Scotcast

The UK Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, has pledged to restrict access to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as part of plans to cut welfare spending by £5 billion. But with PIP largely replaced in Scotland by another disability benefit, the Adult Disability Payment (ADP), how big an impact will the reforms have here? We ask Emma Tracey, presenter of the BBC’s ‘Access All’ disability and...

The Green Brigade supporters’ group has reacted angrily after police denied dozens of fans entry to the Old Firm Premiership game between Celtic and Rangers at Parkhead. We ask Tino from ‘The Celtic Review’ podcast whether the policing of football matches is heavy-handed. And the BBC’s Chris McLaughlin tells us how the growth of so-called ‘ultra’ fan groups has influenced police tactics. And Marti...

Campaigners say we are in the grip of a litter “emergency”, and your emails tell us something similar. We ask social media influencer Laura Young, aka Less Waste Laura, Heather McLaughlin from Keep Scotland Beautiful, and the BBC's Kevin Keane how much damage littering is doing to our communities. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast, with Martin Geissler, Laura Miller and Natalie Higgins....

Nicola Sturgeon has announced she is standing down as an MSP after more than a quarter of a century. We ask her former spokesperson Stuart Nicolson and the BBC’s Glenn Campbell what the former First Minister and SNP leader was really like. And we reflect on her leadership during the Covid pandemic, her independence strategy, the gender reform debate and the ongoing police investigation into the SN...

"Ozempic" has become shorthand for a variety of injections that lead to quick weight loss. What was previously the preserve of Hollywood’s elite is now widely available. So could “skinny jabs” save our struggling NHS? We speak to Professor Naveed Sattar, chair of the UK Government’s Obesity Mission, and the BBC's Lisa Summers. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast, with Martin Geissler, Laur...

When councillor Laura Murtagh proposed a 15.6% council tax increase, she knew some of her Falkirk constituents would be unhappy. But attacks on her have gone from political to personal. She tells Martin about the torrent of abuse she has experienced over her association with the country’s biggest council tax rise – and how the decision to put people’s bills up made her 'physically sick'. And Laura...

When Mhairi Black was elected an SNP MP at the age of 20, she became the youngest person to sit in the House of Commons in more than 300 years. Ahead of her new BBC documentary ‘Mhairi Black: Being Me Again’, she tells Martin and Natalie why she quit Westminster after less than a decade and how an ADHD diagnosis and crippling mental health problems contributed to that decision. Mhairi also tells u...

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay is suggesting lowering the school leaving age to 14 to 'transform' young people’s opportunities. We ask education journalist James McEnaney from The Herald and the BBC’s Lysney Bews if critics are right to describe the idea as 'Dickensian'. And Martin and Laura discuss the prospect of football’s ban on alcohol being lifted. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottis...

The owners of NFL giants San Francisco 49ers, led by Paraag Marathe, are making a move for Rangers FC. We ask the BBC’s Chris McLaughlin and Sharyn Fleming and football finance expert Kieran Maguire how big a deal it could be for Scottish football. And after US President Donald Trump paused aid to Ukraine, we unpack First Minister John Swinney’s reaction. Plus, an update on the case of Jagtar Sing...

Martin Compston is one of our busiest, and most successful, actors. Now the star of Line of Duty wants to bring more big films and TV shows to Scotland. He tells us about his plan to make a movie about a 16th-century Scottish cannibal, the 'dark places' he’s had to go as an actor and answers the obvious question: will Line of Duty be back? And we reflect on Martin Geissler’s interview with the Fir...

A Scottish man called Jagtar Singh Johal has been jailed in India for seven years without conviction. The Indian government call him a terrorist. A UN working group says he’s been arbitrarily detained. Jagtar himself alleges he's been tortured. What are the British government doing to bring him home? The team speak to the BBC’s Katie Hunter and Calum McKay, asking how a man from Dumbarton became t...

The First Minister has taken aim at Nigel Farage, calling him an 'accomplice' to Russia, and backed Keir Starmer, who is raising defence spending ahead of talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington. The BBC’s David Wallace Lockhart tell us what John Swinney’s attack on the Reform UK leader is all about. And we ask former SNP MP Stewart McDonald if Ukraine has changed his party's tune on de...

A report has found the attainment gap has worsened for Scottish schools. It means the level of qualifications gained between young people in the most affluent and least affluent areas is widening. For nearly 10 years the Scottish Government has said that closing the attainment gap is their 'priority'. We ask education journalist James McEnamey and BBC Political correspondent Phil Sim about a bold...

The arrest of 74-year-old Rose Docherty outside a Glasgow abortion clinic for breaching the Safe Access Zone Act has put Scotland’s buffer zone law back in the spotlight. As anti-abortion campaigners 40 Days for Life pledge not to break the law during upcoming vigils, we ask Gillian Mackay – the Green MSP who came up with it – and Lois McLatchie Miller from Christian campaign group Alliance Defend...

The changing room tribunal involving Sandie Peggie, Dr Beth Upton and NHS Fife has dominated headlines. As First Minister’s Questions gets fiery on the gender debate, we ask if the temperature of political opinion is changing. We speak to Mark Diffley, pollster and analyst, and BBC Scotland’s Chief Political Correspondent, Lynsey Bews. And an archaeologist from Galashiels finds a pharaoh’s tomb. S...

What’s the price of climate progress? As another Scottish pylon project is approved, the team hears about the communities in the way of the green energy revolution. Prime Minister Keir Starmer calls them Nimbys (Not in my back yard). But campaigner Kate Matthews tells us how 70m monster pylons will blight the landscape around her home in Aberdeenshire. Kate is from one of the many local groups fig...

Energy experts Cornwall Insight are predicting a 5% increase to typical household bills when Ofgem announces the latest change to the price cap. We ask David Sheppard from the Financial Times and fuel poverty campaigner Frazer Scott from Energy Action Scotland why prices aren’t coming down. And Laura and Martin have another debate about how to pronounce ‘Scotcast’.

As world powers gather for talks to secure peace in Ukraine (without Ukraine), and Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks of sending British troops there, how do those who have fled the war view their future? Alona and Iryna, who arrived in Scotland after Russia’s invasion, tell us they don't know when (or whether) they can return home. And BBC Ukrainecast presenter Vitaliy Shevchenko reacts to an extr...

The big council tax freeze is over. Scotland's local authorities are setting their tax rates, with many considering rises of up to 10 per cent to balance the books. It comes after years of concerns about pressures on local budgets. Roads filled with potholes, cuts to bin collections, schools in disrepair - these are some of the regular complaints. Is it time to rewrite the entire council tax syste...

First, four lynx. Then, a group of feral pigs let loose in the Cairngorms. Do the Highlands need the reintroduction of a permanent predator? We speak to rewilding campaigner Peter Cairns on the virtues of wild cats and wolves, and the BBC’s climate editor, Justin Rowlatt.

A BBC investigation into Scotland's biggest children's psychiatric hospital, Skye House, has exposed a ‘culture of cruelty’ at the NHS unit in Glasgow. We hear from BBC Disclosure’s Mark Daly and Shelley Jofre about the art of investigative journalism in an era of fake news. They tell us how they made their documentary, Kids on the Psychiatric Ward, which features the testimony of six young women...

An emergency law to free inmates early is coming in to bring down the prison population. We hear from Barlinnie's governor, Michael Stoney, and a former inmate on what it's like inside Scotland’s biggest and busiest jail. And after Super Bowl LIX, Natalie hears about Martin’s former life as an NFL host. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast, with Martin Geissler, Laura Miller and Natalie Hig...

As homelessness stats reach record highs in Scotland, the team asks what it’s really like not to have a home. We talk to the editor of The Big Issue, Paul McNamee, and Sylvia Douglas, who experienced homelessness as a child and now supports women in poverty, about how to fix this complicated problem. And Martin and Laura discuss whether they’re sick of looking at their own faces. Get in touch with...

Donald Trump says America will 'take over' Gaza, resettling most of the native population. His comments have drawn astonishment and anger. Humza Yousaf, former First Minister, has a personal investment. Members of his wife's family are still living in Gaza. In conversation with Martin Geissler, Yousaf reacts to Trump’s overnight press conference, and what it might mean for a two-state solution. Ge...

We drink it, wash with it and curse it when it falls from the sky. But how much do we really know about our water supply? The man in charge of it, Scottish Water's Chief Executive Alex Plant, talks to Martin about supply, demand, rising bills and why we need to think seriously about how much water we use. Scotcast is the BBC's Scottish news podcast, with Martin Geissler, Natalie Higgins and Laura...