Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts

Sunday 24 March 2019

Indyref Yes No vote 2014 documentary: BBC Scotland



The new BBC Scotland has been running a three part series on the Indy Ref Yes/No Vote 2014. 
‘We have made a vote for progress and change", spoke Alastair Darling, of leave of the Better Together campaign (of Lorretto 
school fame) after the 2014 vote. (45% yes, 55% no) How hollow his words ring....  We were promised all these increased powers; protection of our pensions; being in Europe,.

England must now also be heard. The day after the No vote result Cameron announced English votes for English laws. It was a dark forces of the blatant ignoring and side-lining of Scotland that was to come. Its hard to watch without feeling a sense of shame.  

One young man felt the NO side had more to offer – which suggests 2 things – their control of the media and press, and also the lists of promises. The wise amongst us saw from past performances and that promises or vows are actually Lies dressed up in fancy clothes and we listen to the MSM with questioning ears. 

Does this mean in a future ref the indy side, rather than have vague outlines, needs to have clearer promises? Perhaps? What would these be exactly – control of our resources, improved infrastructure, investment in R & D and education, a fair welfare system, business opportunities and investment… 


According to Osborne, ‘SNP were put back in their box.’ ‘Lib Dems were a spent focre.’ This also ruined Labour in Scotland – who barely got a mention in this series. Except for the very funny video shot in Glasgow of the Labour Mps descending to the music of Darth Vadar, " Our imperial over lords are here to rule us.’"! Or the blustering speeches of yesterdays man, Gordon Brown making promises he had no way of ever keeping!


Wednesday 31 December 2014

2014: Scotland’s High Profile Year

The Hydro Glasgow

2014 has proved a dramatic year of change with big highs and lows and expectations.
Winds of change have swept away old orders with a tide of political engagement in Scotland the like of which I have never experienced in my lifetime. Scotland 2014 proved to be a world record in democratic voting, with over 82% turned out to vote.
Iain MacWhirter writes Sunday Herald 28.12.14, comparing 2014 to the Summer of Love in 1967 - when social and political landscapes were changed forever, ' The old order of deference, conformity, convention was swept away by a colourful tide of positivity and sometimes wacky togetherness.'

Scottish Independence is a journey we have taken massive leaps towards. As it becomes clearer and clearer how unworkable devolution is, and with the SNP, Greens and others now holding the narrative it is only a matter of time on the road to Independence. 
Ten years ago I wondered was devolution enough but not today. Scotland's voice has woken up from centuries of silence and apathy and of believing our voices made no difference - and will not now be easily silenced. Many now realise they can have a voice and can shape their future.  

Highlights
Glasgow hosted an ecstatic summer of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Later in October Gleneagles held the golfing highlight of the Ryder Cup amid the splendour of the Perthshire countryside.

The Glasgow Hydro brought in 130m for Glasgow with big acts like Beyonce, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake.  
Del Amitri
There was great tragedy too with the fire at the iconic Rennie MacIntosh Glasgow Art School which left the beautiful library destroyed. We hope the building can be rebuilt. Then also just three days before Christmas tragedy struck in George Square Glasgow when a bin lorry lost control and ploughed through shoppers, sadly killing six and injuring seven. Glasgow grieved again just a year after the Clutha tragedy when a helicopter landed on the bar. We are reminded of the fragility of life. 

MUSIC 2014
Music icons tended to over shadow younger artists this year.
Bob Dylan released his Basement Tapes of 1967 (also the Summer of love) Kate Bush performed a month of theatrical sold out shows in London.
Sometimes it is no easy task to rediscover innovative creativity with clear, meaningful messages.  I also enjoyed this year - Mary Chapman Carpenter, White Denim, Sarah McLachlan, Head and Heart, Hozier,

The Big Dish


SCOTTISH MUSIC 2014 - produced many top quality and award winning albums, completely ignored by the London mainstream Record Labels and the BBC Sound of Poll.
There was rather bland London singer songwriters like Ed Sheeran, I am no fan of, and he received a lot of attention this year – but for myself give me these Scottish singer songwriters to listen to -  Withered Hand, King Creoste, Hazey Janes, RM Hubbert, Poalo Nutini, Julie Fowlis, Chvrches, Biffy Clyro.   

Alan Morrison, writing in the Herald lists his top Scottish albums of 2014 here –

I attended many top quality gigs art Celtic Connections and at my local folk club.

The National
A new newspaper was launched in Scotland offering a new voice and democracy of press. Great to see.
99% of the Scottish media and press during the Scottish referendum questions was controlled by a hostile Westminster - this was anti-democracy.  In Scandinavia it is illegal not to have a balanced press.


Tuesday 31 December 2013

2014!



Quote TS Eliot 
"Last year’s words belong to last year’s language,
And next year’s words await another voice."
 
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And to know the place for the first time." 

We play out our lives in real time, one day, one place, one heart, hoping to reach others.

Life is not linear
And Art is about mystery.  P. Keightley

Thomas Eliot (1888 – 1965) was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets." Born in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927.  He attracted widespread attention for his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930) and Four Quartets (1945).[2] He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Celtic Connections 2014 Launch



Celtic Connections 2014 comes of age with it's 21st year.  Celtic offers its audience the unexpected and often unique musical collaborations.  

According to Artistic Director Donald Shaw, the world's largest Celtic festival offers breadth, internationalism and camaraderie.  The festival will host Indie, Americana, International artists with connections to their own folk music, as well as traditional Scottish folk music. 

Two big concerts will be held at Glasgow's new SSE Hydro arena - eighties band Del Amitri and an International Burns Night Concert.   

This year will focus on a Commonwealth theme with several commonwealth and international artists appearing in keeping with Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014. 
Headliners for Glasgow's biggest musical festival in 2014 will include BOBBY Womack, Suzanne Vega, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lloyd Cole, Nicola Benedetti, Seth Lakeman and Imelda May. Plus some of the biggest names in world, folk and Americana music.
Highlights include Indian and Australian music and a celebration of the 1960s “Laurel Canyon” music scene that inspired The Doors, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The line-up confirmed today features several Commonwealth celebrations to coincide with Glasgow’s hosting of the sporting games next summer.  Also a concert marking 100 years since the start of the First World War.
Festival favourites performing in 2014 festival are - Capercaillie, who are celebrating their own 30th anniversary, Salsa Celtic, Peatbog Faeries, Treacherous Orchestra, and Gaelic songstresses Julie Fowlis and Kathleen MacInnes.  


The festival will host 300 events, at 20 venues with over 2,100 artists and run from 16th Jan to 2nd Feb 2014.