In the last @lesleyriddoch podcast of 2013, we try to dodge around and corral the issues of the season. These include the ‘big’ events for 2014, food and drink, honours, and how they fit in Scotland today.

We start by attempting to consign a series of expressions, tropes and memes to 2013.

Nigella Lawson of cooking fame has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This week’s @lesleyriddoch podcast considers the fall out of the case and tries to make some sense of it all.

In a week when Lesley was being whisked around Helsinki by trams, we stop to ponder the latest European Commission survey on the public opinion on trains.

The Scotsman also revealed this week it was to move premises. This simple statement provoked an interesting ‘twitter’ storm with some surprising tangents. 

 In this week’s @lesleyriddoch podcast, we discuss the Douglas Alexander intervention into the referendum debate. Lesley’s approach is to try to be ‘not snarky’ as she gets stuck into the arguments.

The topic of supermarkets and future food price gets a good chewing. Is it a real worry?  Some, like Dig In Bruntsfield and the Fife Diet folks might see this as an opportunity. And we also touch on the positive ideas out of recent Lighthouse exhibitions.

And then, there is Oslo. Lesley has been on another field trip, eventful as ever. And she comes back full of stories of bread, trams and transport. There’s also advance notice of the next Nordic Horizons meeting which promises to be very good on integrated public transport a la Ruter.

This week’s @lesleyriddoch podcast; ‘Scotland’s Future’ – the White Paper gets released, childcare gets discussed or not, and there’s a lot of television about.

There are mentions of Alan Little’s excellent ‘Our Friends in the North’, Scotland Tonight’s use of ‘heng oots’, the riveting spectacle of Eddi Reader on Question Time and that debate between   Nicola and Alistair . And Chris explains what it is like to meet the Ice Queen, Irene Macdougall of Dundee Rep who is in this year’s Christmas show, “The Big Friendly Giant”.

(And thanks to Chris Cook for the inspirational title of this week’s Pod )