This episode was originally broadcast as a live webinar on 29 October 2020
Moderated by:
Matthew Flinders – Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre and Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. In addition to writing and presenting a number of documentaries for BBC Radio 4, he is also Vice Chair of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom.
On the panel:
Ruth Dudley Edwards – Historian and writer of history, biography and crime fiction. From an Irish Catholic nationalist background, Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards was born in and educated in Dublin and at Cambridge University but has lived in London for decades. Her non-fiction books include biographies of Irish republican rebels: Patrick Pearse: the triumph of failure, James Connolly and The Seven: the lives and legacies of the founding fathers of the Irish republic. In addition to her prolific journalism on Northern Ireland, she has written The Faithful Tribe: an intimate portrait of the loyal institutions and Aftermath: the Omagh bombing and the families’ pursuit of justice. Targets of her satirical crime fiction include academics, conceptual art, political correctness and the Anglo-Irish peace process. www.ruthdudleyedwards.co.uk. Twitter: @ruthde
John Lloyd – Journalist, contributing editor to the Financial Times. John was born in East Fife, educated at Waid Comprehensive, and Edinburgh University. He is a journalist, mainly for the Financial Times, where he has worked as Labour Editor, East Europe Editor, Moscow Bureau Chief, and Founding Editor of the FT Weekend Magazine. He is the Co-founder and Director of Journalism from 2006-2014 of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Joh is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the School of Civic Education, a Russian NGO effectively banned from Russia. His books include Loss without Limit: The British Miners’ Strike, 1984-5; Rebirth of a Nation: An Anatomy of Russia; The Power and the Story; Should Auld Aquaintance be Forgot: the Great Mistake of Scottish Nationalism. John is presently writing a book on the legacies and weaponisation of empire.
Iain MacWhirter – Award-winning political commentator for the Herald and the Sunday Herald. His recent book is “Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster won a referendum but lost Scotland” was a best seller. His three part 2013 TV series “Road to Referendum”, based on the book of the same name, was nominated for a Bafta. A former BBC correspondent and political presenter, Iain spent nearly 10 years in the Westminster lobby where he fronted network programmes like “Westminster Live” He returned to Scotland in 1999 to help launch the Sunday Herald and present BBC’s “Holyrood Live”. He is the former Rector of Edinburgh University.
Andrew Wilson – former Member of the Scottish Parliament, Founding Partner at Charlotte Street Partners. Andrew has had a varied career as an economist, politician and now as a strategic adviser to businesses, charities and a variety of other organisations. He began his career in the civil service, before working as a researcher and economist for the SNP and as a business economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was elected as a member of the first Scottish parliament in 1999, serving as shadow minister for, variously: finance, economy, transport and lifelong learning. In 2003, Andrew re-joined RBS, working in a number of roles including as deputy chief economist. He co-founded Charlotte Street Partners in 2014. In March 2020, Andrew was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In September 2016, he was appointed chair of the Sustainable Growth Commission. He was also a member of the Independent Commission on Referendums, based at UCL’s Constitution Unit, reporting in July 2018. He is a regular contributor to both print and broadcast media on economics, business, and politics.