Mark created the Political Society at Fettes College in 1983. He hosted the society through to 2006, and in that time the following speakers & panellists participated:
Alan Beith – Lib-Dem MP for Berwick upon weed
Alastair Darling – former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer
Alex Fergusson – Conservative MSP and former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
Alex Salmond – Scotland’s First Minister
Alistair Carmichael – Lib-Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland
Allan Massie – Writer, historian and free-lance journalist
Andy Irvine – former Scottish and British Lions rugby international
Archie Macpherson – former BBC Scotland football commentator
Bill Aitken – former Conservative MSP for Glasgow
Bill Walker – former Conservative MP for Tayside North
Bob Maclennan – former Lib-Dem MP for Caithness and Sutherland
Brian Wilson – former journalist and Labour minister
Campbell Christie – former secretary of the Scottish TUC
Cecil Parkinson – former Conservative cabinet minister
Charlie Falconer – former Labour Lord Chancellor
David Steel – former leader of the Liberal Party
David Trimble – former leader of the Ulster Unionists
Dennis Canavan – former labour MP for Falkirk West
Donald Dewar – former First Minister of Scotland
Donald Gorrie – former Lib-Dem MP for Edinburgh West
Dr Alice Brown – Edinburgh University Department of Politics
Dr Harry Reid – former editor of The Herald
Dr Henry Drucker – former Edinburgh Department of Politics
Dr John Curtice – Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University
Dr John Rae – former Headmaster of Westminster
Dr Lynda Clark – former Labour MP for Edinburgh Pentland
Eric Joyce – Independent MP for Falkirk West
General John de Chastelain – former head of the International Commission on De-commissioning in Northern Ireland
George Galloway – Respect MP for Bradford West
George Younger – former Conservative Scottish and Defence Secretary
Hamish MacDonell – Freelance journalist for the Times and Scottish Daily Mail
Ian Lang – former Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland
Jim Murphy – Labour MP for Eastwood and Shadow Defence spokesman
Jim Naughtie – BBC radio presenter
Jimmy Reid – Scottish trade union activist, writer and politician
John Barrett – former Lib-Dem MP for Edinburgh West
John Home-Robertson – former Labour MP for Berwick and East Lothian.
John Reid former – Labour Defence and Home Secretary
John Smith – former leader of the Labour Party
John Swinney – SNP MSP for Tayside North and current Treasurer in the Scottish government
Judge David Edward – former British judge on the European Court of Justice
Lord Douglas-Hamilton – former Conservative Minister of State at the Scottish Office
Lord Home – former Conservative Prime Minister
Lord Mackay of Clashfern – former Conservative Lord Chancellor
Lord MacLean – former Scottish judge who presided over the Lockerbie trial
Lord Weir – former Scottish judge
Lord Wilson of Tillyorn – former Governor of Hong Kong
Magnus Linklater – former editor of the Scotsman and The Times [Scotland] Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Leith
Margo MacDonald – Independent MSP for Edinburgh
Martin O’Neill – Labour MP for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire
Michael Ancram – former Conservative Minister of State for Northern Ireland
Michael Forsyth – former Conservative Scottish Secretary
Mike Watson – former Labour MSP
Nicola Sturgeon MSP – Deputy leader of the SNP
Norman Drummond – former Padre of the Black Watch and Headmaster of Loretto
Norman Tebbit – former Conservative Cabinet minister
Owen Dudley Edwards – Writer and broadcaster
Peter Oborne – Journalist and broadcaster
Phil Gallie – former Conservative MP for Ayr
Professor Bill Miller – former Professor of Politics, Glasgow University
Professor John Erickson – former Professor of Defence Studies, Edinburgh University
Professor Neil MacCormick – former Regius Professor of Public Law, Edinburgh University
Professor Paul Wilkinson – former Professor of International Relations, St Andrews University
Professor Peter Hennessy Attlee – Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London
Richard Holloway – former Bishop of Edinburgh, and leading theologian
Robin Harper – former MSP and leader of the Scottish Green Party
Sir Bernard Crick – Political theorist and author
Sir Chris Woodhead – former HM Chief Inspector of Schools in England
Sir Malcolm Rifkind – former Conservative Defence and Foreign Secretary
Sir Menzies Campbell MP – former leader of the Liberal Democrats
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn – former Conservative MP for Kinross and Perth
Sir Patrick Hine – Joint commander of all British forces during the first Gulf War
Sir William Macpherson – retired High Court judge and leader of the public inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence
Struan Stevenson – Conservative MEP
Stuart Trotter – formerly of the Glasgow Herald
Tam Dalyell – former Labour MP for West Lothian
Tom Baldwin – formerly of The Times
Tommy Sheridan – former MSP and leader of the Scottish Socialist Party
Tony Blair – former Labour Prime Minister
Viscount Tonypandy – former Speaker of the House of Commons