Shows
UofG SpotlightChallenging Scotland's Political LeadersWe're kicking off Season 7 of our UofG Spotlight podcast with a live episode challenging our political leaders on public service reform in Scotland. Recorded live on Monday 19 January 2026 at our event, Stop/Start: Making Public Service Reform Stick in Scotland, our host Professor Kezia Dugdale talks to: Michael Marra MSP - Scottish Labour Alison Thewliss - SNP Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP - Scottish Conservatives Graham Simpson MSP - Reform UK Jamie Greene MSP - Scottish Liberal Democrats Gillian Mackay MSP - Scottish Greens Kez quizzed our panel about whether politicians can work together to deliver...
2026-01-2247 min
Podcasts By The Scottish ParliamentFirst Minister's Questions 15 May 2025The First Minister answers questions from Party Leaders and other MSPs in this weekly question time.
Topics covered this week include:
Collette Stevenson
To ask the First Minister, regarding any implications for its work to tackle poverty, what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the Department for Work and Pension’s forecasts reportedly indicating that the UK Government’s planned reductions to disability benefits will impact 700,000 families that are already in poverty.
Sandesh Gulhane
To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to address the performance of NHS...
2025-05-1546 minPodcasts By The Scottish ParliamentFirst Minister's Questions 19 December 2024Listen back to this week's FMQs! This week:
Christine Grahame asked whether the Scottish Government will encourage the public not to buy puppies or dogs during the festive period, in light of the reported possibility that these may be the product of irresponsible breeders, including illegal puppy farms;
Sandesh Gulhane what steps the Scottish Government is taking in response to the reported announcement that NHS Scotland's IT software supplier, INPS, has entered administration, in light of concerns that this could leave GPs without the digital infrastructure to maintain electronic health records;
and Mark Griffin a...
2024-12-1946 min
BletheredConservative MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane // Blethered at the BallotBlethered at the Ballot is a political podcast that pulls no punches, brings a laugh or two, and cuts straight through to the important matters without getting caught up in political jargon and meaningless soundbites. The General Election is fast approaching and before we collectively decide who to put in power, we deserve to know the thoughts of those who currently have it, those who want it, and those who are near it.Dr Sandesh Gulhane has been a Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP for Glasgow since 2021, he’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Hea...
2024-04-0257 min
Gulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 19Jun2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
Incompetence - how the SNP rewards failure;
Awareness - improved treatments for those suffering with asthma;
and
Importance - cervical screening, it really does make sense.
Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust
www.jostrust.org.uk
2023-07-0222 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 26Jun2023On Gulhane on Politics this week: Incompetence - how the SNP rewards failure; Awareness - improved treatments for those suffering with asthma; and Importance - cervical screening, it really does make sense.
2023-06-2723 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 5Jun2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
From Long Covid to NHS Dentistry, Humza Yousaf really did make a hash of it;
Patient Safety - following the UK Government's lead, a Bill to establish a Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland;
And private rental housing - how owners are exiting the market in Scotland, courtesy of the SNP and Green Government.
2023-06-0932 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 15May2023On this week's Gulhane on Politics:
The ongoing saga of the SNP in crisis;
Tackling less survivable brain cancers;
and a father's heart breaking story of his daughter's life limiting condition.
The SNP drama is playing out like a Netflix mini series.
Police Scotland pitched its tent on Nicola Sturgeon’s front lawn and arrested her husband, Peter Murrell – all in connection with an ongoing investigation into the SNP’s murky finances.
Officers also turned up at Mr Murrell’s 92 year old mother’s driveway in...
2023-05-1837 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 30Mar2023On Gulhane on Politics this week,
we reflect on the SNP membership’s choice of the ranting, gaff-prone Humza Yousaf as their Party’s leader – and OUR First Minister;
we take a quick look at Mr Yousaf’s eye opening appointments to his government;
And we have a message for Graeme Dey, the new Minister for Higher and Further Education, on the urgent need to back Scotland’s colleges so more Scots can be trained for the workplace.
The self-styled First Activist is now in charge of Scotland’s Government...
2023-04-0223 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 20Mar2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
Long Covid - 175,000 Scots suffer with this debilitating condition;
Cancers - tackling those with the poorest survival rayes;
and Crime - we need to do much more to support victims.
Well, it’s fair to say that the SNP leadership contest has descended into farce.
In fact, even the President of the SNP, Mike Russell, says his party is in a tremendous mess.Lies, cover-ups, tens of thousands of once loyal supporters leaving the Party, resignations – you couldn’t make t...
2023-03-2430 min
Talking General PracticeSpecial episode: Should assisted dying be legalised?Warning: This episode contains discussions about death and suicideIn a special episode Emma looks at the issue of assisted dying and asks whether it should be legalised - and if it was, how could it work?Later this year a bill will be introduced to the Scottish parliament that could see assisted dying legalised. In England the House of Commons health and social care committee is running an inquiry on the issue.The Scottish bill is being put forward by Lib Dem member of Scottish parliament Liam McArthur. This...
2023-03-2454 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 13Mar2023On Gulhane on Politics this week, we focus on:
Spite - and the SNP in civil war;
Bite - Scotland's NHS is in crisis;
and Tight - Scotland's ever expanding waistline and the country's obesity crisis.
They say a week is a long time in politics – far less 2 or even 3. Since our last series, Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as SNP Party leader. A three-horse race campaign is underway for SNP members to elect a new leader - and the SNP faithful are now reduced to tearing lumps out of each other....
2023-03-1333 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 6Feb2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
The rapist and Nicola Sturgeon - why won't the First Minister admit Adam Graham / Isla Bryson is a man...or a woman ?
I also explain my own position on the controversial Gender Recognition Reform, which I voted for.
And we pay a visit to Clyde Gateway - a publicly owned company that operates Scotland's largest and most ambitious urban regeneration programme.
2023-02-0923 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 30Jan2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
Stumped: Tackling racism, change at Cricket Scotland;
Creep: The SNP welcome a sex pest back into its ranks;
and the amazing Men’s Sheds – pushing for funding.
Last July, an independent review into racism at Cricket Scotland concluded that those who raised complaints were ignored or side-lined - and a culture of racially aggravated micro-aggression was allowed to develop.The review, called Changing the Boundaries, highlighted 448 examples of institutional racism - and the entire Cricket Scotland board resigned the day before the report’s publication. As a resu...
2023-02-0212 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 23Jan2023On Gulhane on Politics this week:
Spin: We're accused of misrepresenting the data in an Freedom of Information response from NHS Grampian. But we didn't - and we have the proof that we simply communicated what they said. The SNP leadership have also weighed in, trying to deflect from their failures.
The Bin - This is the best place for the SNP Health Secretary's performance review. Humza Yousaf has failed miserably, is out of his depth - and should step down.
And on a positive note, we speak with the Homeless Veterans Project...
2023-01-2620 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 16Jan2023Greetings for the New Year and welcome to the 3rd Series of Gulhane on Politics.
The Scottish Parliament has returned from its winter recess. And during the break from Chamber politics, in the real world outside Holyrood, Scotland's health service faced near collapse - while the SNP's man in charge, Humza Yousaf, was missing in action.
We've seem record Accident and Emergency waiting times, record numbers of patients stuck in hospital when they were well enough to leave - while 2 regional health boards have paused all non-urgent surgery.
Yet, with the NHS in...
2023-01-1816 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 12Dec2022On this week's Gulhane on Politics, the last episode in 2022, we look back on the year.
We remember Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's final journey to Scotland's capital;
We also reflect on a year of political drama;
And we highlight the Scottish Conservative's plan to support the NHS and patients through the upcoming tough winter.
2022-12-1514 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 6Dec2022On this week's Gulhane on Politics, we lead on this year's World AIDS Day debate in the Scottish Parliament.
In Scotland, the goal is to achieve zero new infections by 2030.
We have come a long way in recent years. But still too many at-risk people don't know how to protect themselves from infection or can't access speacil testing and advisory services.
This week we also focus on a worrying increase in Strep A infections and scarlet fever in children. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has issued an urgent public health message due...
2022-12-0715 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 28Nov2022On this week’s Gulhane on Politics, what a week in Scottish politics !
Warning: Our micro picked-up foul language from an SNP heckler at 2 mins 56 secs into the episode.
In a unanimous ruling, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court determined that The Scottish Parliament does not have the power to call an independence referendum – as only the UK Government can decide on constitutional matters.
On hearing the Supreme Court’s ruling, Nicola Sturgeon, doubled-down.
In dangerous language straight out of the Donald Trump playbook, she suggested that Scots who are opposed to a ref...
2022-11-2915 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 21Nov2022On this week's Gulhane on Politics, we consider the UK Chancellor's tens of billions of pounds in tax rises and spending cuts aimed at mending the nation's finances - and what this means for Scotland. I'm joined by Liz Smith, Scottish Conservatives Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy.
From 'sound money' to 'funny money', the SNP is tying itself up in knots over its plans for a National Care Service. Stakeholders across the board are deeply concerned because there's a lack of detail on what the SNP intends to do in practice. Plus, even its own...
2022-11-2222 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 14Nov2022On this week's Gulhane on Politics we focus again on Scotland's SNP-led government's stewardship of the country's health service - and we call for the resignation of its hapless Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf.
We also meet with the Marie Curie organisation which provides amazing palliative / end of life care services. Marie Curie runs 2 hospices in Scotland, in Glasgow and Edinburgh. www.mariecurie.org.uk
And we also visit the Shettleston Men's Shed - a focal point for retired men in the east of Glasgow where they have a large carpentry workshop, a music room, computer...
2022-11-1523 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 7Nov2022The Scottish Government is pushing ahead with its plans to establish a National Care Service. The Bill, as it stands, allows Scottish Ministers to transfer social care responsibility from local authorities to a new centralised service. It's the most radical reform of Scottish public services since devolution in 1999 - covering adult and children services, residential and care at home. Yet the SNP Ministers have not worked out how people would receive better services - and confusion abounds on how much it would all cost, possibly over a billion pounds.
Outside the bubble of the SNP-led government, local...
2022-11-0821 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 31Oct2022The Scottish Parliament is pressing ahead with the Gender Recognition Reform Bill which aims to make the process for trans men and women to legally change their gender much simpler, quicker and less traumatic.
In this week's Gulhane on Politics, I explain how I voted - and why.
A video recording of the debate can be found here: https://bit.ly/3DLsk3m
The debate transcript can be found here: https://bit.ly/3T8cy7f
We also look again at the record in office of the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary...
2022-11-0124 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 24Oct2022The United Kingdom has a new head of government.
Rishi Sunak is Britain's first Hindu and non-white Prime Minister.
At 42, he's also the youngest since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
Rishi is charged with reinforcing the return of market credibility, fixing the economy, sustaining public services, protecting the most vulnerable - while uniting Conservative and Unionists around an agenda of sound money and growth at a time of huge challenges, including real risks to the nation's security.
On this week's episode we also consider Nicola Sturgeon's plan for Scottish independence, which is akin...
2022-10-2420 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics Conference Special 5Oct2022In this the last episode in Series 1 of Gulhane on Politics, we have a special interview from the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
Gulhane and Politics will be back for Series 2 on October 24th, when the Scottish Parliament returns after its autumn recess.
The Conservative Party held its autumn conference against a backdrop of financial and political turmoil following the government's mini-budget.
A proposed tax cut for the country’s highest earners will now not go ahead.
But such was the weight of criticism, that the rest of the mini budget fle...
2022-10-0517 min
Gulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 3Oct2022This week's show tears into the Scottish Health Secretary's shambolic management of the NHS.
We also home-in on the scandal of a very fishy SNP ferries contract - £150 million over budget and 6 years overdue.
Our sights are also on Glasgow's regeneration and its hope to host the next Eurovision Song Contest.
And we'll hear from Scottish Conservatives Leader Douglas Ross who is in Birmingham for this year's Conservative Party Conference.
2022-10-0426 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 26Sep2022The cut and thrust of politics has returned to the Scottish Parliament and the SNP-Green Government is under fire for its shambolic management of Scotland health services. Yet the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon continues to deflect and blame the pressures on our NHS on others - despite the fact that the SNP has been in charge of health for the past 15 years.
We launch a campaign to get step free access at railway stations on Glasgow's Cathcart Circle Line; plus we discuss with a leading bereavement charity the triggering of underlying grief among many who lost loved...
2022-09-2727 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 19Sep2022After 10 days of official mourning in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, culminating in the state funeral for Britain's longest reigning Monarch, this week we have a second, special edition, of Gulhane on Politics.
Across Scotland, the tributes have been many and heartfelt.
But with the passing of The Queen, will Scotland’s attachment to the United Kingdom strengthen or weaken ?
2022-09-1920 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 12Sep2022This week, we have a special edition of Sandesh on Politics - to reflect on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's amazing seven decades of service and the beginning of a new era with King Charles III as Monarch.
This podcast was recorded on Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile, where we spoke with many people about the Queen's life, the King's accession and the implications for Scottish politics.
2022-09-1209 minGulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics 5Sep2022On this week's show,
Scrutiny: The Scottish Parliament returns from its summer recess - and a new UK Prime Minister;
Harmony: Can singing help people recover from Long Covid; and
Ceremony: Scotland's Indian diaspora celebrates.
2022-09-0523 min
Gulhane on PoliticsGulhane on Politics Trailer 31Aug2022Hello and welcome to the trailer of a new weekly podcast, Gulhane on Politics.
I’m Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Region and the Scottish Conservative’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health, Social Care and Sport.
Gulhane on Politics will launch on Monday September 5th to coincide with the new session of the Scottish Parliament.
Gulhane on Politics is the inside track on what’s happening in Scottish politics – making sense of what matters to you.
Subscribe Now.
Thank You
2022-08-3101 min
The Apply Medic PodcastEpisode 14: In Conversation with the Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social CareHi Team! Thank you to pastest.com for sponsoring today's podcast. Use code CHRIS10 for 10% off your Pastest subscription. More information about Pastest can be found here: https://www.pastest.com/medical-student-finals/online-revision/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast_text&utm_campaign=episode_14_apply_medic. In this episode of the Apply Medic Podcast, I am joined by Dr Sandesh Gulhane. Dr Gulhane is a GP and the Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. We discuss Dr Gulhane's experiences in medical school, his medical training, and his political career. The Apply Medic website: https://www.applymedic...
2022-08-2243 min