Caley Corner

Dr Matt Winning - Climate Change Comedian & Author of Hot Mess

My guest on this episode is environmental scientist Dr Matt Winning he's also the author of Hot Mess which I’ve just finished reading and can highly recommend.
In his day job he has worked on climate mitigation for 15 years in academia and consultancy, and he is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources.
Away from that, he's using comedy and jokes as a way to talk about Climate change which is precisely what we focus on here. In summary we've tried to keep it light, fun and educational at the same time despite the heavy subject matter.

Raymond Mearns Comedian Actor Glesga Da Episode 12

Raymond talks us through some of the big moments in his life with his trademark humour and wit. We start off talking about his early days at Glasgow Caledonian University and whether or, not he believes in fate. After that, we discuss how he got into stand up, his first gigs and he talks about his inspiration for being a comic, why he loves artists, philosophy and he also shares various tales of humorous life advice with some sarcasm peppered in. We end up talking about Baby Reindeer, Scotland at the euros and how Glesga Da came about. 
If you enjoy this episode please consider following/subscribing wherever you get your podcasts and if you can leave a rating (5 stars) ideal thanks. 

Frank Gilfeather: 78-Year Old Scottish Boxing Internet Sensation &.Ex Sports Journalist on His Life

My guest today is the viral and global boxing inspiration Frank Gilfeather. The 78-year-old former boxer is an Internet Sensation, beating influencers at their own game. Frank is a former journalist and television reporter and as my guest on Episode 11 of Caley Corner, we discuss his boxing and journalism career, his view on today's Scottish boxing and how he ended up covering sports and football. If you like the podcast please follow rate (5 stars) and/or, recommend to a friend as this will help to grow the channel.
Future guests coming up include Raymond Mearns, Ross Greer & Dr Matt Winning amongst others.

Daniel Downie Comedian and Scottish History fanatic

My Guest on Episode 10 is the one and only Daniel Downie who's a comedian that doubles up as the host of Mountebank Scotland where he has the number one comedy walking tour of Edinburgh. He also has his own Youtube channel where he details and relays facts about Scottish History with his trademark humour. Daniel tells us a great story about Maggie Dickson who's one of Edinburgh's most famous daughters. Hear about the tale of how she came to be 'executed' on the Grassmarket in Edinburgh and the aftermath of that. If you like the podcast please follow rate (5 stars) and/or, recommend to a friend as this will help to grow the channel. Future guests coming up are Frank Gilfeather, Raymond Mearns & Dr Matt Winning amongst others.

Iain Smith trauma informed criminal defence lawyer (previous winner of Lawyer of the year in Scotland)

Something a bit different this week as Iain Smith a criminal defence lawyer from West Lothian joins us. We start off by hearing about Iains background and how the stress of struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia from school and beyond has contributed towards him thinking outside of the box with regards to his navigation through life both personally and professionally.
He tells us about a fateful encounter he had with Leslee Udwin in 2017 (who at that time was categorised as the second most influential female on the planet behind only Hillary Clinton via the NY Times) This then led to an epiphany in his own words and a journey from there to becoming educated on the biological impact of trauma on the childhood brain. This leads into his lifes philosophy completely changing. Iain now spends a good amount of his time trying to reform the justice system from the inside. Join us for a good conversation about this!
If you enjoy this content please consider leaving a rating (5 stars) and following/sharing as helps to grow the podcast. There will be more episodes with Lawyers from other fields coming out in the near future. 

In Conversation with Tom Boyd Celtic legend and Scotland hall of famer Ep08

Hear from the man himself as we start off by talking about Celtics victory this past weekend against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi final. From there he takes us through every stage of his footballing career from the early days of winning player of the year and the Scottish Cup with Motherwell before, he went down to Chelsea, despite some interest from Brian Cloughs Nottingham Forrest team.  As most will know Tom then makes his way back up to Glasgow with Celtic where he had a great career with one of the obvious highlights being winning the Scottish league in the 97/98 season to stop Rangers in their tracks of winning 10 in a row. 
If you like the podcast please leave us a rating, follow or, recommend to a friend as looking to get similar guests lined up in the future from the world of Football.

Midlothian to Iraq - Afghanistan - Hyrox to becoming a personal trainer with Alan Russell

Hear Alans story as he talks about joining the army and his journey from there, into competing and training people for Hyrox fitness events. He recalls a vivid dream/nightmare on the eve of his first deployment to Iraq and what life was like for a working class soldier. He takes us from there to Afghanistan where a convoy he was part of went over an Improvised Explosive Device.

Tommy Sheridan on Independence, Politics & Internationalism with some decent patter also

Was a privilege to sit down and talk politics with a heavyweight from Scottish politics. Tommy's obviously a well known socialist and internationalist. There was good humor shared at times as well as more serious topics being discussed from Tommy's segway into Social Work, George Galloway getting elected, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe. Find out about why Tommy's keen to trace some potential mafia links and why he's concerned more about yacht ownership than stopping human beings searching for new and better lives on small boats. There's a great story about the backstory about how he got the first ever private members bill passed in the Scottish Parliament to abolish warrant sales. Inevitably there was a good chat around Scottish independence and why that is unlike other nationalist movements. There's some good stories in there from his time in parliament and he gives us his take on what's going on in Gaza and the war between Ukraine and Russia. 
Hope you enjoy and if you do please hit follow and think about leaving a rating as 1, this is free and doesn't cost you anything and 2 helps to grow the channel, if you can recommend to a friend or family member even better :-)

In conversation with Clare Docherty Ayr Untited striker and league player of the year 2023

Clare is also in charge of both the Woman's and Girls academy at Ayr United as well as being a prolific striker for the woman's team. She's very passionate about promoting the woman's game and this forms one of the main subjects of this chat. We talked about her early life when there was no real presence of teams for girls in Ayrshire and then move onto her Kenny Milleresque journey to Kilmarnock, Scotland youth teams, Rangers, Celtic and then finally Ayr. Clare also really opens up about how imposter syndrome has played a role in her career and talks about being a mother also. There's good humour shared throughout and hope you enjoy it. If you do please drop us a follow and leave a rating as helps to grow the channel and we're hoping to get more guests on in the future from both the woman's and mens game. 

A discussion about poverty and play for children in Scotland with Professor John Mckendrick from GCU

John's primary research interests are on poverty (with a particular interest on how this impacts children) and children’s play. He told us about his own research when he was a student on lone parents within Strathclyde. John gave a good background about his work at the University for common good, his early years and how his experiences growing up in Ayrshire sparked a love for the outdoors and the environment. John also shared his knowledge about the importance of safe, scattered outdoor spaces for kids to congregate, explore and play within.
There was a good chat about the aim to reduce the levels of child poverty and inequality within Scotland by 2030. We talked over how poverty is measured, why it's important to do that and other social issues were touched on such as the need for additional social housing. The subject of cars within the environment was a theme and how this has a knock on impact on play and safe spaces. John was also a grade 1 referee within Scotland which has seen him officiate at the top level of the national game so, there was a brief chat about this as well of course. 
If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and follow as will help to grow the channel and get similar guests on in the future.