probably substantial absolutely schilens to the labor party in a general life in this case a scottish genelec someone to ninety nine and your rival in the in the scottish parliament a list member for the wessel school for central scotland what was it like to arrive as one of that group of i think about thirty seven s.n.p. m.p. well it was thirty five but it was fun task because this was the fost of a democratically elected scottish parliament and to be a member of it i think is something that well you were only one of one hundred twenty nine so it's a very unique club to be n. and of course of no say of the nearly eighteen year olds in the scottish parliament so you're one of the original members there's a tenuous membership from the. well let's choose the. the winner using phrase census reconvening yes in one thousand nine hundred nine and yourself continuously that's led to this point but that was

a marvelous time how confident were you that things would progress to the stage where the s.n.p. were governed i do think at that stage anybody we were hopeful and we were certainly walking for them but i don't think anyone would have said they were absolutely sure it was going to be the kind of progress we did and particularly the idea of being able to have an independent referendum organized effectively by the scottish parliament by two thousand and fourteen i don't think anybody would have confidently predicted that would happen having said that it became very clear i think ailie own that as far as the people will consent the focus changed from being at westminster to the scottish parliament the scottish parliament. on the twenty first day of march in the year seventeen hundred seven is here by reconvene .

they've been waiting on this for a long time because it's talking about the dollar back to this world reserve currency countries are tired of funding america's wars because there's got to be a trainer in dollars including oil to buy oil got to buy dollars first that means america gets a commission to use that money to wage wars all over the world. and there are some was some a total of one mama. i don't want the little bit of little. yellow

vigil of the few who took another critical of what if there could be chilcote. he said to. me and you come with it so for us to do the question is to yes for your yes to chest. but here for everyone that is for you. but. welcome back and forget the only meal about his career with the scottish ball with the ex would reach the point when he arrives in the scottish parliament reconvened off the free hundred euros in one thousand nine hundred ninety. the s.n.p.

won the two thousand elections by a majority in a p.r. system now were you surprised that that was possible straight question no the answer is i wasn't because i tried to keep my told me before so i tried to keep my ear very close to the killer in those you know. and the feedback from the grassroots and by that i don't just mean a sane peace supporters but from people who are traditionally but voters i thought it was possible i would have predicted that because the thing was a tall order p.r. system but i have to see by about three weeks before pulling the i was convinced that we could not necessarily would but that we could actually meet the magic number to become a majority government and of course what happened i didn't tell you didn't tell anyone else that that was my feeling because i don't want to say takes potations running but my view right along in that campaign was there we could do it and be

that in the run up to the scottish referendum of twenty four you're in every aspect with the benefit of hindsight how well we played or one of the mistakes that we can there simply can learn from in the future you can always layer from mistakes but that's not you know i think we plea we ran an exceptionally good campaign i think we went from you know below theft in terms of support from independents and by pooling day with the top to forty five percent and that was against all this the entire media both the written and a lot of the television media and others being against is. clearly. the big boys all come up from london in the last week to try and promise the voters so-called value that we're going to deliver big powers if we voted against independence which had an influence in the campaign and you think that was influential because many commentators say it wasn't it was it it was influential

was the for. to the bees the fate of lee delivered by gordon brown a new biter for the s. and p. thinks so gordon but iron he does have influenced will others did at that time with labor voters or enough leigh but what else is gotten the former my mother's i then retirement you came out of retirement to back a no vote us and them and to underpin this new commitment to scotland exactly for what sometimes called devil max a lot suppose a bit short of a depression and i think he did boards he swung maybe three or four percent leiber voters were equivalent to three or four percent of the awake to it be five percent of the most but that was enough photos to turn the tide in the law for them to turn the tide in the last week otherwise i think we may a done it so the aftermath of the twenty fourth when i stepped down as i was first minister i resign or leave the field clear for a nickel sturgeon and there's

a most enormous success in the twenty fifteen in general election year the momentum from the referendum colleagues forward and sweeps absolutely the unionist parties aside with fifty six out of fifty nine scottish seats did you have a figure that was possible. i don't think anybody thought that was possible including the unionist parties. and the other thing is i think we all need to missed the others and the unionist parties of thinking that that was scottish politics for the next twenty years that you know these protests or the labor party could make any of a comeback in that we were going to be able and i think looking back you know we that was too presumptuous because obviously the subsequent jello asian we lost twenty of those seats so a good thing i was i'll sell neutrally some foreigners but then something's happened and we muted the point during the. referendum it was possible scott could

be taken out of europe against his will is it we put the point forward with no campaign said that was impossible the only way to stay within europe was to avoid or a level end of. the whole david cameron as prime minister gambled everything in european referendum and lost so the situation we'd ventilated as being a classic illustration of scotland's inability to control its own destiny or as other great examples the five submarines or the the war in iraq came to pass years in two thousand and sixteen. were you surprised that that did not cause the sea change of opinion towards independence given that the indications are that independence supporters stayed roughly put it was in the early forty's much much higher than previously but not subject beyond the fifty percent mark i wasn't surprised in fact and the political cabinet just after mikell had taken over where

we were discussing the prospect of possibly happening knew you wanted it to happen particularly because clearly the s.n.p. didn't want to come of europe but. at that discussion i specifically made the point that i did not believe that if we ended up with a differential between scotland the less the u.k. then that would automatically lead to a stampede for independence or anything like it but in particular your emotional attachment may be less than the s. and p's and been suggestions that you personally voted against voted no in the european referendum is those able to clear the one way or another for all time i've been on is about i voted no i didn't campaign in the referendum presented just leave the government and i thought it would was a great quickly to go against government policy because it would have been no seen as a tactical move on an issue of principle the issue which you put your finger on many

many years ago in the run up to the one thousand nine hundred two election and then a u.k. government i was the one that wasn't meant to be there leaked. a week of tube showing that the u.k. government's own yeah but excedrin analysis is the single market in economic terms is hugely damaging maybe not the armageddon that george osborne was committing yourself to but nonetheless a substantial chunk of g.d.p. . analysis by a bracks at department of government in these circumstances where are you in the same position as you were back in may the right to accepting the preeminence of the single market in terms of the health of the scotia carnival two things first of all i've never seen any government economic forecast in fifty years that was and if we had leave i call it i mean if you look at recently the your father that's not going to get one right through for the national office of statistics has produced an analysis recently not of a forecast but the growth rate for last year and they got it saw. the were

forecasting less than one and a half the same go with for the u.k. and it's turns out it was two percent growth so they can't tell us what's just happened let alone forecast was going to happen it will do you think and scottish government were forecasting a major economic impact for being the years ago market and the pro but government who are also forecasting a substantial impact do you think they're both from coming from different well as not coming from different opinions because it's very clear that the u.k. my forecast is coming from civil servants who are wanting this does this to be in the european union the scottish government obviously that's their policy but the important thing is we have to be and let me just see one of the big faults of these forecasts since they do take account of the behavioral changes that will happen particularly in the business community if and when breaks it actually happens or doesn't happen because business is

a dumps and there is nothing in these forecasts underlies business for doubt but the history of the economy going back hundreds of years as whether it's wars whether it's revolutions for ever as business as adults we don't know hundreds of you will have to go back twenty five years. since alec nero was telling the scottish national party we must get to independence because of the huge importance of the single market place. as i think we'll quarter of a century later having got all of the rest of opinion known seem to disregard the membership single market as such an important economic economic the first thing is the e.u. has changed dramatically i'm not. sure but let me go to the single market or single market and the e.u. have changed dramatically in that period of time but more importantly looking to the future and this is a thing we'll agree in terms of scotland independent scotland i think in fact actually george osborne recently has made a statement saying that the u.k.

should do this as well but i think we've the best way forward for scotland which avoids a don't sites. you know it's a bounce but also allows us to keep an access to access the single market as important as the dog was called the norwegian solution to join the european free trade association and that means that we're not going to be tied into a federal gun one thousand seats a europe which i think is going to happen and set we know what we call an independent realize if we don't something like norway type solution then we've been a much stronger position all right so let's employ your fifty years experience and politics having started a very young age what's going to happen what's going to happen at westminster what's going to happen to scope. well like economic forecast of of always cautious in terms of forecasting for will happen but i think louis freeh by twenty twenty

three it will i think there's a good chance that we will be if no ended entirely independent sent a much more independent than riyadh at the present time i think in the short term a number of things out of this number one is i think the reason we made survived just to see the brakes a deal done and it top of the shia but the inches are gone up so there will be a change of leadership in the to. the party that's been to have consequences which could be good or bad for the tory party and you know i think any tour to come is bad for the country anyways there's the possibility that we'll have another genuinely in two thousand and nineteen or two thousand and twenty particularly if i'm right as a new leader and that will have consequences secondly i think the brakes deal will be done i mean i just no matter which way you look at it no matter how optimistic or pessimistic you are as an interest of the e.u.

as well as a huge key to how the deal and i think a deal will be done and we need to see the shape of the deal before we can then forecast puts likely to happen the laughter but i think some things are very clear maybe it's going to go at some point fairly soon but i think we blend up with a deal including a transition period and after we've got to try and shape our own future and know our endowment for the approved breaks i'm to place whether we should be allowing other people to decide the future of scotland i don't want to decided in brussels don't want to just say to london i wanted to say good by the people in scotland let me oh thank you so much pleasure now this is been a very revealing sure not least for me personally for much of the last generation i've had a number of political differences of alec neal of course of corporate on many occasions for scott was benefit and indeed i have appointed him to the highest ministerial offices in the land but was seldom been in total political agreement

and i have it's difficult to argue of his contention that the fed up of way forward for scotland is beckoning in membership of efta the european free trade association an organization which would allow our country to retain its european economic and social connections the danger of being absorbed into the perspective of a federal continent. in a sea of political uncertainty it might well unite the country and be the key to scotland's father constitutional progress. from taza me and all of the people at the alex salmond chill good bye for now. the board.

henry kissinger once said the brochure in the united states went into the ukrainian crisis acting rationally based on mutual misconceptions with tensions heightened over the scruple case all the sides guided by misconceptions or didn't get rid misrepresentations. of them or by regulating well there but although i. know yours will put you out of a. good job it ended up in the same one a bit and i didn't do it it will always be good is it also. helps hold. on a passion. to. keep it or don't or don't let you people

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but i. doubt it was a. russia calls for u.n. security council meeting for the latest developments in the script powell case this is the u.k. lout that tested the nerve agent used in the attack in britain says it's on the table to find the source. british foreign secretary boris johnson is being called to account for his insistence that russia carries out the points in a. facebook admits that tens of millions more people could be affected by the

data harvesting scandal been initially told the day to research company involved in the scandal disputes the numbers. the u.s. state of michigan of dreams plans by a food giants nestlé to extract more bottled water despite widespread local opposition. it is ten am here in the russian capital in your watching r.t. international with me and karen good to have you with us this hour now russia has called for a u.n. security council meeting later this thursday moscow wants to discuss the latest developments in the case of the poisoning of former spy surrogate screwed powell and his daughter in the u.k. in a recent revelation a u.k. military laboratory said it could not to identify the source of the nerve agent used in the attack britain had earlier claimed there was

a direct link to russia. takes up the story. it's a right old kid on drugs on the one hand you skip the trial screamed guilty and jump to the punishment part on the other your own guys come out and say hold on there's no evidence and i was his by were living experts at the defense science and technology laboratory at portadown made clear that this was a military grade novacek nerve agent produced in russia we have not verified the precise source you have not been able to establish that this was made in russia as i said it's our job to provide you know the scientific evidence that identifies what the particular nerve agent is but typically you're not able at porton down to say where it is from we haven't yet been able to do that well that's embarrassing alright keep calm first google back on your word and just to be sure

delete any old tweets then riposte experts who say the opposite of what you said our experts have precisely identified in their region as nabil chalk it is not and has never been our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent now pretend that nothing happened which is hard to do in the end to that really the brits ended up having to explain themselves and conveniently scapegoated the poor fellow who transcribed the briefing one of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report her master's words we route this tweet you remember what i said about scapegoating he really did but barge johnson himself had said almost the same thing said it's on video you argue that their source of the chalk is russia how did you manage to find it out so quickly when i look at the

the evidence i mean the people from from porton down the. they were absolutely categorical and i asked the guy myself i said are you sure and he said there's no doubt wouldn't want to be in the shoes right about now yet they did find a way around it a simple statement saying that boris johnson didn't mean it like that what the foreign secretary said then and what putin donna said recently is fully consistent with what we've said throughout having to get things so far so fast they can't afford to do a u. turn this investigation could end in two ways with proof of russia's guilt or with an uncomfortable silence and hope that everyone forgets until then boris keep doing what you do every day are you ready for the big report on that there is the stuff that we are rushing production. is the government going through russia.

being a surrogate is not isolated case but the latest act of reckless behavior by the russian state the russians the russians or russia russia russia russia russia the knowledge i'm afraid the evidence is overwhelming that it is russia and boris yeltsin has serious questions to say the claims on german television that this was a russian booster nerve agent porton down and then examine it and said all they claim to it that was not the truth they couldn't say where it came from. there's also been a tirade of criticism from the british labor party on twitter of a boy's johnson's assurances that russia was behind the poisoning some say johnson's claims were primitive or and lacked evidence one of the m.p.'s chris williamson told us the case was being used as a diversionary tactic. seems to me the government were indulging in political point

scoring particularly boris johnson who raced ahead of the evidence and used this terrible incident not so much as a smoking gun but more of a smokescreen really it was a very convenient wasn't for the government to use this as a way of diverting attention from their own difficulties of a. policy and you know at the end of the day it's pretty clear that boris johnson did not tell the truth he told the german interviewer that a. scientist pointed out it said it was without doubt that the agents had to come from russia so i think jeremy called me was absolutely right to caution to ask for clear evidence before we start to raise international tensions but we need to get to the bottom in the evidence and jeremy said this seemed to point towards russia but let's be absolutely clear before we start raising international tensions in this way this us huge implications for more sensible to take a measured approach and be clear about the evidence and let all the evidence. the

u.k. blaming moscow for the nerve agent attack resulted in a number of countries that expelling russian diplomats in solidarity with britain russia retaliated and send you k. and other foreign diplomats home to thursday is the deadline for u.s. staff to leave the embassy in moscow so get your pal and his daughter yulia were found on conscious just over a month ago in the u.k. city of souls bree it was later revealed that they were both exposed to a nerve agent of a type produced in the soviet union called navi chalk script power used to be a russian intelligence officer before he was charged for revealing confidential information to the u.k. secret service says he remains in a coma with his daughter reportedly in a stable condition. with the international chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. wu met on wednesday over this group powell case russia proposed a joint investigation but that idea was rejected. we will not agree to russia's

demands to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in solsbury because the u.k. has assessed that it is highly likely that the russian state is responsible for this attack and that there is no plausible alternative explanation there's no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for a victim to engage the likely perpetrator in a joint investigation to do so would be perverse. unfortunately we didn't manage to get the needed two thirds of votes for the resolution to pass obviously the brits and americans voted against and then nato and some a u member states and u.s. allies followed suit they fear the truth they fear to take responsibility for their words the blatant accusations for provocative statements from the head of u.k. diplomacy. the u.k.'s representative to the p.c. wu sets out more claims against russia the me saying thanking the scope our poisoning case to the chemical attack in the syrian town of calling shaikh hoon

last year well thought the attack led to the us taking military actions against the syrian government he claims that russia had called wednesday's meeting in the hague to make a political point. ok mystery professor dave call him says that the nerve agents believed to have been used in so is not that hard to produce the chemistry that was being claimed to be unique. i basically claimed it was not there really remarkably simple compounds and they're all very similar so they all have basically a phosphorus group with four groups attach they all have an oxygen and a fluorine which are invariant and so so the trick is to get the other two groups in and i would say that the ones that i've looked at which is at least a dozen of them they could be made in two or three steps by pretty much any organic chemist in my opinion which is why this notion that it's specialized russian technology i picked the needle on that and said no it's not you might die trying to

make them i need special equipment to keep yourself from getting a dose of the stuff but there's ways to do that for about twenty or thirty thousand dollars so there's nothing. bottom except for not killing yourself it's a very simple modifications you could almost imagine making one by mistake which would be a catastrophic moment for that chemists but but there you know i could give a problem set in my first year grad course how would you make these and the students would all get it. facebook has admitted that this scale of a data breach of its accounts that was used for political purposes has turned out to be followed to them previously thought was the tech giant says that the profiles of up to eighty seven million people could have been shared with data. cambridge i'm melissa. said fifty million in total we believe the phrasebook information of up to eighty.