The Edition: inside the SNP’s secret state
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Covid Inquiry has moved to Scotland and, in his cover story for the magazine, our editor Fraser Nelson looks at the many revelations uncovered by Jamie Dawson KC. Fraser describes how civil servants were enlisted into what he calls an ‘SNP secret state’ and how SNP corruption is threatening devolution. Joining us to discuss is the Coffee House Scots team: Times columnist Iain Macwhirter, The Spectator’s data editor Michael Simmons and The Spectator’s social media editor Lucy Dunn who coordinates our Scotland coverage. (01:26)
Also this week:
With the UK army chief raising the prospect of conscription in the event of war with Russia, spare a thought for Germany whose plans to rebuild its army are already imploding. Lisa Haseldine, The Spectator’s assistant online editor, writes about the dire state of Germany’s army for the magazine and joins the podcast alongside Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. (14:58)
And finally: is the customer – in fact – always wrong?
The old maxim is that the customer is always right. But Quentin Letts, sketch writer for the Daily Mail, says that the adage has been reversed in recent times. It seems instead that the customer is always wrong, or can never be right. He joins the podcast to discuss the sorry state of modern customer service. (27:48)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. |
| 0:07.6 | Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12 week subscription, in print and online, plus a £20 £20,000 Amazon gift voucher, absolutely free. |
| 0:17.4 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:30.1 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator. |
| 0:33.5 | Each week we look at three pieces from the magazine with the writers behind them. |
| 0:37.6 | I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:40.1 | And I'm Laura Prendergast, the Spectator's Executive Editor. |
| 0:43.0 | On this week's episode, we'll be discussing how the S&P's secret state is threatening devolution, |
| 0:49.1 | learning about Germany's hollow army, and asking if the customer is in fact always wrong. First up, the COVID inquiry |
| 0:57.5 | has now moved to Scotland and in his cover story for the magazine, our editor Fraser Nelson |
| 1:02.3 | looks at some of the many revelations uncovered by Jamie Dawson, Casey. Fraser describes how |
| 1:08.6 | civil servants were enlisted in an SMP secret state, as he puts it. |
| 1:13.6 | Joining us now is the Spectator's Coffee House Scott's team, Times columnist Ian McWurter, |
| 1:19.1 | the Spectator's data editor Michael Simmons and the Spectator's social media editor, Lucy Dunn, |
| 1:24.2 | who coordinates our Scotland coverage. |
| 1:26.8 | So in Fraser's piece, looks at the inquiry, |
| 1:29.7 | which has now moved up to Edinburgh, and one of the big revelations has been the deletion of |
| 1:34.2 | WhatsApp messages, can you talk a little bit about that and how important story it has been? |
| 1:40.6 | Well, it was really established even before these hearings began, that there had been a policy of mass deletion by the Scottish government. |
| 1:51.1 | Jamie Dawson accused Casey from the Baroness Hallett's UK COVID inquiry had already made clear that they had not got messages, WhatsApp messages, |
| 2:03.3 | or other informal messages, electronic messages from the First Minister. |
| 2:09.3 | And it was, Nicholas Sturgeon had equivocated about that when she was questioned about it |
... |
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