Murrell’s conviction confirms the SNP’s closed shop leadership has been undemocratic for years. But independence belongs to the people & Yes movement. All the more reason to reassert our collective voice & turn out 6pm tonight at Scotparl after Section 30 vote. See you there soon.

Unplanned podcast on the Peter Murrell saga just recorded. It’ll be posted soon.

Greetings from cool Stromness. 13 degrees and lovely. Finland film on tonight in Town Hall 7.30. Come along if you fancy.

Changed ferries to take 6.30am boat from Stromness so I can get down to Scotparl by 6pm Tuesday for the Indy vote and debate. If you back Scotland’s Right to Decide come along. #TimeforScotland youtu.be/bZZPzLK4J-A?...

Amazing Finnish band Polenta (means stomp!) fabulous at @OrkneyFolkFest. Hope they can make it to last screening of Finland film tomorrow (Monday) night 7.30pm Stromness Town Hall plus Q&A. Still tix or jist turn up. lesleyriddoch.com/events-mobile

It seems Section 30 debate & vote is ON next Tues 26th with only tiny chance parly authorities will reject. #TimeforScotland team will be there from 5 but core time with Saltires is 6-7.30pm to act as backdrop for correspondents’ live reports into teatime news. More soon.

Folks we can’t get confirmation of Section 30 vote for Indy date & gathering + saltires outside Scots Parliament. Parly staff say unlikely to be Tuesday 26th but Swinney did name that date in STV interview. I’m on holiday in Orkney now. But will be on social media etc once we know. Watch this space!

Great interview today with eminent Clearance historian Jim Hunter for new Strathnaver film. Jim says Rosal clearance village buyout is a ‘massive statement of Highland confidence’. Two weeks left in crowdfunder. Any help appreciated. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

Agonised discussion on BBCWorldatOne about Britain being ungovernable. Scots opposed Thatcher, kept water in public o'ship, opposed Brexit, axed FPTP. But no mention. Instinctively Scots made the right call when folk down south got suckered. That why so many are for independence now.

Chuffed QFTBelfast are showing Finland film June 22nd, 6pm plus Q&A. Finns had two famines, reconciled after bloody civil war in 1918, caught all the curved balls from difficult neighbours & are now keen EU members. Strong parallels with Ireland. Booking details www.lesleyriddoch.com/events-mobile

Even Bobby’s shower flashback in Dallas has nothing on Labour’s psychodrama. This is the strong & stable UK Scotland apparently cannot do without. These are the indispensable, political grown-ups. Wake up everyone. Time for Scots to run the show ourselves www.thenational.scot/comment/2610...

Bella Caledonia - consistently radical, a wee bit provocative and always performing the vital role of encouraging new left writers in Scotland. I’ve contributed to their crowdfunder - if you can please do. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/Xy28pd7...

Jings - Starmer mentions independence. But only 'energy independence'. Excellent first question as new SNP WM leader by @davedooganmp.bsky.social

Empty #KingsSpeech for Scots. Lower Thames Crossing goes ahead + Northern PH Rail + 'all measures to safeguard domestic steel production' not nationalisation. Energy Independence Bill will 'scale up home-grown energy' ie more Scottish hardware to supply consumers in S of E. Poor.

Tourists will love the ancient bling. Foreigners will love the pageantry. Royal watchers will lap it up. But for indy-supporting Scots, this rigmarole is just a powerful assertion of hierarchy, elite control and the unshakeable stranglehold of the past over 'modern' Britain. #KingsSpeech

Should he go or should he stay? 100 Labour MPs say “no leadership contest now." But 81 want Starmer to go. It's a perfect storm for Labour & the country. How can Anas Sarwar stay after a failed campaign totally focused on himself? Will the SNP/Green indy vote go ahead? lesleyriddoch.com/podcast

Finland is world's happiest country for 9 years AND amongst top 10 most income equal. Kids attend affordable kindergarten b4 school at 7 - system produces happiest kids and best scores. Connected? You bet. Last screenings of film & Q&A - Thurso May 20th and Stromness 25th. lesleyriddoch.com/events

Keir Starmer will take British Steel into public ownership - just raises betrayal of Grangemouth for Scots. Builds up a big reveal on Europe but …. no gamechanger like joining single market. Instead UK will be ‘at heart of Europe’ via an EU youth work exchange scheme. Is that it?

Yessers will be relieved Reform was seen off at constituency level. But their list presence in Holyrood will warp our parly rightwards without a clear restatement of independence purpose. After all Yes won. Reform didn’t. And to the winners, the spoils. www.thenational.scot/politics/260...

Great to hear John Swinney will have scotparl vote on Section 30 for #indyref2 after SNP/Green majority. The unprecedented Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh Indy treble act makes this the ideal time to press forward. thenational.scot/news/26092529.…

I believe @scotnational.bsky.social are investigating.

Oh dear.

A ‘band of amazons’ resisted Sheriff officers in Coigach, 1853 saving their peninsula from clearance. Women & kids planted Europe's only Ogham Gaelic alphabet forest in 2000 & led community purchase of clearance village in Strathnaver. Stories we should know. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

One for @scotnational.bsky.social

'A small crowd holding saltires & placards gathered calling for Scottish independence in word & song. Flower of Scotland could be heard drifting across the parliamentary pond. There is – once again – a pro-independence majority here.' Effective effort folks. Tx. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Best results service.

And now ditto Thomas Kerr

Reform’s Malcolm Offord gubbed in his own Greenock constituency but will get to Holyrood via PR list system he doesn't even believe in. Nice one. So many boats, cars & homes but no seat.

Early days but looks like SNP/Greens pro indy majority in Scotparl - means Scots want right to decide our future in UK. Plaid set to be largest party in Wales - things are moving. If you agree get to Holyrood by 6pm with banners so broadcasters see Yes in action. I’m leaving now!

Will Malcolm Offord take time away from relentless wealth creation, 6 homes, 5 cars & 6 yachts to lead his new, motley crew at Holyrood? Will the press corps clype if he swans off during the week only to reappear in time for FMQs? Still time NOT to vote Reform. www.thenational.scot/politics/260...

Two new Highland Clearance films; One features the ‘band of amazons’ who turned back Sheriff officers five times in Coigach 1852/3. Second features Europe's only Ogham Gaelic alphabet forest & a community-owned clearance village in Strathnaver. A crowdfunder. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

Scunnerment isn't just a verdict on the SNP but a verdict on devolution itself. Holyrood wasn’t designed to outshine the “Mother of Parliaments” or outrun the Britpack. It was designed to tick over. And ticking over politics does not set the heather alight www.thenational.scot/politics/260...

What's made Finland the world's happiest country for nine years in a row? Final screenings of film & Q&A - Thurso May 20th and Stromness 25th. See you there. lesleyriddoch.com/events

Will there be a pro-indy majority on Friday? Will Malcolm Offord actually turn up if elected? Is anything more Trumpian than Reform's threat to locate migrant detention centres in Scottish Green-voting seats? Plus Gaza march ban threat & who really won it for Scotch? lesleyriddoch.com/podcast

Women of Coigach made history in 1850s resisting the factors' men to avoid clearance. The women of Strathnaver made history in 2000 planting an Ogham forest with native trees from the Gaelic alphabet. This is our history. Shouldn't we know more? New films www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

Never mind 6 yachts Offord. Tragedy is so few Scots have modest wee boats or sailing skills when our coastline covers a third of the planet. We have fewer boats than everyone else in N Europe for simple fixable reasons. Keep Out signs. Landowners. Poverty www.thenational.scot/news/1882031...

25 years ago, families cleared from Strathnaver created a new woodland using species from the Gaelic Ogham alphabet - unique in Europe. After centuries of exclusion, locals are putting their language, culture & trees back on the map. Two films - one crowdfunder. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

Lucy Dunn makes good point about @Ross_Greer in #STVDebate. Opponents try to hammer him on reserved issues but he replies about the domestic policies the Scottish Parliament actually controls – buses and childcare.

Reform Scottish leader asks Ross Greer: ‘I’ve got 6 homes, five cars and six boats. Do you want more high achieving folk like me in Scotland?’ Whit! During a cost of living crisis? Gobsmackingly awful contribution by Malcolm Offord in #STVdebate.

Sorted now.

Tx for folk alerting us to strangely mangled audio at start of today's podcast. The Coach will be on it when he's picked up the bairns from school and will repost. I hope.

If Mandelson wasn't US Ambassador it wd've been George Osborne. Whit! Did anyone expect King of Austerity to be chosen by a Labour PM? Plus cross party kindergarten progress; faux fuss over SNP/ Sinn Fein cooperation; the changing indy mandate & new Clearances films lesleyriddoch.com/podcast

Empty glens like Strathnaver were teeming with life before Patrick Sellar's brutal evictions in 1814. Now clearance descendants in Sutherland & Coigach are putting a mark back on the land. Two stories Scots sd know. One crowdfunder. Any help much appreciated. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

Tartan Army 'taking back control' from Fifa with fan ticket exchange. Great practical idea to combat World Cup rip-off. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Surprisingly little info on Kenyan London marathon winner Sebastian Sawe - first runner to break two hours. It's some story. 'For Sabastian, running was a way to honour his grandmother’s faith, his mother’s lost dream, and his uncle’s example.' Great read. www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/...

The empty Highland landscape, so admired by visitors, is man-made. So I'm making films about Strathnaver & Coigach where women resisted clearance. Why now? Locals are asserting their own culture on a map still totally dominated by large landowners. Tx for help. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

200 years ago, Patrick Sellar's men burned families out of Strathnaver to replace them with sheep. 150 years ago the women of Coigach resisted five brutal attempts at clearance. Two new films show how these communities have put their own story back on the map www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/highland-c...

John Swinney says three nationalist administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff & Belfast would change the UK “irreversibly.” Would that not be true? Or are we meant to ignore democracy when it produces results Unionist parties cannot handle? www.thenational.scot/politics/260...

‘On May 7 for the first time in a generation we have the chance to change Scotland.’ Is Anas Sarwar’s party political broadcast acceptance that a generation has now passed since 2014? Or did the prospect of Indy not constitute change?

Do Anas Sarwar and Malcolm Offord speak to one another? Or was Labour anger over unionist pact allegation just performative? Will Foreign Office supremo bring down Keir Starmer over Mandelson vetting. What’s wrong with 70’s style price caps on food? Listen lesleyriddoch.com/podcast