LATIMER’S YEAR
After a tough year, it’s the perfect time to celebrate the everyday people doing amazing and heroic things
Ten talking points from a very strange 12 months in Bristol –
JOURNALISM, they do say, is the first draft of history, so I’ve been reading back copies of the Post to try and make sense of 2020.
Therefore, without further ado, I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the definitive* list of the ten most important things that happened in the Bristol area in 2020.
(* It really isn’t definitive.)
1. Greta got up some people’s noses
On February 28, Miss Greta Thunberg, a youthful political agitator from Sweden, visited Bristol and addressed thousands of admirers on College Green in pouring rain. She attracted an astonishing amount of hate on social media and the comments section of the Post website.
Anyone twisted enough to fantasise about doing violence to a small teenage girl on Facebook would have been mad as hell had they known what was about to hit us.
2. Bristol got off lightly (so far)
Decoding all the statistics is tricky, and this damn pandemic ain’t over yet, but so far we’ve gotten off lightly. The South West as a whole had the lowest infection and death rates in the country early on. There was a spike in Bristol in the autumn, but by Christmas Bristol was relegated to Tier 2. As of early December, 326 people have died of Covid in Bristol, many of them in care homes, below the numbers for many comparable places elsewhere in the country.
3. Working from home is great! (Oh. No, hang on. It isn’t.)
Everyone loved working from home back in the spring and summer, but by the autumn everyone was yearning for at least a couple of days a week of meetings, office gossip and the chance to moan about the boss.
Nonetheless, working from home at least a few days a week is, for many, here to stay. It saves the firm on office costs, saves on pollution and public transport and since the management can spy on you just as easily electronically as they ever could from the glass-fronted corner office, everyone’s happy.
(Until they’re told they have to take a pay cut because, you know, times have been hard and think of all the money you’re saving on parking, bus fares and fancy sandwiches.)
What’ll happen to all that empty office space in the middle of town? One way it could go is it just gets cheaply converted into flats, some of which could well become pockets of poverty.
4. Without the virus, we’d have spent 2020 arguing about buildings
There were/are all manner of tall buildings on the cards, and other more broad proposals with no firm plans as yet. Early in the year the Mayor, himself an aficionado of large-scale construction, attended a very ill-tempered public meeting for the development of what he and others have chosen to call Western Harbour but which has been known to generations of citizens as Cumberland Basin.
In January, Castle Park View, though far from having been finished, became the tallest building in Bristol, exceeding the spire of St Mary Redcliffe in height. Work on this monstrous erection continued through the year.
With far fewer of us travelling into town regularly, the full enormity of this thing has yet to register. Some will think it impressive, but only in the same way that some people pay large amounts of money to be flogged and sworn at by specialist sex-workers.
5. The Colston argument ended
Would Ted Colston have been chucked into the drink this year if there hadn’t been a pandemic?
Something had to give sooner or later. We can disapprove of the manner of his removal, but in 21st century Bristol a civic monument to a man who made his money from slavery was an absurdity.
Historians in future will say that the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in America was what drove the action in Bristol, but the reality was more complicated. The dominoes had been falling before this, with various buildings and institutions losing the Colston name, most notably the Colston Hall which announced its intention to change the name years ago.
It unveiled its new moniker this year, a name which appears to have been coined by a committee which has stress-tested the living daylights out of it to ensure it doesn’t offend anyone, and consequently is so forgettable that I’ve forgotten it.
Even more dominoes tumbled once the statue was being fished from the floating harbour. Among other things, Colston Tower is now Something Else Tower, the Colston Society disbanded, and there is now talk of renaming Colston Street and Colston Avenue.
He’s gone, and pathetically vindictive gestures like vandalising the grave of Scipio Africanus, a 300-years-dead Black slave/servant at Henbury, isn’t going to change things.
6. … But the omens for reconciliation weren’t great
Mayor Rees gathered a special commission of academics and other figures to do something or other to do with Bristol’s history, though the actual historians on the panel are outnumbered by other luminaries, including an Associate Professor of “Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice”.
Many’s the conversation we’ve had down the British Legion about how much we need input from an Associate Professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice.
According to a Council statement, this panel is going to look into Bristol’s “real” history.
NB: For Bristol’s real history, you could just read Bristol Times every week.
7. Some people spent too much time online
One of the most viewed videos on the Post website was a woman at an anti-lockdown protest claiming she was too “enlightened” to follow the rules, while a Gloucester Road tattoo artist defied lockdown claiming that Magna Carta somehow exempts him from laws the rest of us have to follow.
That’s before we even get started on the antivaxxers and those who believe Covid is a massive conspiracy by Bill Gates, George Soros, the Lizard People (or something) to enslave us all.
8. Other stuff happened
Dave Prowse of Darth Vader and Green Cross Code fame died … A new Banksy mural appeared in Totterdown … A road in BS5 was named Cheers Drive … Bristol Cars aren’t being made anymore … Someone somewhere might be able to explain the reasons behind the Bristol Energy fiasco … Bristol Zoo announced plans to move everything to Cribbs Causeway … AAANNND a dead cow washed up on the beach at Burnham-on-Sea.
There was also the revelation of popular singer Mr James Blunt’s flirtation with toxic masculinity. This was particularly remarkable as his music, including his hit song You’re Beautiful wrongly give the impression that he is a bed-wetting girly-man.
It was revealed that while a student at Bristol University in the 1990s, he went on an all-meat diet in order to annoy the female vegetarians and vegans on his course. As a consequence, he contracted scurvy.
9. Bristol Times – telling you the future as well as the past
On this very page of this very paper on January 7, when few of us had even heard of the virus in Wuhan, I wrote out a list of the ten worst things that had happened to Bristol in the last 1,000 years.
It ended: “While we’re worrying about climate change or politics, it would be as well to keep worrying about antibiotic resistance and the next big virus, too. Probably better to worry more about disease than anything, in fact.”
Now did you understand why you need to get Bristol Times every single Tuesday??
10. You, dear reader, are brilliant
It’s been a grim old year, and the early weeks of 2021 will be a strain. Some are having to cope with too much work, others with no work at all. Many are dealing with loneliness and isolation.
I hope you’re bearing up, and that when you’re feeling low you can make yourself a cup of tea and a list of all the blessings, past, present and future, that you can count.
I certainly can. Among those many blessings is doing Bristol Times each week, and being able to share tales of our city’s heritage, be they mundane or fabulous.
So here’s wishing you all happier times and many future blessings in the year to come. Things will be hard for a while yet, but it will all come good.
Cheers then!
UNE in for a Hogmanay like no other, as we ring in the New Year with an uplifting celebration of Scotland’s unsung heroes.
The Daily Record Pride of Scotland awards, in partnership with TSB, honour Scots young and old who have done extraordinary things to help others.
The show, hosted by Elaine C Smith and Kirsty Gallacher, tells their incredible stories, and famous faces including the Duchess of Cornwall, Sir Rod Stewart, Lorraine Kelly, Sharleen Spiteri and The Vamps surprise them with their awards.
And Sir Billy Connolly, Sir Andy Murray, Annie Lennox, Sir Kenny
IT’S been a year we’ll never forget. And it’s coming to an end with a joyful Hogmanay TV show we’ll never forget too. With a unique blend of inspirational real-life stories, celebrity surprises and sensational musical performances, Pride of Scotland from the University of Glasgow Cloisters is the perfect way to say farewell to 2020 and ring in 2021.
The past 12 months have been tough for all of us, but amid the grief of losing loved ones, and the unprecedented challenges we have faced, there is plenty to be proud of.
Scots young and old have come together to look out for each other, and that’s the spirit at the heart of the incredible Pride of Scotland Hogmanay show on STV.
Hosted by Elaine C Smith and Kirsty Gallacher, and including a breathtaking fireworks display at midnight, The Daily Record Pride of Scotland Awards, in partnership with TSB, celebrate the nation’s unsung heroes.
Winners include brave lifesavers, inspirational kids, and members of Scots communities who have pulled together like nowhere else in 2020.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sums that up in the show, when she says: “Over the past few months we’ve seen people all over the country come together, rally round and give support to people in need. I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to everybody.”
Her comments are part of a special tribute to Charandeep Singh, the driving force behind the Sikh Food Bank, which has delivered more than 100,000 meals across Scotland since lockdown began.
Charandeep had already been surprised with his trophy by our host Elaine at the People’s Palace in Glasgow, and pop star Rita Ora and comedian Michael McIntyre also pop up with their congratulations.
Surprises come thick and fast throughout the show. Dame Laura Lee, the former nurse who has built Maggie’s Centres into a global cancer charity, is astonished when Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall tells her she is a Pride of Scotland winner.
Camilla says: “What you’ve done is incredible and Maggie’s wouldn’t be where it is without you. You’ve given so many people hope and inspiration”
And from royalty to rock royalty, Sir Rod Stewart and Lady Penny Lancaster reveal the good news to another stunned winner.
Some of the winners are at the Cloisters to relive the moment with Elaine and Kirsty, including schoolgirl Katie Pake. The music fan had a double surprise when she met first Lorraine Kelly, and then Texas
star Sharleen Spiteri, on a tour of Abbey Road Studios.
Jenny Cook, winner of the Young Fundraiser award, thought she was on a day’s work experience when TV chef Gordon Ramsay and chart-topping rt-topping band
The Vamps, turned it into to a day to remember. ember.
And nd football fan John Haughie ughie can’t hide e his delight ght when he is s surprised prised
ation...
Camilla Duchess of Cornwall while presenting a Pride of Scotland award to Dame Laura Lee by Ally McCoist. John is at the Cloisters for the show, where two more of his sporting idols deliver a special message.
Lifesaver John’s heroic rescue is one of the most dramatic stories of the night, along with an amazing clifftop effort by coastguard volunteer Jamie
Newlands to save a stranded teenager when a helicopter and lifeboat had been beaten back by the weather.
And heroism has no age limit – Child of Courage Greg Galloway was just eight when he pulled his grandfather from an icy river.
At the other end of the age spectrum, George Parsonage has saved more than 1,500 people from the Clyde
You’ve given so many people hope and inspiration... ra
over 40 years at the helm of the Glasgow Humane Society, the world’s oldest lifeboat service. He receives a touching guard of honour from rowers, in one of the most striking award presentations.
And in a year when we have all rallied together to help, the TSB Community Heroes Award is a reminder that Scots have always cared for those in need.
The people of Bute opened their doors, and their hearts, to Syrian refugees.
With rugby legend Doddie Weir receiving the People’s Award, Pride of Scotland is a wonderful reminder of all the things that make you proud to be a Scot.
Add in dozens of stars, incredible music, an iconic location and dazzling fireworks, and it’s the perfect way to celebrate Hogmanay this year.