The Stooshie: the politics podcast from DC Thomson

In an exclusive interview, John Swinney says he feared for his party when he stood to become leader earlier this year.
 
Speaking to David Clegg, the first minister reflected on the fast-paced first weeks in office, propelled from a think-tank event in London into the top job in Scottish politics.
 
Mr Swinney explains why he'd turned down a job from Humza Yousaf only a month before he resigned, and details why he thinks he's the right man to reverse his party's decline in the polls as voters become fatigued from 17 years of SNP dominance. 

Rishi Sunak came to the Highlands where he doesn’t even have a candidate.
Keir Starmer promised Scotland the earth, but not a location for his fabled GB Energy HQ.
John Swinney found himself in an election moments after becoming First Minister.
We discuss week one, we test the water among the people of Perth, and all the rest in the first of our election podcasts.

Simon Barker, a children's orthopaedic surgeon in Aberdeen, explains the growing concern over the use of new “physician associates” in a stretched health service.
Are they valuable, quickly-trained additions, or is this “mission creep” to paper over gaps doctors can’t always cover?
Dr Barker is deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish council, and works in NHS Grampian.

Douglas Ross tells us drug addiction and death is a problem in rural areas like his Moray constituency, not just cities with problems such as Dundee and Glasgow.
The Tory leader explains why his ‘right to addiction recovery bill’ should get support at Holyrood.
We also look our coverage of the Men’s Sheds scheme which forced the SNP into a funding U-turn.
And we explore Scottish Labour’s problems getting local candidates into constituencies.

Becoming first minister was the easy bit for John Swinney.
Now the handshakes and warm words are over, the hard work of governing begins.
We speak with Kayleigh Quinn, who knows a thing or two about wrangling a difficult group at Holyrood.
The former Scottish Labour organiser tells us what might be going through the new leader’s head as he looks at reshaping the SNP.

Humza Yousaf folded on April 29 after losing authority by ditching his Green coalition partners.
We ask people in the outgoing first minister’s home city of Dundee what they think of his year in charge.
We also hear from Green MSP Maggie Chapman, who was asked if she still has confidence in her own party leaders.
Our political reporters look at the wreckage and discuss what might happen next as another SNP leadership contest looms.

A long-running plea for justice in the north of Scotland is being described as similar in scale to the Post Office scandal.
At its heart are the dozens of families devastated by conman Alistair Greig.
He was a respected financial advisor based in Aberdeen who ended up duping 184 victims out of £13 million.
Now they want justice.
To tell the story, we’re joined by Dale Haslam, an investigations reporter with the Press and Journal newspaper.
He has just returned from Westminster to hear from MPs including Alistair Carmichael pushing the campaigner’s case for answers.

Jennifer Lees-Marshment has studied political marketing and management since the rise of Tony Blair.
In this episode, she tells us how the main parties are approaching the phony war before the election date is set.
She also describes concerns that politicians are simply not trained to actually do their job when in power.
Would you go to a surgeon who hasn’t been trained? Why should we expect to be governed well by people who don’t know how to put their promises into practice?

Ahead of their conference in Dundee next week, Justin Bowie sits down with Roz Foyer, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, to discuss what she thinks a potential Labour win in Westminster will mean for workers in Scotland. 
 
Roz Foyer also shared her passion for ensuring Dundee women subject to years of unequal pay finally receive compensation from the city council after a years-long battle for justice. 
 
And Justin asks what trade unions want see for those working in Scotland's oil and gas sector as politicians debate what comes next in our commitment to net zero. 

Our team takes stock of a turbulent end of term at the Scottish Parliament.
We look at the reaction to the Hate Crime Act, and the high profile interventions from JK Rowling to Ally McCoist.
Meanwhile, there's an election looming - are social policy problems like housing making an impact?
And we speak to North East Scotland College principal Neil Cowie for a featured interview on the impact of cuts regionally and nationally.