim Rideout. Currency expert and "controversial economist" who has campaigned for Scotland to set up its own independent currency so that its ready to launch "as soon as practicable" after independence. Last weekend he successfully won a vote at the SNP conference to instruct the party to draw up legislation to begin work on launching a Scottish Central Bank so that preparations can be started immediately after a successful independence referendum.

During the show, Craig references his interview with borders and customs expert, Bill Austin in Episode #37 of the Policy Podcast. You can listen to that show here.

Common Weal's work is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who regularly donate an average of £10 per month. If you would like to help us build our vision of an All of Us First Scotland, you can do so here: https://commonweal.scot/product-category/support-us/

The Policy Podcast would like to discuss all of Common Weal's policy papers in detail as well as other major policy stories in and around Scotland so if there are any topics that you would like to see covered or if you have an interesting policy story to tell and would like to be a guest on the show, please contact Craig at [email protected]

You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, Stitcher, Tunein, iHeart Radio and other major podcast aggregators.

You can also add the podcast to your RSS feed using this link: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/264906.rss

Theme
"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Support the Show.