Scotsman Bulletin Tuesday 29 July Trump visit

The Scotsman

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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Tuesday. My name is Dale

00:12Miller. I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our investigations correspondent

00:17Martin McLaughlin. Martin, we're going to initially talk about all things Donald Trump

00:24as he enters his final day here in Scotland, opening his new course near Aberdeen and we

00:30pull up a copy of today's Scotsman. We'll see he clearly features heavily. I want to see

00:38Scotland thrive was one of his key takeaway comments from a mammoth press conference that

00:45was held yesterday. He also touched on other subjects ranging from whiskey tariffs to quote

00:52windmills, as he calls them, and also the things such as Jeffrey Epstein, taxes and London

00:59Mayor Sadiq Khan. And Starmer, while he did speak during the press conference, certainly Donald

01:06Trump dominated what I would say 90, 95% of proceedings. Martin, you've covered all things

01:14Donald Trump for a number of years now for the Scotsman. From your point of view, what have

01:19been the key talking points from his visit this time around? And what did you make of

01:25the press conference yesterday? Thanks, Dale. Yeah, I mean, the US President has obviously

01:31touched on issues that are of interest to Scottish and international audiences, such as tariffs,

01:39Scotch whiskey, trade, what's happening in Gaza. But for me, the kind of big overarching issue

01:45that has dominated this event is the one that has been present throughout Mr. Trump's political

01:51career over, you know, the past 10-15 years. And that is the way in which his public office becomes

01:58indistinguishable from his private businesses. We saw that in full force yesterday, where he had a press

02:06conference with the Prime Minister in the Donald J. Trump Ballroom at Trump Turnberry. And you know,

02:13Mr. Trump repeatedly spoke about his own business. He was asked at one point by a journalist a question

02:20about the US Federal Reserve. And by the time Mr. Trump arrived at an answer some minutes later,

02:27it ended with him praising the opulent and beautiful Turnberry Resort in which he sat.

02:33So these kind of long standing ethical questions around Donald Trump just continue to spring up.

02:40And this trip has really brought them in full force. For me, the kind of the standout moment of the trip

02:48so far was the kind of impromptu press conference on the steps at Turnberry yesterday. And for anyone

02:56who might be anxious that the time-owner principles of British democracy or diplomacy are flagging,

03:03the actions of Mr. Starmer and her wife ought to reassure them and provide a masterclass for

03:09young civil servants in the Foreign Office. You know, as has become customary at these events,

03:14Mr. Trump rambled at length while a bag paper was playing like the band on the Titanic. And Mr.

03:22Starmer and Mrs. Starmer just maintained an expression of neutrality, fixed their distance on

03:29Ilsa Craig in the middle distance and tried not to respond to some of Mr. Trump's more colourful remarks.

03:35So it's been the Donald Trump show, but it always was going to be that.

03:40Yeah, look, it's interesting. I know there's been a lot of commentary about how

03:45Keir Starmer has handled Donald Trump and the relations between the two and also their appearances

03:52on camera together over the past couple of months. Starmer has come in for some praise

03:58in some quarters for how he's handled it. I know our political editor, Alistair Grant, will be looking at

04:05what Starmer and John Swinney, who was meeting with Donald Trump yesterday evening and again today to

04:13discuss Scottish matters, including whisky, about how they've handled things and whether it's been

04:19worth their while and worth the public impression left for meeting and entertaining Donald Trump

04:26effectively on the turf of these golf courses while here. You can read all the latest on that

04:31throughout today at scotsman.com. Martin, just quickly, you're going to be writing a piece

04:37touching on the £180,000 given by the Scottish Government to a course event linked to Trump as

04:45well. Yeah, that's right. Later this summer, next month, in fact, Mr. Trump's course in Aberdeenshire

04:52is going to be hosting a golf tournament and the Scottish Government announced just before Mr.

04:58Swinney met Mr. Trump that the Scottish Government via VisitScotland was providing £180,000 towards

05:06that tournament, facilitating it, helping support it. And I think that, as I mentioned, you know,

05:11the questions around Mr. Trump's public office and his private business, these lines are increasingly

05:18blurred and the fact that his resort, over which he maintains control, is receiving a not insignificant

05:26sum of public money from the Scottish Government will simply add to that debate.

05:33You can read the comment piece from Martin later today at scotsman.com. And to follow every blow of

05:39the course opening that's taking place today, we've got a live blog. You can keep track of that via the

05:45main homepage as well. Martin, if we're moving on from Trump, you wrote a news piece that we've got up on

05:53the site today. And it's about a long standing member of the Church of Scotland who has sadly passed

05:59away. Can you feel sick? Yeah, it's a very, very sad piece to write, unfortunately, Dale. I spoke

06:07early last month with a chap called John Williams, who will be well known to people in the Church of

06:14Scotland. Since 1974, he was a really key technical figure behind the scenes at the General Assembly

06:22every year. He was an audio visual technician. And, you know, he ensured the show was on the road

06:28every year. Nobody else really knew him, apart from the people in the know. But this year, it was quite

06:36different. John had been suffering from terminal illness, and was really quite unwell. And he took

06:43the opportunity, quite an unprecedented opportunity to address the General Assembly to speak about his

06:50own experience with terminal illness. And more importantly, to advocate for a greater palliative

06:57care funding across Scotland. He spoke for close to 15 minutes and received a really rousing evasion.

07:04And anyone who heard his words and saw him speak can't help but have been moved. Unfortunately,

07:11I received word yesterday that John had passed away. And so I wrote a piece with lots of effusive

07:19tributes from people in the Church of Scotland, just reflecting on John's life. And more importantly,

07:26that speech he gave when he was in the depths of illness, he found that the strength and the conviction

07:33to speak so movingly and so eloquently about what he thinks could be done to help other people.

07:40The principal clerk of the Church of Scotland, you know, said that John knew his life was drawn to a

07:46close. But he had one more gift to give. And I think that's a really beautiful way of summing it up.

07:52You can read those tributes to John Williams in Marvin's piece at scotsman.com. You'll find it under

08:00the health tag as well from the navigation bar on the homepage. Martin, thank you very much for joining

08:07us for a full wrap of what happens on Trump's final day in Scotland. Please follow the Scotsman on all

08:15social media channels. And you can go out and pick up a copy of the paper in print tomorrow. We'll also

08:21cover as part of that. John Swinney's views on just how he's meeting with Donald Trump. Thanks to

08:28everyone for joining us. Cheers.

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