Axed concerts and film stars in city help make it a busy year
atures, a man was found dead in Trongate. I reported on his identity, 28-year-old Matthew Bloomer, which is when the news of his untimely death really hit home for many readers.
Although there was much debate as to whether he froze to death, the council maintains his passing was drugs-related. Regardless, his death shook the city as homelessness and rough sleeping were thrust into the spotlight.
A fun piece to work on in April was to do with Glasgow’s shopping habits. I worked with Amazon to reveal the top seven items the city’s shoppers could not get enough of over the last six months. The article revealed some of the most-ordered items were Pepsi Max, mince – and even bananas.
If there’s one thing Glasgow loves more than anything, it’s a fish supper. May saw the Merchant Chippie in High Street named as one of the best in the UK in an annual “50 Best Fish & Chip Takeaways” list, a piece which remained popular with readers for days after.
Early one Sunday morning in June, my colleague Stacey Mullen and I were devastated to break the story on the sudden death of a teenager in the city centre of Glasgow.
Zoe Bremner was just 14-yearsold when she was found in a flat in Cowcaddens, bringing, once again, the topic of drugs and young people into the spotlight. A 16-year-old boy was charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act at Glasgow Sheriff Court in connection with her death. He made no plea and was released on bail to appear at a later date.
One of July’s top stories was the shock announcement that US rock band Green Day cancelled their Bellahouston Park gig with just hours to go, citing “adverse weather conditions” as the reason. True, there had been some rain that day, but it had well cleared up by early afternoon, after which much confu- sion began to arise as to why the plug had been pulled.
Accusations quickly emerged that the organisers behind the concert, PCL Presents, started erecting the stage and set far too last-minute for it to be completed on time. PCL continued to maintain it was the bad weather, but did acknowledge whether subcontractors “could have done more or could have been better prepared”.
In August, a man from just outside the city sparked outrage when an image surfaced on Twitter showing him with a new tattoo reading “I stole Madeleine McCann” which he got after visiting Portugal where the then three-year-old went missing in 2007. Not only was the tattoo condemned in Glasgow and the UK, but also as far as Australia.
One of September’s biggest news stories on a UK-wide and even international scale was the Government’s decision that it would not be issuing Uber with a new licence, citing that the hugely-popular cab-hailing service was “not fit and proper” to operate in London.
Transport for London said it took the decision on the grounds of “public safety and security implications”. This led to Glasgow Taxis calling for a similar crackdown in Glasgow. However, after a conversation with the council, I reported how the local authority had no such plans for a crackdown.
If there’s one thing readers like to be kept informed of, it’s about road closures in the city. October saw TV star Benedict Cumberbatch hit Glasgow to shoot scenes for Sky Atlantic show Melrose.
Exciting as it may have been, dozens of routes were off limits to motorists from October 29 to November 3, bringing about much debate whether it was help or hindrance for the city.
In November, I was left awestruck after speaking to the owner of a popular Glasgow restaurant who dished out close to 1000 meals to the city’s homeless in just three months as he called on other businesses to follow suit.
Muhammad Sultan, who runs Charcoals Indian restaurant in Renfield Street, started the initiative after he became concerned with the rising number of rough sleepers in and around the city.
In December, I felt it very important to keep highlighting the ongoing issue of homelessness and rough sleeping which always gathers pace around Christmas time.
One piece I put together was the nine ways to help the homeless and vulnerable in Glasgow over Christmas. Reading comments online from readers regarding rough sleeping, I then went on to highlight the six steps which could be taken if the public were concerned about someone sleeping rough in the bad weather the city had been experiencing.