Welcome to the Full Scottish from our Cowcaddens Studio in Glasgow.
Full Scottish starts at 12:00 midday on Sunday 8th March 2020
On the Full Scottish this week, Kenny McBride is joined by Professor Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages & Arts at Glasgow University and Cllr Lisa-Marie Hughes, SNP councillor for Renfrew North & Braehead.
As the number of patients testing positive for coronavirus COVID-19 increases exponentially, how long before it infects someone you know and have daily contact with? What if that workmate catches the virus because they could not buy any hand sanitiser because you had gone out and cleared the supermarket shelves of toilet paper, soap and hand sanitiser in a panicked attempt at protecting yourself, only to find that you have been sitting beside someone at work who has been incubating the virus for the past week. Our actions have consequences and we can only protect ourselves if everyone else if protected I the same way.
Scottish Government finance Minister Kate Forbes won the backing of the Scottish Parliament to get her budget through this week. A tough challenge, given she only stepped into the job a month ago and she did not have details of how much the Block Grant would be as the UK budget was delayed until this coming week.
The UK Government’s Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack told a Scottish Parliament committee that instead of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland they could build a tunnel instead, without any discussion with the Scottish Government about how the money for such an infrastructure project should be best spent to meet the countries priorities. Could this be because this is a project designed only ever to be spoken about in the media and will likely have the same fate as the Boris Bridge.
And then there were two. Following the Super Tuesday Democratic Primary results this week, Joe Biden has emerged as the front runner to take on Trump in this year’s US General Election, although Bernie Sanders could still overtake him with 2 thirds of the delegates votes still up for grabs. Elizabeth Warren who dropped out the race this week has been influential on the fate of many other candidates along the way and her endorsement could make a difference to the final selection of the Democratic presidential candidate.
Today is International Women’s Day – Discuss. When female politicians are giving up front-line politics to have more time with their families, what message is this giving to young women making their way in the world, despite living in a country with Nicola Sturgeon holding the role of First Minister of Scotland, one of the most inspiring leaders in the world.
You can find the latest NHS Scotland Coronavirus COVID-19 information here