Talking Constitutions

About Talking Constitutions

Cut through the political noise and join our experts in debating how and why constitutions matter in the world today, from the challenges of everyday life to the big questions of global politics. Hosted by the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research, University of St Andrews.

Publisher

ILCR, University of St Andrews

Category

government

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Jul 2020

Latest episode

16 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

2 of 20 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   16 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   AI and the Judiciary

   This episode explores AI in relation to the judiciary and its wider effect on aspects of law. Discussants are Lady Drummond, Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland; Ridley Thomas, of Luminance, a company developing and providing specialist Legal-Grade AI; and Dr Lizzie Tiarks, lecturer at the University of Newcastle.

2. 

   18 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Office of Lord Advocate

   In this special episode of Talking Constitutions, Professor Jim Gallagher discusses with John Hudson the past, present, and future of the office of Lord Advocate, and gives his views on desirable reform.

3. 

   23 Oct 2023

   Adversarial politics

   This episode explores the adversarial nature of contemporary politics, considering its causes, its bad effects, and also what its benefits may be. Discussants are Wendy Chamberlain, MP for N.E. Fife and the Liberal Democrats’ Chief Whip and Spokesperson for Work and Pensions; Stephen Gethins, formerly an MP at Westminster and the Scottish National Party’s Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe; currently acting Vice-Principal (International Affairs) at the University of St Andrews; and Daniel Greenberg, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (since 1 January 2023).

Inside a recent episode

AI and the Judiciary

Published 16 Apr 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Much more controversially, AI could have a role into sentencing, and this is, I think, already been touched on by Lizzie, but to some extent, AI is used already in sentencing because within sentencing practice judges do rely on risk assessments, these are assessments of offenders based on their could be the gender employment or criminal record amongst other factors. And they use various factors then to assess the risk of that person reoffending and to inform the sentencing judge about that. So that is already being used by judges in sentencing. These risk assessments have been criticized as tools on the basis that they have inbuilt within them bias and potentially even racist. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Contact Talking Constitutions

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Talking Constitutions