Blowing up our city... that’s bang out of order
ONE of Glasgow’s greatest qualities has always been its citizens. Particularly when it comes to their tendency to be a bit, well, Glaswegian about things. Hence the biblical level of chest-beating that was unleashed when the city council attempted to remove a traffic cone from a statue. And the extraordinary generosity of spirit shown in the aftermath of the Clutha crash, when shocked pub-goers formed a human chain to help each other to safety.
Now Glasgow has once more risen to the occasion over the appalling decision to blow up five of the Red Road flats as part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
It is quite clear that Glaswegians do not want this to happen. They feel it is tawdry and insensitive for the organisers to demolish people’s homes as though they were pulling a disposable party popper at a child’s birthday.
We know this because more than 16,000 of them have now signed a petition demanding the decision is reversed. One local explained she was adding her name because ‘it’s like some ancient Roman emperor has gone mad... let’s not buy fireworks... let’s blow up poor people’s homes to welcome guests’.
Quite. Many of the local residents are so incensed at the decision that they have vowed not to move from the exclusion zone during the destruction.
Celebrated Glaswegian author Alasdair Gray described the move as ‘crass’, while Deacon Blue’s Lorraine McIntosh said it was not appropriate for former homes to be demolished ‘as entertainment for visitors’. Even crime writer Ian Rankin, denizen of that city at the other end of the M8, weighed in to lend his support, saying ‘ it shouldn’t be done’.
Yet it is. More than a week after the plan was unveiled to a dismayed city, those who made the decision are steadfastly – and foolishly – clinging to it.
Glasgow 2014’s chief executive David Grevemberg said on Thursday: ‘Glasgow 2014 and our Games partners remain committed to ensuring this important story is part of the opening ceremony.’ Why? What good could it possibly do? There is a clear dichotomy here, between those who thought the whole thing was a good idea – a handful of high-powered executives and politicians including First Minister Alex Salmond (who, it transpires, knew about the plan two months ago) – and the people they purport to speak for.
Glasgow 2014 should represent the city at its best. Yet even in the face of overwhelming protest, it refuses to heed its citizens’ wishes.
And that’s not Glaswegian at all.