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Joan McAlpineMSP
Parliamentary Liaison Officer to the First Minister of Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office May 2011Serving with Humza Yousaf
Preceded by	Alasdair Allan
Member of the Scottish Parliament for South of Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2011
Personal details
Born	(1962-01-28) 28 January 1962 (age 62)
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. She has also been involved in several controversies.

Background

McAlpine was born in Gourock, Renfrewshire and attended St Ninian's Primary school in Gourock and St Columba's High School in Greenock. She has an MA (Hons) in Scottish History and Economic History from University of Glasgow. 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.

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, although not the first Scottish female newspaper editor. She also wrote a weekly column for The Scotsman. Her blog, Go Lassie Go, was voted Scotland's top media blog in 2010.

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. 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.

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 for the SNP. McAlpine has written speeches for the then First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, and served as his Parliamentary Liaison Officer.

In November 2011 a member of McAlpine's staff, Gail Lythgoe, was found to have emailed a Women's equality group, alleging that the Labour Politician Ian Davidson has a history of bullying Women and called on them to demonstrate against him whilst asking them not to reveal SNP involvement in its instigation. The email was later leaked and Lythgoe publicly apologised for making unsubstantiated allegations, with the Labour Party stating that this was a result of an SNP "dirty tricks campaign" against Davidson and called for an investigation.

In January 2012, McAlpine stated that individuals who criticized the policies of the SNP were 'anti-Scottish' provoking widespread condemnation from other political parties. In March 2012, McAlpine compared Scotlands' position in the UK with a woman in an abusive marriage with a domineering man and stated that rival political parties were behaving in a sexist and misogynistic manner.

In May 2012, McAlpine was reprimanded by the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament for failing to turn up to Ministerial Questions to ask a question which she had tabled in the Scottish Parliament as she was eating dinner in a restaurant.

McAlpine is a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture.

In February 2014, it was reported that McAlpine had claimed £1,750 in expenses relating to photography. The photographer only completed six of the ten assignments paid for and refused to complete the work when their relationship broke down. McAlpine then repaid the expense claim. After the incident was made public, McAlpine referred her case to the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, but it was found that there was no case to answer.

References

1. "Democracy Live | Your representatives | Joan McAlpine". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
4. ^ "Joan McAlpine". Joanmcalpine.typepad.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
5. "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 26 October 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
6. "Top journalist's / mainstream media blogs – Scottish Roundup". Scottishroundup.co.uk. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
7. "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
8. "A Time to Rage (0748661743) by Tommy Sheridan, Joan Macalpine @". Bookfinder.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
9. "allmediascotland". allmediascotland. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
10. 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)
12. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/first-minister-s-aide-linked-to-dirty-tricks-allegations-1.1132328?55374
13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-15546898
14. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political-news/mcalpine-criticised-for-saying-uk-is-like-an-abusive-marriage.1331089457
15. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-19467001
16. http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/joan-mcalpine-forced-to-eat-humble-pie-for-show-of-discourtesy-1-2301995
17. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/320863/McAlpine-snubs-Parliament-to-have-lunch-with-Salmond
18. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/joan-mcalpine-cleared-of-breaching-expenses-rules.1395852013

External links

• Go Lassie Go - online blog
• Scottish Parliament Member's page
• Joan McAlpine on Twitter
• The Guardian articles
• The Scotsman articles

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from October 2010
• 1964 births
• Alumni of City University London
• Alumni of the University of Glasgow
• Living people
• People from Gourock
• Scottish columnists
• Scottish journalists
• Scottish National Party MSPs
• Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–
• Scottish bloggers