What I saw in Glasgow East

BrianSJ

Thank you. How does life for the young compare with Afghanistan?

Perhaps you could give Harriet Harman a guided tour?

Craig Strachan

"I had an asylum seeker living here, a doctor, who wanted to work aged 70. They wouldn't let him, and he didn't understand."

Yes, imagine you're a traumatized asylum seeker coming come from a poverty-stricken combat zone offering no prospects for your future. You escape to Scotland and find yourself housed...in Easterhouse?

Patrick

Thank you Fraser for that insight into the hopelessness and indignity of life in the East End.

Did you manage to speak to David Marshall and ask what has he been doing for his constituents from the front room of his semi apart from counting over £500k in allowances over the last 5 years? Not a lot by the sound of it.

TGF UKIP

Fraser, thanks for the insight and the reminder. There is, though, one factor missing in the post above which you will no doubt cover in film, and that is the women.

Your post took me back forty years or so to the pre-drug days when I was a young rep on Merseyside. In those days benefit money went exclusively on drink and I called occsionally on an isolated boarded up chemist's shop in a parallel hellhole in Harold Wilson's constituency.

The chemist's summary has stayed with me practically verbatim down the years "virtually all the men are unemployed, they drink their dole money and the women and kids have to make do with what the wife can hang on to out of the family allowance. The only thing that keeps these women going is the valium they get from me and their ciggies." Plus ca change and all that

Joe Strummer

I know this is going to sound cruel and heartless but having lived on these type of run-down Glasgow housing estates long ago, please do not feel sorry or sympathy for these drug / alcohol ridden wasters and no hopers but instead show your concern for the tiny minority of good, decent WORKING people unfortunate to be there whose lives are made a living hell by these perennially unemployed anti-social scum.

Millions upon millions of pounds are pumped into these housing estates and schemes to upgrade housing and facilities yet within months any improvements are vandalised or stolen by the majority of inhabitants.

They could each be given the most expensive luxury homes and within weeks the new fitted kitchens and bathroom suites would be ripped out to be sold to order for cheap booze, alcohol and drugs. There would be scrap cars on bricks, derelict motorbikes and the gardens unattended to add that touch of class as well.

It is a complete waste of time and money attempting to educate and enhance these individuals lives. They love their existence exactly the way it is and have no desire for change.

And I should know, I've witnessed all of the above in Glasgow at first hand.

Fraser Nelson

Joe, I met someone there who belongs to the category you speak of: a hard worker, whose life is blighted by drugs and the crime that funds it. His prescription was pure heroin, which would be fatal. "It might sound cruel to you, but I have to live with it," he said.

I agree there will be a minority for whom you can't do much. But take those twins I met: their parents obv dont care for them much, otherwise they wouldnt let them play in a park with broken glass and in doorways with dead rats. They complained to me then about being bored. What's ahead for them? 68% of kids leave school without basic qualifications. To cure their boredom, they'd probably try out the man offering the drugs. And the cycle begins. They may become drug ridden wasters, but I'm not sure how much they can be blamed.

And as for enhancing their lives, I genuinely believe the duty of a compassionate society. That's why its so important to defeat the leftist politcial errors which turned Glasgow East into this Petri dish. I personally will judge a Cameron government on what it does for these people, the true victims of Labour policy.

Carol-Ann

At last the BBC are putting a quality journalist on (you Fraser), who will hopefully tell the real story about the poverty in this country and not the Toynbee version.

John Mc

I bet you could fill a whole hours worth of programme with what you found. Maybe the BBC might commission it once you've opened their liberal middle class eyes.

Jessica

What you describe is in no way unique to Glasgow East Fraser. Come to our sink estates here on Merseyside, again Labour controlled and dominated for decades. You will find an exact replica of what you observed in Glasgow. Drugs, crime and benefits everywhere yet the police nowhere to be seen, ever!

Stan, UK

I hope you speak to the conservatives about this because although Duncan-Smith 'gets it' I doubt that the rest of the trustafarians at the top of the party do.

Tim

Good piece Fraser and look forward to watching it on the daily politics. Conservatives are always portrayed as nasty etc but Labour have now had eleven years of an economic boom and there are places all over the United Kingdom like you describe. It is a total disgrace and the Tories need to show they are the only people to tackle this.

Verity

Brian SJ - Harpic would have to wear her stab-proof kelvar and have a police guard.

I assume you had neither and lived to tell the tale?

John Jones

Its apt that you mention Afghanistan in you above article. Most of the drugs flooding all the council estates around the land are coming from there.

Labour OUT

Last night on newsnight Michael Crick was on a council estate, like you describe, with a Labour canvasser in Glasgow East. When the 'council leader' was asked about the poverty (one of the poorest parts of Europe), lower than average life expectancy and near 50% unemployment he replied, 'People know why it's like this. It's because in the 80's under a Tory government this area was ignored.' I could not believe my ears, they have had ELEVEN YEARS to sort this mess out and they are still blaming Thatcher. Truly astonishing.

Fraser Nelson

Jessica, you're dead right. Liverpool Vauxhall, NE Manchester etc have precisely the same problems. It's just that East Glasgow has a bunch of them in one constituency and it has a by-election - so it stands out! Stan - Grayling also argues with room-emptying conviction about his. But I agree, I could happily hear more of than talk about this more often. There's still the lingering idea that poverty is Labour's department (which it is, but not in a good way!) John Jones, you're right - but when the Taliban reduced Afghanistan's drug output to almost zero in 2001 other countries more than happily made good the gap. Carol-Ann, that's kind of you but making films is a separate art to writing about these things. It's a rare hack (like Peter Oborne) who can do both well.

jay

Surely the time has come to steralise addicts so the vicous cycle can be broken.In return for being steralised,triple their benefits,and give them free heroin for their short lives.They will be happy and wider society will be rid of this scourge.

Austin Barry

Jay, I wouldn't say all heroin addicts are a scourge: William S. Burroughs was a writer of rare poetic gifts. Mind you, he didn't spend his life in Glasgow East which would grind the poetry out of Robert Burns himself.

Joe Strummer

Fraser, let me explain. I was born and raised on these run-down Glasgow sink housing-estates and before I would have considered myself of the very liberal Left, ( I still am in many ways,btw ) and would also have tried to find every excuse, reason or mitigating circumstance to empathise and sympathise with these particular individuals lifestyles.

Nature, nurture, environment, my mind endlessly wrestled to find some logic to understand it as I just could not get to grips as to why people would deliberately waste their lives away. Then, after some long drunken conversations with these characters, the light bulb in my brain finally lit up. THEY LOVE LIVING THE WAY THEY DO.!

They love having no ambition for either themselves or their kids. As long as the welfare system supplys the weekly or fortnightly money to buy the essentials of fags, booze and drugs, satellite telly, etc,the world is just lovely.

As an example, an infamous Glasgow housing estate, Easterhouse, now has shops, retail parks, recreational and educational facilities of swimming pools, colleges, floodlit football pitches, even a theatre for God's sake, stuff that would have seemed like a fantasy world when I was younger, yet still the cycle of mass unemployment, crime,poor health, drug and alcohol abuse, etc, spins as normal.

What galls me nowadays is social workers living on quiet leafy avenues who are used and duped by these nihilistic individuals to receive even more State monies and benefits whilst the hard working folk on these estates are screwed at every turn.

Pete, Scotland

Great article Fraser, sums up and articulates what many have wanted to say for so long.

I have been involved in community learning and youth projects in areas almost as deprived as Glasgow East and can say that you have captured the 'feeling' of despondancy of what it is to be in that environment.

I remember one project in particular that had been set up by a small, but very persuasive, group that had managed against all the red tape to secure usage of a run down community hut and some funding to get started.

They did this purely to get the kids off the street and better themselves. Everything about the project was about education, self esteem and a feeling of achievement.

The project was already up and running when I was invited to become involved and agreed to get involved with a lot of trepidation knowing the area.

My trepidation was well founded as everytime I went to the project I had to run a gauntlet of stone throwing ferals kids hiding in the dark.

To cut a long (and interesting) story short!

When the local 'Authorities' heard how successfull the project had become with a waiting list of parents wanting to get their kids involved and even, by word of mouth, the ferals that been amongst the stone throwers (I heard this from a good source!) were putting their names on the list to get into the project.

When the 'Authorities' got interested that was the kiss of death. Basically, they left the project in no doubt that unless they agreed to become part of the 'system' they would not have the community hut and any funding for long.

Once they got control they insisted that the kids needed 'proper' classes like the ones they have in school and college. It was all down to tick boxes to get funding.

After a few weeks the whole thing fell apart, the project directors moved on to start up another project in another deprived area (to their credit), the kids stopped going and ended up back on the streets and I look back wondering how much talent and skill is going to waste simply because our educators are not as smart and sharp as the kids they are supposed to be educating.

However, the local council was on record for delivering a successful project in a deprived area, they collected the names very quickly to prove it (week one, nothing else mattered), they got the funds for this project and that was it.

I will conclude with my opinion that the kids in these areas, up to the point where drink, drugs and apathy kick in, are every bit as smart, intelligent and decent as any kid anywhere in the UK.

The kids are only being what we, the society of adults, are moulding them to be.

Another way of looking at it is that maybe these feral youths are the way they are because we, as a responsible society, have neglected to properly mould them.

Diana

Fraser - I have worked as a journalist and have seen at first hand areas like this in Glasgow and Edinburgh with the problems you describe. And as others have said - This is nothing new. This is how a lot of people live and where children grow up.
Of course there are efforts to tackle it - and good on Iain Duncan Smith for not letting go here. Years ago, I remember being impressed by the then Chief Constable in Newcastle John Stevens who recognized how important community cops were in deprived estates. His budget to fund them was under severe pressure but he was refusing to pull them as he saw the officers – not so much in a police role – but in a sort of ‘safe mate’ role where they worked from an office on an actual (residential) street in the area ie among the people.
For my part, I have never understood why there is not more of an interventionist policy when it comes to children of druggies and alcoholics. I feel this especially strong since I now have had offspring of my own, and I see how fundamental stability, love and nurturing are to children. When a child can be upset and damaged so easily, why is such a softly softly approach seemingly employed? The parent seems to have more rights than the child. Not sure what IDS thinks on this.
I am truly pleased to see Cameron in Glasgow East. There should be no no-go areas for the Tories, especially if they want to be One Nation Tories, which I sincerely hope they mean. Like you, I will judge him on his record here, and I will vote to give him a chance.

One other point - HIV was a huge problem in these estates when I was reporting. I suspect it still is.

Carrie

Fraser it seems at last Tories have got their act together and are now speaking with one voice. Cameron is going, literally and metaphorically, where other Tory leaders wouldn't have dared. If you haven't already I suggest you read Tim Montgomerie's excellent article in today's Guardian. I particularly liked this bit at the end:

'Speaking in Glasgow yesterday, Cameron called for "right and wrong" to return to British politics. The striving classes have suffered most from the liberal left's social experiments. They have suffered most from an easy tolerance of drugs, an indifference to the family, and trendy teaching methods. More than any other group in society they will vote for David Cameron's values-based approach to social justice.'

Pete, Scotland

The real poverty on these estates is hope.

Hope of finding a way out and getting a better life.

I think it is criminal that even in deprived areas our education system does not equip people to present themselves properly for job interviews!

If they haven't been trained to present themselves in a way that highlights their strengths and abilities, assuming our eductation system helped them develop their strengths and abilities, how on earth are they going to get out of the mess they were probably born into.

London Calling

Obviously those dead rats are not benefiting from any food wasted and thrown away, unless they overdosed on a crack, did you manage to interview any live ones on your visit Fraser, now that would be a story I'm sure, Ratty Rats on the Rats.

Firstly, where’s rentokil when you need them and why is there glass everywhere? don’t they have caretakers or sweepers for these estates and parks? are the drug addicts getting help? are there enough jobs for the uneducated? are there enough courses and training available? where’s all the millions gone and what on?

Who is looking out for the children of drug addicts, where are the social workers and what are they doing to help these disadvantaged children?

I don’t think you can answer all these questions in one visit and
we must be careful not to stereotype everyone who lives on estates like this, sure there are those who are idle, but if we assume all are idle what hope is there for the people trapped in poverty that do work and the future generations now growing up.

Having spent time talking with the homeless here in London, I was soon made aware that most suffer with some form of mental illness and simply couldn’t cope with life,Its easy to understand the view that many share that homeless people are idle and just sponge of the state and live for their next fix, but this is so far from the truth and what follows is prejudice which is born out of ignorance of the facts and I fear eastside Glasgow and its social deprivation is more complex than Fraser reports here especially if the ratty is dead and cannot tell us the real story.

By the way, we have a big Rat problem and foxes in London, its not just sink estates, it called council cut backs on infrequent rubbish collection, I stepped over a dead one in the high street yesterday in a very affluent part of town and another eight weeks ago by bins at our local supermarket, I think the latter overdosed on the out of date food dumped by the supermarket at nights, or maybe the homeless who ransack the bins put to good use the survival of the fittest and rat got trod on by the hungrier.

PoliticiansStink

A complex problem and not one that I have definitive answers to.
Our politicians do seem hopeless when it comes to dealing with the "poverty of hope" as Pete in Scotland highlights.
Maybe they (mainly the liberal/left - NuLabour lot plus the Daily Mirror/Guardianista/BBC type media people ) should actually realise that a lot of people actually WANT telling what to do. How about No dole/benefits after 6 months until you find work. Kids taken into care if still out of work after 6 months. Enforced community work if unemployed after 6 months - cleaning graffiti off walls, clearing broken glass/ litter off pavements etc. National Service for males below a certain age.
Let the people know that there is hope but that they have to make a bit of an effort too. Hey! - when they reach 50 they might thank such a state for taking this sort action more than one that just subs them to be hope-less, unfit no-marks. Refuse to co-operate and benefits stopped.
Harsh by today's "softly-softly no-one's responsible for their own actions" society but surely fairer than what's on offer now.
I repeat, many people need and want strong leadership that MAKES them do things - just as kids in school require and benefit from authority. When did our political class become too frightened to be judgemental?

Fergus Pickering

I supose rats die like people. When I lived with Robin Cook and his girlfriend in the 1960s in Edinburgh we had a big rat that lived in the entry. It was no big deal. We all minded our own business. There are rats by the river here in Canterbury, next to Sainsburys. So what? I wouldn't fancy them IN Sainsburys, that's true Oh, and the middle of Glasgow was a shithole in the sixties too. Bits of Edinburgh (the Grassmarket, the Cowgate) much the same as when Miss Brodie was around in the 1930s It's almost reassurin to find that Scotland stands much as it did. And it's still all the fault of the English.

Bryan Davies

Ten years of throwing money at the problem. Triffic

Piush Patel

Having grown up in poverty in Birmingham (although not as abject as that in Glasgow), I am keenly aware of what tit takes too climb out of it. Education. And where was I educated? A Grammar school, of course. Somewhere which allowed kids from poor backgrounds to get an education which maximised their abilities. There are bright kids in these areas, but if you can't pick them out and improve their chances, they become bright criminals instead of effective memebers of society. Yes improving the lot of everybody in these areas is the noble aim, but if you can help some of them trailbalze, maybe others will be minded to follow suit.

John Lea

Agree with PoliticiansStink (why do people hide behind pseudonyms?). Anyway, yes, I agree, reform of the welfare state is long overdue. Two things: firstly, make sure only those who have ever worked and paid taxes can actually claim benefits; secondly, make sure that there is a maximum period - six months sounds about right - that people can actually remain on benefits. After those 6 months have elapsed, if you still haven't managed to find a job, well, quite frankly, that's just tough. Obviously, there are people who genuinely can't work due to illness, and they would - and should - continue to receive support.

P Fisher

I wouldn’t want to be an MP for Glasgow East. Even for 54K a year. In my experience the majority of people there have no ambition (unless dealing drugs), lost faith in the police, council and any other public body. They don’t want to work in a call centre for 14k a year and are at best surviving. The only enjoyment they have is through getting drunk on Buckfast Wine (made by Monks in the West Country) and sectarian divisions personified through football clubs and gang membership. This is why Glasgow has a murder rate higher then New York.

There are a lot of other areas just as bad in Glasgow so I don’t think a local solution is the answer.
I policed the Orange Walk last weekend, and have never felt such a hostile and violent atmosphere during a main policed event. Clearly this hostility is enjoyed by the masses on both sides of the fence and has been enshrined into normal behaviour.

The government want to crack down on drinking so are planning to introduce a minimum price for alcohol which will see the price of cider go up 100% but the Buckfast will be exempt through Tonic wine status. I think the government have run out of ideas and are going for the popularity vote every time, but it is becoming obvious they do not have the substance to govern. (but hey at least we will be able to save a fiver on prescription charges soon).

Tainted views? no doubt through my experiences at work. But that’s what everyone bases their opinions on I guess.

John Lea

P Fisher, I agree with you regarding the Orange Order walk, but you are opening up a whole new can of worms by bring it up in this blog. I tried to inject some reasonable points about the climate of hatred and fear that surrounds that viscious parade in a separate blog on this website and found myself being attacked on a personal level for my trouble. I was called a liar, a bigot and an idiot for reporting the hatred and nastiness I witnessed on Saturday (from your comment, that would be the same hatred and nastiness that you seem to have experienced). Expect Joe Strummer (that great 'liberal' thinker) who has very strong views on this subject - but lacks the courage to use his real name when giving them expression - to come back on this one and tell us all how the orange parade is a wonderful expression of patriotism and liberty.

Iain

John Lea - I'm sure you're equally keen to slag off IRA-loving Republican parades. Or is it only working class people who support the Monarchy and the Union who upset you?

John Lea

Iain - I support the Union, but remain indifferent towards the monarchy. I despise terrorist violence of any kind. And I dislike the implication in your comment that if you find the Orange Walk objectionable, you are somehow an 'IRA-loving Republican'. What I object to is the streets of my city being handed over to drunken louts who then defile them, while the police (whose wages I pay for through my taxes) are taken away from dealing with real crime (which Fraser alludes to in his article) to oversee the whole tawdry affair. Personally I couldn't care less whether the drunken louts in question are Catholic, Protestant, or Spanish hermaphrodites. Incidentally, I'm aware that this issue is being covered in another blog on this site, so I'm happy to let this go. I was simply interested in P Fisher's original comment.

T.M.O.

Fraser,

Excellent article.I'm surprised that in your comments you haven't focussed more on the SNP. In the unlikely event event that these Labour addicts shake the habit and vote SNP and indeed in the next Scottish elections vote SNP into a workable majority it will be them who would have to fix these urban problems.

It's all very well David Cameron going around Glasgow, and he seems decent enough - but isn't an English Tory aiming to be PM in London just a little irrelevant in modern Scotland?

fulcanelli

Education, and respect for elders, is one of the biggest keys to the solution. When I was at school, teachers were referred to as either 'Sir' or 'Master', dependent upon seniority, and discipline was paramount within the system. Today, largely due to Labour's complete mis-management of the education system, adults are afraid to approach or reprimand children, and hence we now find ourselves in a situation of basic societal values disappearing. Poverty, drugs etc should be dealt with firmly, without all the left wing, liberal sentiment that has blighted the last decade. David Cameron was correct to speak strongly about the return of moral values, responsibility, and respect for one another. These are not virtues engendered by liberal thinking, no matter how much Labour etc may pretend. They are engendered by hard working, honest people who do not see their government wasting time, money, and precious resources on the detritus on society, often to the detriment of the majority.

fulcanelli

T.M.O.

I thought the whole point of a British PM was to represent and govern the whole of the Union? David Cameron has every right, and indeed a responsibility, to present his and the Conservative's message to every corner of the Union. Or has Scotland declared Independence since this morning?

The local assemblies are basically a complete waste of time, and continue to engender disaffection for those in England. It is either one Union or none at all.

Joe Strummer

- John Lea

I don't like to personalise disagreements or arguments on blogs and I won't with you either as you seem impervious to reason, logic or any other kind of rational thought.

Being Scottish of Ulster Protestant descent I would thus obviously and naturally understand the public expression of cultural identity and heritage of the Orange Order more than the ignorant and uneducated who post mythical bigoted nonsense against it on websites or blogs.

The Orange community, like any other minority in these islands, especially in Scotland, are perfectly entitled to take to the streets in celebration of their culture and if the racists or the bigots don't like it, well too bad. Yes, the followers may get drunk and noisy as it is a celebration after all, but I don't hear the same whining in regards to the Hogmanay celebrations in Glasgow city centre each year where drunkenness and violence from the participants reach epidemic levels.

Get yourself down to the even bigger Orange-Fest next summer in Glasgow. Who knows you might just get educated and what's more you might even have some fun as well.!

T.M.O.

"The local assemblies are basically a complete waste of time"
.

Well you may think it's a waste of time but regardless of your neat summary of Scotland's Parliament, it is the body alongside Glasgow City Council that will solve the problems because they are the bodies empowered to do so. In case you haven't noticed, the Tories perhaps unfortunately, are a force in neither.

John Lea

Joe Strummer - I see you're still happy to make snide remarks behind a pseudonym. Well, that's your decision, but it does illustrate what a coward you are. Come on, if you feel so strongly about all of this, let's have your real name. Also, if the Orange Walk is such a jolly affair, why do you have an experienced police officer on this very blog who writes: 'I policed the Orange Walk last weekend, and have never felt such a hostile and violent atmosphere during a main policed event.' Now, if I want an objective and balanced view on this event, who do I listen to - a seasoned police officer, or a hypocrital little coward like you? Yes, hypocritical, because it seems that the same drunken loutish people ('alcohol-ridden wasters', to use your own words)whom you dismissed as beneath contempt in your first post, are - in your 2nd post - merely having a bit of fun in the course of expressing their cultural identity. Get a life, you sad little man.

Big Alec

I saw the walk last Saturday and it was pretty volatile, with lots of neds following it. they should ban all marches. i agree with fulcanelli that people who commit crimes and deal drugs on these estates should be dealt with more severely. one of the reasoms we have so much crime is because theres no criminal justice system. well there is, but it doesn't do its job right.

fulcanelli

"In case you haven't noticed, the Tories perhaps unfortunately, are a force in neither."

And Scotland is definitely the poorer for it!

Joe Strummer

- John Lea

Even the greats had nom de plumes,so no shame in that.! lol

Anyhooo, as I stated prior you appear obsessed with only the Orange Order for some reason and despite appalling ignorance of its history or heritage you also still seem intent on making wild assertions and observations on a subject you clearly know nothing about. So the adage regarding stopping digging a hole would appear apropos.

Also, I'm sure the policeman you quote from here has seen more arrests or drunkenness on a normal weekend in Glasgow city centre than at an Orange Order event. I'd respect you more, to be honest, if you stated why you really dislike the Orange Order.

Back to the reality of sink-housing estates...The people I find needing most assistance, both moral and financial in these places are those who are in employment but are on minimum and just above the minimum wage.

Many of these decent people lose out on both council-tax and rent rebate due to being just over the threshold which could save them a tidy sum. The wilfully and terminally unemployed, of course, are in full receipt of both these benefits which must be incredibly dispiriting and disheartening to those parents who want to show a good example to their children by going out to work for a living.

Orangeman

John Lea,

There are certainly problems with Orange parades in Glasgow. However, on the same day, in Rossnowlagh in County Donegal, there was a traditional Orange parade which is usually policed by just 2 Garda, and they only ever have to direct cars. I've never heard of a public order related arrest there. You should stop making sweeping attacks on a parading culture about which you seem quite uninformed. Stop trying to scapegoat Orangeism for wider societal problems with alcohol.

Or else you should follow through on your logic and call for the banning of all events in Scotland with alcohol-related violence. Aren't there any drunks at Hogmaney?

nicodemus31

What is the Scottish "government" doing about poverty in Glasgow East? Oh, I forgot, they've only had ten years of their noses in the expenses trough- how could they possibly have got around to governing yet?

Why should the Westminster government care about Glaswegian drug addicts? Does Alex Salmond give a toss about English poverty??

It's all very well to say that the Welfare State is not a devolved issue. It is how the UK taxpayers' money is spent on these degenerate wasters which is wrong.

I have worked in the criminal justice community in Scotland for some years now & I must say that the only answer is to bring back something similar to borstal training, in order to "straighten out" these young men. As has been said previously, the bleeding heart liberals who would object to this do not have to live next door to these scum.

John Lea

Orangeman - I think you will find that I said in my previous comment that I am against all drunken, loutish and violent behaviour. My exact words were "Personally I couldn't care less whether the drunken louts in question are Catholic, Protestant, or Spanish hermaphrodites." Please do not distort what I say for the sake of scoring cheap points. Believing faith to be a private matter, I find the whole parade distasteful, but at no point did I say Orangeism was to blame for all of society's ills.

Joe - I like the way you simply dismiss that policeman's assertion because it doesn't fit in with your argument. There really is no way of talking to you on this one.

Water

Pete, Scotland “My trepidation was well founded as everytime I went to the project I had to run a gauntlet of stone throwing ferals kids hiding in the dark” I know this feeling all to well, its not only ubiquitous to Glascow East but it’s good to see FN will be reporting and look forward to the coverage. Also though I agree with certain parts of initial comment T.M.O. as well as fulcanellis response to his initial remark, because in light of the Phi100 projection which I stated for your last post (but didn’t appear) it certainly seems to the case that the SNP are more on course for instigating potential change.