Big Men Laid Low
The Lesley Riddoch Podcast
Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson
4.6 • 274 Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Well, it seems the big men being laid low is the theme of the moment. Lesley and Fraser are back to discuss a busy week. Lesley has been in all parts, taking in the incredible Orkney Folk Festival and witnessing the seamless infrastructure of the Netherlands, before returning to the rather less seamless Edinburgh Airport. Back in Scotland, the Peter Murrell narrative has been laid out, leaving many in the Yes movement feeling directionless. We look at the abject failure of governance within the SNP. Plus, a look down South at the latest Mandelson revalations.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Orkney and the Netherlands: Lesley reflects on a week of incredible, volunteer-led musicianship at the Orkney Folk Festival. We also compare the well-maintained, cycle-friendly infrastructure of the Netherlands with the sad state of Edinburgh Airport's rolled-up corrugated paper door wedges.
- Operation Hingaboot Mark II: A large crowd gathered outside Holyrood for the Section 30 request vote. We discuss the ongoing disconnect between the SNP corporate leadership and the grassroots Yes movement
- Peter Murrell and SNP Governance: Following Peter Murrell's guilty plea, we unpack the agreed narrative of financial mismanagement. We examine the culture of deference that allowed £12,500 of Apple products and a £3,500 silver wine coaster to be coded without curiosity, and how those who tried to raise concerns—like the "Good Guys" slate on the NEC and members of the Finance and Audit Committee—were sidelined and frustrated.
- Labour's Leaks and Leadership: The latest document dump reveals damning WhatsApp connections between Peter Mandelson and Pat McFadden, who seems to lament the idea of taxing to pay benefits. With Keir Starmer's slow-moving demise, Andy Burnham's by-election date set, and Tony Blair wading into the policy debate, Labour is looking increasingly rudderless.
- Education and NEETs: Reflecting on Alan Milburn's report on young people not in employment, education, or training. We compare the UK's approach to the Dutch system's high engagement in vocational education and the need for a shift away from traditional, purely academic routes.
Links
- Highland Clearances; communities fight back - Crowdfunder
- Clearance site event at Rosal on June 12th-14th June
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| 0:00.0 | Well, it seems the big men being laid low is the theme of the moment. |
| 0:03.5 | Clearly, Peter Murrell has been back in court to hear the long list of detailed transfers |
| 0:09.6 | and basic fraud that he committed within the party. |
| 0:14.4 | It's shame on him. |
| 0:16.0 | But actually, how much are we looking at the systems behind that that have really survived pretty much intact within the SNP? |
| 0:23.5 | So we have a look at all of that. |
| 0:25.4 | You couldn't move for hearing condemnations of Peter Mandelson from all sorts of people who actually had really ongoing conversations and WhatsApp exchanges with him. |
| 0:36.2 | With the latest dump of material, we hear even more |
| 0:39.2 | damning connections, particularly for the Scott of the Peace, Pat McFadden, who clearly doesn't |
| 0:45.4 | quite believe in the welfare state as much as he would like others to think he does. There's all |
| 0:50.5 | of that going on. I was in Netherlands. There's a lot of comparisons with Scotland and that fair country. So those are the headlines. Here's the podcast. Well, hi folks and welcome to this week's Leslie Riddick podcast. Leslie, you've been in all parts. Orkney, the Netherlands. Have you safely landed back in sunny fight? |
| 1:10.5 | Absolutely. |
| 1:11.8 | It feels like I mean, I was in the middle of all that, |
| 1:14.5 | I always got back here after the wee Edinburgh expedition as well, |
| 1:18.6 | and thanking Peter Merle yet again for managing to overshadow the joy of that little occasion, |
| 1:24.2 | which was the vote for independence, you know, for Indy Ref 2, |
| 1:27.4 | which then who knows what's happening to it next. But anyway, yeah, I mean, the, the, the Ortony Folk Festival, unfortunately, it feels like a bit of a blur now, but she's so fabulous. I don't know, it's just, it's such a relief, actually, to have a week where you're not thinking about trying to save the world or any kind of thing. |
| 1:44.9 | You're just trying to get to the next gig. You're just listening to it. I'm watching the most |
| 1:49.2 | incredible musicianship. And I mean, Orkney, it's strange how Orkney just becomes like a little, |
| 1:54.3 | a kind of fulcrum, which attracts people from absolutely all around the world to slot in with |
| 1:59.7 | one another's totally different |
| 2:01.4 | playing styles and musicianship. And I mean, if anybody doubts this, there's some things where, |
... |
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