What the Dickens?

And we're back! As promised, the For A' That podcast springs back into life this weekend. I've a friend's wedding to attend tomorrow (the same character described in the opening segment of the broadcast), so we pulled the show forward and recorded it this morning.  Our guest this week was Callum McCormick, who is a doctoral student focussing on environmental politics in South America, and occasional contributor to our independence-supporting fellow travellers at Bella Caledonia.

Up for the blether this week, the Aberdeen Donside by-election. Triumph or disaster for the Nationalists, Scottish and UK independence-supporting.  Also, a question of context: Aberdeenshire, a hotbed of fervid ethnic feeling? Secondly, we took a look back over three weeks of Iain MacWhirter's Road to Referendum documentaries, looking at the recent political history, bringing us from 1945 to the independence referendum in 2014. A lightly hopping chat, shifting hither and thon, amongst other themes, we had a wee chat about Labour's ambivalent history of devolution, the Scottish cringe, and the national stories which MacWhirter's piece told.  

Finally, leaping from 1945 to the present day, we took a look at the Foreign Secretary's speech on Scottish independence. According to Mr Hague, if we vote Yes in 2014, we may be at risk of losing access forever to the work of Charles Dickens. Never again can you chortle, at the death of Little Nell.  A sobering thought.

Listen right here, right now, or record it to your favoured mobile device for later consumption, either via iTunes, or via Spreaker.