SPOTIFY FOR SCOTTISH PODCAST AWARDS

Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket is to host the first ever Scottish Podcast Awards - with audio platform Spotify announced as an official partner in a major boost for the city’s creative scene.
The inaugural awards ceremony will take place on 25 June 2026, celebrating the hundreds of passionate podcasters and producers helping to shape Scotland’s cultural landscape. 
Backed by local government and now one of the world’s biggest audio brands, the event firmly cements Glasgow’s reputation as a powerhouse for culture and creativity.
Thanks to Spotify’s support, entry to the Scottish Podcast Awards is now completely free for all creators, removing a key barrier and opening the door to more diverse voices from across Glasgow and the rest of Scotland. Spotify will also act as the official voting platform for the Listener’s Choice Award, making it easier than ever for local audiences to champion their favourite shows.
Alastair Ferrans, Head of International Podcasts at Spotify, said: “Every decision we make at Spotify is through the lens of adding value to creators.
Supporting Scotland’s creator community is a natural extension of that work - and it’s fair to say there’s no shortage of strong voices and great stories to celebrate.”
The move comes as podcast listening hits new highs in Scotland, with 23.3% of adults now tuning in weekly, the highest rate of any UK nation, according to Ofcom.
Scottish Podcast Awards Director and Founder Corrinne Gardiner said:
“We are incredibly proud that the first ever Scottish Podcast Awards will take place right here in Glasgow, at the Old Fruitmarket - one of the city’s most atmospheric and iconic venues.
“To have a global partner like Spotify backing a homegrown Scottish event is a huge vote of confidence, not just in the country’s creators but in Glasgow as a place where new ideas and stories can thrive.”
The Scottish Podcast Awards will feature twenty two categories spanning entertainment and pop culture, news and politics, comedy, Gaelic, sport, business to business and more, alongside Emerging Talent and Listener’s Choice.
Both audio-first and video podcasts are eligible, with an international category also welcoming entries from overseas creators.
The event is produced by Sixty Steps Productions, a new company with a strong Glasgow base, established to deliver this landmark cultural event and develop more live opportunities for podcasts and content creators across Scotland.
Creators can find full details on eligibility, categories and how to enter for free at:
https://scottishpodcastawards.scot/enter-the-awards

CRUZ BECKHAM TALKS KING TUTS GLASGOW

Pic copyright: Beverley Lyons 

Cruz Beckham didn’t let the drizzle spoil his big entrance as he arrived in rainy Glasgow this afternoon with his girlfriend Jackie Apostel ahead of his gig at King Tut’s tomorrow. 
The 21 year old touched down in the city and headed straight to a swish hotel in the city centre, stepping out of his grey van just after 5.30 pm looking fresh-faced, relaxed and clearly in high spirits.
Despite the cold, Cruz appeared unfazed by the Scottish weather as he made his way into the hotel with the rest of his band The Breakers. 
Dressed casually but stylishly in his long beige coat , black hooded top and blue tracksuit bottoms, he cut a confident figure, showing the same laidback cool that has made him one of the most talked about next generation celebrity kids.
He told the onlooking fans ‘It’s great to be in Glasgow’ as Jackie who kept her shades on asked if they were going to the gig. 
With his music career gathering pace, his arrival in Glasgow marks another milestone moment as he prepares to take to the famous King Tut’s stage made famous by Oasis.
By his side was his girlfriend Jackie, who kept close under her hooded top as the pair headed in from the rain.

The couple looked happy and comfortable together, despite the recent drama concerning his brother Beckham and his parents. 
Their arrival created a quiet buzz around the hotel entrance, with onlookers clocking the young Beckham as he swept past, looking every inch the emerging pop star.
Cruz, the youngest son of David and Victoria Beckham, kicked off his UK tour last Wednesday has been steadily stepping into the spotlight in his own right, swapping the family’s high-fashion front rows and football for intimate venues and live music crowds

JENNI FALCONER NO FEAR AT FIFTY

Picture: Jenni Falconer/ Smooth 

Scots radio and TV presenter Jenni Falconer says turning fifty has made her feel more powerful than ever despite showbiz being a different world from the big budget days of old.
The Glasgow born presenter, who celebrated her fiftieth with her brother jetting in from South Africa and parents arriving from Glasgow for a get together in London this weekend, says she’s more excited than ever that life and her career are far from slowing down.
Jenni explained: “Because you spend all your years dreading 30 and 40, and now turning 50. I'm not fearful of that kind of new chapter In fact, it's almost like I feel more empowered now.”
“Previously, you'd go and work out, and you'd really look after yourself, and everyone would see it as vanity, I feel like it's all longevity now, and everything's changed.”
She added: “I'm enjoying the age I am. I'm more confident than ever, and along the way, you can have zones and times of life where you feel confident, and then when you lack it massively, and now I think I'm very relaxed, I feel confident, I'm pleased with what I've achieved, and I just kind of want to keep going, and so yeah, it's a good age to be.”
Jenni, who got her big break on Blind Date and hosted shows like The Big Country on BBC Scotland before carving out a career in radio, says the biggest lesson she’s learned in 50 years is to stop comparing herself to others.
She said: “Years ago, when you start out, you are looking at everyone else, and that phrase ‘comparison is the thief of joy’, which is absolutely true. 
“There is space for everyone everywhere. You've just got to find what suits you.”
It’s a message she’s trying to pass on to her own daughter Ella, who’s just chosen her GCSE subjects and, has no idea what she wants to do.
Jenni, who is normally notoriously private about her family life with actor husband James Midgley revealed: “We're just discussing, my daughter has just chosen her GCSE subjects, and she doesn't know what she wants to do in life, and I'm like, ‘Well, lots of people don't know what they want to do in life’.”
“I didn't even discover that I loved radio until I was in my 30’s, and now that's pretty much the main thing that I do for work on a day to day basis, and I absolutely love it, but until my 30’s, I'd never ever done anything in radio.
“So yeah, you can learn and you can find out more about yourself all the time, and turning 50, I feel that there's still probably a lot of things that I've yet to try and yet to learn, and I'm quite excited about it.”
Jenni admits presenting was never her first career choice. 
She said: “I had no intentions of being in television. I actually always wanted to be an architect. 
And there was a bit of a recession going on, and everyone had said, you won't get much work if you're an architect. So all the subjects I'd chosen, which would have geared me towards being an architect, I kind of had to reassess. 
“And I thought, okay, I'll study languages and see where it takes me. And I was all set to go to university. Just done my A-levels.”
A chance phone call changed everything.
She explained: “I'd gone through all the auditions, and I got the call to say, ‘We're going to film Blind Date’. So I'd literally just finished my A-levels, been on a two week p*** up to Tenerife with my friends, and off I went to film Blind Date. And I just suddenly went, ‘Wow, this is amazing’.”
Jenni admits she got a very glamorous first impression of the industry.
She laughed: “I got a really kind of warped sense of what television is like, because I am there on a show with Cilla Black. I was a picker, so I was guaranteed to go on the whole experience. We went on a trip to France. We filmed sports and activities, which is absolutely what I love doing. We were filming with an amazing crew who actually, in the last thirty odd years since I filmed Blind Date, I have run into many of them several times. They still work in the industry and I just loved it.
“They sold me a really good idea of television.”
Back then, the scale of Saturday night TV was enormous.
She recalls: “There were like 20 million viewers on Saturday night. It was an incredible experience. So I turned around and I said, ‘I'd really like to do this for a living’. And how they laughed.”
But she was determined and that Blind Date appearance led directly to a break in broadcasting.
She told Gaby Roslin’s podcast: “I got offered an opportunity to go into work experience at BBC Leeds, where I was at uni. And so I said, ‘Okay, I'll do it if you can give me kind of a little interview on air and let me try things out on air.’ And they went, ‘Okay, you can do this.’ And then I did an interview on air and a producer from Scotland heard me. And then I got an audition.”
The rest as they say is history, but Jenni admits that the industry is almost unrecognisable now.
She said: “It was quite exciting, wasn't it? Even going on set was huge. Sets were in huge studios. Now everything feels like they have to kind of cut costs and really do everything on a tight budget.”
“I remember when we were filming, we'd have someone doing lighting, and a lighting assistant, we'd have sound recordist and a sound recordist’s assistant. I mean, it was just nuts.
“Nowadays, you have literally the bare minimum that you need to do a shoot, but it was all fantastic. I think everything evolves, and you have to learn new skills along the way and you have to move with it.”
“I mean, I'm still trying to learn to be better at social media. This is where I'm falling short now, because if you want to do well now, you have to be a whiz on Instagram and TikTok. This is why everything changes. And if you don't keep evolving and keep learning, then you're going to be left behind.
Anyone now who is going out to kind of get a career, it's like, ‘Well, make sure you understand AI because you're going to need to exploit that because that's the key to success probably moving forward. If you want to work kind of especially in computers and online and in media’.”
Technology aside, Jenni remains optimistic about the opportunities for people with a bit of life experience under their belt.
She said: “I do love the fact that there is so much more opportunity now for people who are, I mean, it's not even that they're older, that it's just maybe more experienced, maybe got a few creases, but apart from that, we know we've been through a lot and I feel like, ‘Look, there is opportunities for everyone and there are lots of new talent coming through in all these new fields, but there's still space for us as well.’
“We've been doing this for a while and I feel that there's still lots for us to do.”

SANDI THOM FRONTRUNNER FOR SCOTLAND WORLD CUP

Photo from Sandi Thom Insta 

Scots singer Sandi Thom looks like a front runner to record the official Scotland team football anthem after she played her new track at a secret gathering in the First Minister’s official residence.
The Banff-born star, 44, was invited to Bute House in Edinburgh by John Swinney for an intimate evening celebrating the charity efforts of mental health campaigner Craig Ferguson, who is walking from Los Angeles to Boston for SAMH.
As well as key figures from the Scottish Government, the guest list included senior officials and representatives from the world of Scottish football, giving Sandi the perfect chance to pitch her song as the nation’s next big terrace tune.
Sandi, who shot to fame in 2006 when her debut single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) knocked Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy off the top of the charts and went to number one in seven countries, performed a new track called ‘Oh I’m Proud To Be From Scotland’.
The tune is a love letter to the beautiful game north of the Border.
It traces Scottish football history from the Seventies right up to today and namechecks some of the biggest legends ever to pull on the dark blue jersey.
One guest at Bute House told the Daily Record: “Sandi played her song to the party after being invited as one of the special guests. It’s a chronology of Scottish football history, name dropping all the key players from the 1970s to present day and it's called ‘Oh I’m Proud To Be From Scotland’.
“It went down really well. Everyone in the room could picture it being sung by Scotland fans. It’s got a rousing chorus that the Tartan Army will love.”
Another insider added: “Scottish football is part of who we are. To have a song that celebrates that history and to hear people singing it back is a winning formula.” 
Sandi also played the track on her phone privately for Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell in a bid to secure official approval for the song to become Scotland’s team anthem for the 2026 World Cup campaign.
If it gets the green light, it will join a proud tradition of Scottish footie anthems including 1998’s Don’t Come Home Too Soon by Del Amitri, 1986’s Big Trip To Mexico by the Scotland World Cup Squad and 1978’s Ally’s Tartan Army by Andy Cameron.
This time, competition for the coveted slot is fierce. 
Other contenders include We Are Scotland… World Cup 2026 by Martin Considine, Calum MacPhail’s as-yet-unnamed 2026 song and a new Scotland track being lined up by Scottish boyband Just The Brave.
For Sandi, the chance to represent her country on the world stage comes at a pivotal moment in her life and career.
The singer became one of the UK’s first viral music stars when she livestreamed a series of gigs from her basement flat and built a global fanbase online.
That surprise success led to major label backing and a worldwide distribution deal despite the fact she had no traditional sales history before Punk Rocker exploded.
In 2016, after the birth of her son Logan Cali with former husband Matt Benson, Sandi made the decision to step back from the spotlight to focus on motherhood and her passion for animal welfare.
She has since devoted herself to volunteer work and has helped rehome hundreds of street dogs.
Sandi describes herself as ‘somewhat of a rebel with a cause’ and has never lost her connection with her audience. Her music has now wracked up over 70 million streams on Spotify alone, and she regularly hears from fans who discovered Punk Rocker as teenagers and are now returning to her songs as adults.
With Logan now ten, Sandi says she feels ready to return to her first love performing and writing with a fresh sense of purpose.
Landing the Scotland anthem would be the perfect way to mark that comeback.
This year is already shaping up to be one of the most important of her career.
Sandi is celebrating the 20th anniversary of I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker with a packed schedule of live dates.
She is set to appear on the main stage at both Heartland and Party At The Palace festivals and will hit the road for a 25-date UK tour, revisiting the song that changed her life.

JAMES MCAVOY AT GLASGOW FILM FEST

Pic James McAvoy Instagram 

Actor James McAvoy will attend Glasgow Film Festival’s closing gala for the UK premiere of his directorial debut, California Schemin'

Theshowbizlion.com enjoys popping along to the red carpet every year for the film fest and this year will be no different. 

James will be joined by cast members Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex), Scottish star of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Séamus McLean Ross and Paisley-born BAFTA Scotland Award-winning Lucy Halliday (Blue Jean). Watch the new trailer here.

Scotland-based Chilean-Belgian film director Felipe Bustos Sierra (Nae Pasaran), will return to GFF for the UK premiere of Everybody to Kenmure Street, the festival’s opening gala film on 25 February. This comes after the title was awarded the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance at the Sundance Film Festival. Also attending the premiere will be Glasgow-based political activist and human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar and Glasgow Councillor Roza Salih, who co-founded the Glasgow Girls in 2005 at the age of 15.

A selection of hot new talent and ground-breaking filmmakers will also appear on the red carpet at the 22nd edition of GFF, taking place between 25 February and 8 March.

Scottish talent to tread the red carpet includes 22-year-old identical twins from Bothwell, Ben McQuaid and Nathan McQuaid, who will attend the world premiere of their directorial debut, Welcome to G-Town (28 February). The micro-budget horror film, shot on location in Glasgow and poised to be an audience favourite at the festival, has had a third screening added to the GFF26 programme, after the first two screenings quickly sold out. Edinburgh filmmaker Sean Dunn will also attend the UK premiere of his Edinburgh-filmed black comedy The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford (4 March).

Glasgow-based Jack Archer, director of Gaelic-language documentary Sailm nan Daoine (Psalms of the People), will attend, as well as the film’s subject, precentor Rob MacNeacail (1 March). The UK premiere of Midwinter Break, based on Glasgow-based novelist Bernard MacLaverty’s book of the same name, will see the writer grace the red carpet, as well as the film’s director, Olivier Award-winner Polly Findlay (26 February).

Other British filmmakers attending include Ed Sayers, director of environmental feature Super Nature (28 February), BAFTA-winning Mark Jenkin (Bait), who will return to GFF for the Scottish premiere of his hotly anticipated science fiction drama Rose of Nevada (26 February), BAFTA-winning Stroma Cairns (Mood) for the Scottish premiere of The Son and the Sea (7 March), and BIFA-winning directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, who will return to GFF for the Scottish premiere of Broken English, about British pop icon Marianne Faithfull (26 February). 

Filmmakers from across the world will attend, including French screenwriter and director Alice Winocour (Proxima) for the UK premiere of Angelina Jolie-led drama Couture, which will also be attended by co-writer, Swiss filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Bron (28 February). NME Award-winning Irish filmmaker Gavin FitzGerald will attend the UK premiere of Lomu, his new documentary about rugby icon Jonah Lomu and Italian director Francesco Sossai will attend the UK premiere of GFF26 Audience Award shortlisted film The Last One for the Road (5 March), as well as the directors of Leonora in the Morning Light, Swiss/Czech filmmaker Lena Vurma and German filmmaker Thor Klein (28 February). 

Gavin FitzGerald, Irish director of Lomu about legendary rugby player Jonah Lomu, will attend (27 February), as well as Mexico City-based Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig, directors of Jaripeo, about the queer side of Mexican rodeo (1 March). Japanese filmmaker Yukinori Makabe will also return to the festival for the world premiere of his romance drama Sinsin and the Mouse, adapted from celebrated author Banana Yoshimoto’s short story of the same name (6 March). 

Acting talent who will grace the GFF red carpet include Call the Midwife star Natalie Quarry and Eastenders actor Ronni Ancona for the UK premiere of Think of England (6 March), 16-year-old BAFTA-nominated rising star Woody Norman (C'mon C'mon) for the UK premiere of My Father’s Island (2 March), and up-and-coming actor Leisa Gwenllian, lead of Effi o Blaenau, a Welsh drama having its world premiere at the festival, as well as a return to GFF by the film’s director, BAFTA Cymru-winning Marc Evans (3 March).

FrightFest, the horror festival known as the UK’s “Woodstock of gore”, taking place within GFF, will also see a selection of stars gracing Glasgow Film Theatre, with the UK premiere of The Restoration at Grayson Manor being attended by previously announced stars Chris Colfer (Glee) and Alice Krige (Star Trek) (6 March), and Red Riding being attended by acclaimed horror director and producer Neil Marshall (The Descent) (7 March).

GFF26 will host 126 films across 12 days, including 16 World, European and International premieres, 68 UK premieres, and 18 Scottish premieres, with titles from 44 countries and six continents.  

GFF is Scotland’s flagship film festival and is run by Glasgow Film, a charity which also runs Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT). The festival is made possible by support from Screen Scotland and the BFI Audience Projects Fund, both awarding National Lottery funding, and Glasgow Life, the charity which delivers culture, events and active living in Glasgow. 

STRICTLY DR PUNAM KRISHAN RETURNS AFTER CANCER

Pic dr Punam Krishan insta 

Strictly star Dr Punam Krishan has returned to work at her GP surgery do the first time since having breast cancer and says her diagnosis has forced her to stop and unlearn over twenty years of conditioning. 
As she revealed she had new insight, Dr Punam said: “Today’s a big day. Today I’m back in my GP for the first time since finishing my breast cancer treatment. And being here has really made me think about something that I hear a lot. I hear it from my friends, I hear it from patients, I hear it from my colleagues, so many people that just say, I can't take time off or I feel so guilty for resting or I should really just be pushing through.
And the thing is, that that guilt just doesn't help healing them. In fact, it often makes illness harder, and it makes recovery longer. And it's because we live in a society that essentially teaches us to push on, even when we're not well.
And that's especially true, I think, if you are a parent, if you are a carer or a professional, or the one who usually holds everything together, that guilt can really feel real. And I realise how deeply that message runs, even in me, honestly. It has taken a cancer diagnosis to force me to stop and unlearn over 20 years of that kind of conditioning.”
Practising doctor Dr Punam went on to say that she has learned  ‘healing actually requires unapologetic, proper rest.’
She added: “It requires proper time.And it requires a serious sense of duty of care to yourself first, and that's not something that I was ever really taught at medical school, especially as medics or healthcare workers, we are taught of duty of care to others to show up, to cope, to keep going no matter what. But the truth is, when you're not well, you just can't get 100%, and as as a doctor, that matters because my patients, they deserve me well, they deserve me present and able to care properly, not exhausted, not running on empty, even though lots of us can be guilty of doing just that.”
Smiling as she retained to  her office after being diagnosed six months ago, she added: “So I am easing myself back now slowly, intentionally, and without guilt.
And I wanted to share this for anyone else who's off work just now, anyone who is recovering from illness, anyone resting and feeling bad about it, please don't.
Like, you're not weak, you are not letting anybody down. You're doing exactly what your body needs to do right now.
It needs to heal. So slow down, tune inward. Your health matters, you matter.
And when you're truly well, you'll be able to give back in the way that you want to again.”
So today, I am back where I belong back to what I love in my GP clinic, and I feel so incredibly grateful to back on this side of the consultation table again. It's been a really, really tough six months, but I know that I've come back stronger with new insight as well, and I hope that that helps me take even better care of my patients.
So let's go.”

LOUIS TOMLINSON GLASGOW BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

Louis Tomlinson was said to be ‘feeling broody’ as he met his youngest fan and signed a birthday card for her first birthday during a visit to Glasgow. 

Louis who has just released his album How Did I Get Here met several hundred fans at the city’s HMV for a signing. 
And the One Direction star admitted he was loving Glasgow and his beloved fans as hundreds queued in the freezing cold to meet him. 
Louis who wore a brown Ice Cream Services jacket and jeans smiled from ear to ear as he met some of his original boyband followers as well as new fans. 
Amongst them was his youngest fan Melody Shaw who dances to his songs in her buggy. 
Her mum Kayleigh,31, who took her to the signing alongside dad Kyle said: “She loves Louis Tomlinson and actually dances to his songs. I put the albums on and she just has a boogie. Right now, her favourites are probably Jump The Gun or Sunflowers.”

Louis signed her birthday card, because it’s her first birthday in two days, so... he said ‘I love your name because it’s music related and your jumper’ because I got a personalised jumper done for her, which says Louis Tomlinson on the front and back. Even when we were leaving, he was like, I didn't even notice the jumper. 
He may have been feeling broody. He’s got Freddie but maybe he wants another baby.”
Other fans included Rachel Haggerty, 21, from Glasgow and her friends Sophia Salmoni, 14, from Barrhead and Nikki Murray, 31, from Glasgow. 
Rachel said: “I asked Louis to sign the record for my mum who couldn’t make it and the CD for me. I love his music and was shaking so badly I couldn’t put it back in the sleeve.”
Sophie added: “I got him to sign CDs but ae weren’t allowed selfies though my mum took a video of me meeting him while she was standing in the back of the queue. He asked me about my favourite songs but I told him I don’t have one.”

And Nicky said: “I’m an OG Directioner so Ive met Louis a few times before. I told him about my favourite songs including Jump the Gun which he said will be really good live. I’ve got Louis’ song tattooed Faith In The Future on my arm too so showed him that.”

CHRIS HUGHES MENTAL HEALTH TRIP TO GLASGOW

Chris Hughes met up with Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Traitors winner Meryl Williams on a visit to Scotland for a Burns supper.

Celebrity Masterchef’s Chris, who appeared at the event in his pink jacket and black shirt and trousers without his US girlfriend JoJo Siwa, shared photos on Instagram from the SAMH charity event at the Collectors Hall in Glasgow. 

Meryl also proudly showed off her new facial surgery and breast augmentation and uplift from earlier this month in a revealing silky dress from Zara, altered by her granny, also mingled with guests on the night. 

Chris, who tucked into Scotland’s traditional dish of haggis neeps and tatties, appeared at the event to support Craig Ferguson, a mental health advocate from Paisley who is set to walk more than 3000 miles across America to raise funds and awareness for Scottish Action for Mental Health. 


He said of the night: “So honoured to have joined Craig and the charity this evening at the @thecollectorshall, before he sets sail across America! This is honestly insane, in so many ways!

“'The Tartan Trek' will be Craig walking a MARATHON A DAY, for over 100 days, all on his own, with just his best friend in a support van which essentially will be his place to sleep on many occasions! He deserves everyone behind him supporting this. I can wait to keep track on this.”

He added: “Go and make your country proud Craig, and the rest of the world who will be supporting you in this incredible trek! A wholesome night!”

John Swinney told revellers on the night: 

“When I heard Craig was going to take on this challenge, I thought it was a fabulous idea, and to do it in aid of SAMH demonstrates a tremendous level of personal commitment and dedication.

“As a society, we must continue to create space for people to express how they feel. There is a great deal of pressure today, not least through social media, which makes this openness even more important. Sport has a unique way of bringing people together, and this challenge truly reflects that power.

“My advice to Craig would be to keep his eye firmly on the prize of Boston, where I’m sure he will receive a phenomenal welcome when he arrives.”

Craig is coordinating his Tartan Trek from LA on February 23, to arrive in Boston 104 days later to coordinate with the arrival of the Scotland team in the US For the World Cup.

He previously walked 1000 miles in 2024 from Glasgow to Munich ahead of the UEFA European Championship, which raised more than £70,000 for the men’s mental health charity Brothers in Arms.