The Speakeasy

Trump Lands in Scotland - and I weighed In on GB News As the 47th President touched down in the Highlands, I shared my thoughts on GB News. The bottom line? Scotland needs this visit to go well. Trump holds real leverage over key Scottish industries—£1 billion in whisky exports, £627 million in screen industry value, and nearly 11,000 jobs all hang in the balance. But First Minister John Swinney i...

Susan, Andrew and myself sit down once more to drink in Scottish politics. Chatting UK General Election, the Tory plight, Faragian populism, likely challenges ahead for Labour government & GE implications for the SNP. As always, I seek to have nuanced and fun conversations with fascinating people. All guests participate assuming honest intent on each other’s part. And seeks to have sincere discuss...

In this episode Susan, Andrew and I discuss boundary changes, the rush to the exit door by a growing number of SNP MPs as well as the decriminalisation proposals to tackle Scotland's drug deaths crisis. As always, I seek to have nuanced and fun conversations with fascinating people. With this in mind we are chatting about the political challenges facing the SNP amid a growing Scottish Labour resur...

In this episode my guests and I discuss the political challenges facing the Scottish National Party (SNP) and their new leader Humza Yousaf. As always, I seek to have nuanced and fun conversations with fascinating people. With this in mind we are chatting about the various issues facing the new First Minister. From the struggle to get elected as leader (in a truncated leadership race) to self-infl...

I outline the shady shenanigans and mischief making compromising the SNP race for leadership. Evidence has come to light raising serious allegations of wrongdoing to fix things for Humza Yousaf. The timing of the contest, the limited space at hustings for SNP members and an initial attempt to blackout media and public are all troubling enough. But we also now know that internal rules have been bro...

A special episode where I outline some of my thoughts on Sturgeon’s sudden resignation, the twin Police Scotland fraud squad probes and the farcical SNP leadership election. My Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Or alternatively why not buy me a coffee with a one-off donation? Get full access to Dean M...

The third episode discusses the Scottish economy, examining top issues and potential solutions As always, I seek to have nuanced, adult conversations with fascinating people. In that vein, this episode attempts to dig into the various issues facing our economy, without the partisan political heat. The topics include issues of inflation, cost of living crisis, productivity, educational inequalities...

The second episode discusses the Scottish local elections, examining top issues and potential outcomes. As always, I seek to have nuanced, adult conversations with fascinating people. In that vein, this episode attempts to dig into the various issues facing local government, without the partisan political heat. The topics include issues of sustainable funding for councils as they grapple with a le...

This episode of ‘Dean’s Discussions’ explores Scotland’s baffling ‘don’t look up’ political culture. Aiming to understand how we ended up with a post-truth politics where sentiments such as ‘my values can trump your facts’ is accepted without pushback. Seeking to have nuanced, adult conversations with fascinating people, this episode covers div...