Politics Now was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 political programme produced and broadcast by STV in northern and central Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The half-hour programme, running for 40 weeks of the year, was broadcast on late Thursday evenings.

The programme was presented by STV's political editor Bernard Ponsonby

Bernard Ponsonby

Bernard Ponsonby is a Scottish broadcast journalist working on regional news and current affairs programming for STV. He joined the station in 1990 and was appointed political editor in 2000.-Political career:...

 with features reports and contributions from the rest of STV's political unit - Westminster correspondent Harry Smith, political correspondent Jamie Livingstone and freelance reporter David Torrance. The programme was originally presented by former political correspondent Michael Crow

Michael Crow (journalist)

Michael Crow is a former Scottish political journalist who worked as Director of Strategy and Communications at the Scottish Conservative Party from 2009 until 2010...

 until his departure from the station in January 2009.

On 25 August 2011, STV announced plans to introduce a 30-minute current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight

Scotland Tonight

Scotland Tonight is a Scottish news and current affairs programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV News...

, on Monday - Thursday nights at 10:30pm. The pan-regional programme, incorporating late news bulletins for STV's regions, is due to begin on Monday 24 October 2011, replacing Politics Now in its Thursday night slot.

Politics Now was broadcast from STV's headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, sharing the same set as the west opt-out on STV News at Six

STV News at Six

STV News at Six is a Scottish regional news programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV Central in the Central region and STV North in the Northern region.The programmes were launched on Monday 23 March 2009, replacing Scotland Today in...

. Prior to 2005, the programme was broadcast from STV's former headquarters at Cowcaddens

Cowcaddens

Cowcaddens is an area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is virtually in the city centre and is bordered by the areas of Garnethill to the south and Townhead to the east....

, Glasgow and the studios of Grampian Television

Grampian Television

Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...

 (now STV North) in West Tullos

Tullos

Tullos is an area of Torry, a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland. The area takes its name from the Vale of Tullos which lies between Tullos Hill and Torry Hill. Tullos derived its name from a corruption of the Gaelic ‘Tulach’ meaning a hill....

, Aberdeen.