In conversation: Presiding Officer Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP and women MSPs

Podcasts By The Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament

Government

4.8 • 25 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

In this podcast, the Presiding officer speaks with women Members about a range of topics including: How social media and rising workloads have shaped modern political life Why unpredictable hours make it tough for MSPs with caring responsibilities The importance of cross‑party working and respect in debate Why mentoring and supporting women in politics matters more than ever How getting out into communities helps rebuild trust And much more. The podcast features the Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP, Shona Robison MSP Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Fiona Hyslop Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Sarah Boyack MSP, and Rhoda Grant MSP

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, I'm really pleased to be here today with four 99ers, as we call MSPs, who came in that first cohort on that historic day.
0:11.2	So in alphabetical order, I'm joined by Sarah Boyack, MSP, Rhoda Grant, MSP, Fiona Hislop, MSP, and Shona Robinson, MSP.
0:22.6	How are you all? Good.
0:23.6	Good.
0:24.6	Just being nervous.
0:26.6	I'm not about this week.
0:28.6	Not about the podcast, but about this week.
0:30.6	And we've just been having a look at business for the next couple of days.
0:34.6	It's fair to say it's quite an unusual layout.
0:39.5	But we'll get there, members business in the mornings and so on.
0:44.6	There's a lot of members business. Yeah. Just be really interested to hear from you all about
0:50.2	yeah, just how you feel about your journey these past 27 years and how politics feels now
0:57.1	compared to then. Maybe you'd like to kick off Fiona? It doesn't feel like 27 years, that's for
1:05.9	sure. And I think politics obviously has changed, but remember, there was a big change when the Parliament came in, and the biggest change was having so many women.
1:16.4	And previous to that, Westminster had hardly been any.
1:19.6	So I think the tone and the nature of politics actually changed with the Scottish Parliament.
1:25.3	I must say over that time, I think one of the biggest changes is,
1:28.2	unfortunately, too many former Westminster MPs joined it and started bringing in mannerisms and behaviours
1:35.8	that I think took us backwards. I pointed that out to a number of them, one particularly from one
1:42.1	party, and actually, to be fair, he changed.
1:45.0	But even things like George Reid says, we're never going to have all this stuff about,
1:48.0	thank you for taking my intervention, all this stuff that was all convention.
	...

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