This week's show: The Afghan conflict

After the major conference hosted by the University of Glasgow this week regarding the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Dr Alex Marshall, current convenor of the War Studies Centre based at the University of Glasgow will be joining us in the studio this Sunday to discuss the issues that currently face Afghanisation now and in the future.

The conference itself discussed how much progress was being made by US President Obama's troop surge, problems facing the coalition in Afghanistan and the growing drug manufacture problem in Afghanistan.


Listen from 0945 to 1030 and send in your questions and comments to debate@subcity.org.


You can watch some the discussions that took place during the conference here. Please note this is very bandwith intensive.

You may also be interested in an interview Professor Marc Genest, who was one of the key note speakers at the conference gave on Newsnight Scotland on Monday night.

Debate is Free: Election 2010

On Thursday night Debate is Free: Election 2010 took place at the Kelvin building at the University of Glasgow. All very exciting but now we fancy a bit of feedback on what you though of all the panellists and what was said on the night. To hear the podcast head here Once you are done post up your comments on what was said here or by email to debate@subcity.org

The questions were chosen by the audience, with the debate focusing on issues such as public faith in politics, immigration, higher education financing, and lowering the voter age.

Highlights include:

"The current government seems happy with a UK Border Agency which is endemically racist" - Patrick Harvie

"Surely the fact that at 16 years of age you are liable for taxation is the single most important point? You should not be taxed if you are not allowed to vote" - Tommy Sheridan

"One of the great scandals this year was that 141,118 people had the grades to go to university, and applied, and the places weren't there" - Ruth Davidson


You can see a selection of photos below thanks to Sean Anderson.

Debate is Free: General Election 2010

After weeks of work Debate is Free is glad to unveil its final panel for its General Election special on the 11th of March at the UNiversity of Glasgow.

Here is the final panel:

Patrick Harvie- Glasgow MSP and Co-Convener of the Scottish Greens

Ann McKechin- Glasgow MP and Minister for the Scotland Office

Alistair Carmichael- MP for Shetland and Orkney and Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and
Northern Ireland.

Tommy Sheridan- Co-convener of Solidarity

John Mason- Glasgow MP and SNP Spokesman of Work and Pensions

Richard Cook- Conservative PPC for East Renfrewshire.

You might have seen that Question Time is also holding a first time voters edition and ours is of a similar idea. However the political outlook in Scotland due to devolution is a very different one from the rest of the UK and we think it would be more useful for voters in Scotland to have a programme that caters for them and the issues that dominate Scottish politics.

We have done our best to ensure we have a vibrant and interesting panel and we hope as many of you send in your questions as possible or apply to be part of the audience, but please hurry as space is very limited for the audience.

Get your questions or topics for debate into debate@subcity.org or to be part of the audience use the application form here: http://tiny.cc/DIFGE