Tuesday 23 November 2010

Swingergate Day 28: a Large Pinch of Salt

Welcome to my wee photoblog on Glasgow, where we feature the joys and unjoys of walking and cycling through a fascinating, beautiful and often badly run city. For the blog's origin and an alphabetical list of posts see the 'Introduction' post -
Today is 17 November, Day 28 of the Tommy and Gail Sheridan Trial. For our two previous visits to the High Court, see
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/10/swingergate-day-2-tommy-and-gail.html
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/10/swingergate-part-2-hows-he-no-gettin.html


Heading down our usual Bridgegate route to the High Court: no Anwar crosses our path today.
Clock is lit up - winter is here for sure.
The trial is getting more bizarre by the day; recent highlights include Bob Bird, the Scottish editor of the News of the World describing how he stripped to his underwear to watch a secretly recorded video of Tommy Sheridan. From the Scotsman -
'A "cloak and dagger" meeting was arranged and Mr Bird met a man who turned out to be Tommy Sheridan's best man George McNeilage at an address in Pollok, Glasgow, where he was asked to remove his clothes. The court previously heard that Mr McNeilage was worried that Mr Bird would be "wired". Mr Bird told the High Court in Glasgow: "He said 'I'm Tommy's best man', at which point my blood ran cold as I thought Tommy Sheridan was going to burst into the room with a video camera." Mr McNeilage then showed him a videotape and asked for £250,000 for it, the court heard. Mr Bird said he considered the tape of interest.'
See
And today will see revelations about how the NOW's psychic agony aunt (now former resident psychic, she didn't see that coming) got in touch with Sherry to warn him the paper was after him - http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/11/18/tommy-sheridan-perjury-trial-psychic-agony-aunt-tipped-former-msp-off-about-newspaper-s-24-7-surveillance-court-hears-86908-22722625/

Said Mr Bird: '
As a psychic agony aunt, she did make a lot of predictions that did not come to be true'. Wonderful.
The revolving door of Scottish justice
Wee gusts of wind were blowing leaves about in pretty spirals, some of them higher than me - I was reminded of the Robert Heinlein short story 'Our Fair City' in which a hack writer uses a sentient mini-whirlwind to overturn a city council run by corrupt, gangster-connected politicians. So no possible parallels with Glasgow, then.

The alley between the new and (on right) old High Courts; Glasgow Green in the distance, where those guilty of capital offences were hanged
Pretty cold this morning, and salt has been spread about the entrance; a wee pile has been left on one of the stone balls
Here they come
Some sort of exchange happens between the figure passing on the right and Sherry. . .
. . . a friendly one obviously. The figure seems to be hovering just above the ground. Perhaps it's Clarence the Angel from It's a Wonderful Life, though Sherry's favourite Jimmy Stewart movie is probably Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Goodness what a terrible picture; apologies all round
The media go off for coffee; the large pinch of salt remains
Heading back along the Bridgegate; cheap clothes the Paddy's Market end, modern galleries at the further Merchant City end, where they probably describe this environment as 'edgy'
A message in stone; an old Debenham's ad
Legs 'n' Co - described itself as a 'Gentleman's Club'. . .

. . . and has moved to  (or become) Forbidden, which defines  itself in less gentlemanly terms as a lapdancing club. From their website:  'Glasgow's stunning new lapdancing club has arrived.. . . Offering two floors of Forbidden pleasure. We are located just behind the St.Enoch centre in Glasgow city centre. Our stunning girls from all over the world are ready and waiting to perform for your pleasure. So for a fun night out with mates or with clients, there's something for everyone at Forbidden in Glasgow. Be sure to come and see us soon!'
Well, we can be fairly sure Anwar won't be along with his client any day soon.
A bid to allow Scottish councils power to ban lapdancing clubs was rejected  by the Scottish parliament in July 2010.
The bill had been proposed by Sandra White, the SNP MSP who was previously notable for complaining  that there was too much  cricket on Scottish television - see
I think she was right about the case for extending council control: but the case is not helped by the perception that the bill was not so much about  protecting women, as an expression of that old Scottish puritanical fear that, as Mencken put it, someone somewhere may be enjoying themselves (such as cricket lovers or sleazy men). 

For the 'hotel' along here see previous post


Back home. This is my copy of Edward Aveling's  The Student's  Darwin (1881), an introduction to Darwin's Theory of Evolution. This copy originally belonged to a now-forgotten critic called Neville Lynn, who has somewhat eccentrically inscribed his ownership on the title page. While writing the book,  Aveling had written to Darwin requesting permission to dedicate the work to him, an honour Darwin declined. In 1895, Aveling - who was then living with Eleanor, Marx's daughter - filed the Darwin letter among Marx's correspondence. It was later erroneously assumed for many years that Darwin had written to Marx, and that Marx had offered to dedicate Das Kapital to him.
(See Wheen's 1999 biography of Marx or just google.)

In December 1893, Aveling wrote to Lynn asking him for help in publishing some of his  plays (written under the name of 'Alec Nelson'. Lynn has pasted the letter into the book (the envelope is also here).
Sex and socialists and the News of the World go a long way back. Aveling died in 1898,  and Lynn then pasted onto the end board of the book a couple of obituaries,  one short and quite dismissive from The Referee, and a rather kinder one from the News of the World, which,  with fine Victorian delicacy, describes Eleanor as 'Miss Eleanor Marx, a daughter of Karl Marx, the author and politician, a lady with whom Dr. Aveling associated himself for years'. As the NOW records,  Eleanor had committed suicide just a few months previously. Just about everyone admired (even adored) Eleanor, who was one of those rare individuals who (as Kingsley Amis puts it) redeem the rest of us. Aveling was not much admired, far less adored, and had secretly married another woman while living with Eleanor, who killed herself in March 1898 after discovering the betrayal; the News of the World was pretty much alone in being nice about Aveling. 

Monday 15 November 2010

Welcome to Glasgow 2: the Yoker Rd

Welcome to my wee photoblog on Glasgow, where we feature the  joys and unjoys of walking and cycling through a fascinating, beautiful and often badly run city. For the blog's origin and an alphabetical list of posts  see the 'Introduction' post  -



Today is 10 November 2010 - we are heading down Anniesland Rd to walk west along Dumbarton Rd to Yoker
Anniesland Rd (like Dumbarton Rd stretching east there)  is quite long; for Anniesland see
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/03/anniesland.html
The area we are in is West Scotstoun, and we are turning right under the bridge
And first right under the bridge is  a building being demolished at the top of Plean Street




Looking back down to Dumbarton Rd
Nice curvy deco-ish building


The crane pecked at the building like an extremely lethargic predatory bird



Looking west

1967 Dumbarton Rd; an evocative address. These curved buildings were erected in 2007 for Loretto Housing Association. See
http://www.clydewaterfront.com/projects/renfrew-riverside--scotstoun/housing/1967_dumbarton_road







The beast has an implacable eye as well as hungry jaws
The flats had to be pecked away,  as it wasn't safe to blow them up as happened  at Sighthill. See
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/02/sighthill-towers-after-fall.html



Satellite dishes reaching for the Sky






Went down to take close-up pics but it is private land and was ordered off by a security guard. Security guards in Glasgow are commonly like  Hobbes' definition of life - 'nasty, brutish and short' -  but this guy was OK

Desirable dwellings going up
Took a swing left down Belldale Rd to look at the Clyde

Heading back up to main drag
Yoker Park






The WWI memorial 








Heading west again
Dappled light
Looking back

Yoker Ferry Rd on left - panorama stitch not too bad but you can see one of the joins

Kelso St straight up heading towards Garscadden (Donald Dewar's old constituency)



Yoker Community Campus and Resource Centre. See
and

Yoker Evangelical Church. People talk of the decline of religion, yet the various evangelical churches seem to be doing fine

Bouverie St - where Marge Simpson's sisters emigrated from?


Yoker Parish Church

A fine home to let

The Lovat
You are now leaving Glasgow
Looking back into Glasgow

Welcome to Glasgow
Welcome to West Dunbartonshire



The Boundary Bar. This is where, in early 2010, Steven Purcell,  the then leader of the Labour council in Glasgow - the most powerful politician in the west of Scotland - came to buy his cocaine. See
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-news/2010/04/04/former-council-chief-steven-purcell-s-cocaine-party-with-dealers-86908-22161247/
Possibly Mr Purcell thought that as the pub is a few feet outside the city boundary the deal wouldn't count. See also
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/10/paddys-market-last-day.html
and 


Looking into Glasgow
Looking out of Glasgow
Walking back in. . .
. . .we turn right and head down Greenlaw Rd


Note signpost: for the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond head left. folks 







A spent rocket
This is - let us remind ourselves - the Clyde path for cyclists and walkers. Not so Bonnie Banks
Renfrew Ferry
Before ploughing through the debris on the path we take a short walk back westward



The Titan Crane towering over Clydebank
Looking east into the city























An Emirates jet taking off from Glasgow Airport




A pair of Clyde swans

Pre-used toilet seat going spare


Swan on right kept giving me glances - have nothing for you my dear












There used to be a house on the right like that one - burned down by vandals

Turning left here to see the Renfrew Ferry
Signpost No 7







Apologies for the finger-like blur at the top left which appears in a few of these pics - the camera strap!






There has been a Clyde ferry at this point since the 14th century. See
and 
Clydelink  now operate  the (unsubsidised) Renfrew Ferry service with a small 12-seater boat.  There is really no excuse for the council not doing something about the clatty environment in which the ferry has to operate. The Renfrew Ferry should be a tourist attraction, and would be so in any other major city  - this is all wrong.















The Ferry skipper




Heading back up Yoker Ferry Rd

Back into Dumbarton Rd
Businesses Open as Usual