'Legacy' [Primer #6]

‘Legacy’ [Primer #6]

Deeply exaggerated claims for positive Games impacts have been formulated and expressed through a ‘Legacy’ framework. This framework was first associated with the Sydney Olympics 2000, and has become, since the Manchester Commonwealth Games 2002, a central feature of Olympic…

Housing (and the Red Road Flats) [Primer #4]

Housing (and the Red Road Flats) [Primer #4]

Making a Spectacle out of a Crisis: Glasgow’s New Housing Blitzkrieg. The latest from the deranged world of Glasgow City Council and the Commonwealth Games 2020 committee is that five of the remaining high rises at Red Road are going…

Housing Meeting Blocked in Bridgeton!

Housing Meeting Blocked in Bridgeton!

Glasgow Games Monitor 2020 housing meeting blocked by Bridgeton Community Learning Campus (BCLC). The Board of Directors at Bridgeton Community Learning Campus (BCLC) have closed down the joint housing meeting booked by Glasgow Games Monitor 2020 and Unite Community Union for…

'Round Ma Bit - The Gallowgate Twins' Film (2013)

‘Round Ma Bit – The Gallowgate Twins’ Film (2013)

The Whitevale and Bluevale Towers, otherwise known as the Gallowgate Twins, are the tallest buildings in Scotland. Hundreds of people once called them home. Due to years of neglect, they are no longer fit for human habitation, are now almost completely…

Is the East End of Glasgow the new West End of Glasgow?

Is the East End of Glasgow the new West End of Glasgow?

  Re-posted from the A Thousand Flowers blog. For ten days this July, the east end will become a major hub of activity, as tourists and games goers flock to events at Celtic Park and the neighbouring Emirates Arena. Hundreds…

Glasgow faces up to reality of a divided Commonwealth Games legacy

Glasgow faces up to reality of a divided Commonwealth Games legacy

The Guardian argues that Glasgow’s east end hoped staging this summer’s event would mean regeneration, but it also meant a lot of destruction. Good to see the press are finally waking up to what’s going on. ‘Two police officers cycle…

Great 1980s Films from Easterhouse and Drumchapel

Great 1980s Films from Easterhouse and Drumchapel

Two great videos below discussing housing, welfare and community issues in Easterhouse and Drumchapel in the 1980s.  What is striking is how progressive they are in comparison to the stigmatising representations of the working class and unemployed we see on…

The End of the Commonwealth Games?

The End of the Commonwealth Games?

Commonwealth Games representatives have confirmed that there has been no interest in hosting the 2022 games and have admitted that they are now facing the possibility of the 2018 games in Australia being their final event. Games officials are considering…

Whatever Happened to the East End Subway Extension?

Whatever Happened to the East End Subway Extension?

Re-posted from A Thousand Flowers blog: “EAST END SUBWAY LINK IS A DONE DEAL BEFORE 2020 GAMES” thundered the front page of the Evening Times back in 2007, characteristically pissing itself with excitement at the latest dictum to emerge from Glasgow’s…

Whose City? Are the Commonwealth Games Ruining Glasgow?

Whose City? Are the Commonwealth Games Ruining Glasgow?

Re-posted from A Thousand Flowers blog: “OH I DON’T KNOW THESE BUILDINGS, I THINK I’M LOST” reads the stencilled graffiti, eerily poignant given its setting. For the building it adorns – on High Street towards the east of central Glasgow – is among…