• Blowing up the Red Road Flats – a poor image of the city

    It has been announced that some of the Red Road Flats will be blown up during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games.

    I think it is in pretty poor taste. Notwithstanding the fact that people like to watch the spectacle of tower blocks being brought down there is something about making this the focus of a big entertainment production that makes me feel uneasy.

    Maybe I just have a sense of humour deficit today but it seems to me that blowing up people’s former homes is always going to be an act that has somewhat mixed feelings attached to it. As well as that, there is the news that one block will be left standing because it is still used for housing for asylum seekers who will have to evacuate that block on the day. They won’t be invited to Opening Ceremony itself but invited to watch from “safe” locations.

    Making asylum seekers shelter leave their homes to shelter from explosions is not an image of Glasgow that I think is particularly entertaining and not one that should be beamed around the world.

    I’m a supporter of urban regeneration. I’m also one of those who thinks that that Glasgow has gone from being a city which has a fabulous architectural heritage to one whose current architectural aspirations are dull and commonplace. Many of the high towers in Glasgow failed and should be pulled down. I’m far from sure they should be pulled down as entertainment at the Commonwealth Games and sure that there should be an architectural vision for the city which is just as ambitious as that which saw those towers being raised in the first place.

    Blowing up people’s former homes and making asylum seekers shelter from explosions is not entertainment. This proposal is in poor taste.

2 responses to “Conversation, Striptease & Fishing – how to blog for beginners”

  1. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    I rarely read blogs where I cannot comment – and yes I am a chatterbox on line as well as in real life.

    I blog because there are things I long to share – which is not to say they are things others long to read. I do sometimes wonder what others make of a mix of family weddings, current church controversies, sheep keeping and hairdressers.

    I can’t do strip tease – the most I can manage is keeping a one piece bathing costume on. (There is a dated phrase for you!)

    I do so wish there was more conversation on my blog. I know how many daily hits I get, but am not sure how many readers that equates to – more than I used to preach to, that is for sure.

    I am heartened by how many who do not have strong church connections read your blog, Kelvin, mine and Kimberly’s.

    But more than anything else I want to show that Christianity is a part of the lives of ordinary people, who have sheep and hairdressers (you don’t have both – you don’t have a hairdresser??) and do not, not subscribe to every idiocy believed by extremists on either side.

  2. Neil Oliver Avatar

    I rarely comment on blogs, but perhaps you’re right and it’s part of the experience, to conect and open up. I enjoy your blog since I found it, the first church leader’s blog I’ve come accross. It often seems some church people just don’t use this medium, which just cuts them off further from the world many of us live in. Your refeshing view on topics also makes it a must go to.

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