It's good to care about something. Having live music and club nights back is something I'll not take for granted ever again.The news doesn’t make for pleasant reading. New COVID variants abound. The government lies – no shit. COP26 hasn’t halted the climate crisis. And yet, as 2021 draws to a close, those final days of increasingly limited daylight playing out, many will … [Read more...] about 2021: cause for celebration the year live music came back
community
We’re all islanders in a pandemic
Flashback. One sultry Saturday night in the south of France last year I caught a glimpse of the near future hurtling towards us. I didn't know it then, of course. Before going on holiday last September – from Edinburgh to Montpellier and back by alluringly long train journeys – I had been part of a team researching attitudes to digital technology among creative folk in remote … [Read more...] about We’re all islanders in a pandemic
A gleam of starlight from the window: poetry for a pandemic
Trees are cages for them: water holds its breathNorman MacCaig: Stars and PlanetsLook up. Only look up. The night sky framed in my window is an escape from lockdown. Into darkness or light?Two nights ago, on Thursday 26 March, windows and doorways spilled light and sound into strangely silenced streets. The nation’s neighbourhoods erupted in cheering and clapping, … [Read more...] about A gleam of starlight from the window: poetry for a pandemic
Once more with feeling: rediscovering local history ‘from the ground up’
The sign by the door says BATHS in big white letters. A voice in my ear says this is it. This is where Gina had her bath the night before she got married. What? Here in a swimming pool?Yes. Or maybe it was the morning of the wedding. Gina’s not quite sure. It’s a while ago. But not as long ago as you might think. Until the 1970s, it turns out, many local people came for … [Read more...] about Once more with feeling: rediscovering local history ‘from the ground up’
Regeneration comes from community grassroots
Most people barely noticed the rough section of woodland next to the Scout Hall in Clarkston. It was just another piece of waste ground, overgrown and scattered with rubbish. But Jacqui Frame noticed. She had identified this unattractive patch of ground as the ideal base for her project.Jacqui runs Off Grid Kids, an outdoor after-school club which encourages children to put … [Read more...] about Regeneration comes from community grassroots