The Stooshie: the politics podcast from DC Thomson DC Thomson

The prime minister was back in Scotland to help Douglas Ross in a tight contest.
Were they words of encouragement or damage limitation?
Can Lib Dems pull of a Highland surprise?
And will Reform have any impact in Scotland?
All that and analysis of the latest election coverage from political reporters across the P&J, The Courier and the Sunday Post.

We discuss how Labour suspended its candidate in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after exclusive reporting from our politics team.
What happens next in the big contest between the SNP and Tories in the crucial region?
Does Gordon Brown's impact still resonate in Fife - and can the Kingdom turn red?
And we make some rash predictions about how many seats the Conservatives might win or lose in Scotland.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross rocked his own campaign, leaving us to wonder what can possibly happen next.
We look at new polling on the picture in Scotland, and what's happening with Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak.
And we wonder if everyone's made up their mind already and just wants to watch Scotland at the Euros.

In an exclusive interview, John Swinney says he feared for his party when he stood to become leader earlier this year.
 
Speaking to David Clegg, the first minister reflected on the fast-paced first weeks in office, propelled from a think-tank event in London into the top job in Scottish politics.
 
Mr Swinney explains why he'd turned down a job from Humza Yousaf only a month before he resigned, and details why he thinks he's the right man to reverse his party's decline in the polls as voters become fatigued from 17 years of SNP dominance. 

Rishi Sunak came to the Highlands where he doesn’t even have a candidate.
Keir Starmer promised Scotland the earth, but not a location for his fabled GB Energy HQ.
John Swinney found himself in an election moments after becoming First Minister.
We discuss week one, we test the water among the people of Perth, and all the rest in the first of our election podcasts.

Simon Barker, a children's orthopaedic surgeon in Aberdeen, explains the growing concern over the use of new “physician associates” in a stretched health service.
Are they valuable, quickly-trained additions, or is this “mission creep” to paper over gaps doctors can’t always cover?
Dr Barker is deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish council, and works in NHS Grampian.