Joan McAlpine
Joan McAlpine | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary Liaison Officer to the First Minister of Scotland | |
| Assumed office May 2011 Serving with Humza Yousaf | |
| Preceded by | Alasdair Allan |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for South of Scotland | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 January 1962[1] |
| Political party | Scottish National Party |
| Spouse | Pat Kane (divorced) |
| Children | 2 daughters (Grace, Eleanor) |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow City University London |
| Website | http://www.joanmcalpine.com/ |
Joan McAlpine MSP (born 28 January 1962) is a Scottish journalist and Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South of Scotland. She has a column in the The Daily Record newspaper and is author of the blog Go Lassie Go, which won a Scottish media blog award.
Background
McAlpine was born in Gourock, Renfrewshire and attended St Ninian's Primary school in Gourock and St Columba's secondary in Greenock. She has an MA (Hons) in Scottish History and Economic History from University of Glasgow.[2] She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in newspaper journalism from City University in London. McAlpine was formerly married to the writer and musician Pat Kane, with whom she has two daughters.[3]
McAlpine began her career at the Greenock Telegraph in 1987. She went on to work for The Scotsman and The Sunday Times, where she won the Scottish Journalist of the Year award in 1999. In 2000 she was appointed editor of The Sunday Times Scotland and the following year became deputy editor of The Herald; the first woman to hold the Herald post,[4] although not the first Scottish female newspaper editor. She also wrote a weekly column for The Scotsman.[5] Her blog, Go Lassie Go, was voted Scotland's top media blog in 2010.[6][7]
In 1994 McAlpine co-authored a book on the history of the anti-poll tax campaign, A Time to Rage, with the political activist Tommy Sheridan.[8] In 1999 a programme Border Television written and presented by McAlpine, Crossing the Border, received a commendation but no award at the New York Television Festival.[4]
Member of the Scottish Parliament
McAlpine was elected as a list MSP for the South of Scotland region in the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election. She has been a media adviser[9] for the SNP and Alex Salmond's speechwriter, as well as preparing for debates for the First Minister of Scotland.[10][11]
She currently is a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture and the Parliamentary Liaison Officer to the First Minister Alex Salmond MSP.
Controversies
On the 12th January 2012, McAlpine caused controversy during a debate on the independence referendum when she referred to the actions of Unionist parties supposedly in relation to the referendum as "anti-Scottish", sparking allegations of racism and bigotry, amid calls for the First Minister to sack her as his Parliamentry aide.
References
- ^ "Democracy Live | Your representatives | Joan McAlpine". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ a b "Joan McAlpine". Joanmcalpine.typepad.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 26 October 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ "Top journalist's / mainstream media blogs – Scottish Roundup". Scottishroundup.co.uk. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ "A Time to Rage (0748661743) by Tommy Sheridan, Joan Macalpine @". Bookfinder.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
- ^ Published on Wednesday 18 May 2011 17:21 (18 May 2011). "George Kerevan: The seal of cabinet approval is still to be validated - News - Scotsman.com". News.scotsman.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ [3][dead link]
External links
- Go Lassie Go - online blog
- Scottish Parliament Member's page
- Joan McAlpine on Twitter
- The Guardian articles
- The Scotsman articles
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