Hello there and welcome to the Political Party podcast. I'm trying to start doing these

introductions differently because sometimes I listen back to them and I start every episode

by again. Hello and welcome to the Political Party podcast and I just think it's annoying

to just say the same thing every time isn't it? So what should I say? Hello, podcasters.

Hello political parties. Welcome anyway. Welcome to the show and this is a real

thing. Firstly, I'm doing some very special London dates, two nights at the South Bank

Centre of my now fully updated with all the madness of the last few weeks in there,

Brexit through the gift shop and I'm doing two Christmas specials of the political party

on the 19th and 20th of December at the Leicester Square Theatre. You can get tickets for all

those through my website, matford.com slash live. Today's episode features Kevin Hague, a man

who if you are active on Twitter and interested in modern politics, particularly the politics

of the Union, you will have come across. He set up, well we discussed whether it's to think

to hang on up called these islands which is predicated on the principle that there's more

that unites the people of the United Kingdom than divides us. So as you would guess in the

heat of the Scottish independence debate, he is on the anti-independent side. He is brilliant,

he's exceptionally bright, thoroughly researched and above all else and this is what's always great

when he's such people on any side of any divide and I would say the same about John Swinney

absolutely reasonable and that is deeply refreshing these days especially. Of course it always

has been but at the moment I'm so grateful for calm, rational voices regardless of what their

position is. Now with these interviews particularly when it's someone that I agree with I always

try and check myself and it not just be an interviewer I'm asking him how right he is. So I do

challenge Kevin on the work that he does and on on this position and I suppose it's just something

...