Holding to Account

The Lesley Riddoch Podcast

The report into the infected blood scandal has finally been published and it makes for damning reading. It found that this "not an accident", and that the government and the NHS had engaged in "downright deception" over decades.
We speculate on whose head will roll as a result of the findings and marvel at the fortitude of survivors and campaigners.

John Woodcock, Baron Walney , former Labour MP , chair of Labour Friends of Israel, and current chair of Purpose Business Coalition and Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption to the UK government has completed his report entitled Protecting our Democracy from Coercion.
We ask if given his ties to Israel, fossil fuel companies, and the defence industry whether his independence can be relied on.

The ICC has applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity related to the war against Hamas in Gaza. Alongside the Israeli leaders, the ICC also seeks arrest warrants for Hamas’s senior leadership: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh. If granted, Netanyahu would be the first Western-oriented leader charged by the ICC .

What has been the reaction of both the UK and US governments? How does the rationale for UK opposition to the decision stack up against international law and its previous stance on Russian war crimes?

The latest polls show a significant lead for Labour in Scotland in voting intention at the next General Election. However it's neck and neck with the SNP when it comes to Holyrood.

UK Labour has also set out its First Steps for a future Labour government.
Will Anas Sarwar simply parrot the Starmer lines or will he make a separate set of Scottish pledges?

What impact will the parachuting of Labour candidates from England into Scottish constituencies have on the electorate?
Meanwhile Holyrood has declared a housing crisis.
Should this have been foreseen given the homelessness trends over the past six years? Have funding regulations mitigated against non local authority and housing association organisations building social homes? Will there be over reliance on the "big boy" private building companies? Will "land banking" be tackled seriously?

https://www.ft.com/content/24117a03-37c2-424a-97ed-6a5292f9e92e
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While the SNP has slumped in the polls support for the Greens has gone up by 3%. All this despite the expulsion of 13 members for signing a declaration which said “sex is a biological reality” and called for trans women to be banned from women’s changing rooms.

Signatories also claimed there was a “chilling atmosphere of censure and fear within the party, which affects not only free speech but also free thought”.
The party said those who signed the Scottish Green Women’s Declaration were in breach of the party’s code of conduct claiming they'd failed to “maintain political discipline” and breaking rules on “behaviours that constitute prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity” and “behaviours that constitute a threat to others”.
We examine what the Scottish Green Women’s Declaration actually said and wonder if the expulsions signal a potential party split.
https://scottishgreenwomensdeclaration.scot/
All of this plus the usual meanderings, listening and viewing recommendations, and the obligatory mention of Dundee United.
As promised link to YesWeDidnae survey
https://yeswedidnae.scot/

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