Having been fortunate enough to have been asked to participate in a recent broadcast of the BBC’s Debate Night in Perth, I wasn’t really too sure of what to expect. I’ve seen the programme often enough but was still unsure how it would play out and feel in real time.

Contrary to popular belief the panel has no knowledge of the topics to be discussed or questions asked and our first awareness comes when they are put from the audience. A warm-up question is posed before the recording proper begins and that helps give a real sense of the audience and offers a hint at their political affiliations.

It became obvious from the get-go that this particular audience was engaged and very much up for it. I recognised a couple of faces but had no knowledge of their political leanings; a position that remained throughout the show and after. In fact, the audience as far as I could make it out, contained one out and proud overt nationalist, one equally out and proud overt reformist, with the remainder largely falling into the universal melting pot of just being totally scunnered with it all.

This really was the tone for the whole evening and to my mind at least served to demonstrate that the audience was perfectly representative of the population at large, as I can’t recall the last time I met someone who isn’t disillusioned with the body politic and who feels that no party deserves their vote.

Read more by Calum Steele

The rise of Reform was the one question I anticipated and wasn’t surprised to hear it asked as the opener for the debate. Clichés and soundbites flowed in response, with each answer serving to underline precisely why the........

© Herald Scotland