Caron Lindsay

Heartbreak, humility and humour – Alex Cole-Hamilton talks to Matt Forde

By | Tue 24th August 2021 - 6:55 am

A wee treat for your commute today, or to have on in the background while you work from home.

New Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was the guest on this week’s Political Party podcast hosted by Matt Forde.

It’s a brilliant chat, incredibly serious and moving in places, absolutely hilarious in others. At the start, Matt Forde warns us that it includes Alex’s account of a man who died by suicide in front of him a few years back. It’s one of the reasons he has been so persistent in questioning the Scottish Government on their lack of a suicide prevention strategy or lack of mental health support.

They also talk about the moment when Alex’s daughter was choking after swallowing a 50 cent piece and he had to save her life. It never gets any easier to listen to.

Forde does give him quite a hard time on things like the party’s relevance, Scottish politics in general and that moment earlier this year when he mouthed something very rude at Scottish Government minister Maree Todd during a virtual committee meeting. I have to say I was shocked when when he did it because that is so not like him, but he dealt with it with real humility, acknowledging he got it wrong and describing how one of the apologies he had to make was to him Mum.

There are hilarious moments when they talk about Alex winning an award for the worst motion at Holyrood, or being approached to work as a spy.

I promise you that this will brighten your day and you’ll be glad you listened:

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

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One Comment

  • TonyH 24th Aug '21 - 10:21pm

    This is really interesting. It’s so rare to hear an extended interview with a politician that isn’t just gotcha questions but allows them to actually talk and develop/explain their ideas. This is the Alex I know, and if he/we can get his personality across to voters it will do us a lot of good.
    Tip: The first 5 mins or so is adverts and irrelevant stuff. The Alex interview starts at 4.50.

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