Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Scotland's First Minister and SNP leader who led her party to a landslide victory in the 2015 general election, winning 56 of 59 Scottish seats.
On the island
Eight records
I had a childhood obsession with the wonderful Cilla Black... my granddad came along and rode to the rescue and bought it for me.
This is Freedom Kamal Ye, which is a famous Scottish protest song... This version of it was performed by Pomeza, a South African singer, at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
I am just an 80s girl at heart... this would be my all-time favourite.
probably was a soundtrack to my political awakening, but also mentions my hometown.
My Love Is Like a Red Red RoseFavourite
this is a song that was played just before Peter and I took our vows at our wedding.
I used to play this incessantly while reading Emily Bronte.
Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin
Gender issues matter a lot to me... this is a song that speaks to the feminist in me.
the ultimate upbeat, optimistic, motivational song... a blast of this cheers me up.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:25It seems like it's been a roller coaster from the outside. How has it been from the inside?
From the inside as well. I came out of the 18th of September totally and utterly devastated. I had given my heart and soul, as had many other people, to trying to win a yes vote. We'd come very close, closer than many people thought we might. So I was devastated in floods of tears. And as that was all happening, Alex Salmon told me he was going to step down as party leader the day after the referendum and there was no change in his mind. I actually tried very hard to change his mind. So suddenly, out of that exhaustion and devastation, I just saw my entire life change before me.
Presenter asks
4:04Is Jeremy Corbyn somebody you admire? Do you admire his politics? Do you think he'll make a good Prime Minister?
I've never met Jerry McCorb, but I'm sure that will change in the not too distant future. So I don't feel able to kind of judge him on a personal basis or judge his character. The doubt I have about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party is about his ability to take the Labour Party with him, and there's not going to be perhaps too much benefit to anybody in having the leader of a Labour Party who, you know, for example, is against Trident if the rest of the party is for that. But you know, I am open to working with them on issues where we've got common ground.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I'm going to take a coffee machine because the one thing I cannot do without in the morning is my injection of caffeine.
Presenter asks
What would you say to comfort them [people in other parts of the UK who felt strongly that they didn't want Scotland to leave]?
Well, two things. Firstly, I respect that and always have respected that. And secondly, if there was one thing that did upset me often during the referendum campaign was when I came up against people who lived in England who felt that what Scotland was doing represented in some way a rejection, that it showed some kind of antipathy or hostility towards England. That genuinely upset me because nothing could be further from what I believe in. You know, my grandmother was English and she was a big nationalist. She was an SNP supporter. My childhood wasn't full of politics. But I suppose she's one of the reasons why my nationalism has never really been about identity or driven by a belief that you've got to be pure bred Scots to support independence for Scotland because she came from just outside Sunderland in the north of England and yet had this kind of belief that Scotland should be an independent country. So I, you know, I detested that sense that somehow what we were arguing for was a rejection of England as a country or England as a people.
Presenter asks
11:03Very early memories of home life.
My memories of home life are just of stability, security. My mum and dad were my world when I was wee. You know, if I look back now and think about what my mum and dad instilled in me, it's nothing short of remarkable in some ways because, as you say, they were really young when I was born. I guess their own life experiences at that time must have been fairly limited. Nobody in either of their families had ever gone to university. They probably hadn't come across that many people that had gone to university, and yet they managed to raise this wee girl who, from as far back as I can remember, had a belief that aspiring to go to university was something that I should take for granted.
Presenter asks
21:41You don't have children, and that has been used by some of your political opponents as an implicit criticism. What do you make of that?
That can be hurtful, if I'm being brutally honest about it, because people make assumptions about why we don't have children. And frankly, people who make those assumptions know nothing of the reality of that and the assumption that people sometimes not everybody but the assumption that that people sometimes make is that I have made a cold, calculated decision to put my career ahead of having a family and that's not true. It never has been true. Sometimes things happen in life, sometimes they don't. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets and if I could turn the clock back 10, 20 years, I wouldn't want to fundamentally change the path that my life has taken. But it's just it's just the way in which people just assume that it's all part of this kind of cold, calculating, career-driven woman. And actually I think for most women that couldn't be further from the truth, even if they have got very successful in their careers and haven't had children.
Presenter asks
28:30There is an acknowledgment among many people who have held office at the very highest level that it can be a very lonely place to be. What's your view on that?
I absolutely agree with that, and I guess the most eye-opening thing about my experience of the last twelve months is just how true that old cliché is. I mean, I guess you've commented previously on the fact that I'd been Alex Salmon's deputy for ten years. I guess I went into the job thinking I'd been so close to it for so long that I knew all there was to know about it, and you quickly find out that that's not true, that nothing quite prepares you for that moment when you've got to take the first big decision. And I vividly remember that. I don't actually remember what the decision was, but I remember that feeling in my stomach when I realised that it was quite a difficult decision and I was having to take it, and the guy next door wasn't there anymore to pass it over to. And that was a revelation at that point. I think I've got and have developed over the years a kind of resilience and an inner strength and a sort of ability to stand up against the critics. And I found that while in the moment it can be difficult, it's certainly lonely. I, in a strange sort of way, also feel quite comfortable with decision making and I'm prepared to live with the consequences. So, you know, there's something in me that has managed to convince myself I've got what it takes to be a leader.
“I came out of the 18th of September totally and utterly devastated. I had given my heart and soul, as had many other people, to trying to win a yes vote.”
“I detested that sense that somehow what we were arguing for was a rejection of England as a country or England as a people.”
“They managed to raise this wee girl who, from as far back as I can remember, had a belief that aspiring to go to university was something that I should take for granted.”
“That can be hurtful, if I'm being brutally honest about it, because people make assumptions about why we don't have children.”
“Nothing quite prepares you for that moment when you've got to take the first big decision. And I vividly remember that... I remember that feeling in my stomach when I realised that it was quite a difficult decision and I was having to take it, and the guy next door wasn't there anymore to pass it over to.”
“What you see now is the real me for better or worse.”