Little April Showers
The Lesley Riddoch Podcast
Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson
4.6 • 274 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How many crises can unfold over a single bank holiday weekend? This week, Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson try to make sense of a surreal and frightening international backdrop as Donald Trump issues terrifying new threats against Iran. Closer to home, Lesley shares her experiences travelling around the Northwest of Scotland filming about the clearances in Strathnaver and she highlights the very real local anxiety over petrol shortages and the impact of the NC500 "boy racers" sooking up all the fuel.
We look again at CalMac ferries. The MV Lord of the Isles might be back in service, but a new tender for her replacement has been published with zero "social value" criteria baked into the scoring—meaning local companies won't get extra points over foreign competitors. We discuss the unions' anger and the structural split between CMAL and CalMac.
We look at the Scottish election campaign. With discussions around whether to vote SNP with both votes, we examine the tactical voting dilemma, the Lib Dems snapping at the heels of the SNP in the Highlands, and the urgent need for a bold 'Highland manifesto'. Plus, a look at the struggles of Reform UK and a plea for some real, breakthrough domestic policies from the SNP.
In this episode:
- International Crisis: The escalating tensions between Donald Trump and Iran, and the global anxiety it is causing.
- Highland Fuel Shortages: The impact of the NC500 on local communities and the anxiety over petrol in the Northwest.
- Ferry Procurement: Why the new tender for the Lord of the Isles replacement lacks "social value" criteria.
- CalMac & CMAL: The structural issues dividing the two bodies
- Scottish Election: SNP list seat strategies, the Lib Dem challenge in the Highlands, and why the SNP needs a distinct Highland manifesto.
- Reform UK: Their disastrous start to the Holyrood campaign.
Links:
Union angry at no 'social value' score in new shipbuilding contract
Barren Scotland - double bill film screening
Sunday 12 April at 2pm, Newport on Tay
https://www.ticketsource.com/the-larick-centre-tayport-community-trust/t-dkkjorm
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's been a great Easter and a horrible backdrop, |
| 0:03.6 | and you will know before we do exactly what happens in Iran. |
| 0:08.0 | But meanwhile, the election is trundling on in Scotland. |
| 0:11.2 | We have a look at the various seats, the strategy perhaps, |
| 0:15.4 | on whether or not to vote SMP one and two. |
| 0:18.3 | The options in the highlands that are looking kind of a bit of a challenge, actually, |
| 0:22.5 | for a lot of sitting SNP MSPs. We look a bit at CalMAC procurement policy and the |
| 0:28.8 | strangeness of, you know, offering a contract that seems to favour foreign companies over |
| 0:34.5 | local ones. All of that is coming up. Those are the headlines now for the podcast. |
| 0:40.8 | Well, hi folks and welcome to this week's Leslie Riddick podcast. We're all still here. The sun is shining. |
| 0:47.4 | It's Tuesday afternoon, but President Trump has not yet bombed Iran back to the Stone Age. And I hope you've had a pleasant Easter weekend, Leslie. |
| 0:57.5 | You know, I hope that we'll look back in even a couple of months with an introduction like that. |
| 1:03.5 | I just think, this is just a, this is surreal, isn't it, that we're living through this level of, you know, utter weird threat. |
| 1:11.3 | I mean, I know we'll get on to this, but I've just come back from five days |
| 1:14.9 | travelling around the very northwest of Scotland because I'm making a film about the |
| 1:18.8 | clearances up there, particularly in Strathnaver. |
| 1:22.6 | And, I mean, everybody's in a complete kind of frenzy about petrol. |
| 1:29.4 | If you think it's bad sort of down here, |
| 1:35.5 | if there's one station in Betty Hill or there's one stations, two almighty stations in Ollipollipoll, |
| 1:41.2 | and then nothing much in between at all, and that's like a two-hour drive, if the one in Betty Hill looks like it's running out of petrol, you're stuffed. |
| 1:45.1 | And I've got to say, when I was in Ollipol, and you showed the Finland film there, |
| 1:50.0 | it was great in the ferry terminal as usual. It's such a great venue. |
... |
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