lETTERS
That woman
'Eeeuucchhh! What have us poor readers done to deserve the punishment of having the monstrous mugshot of la dame Cartland imposed on us for a whole fortnight? The next time your cover puts me off my Friday morning Shredded Wheat I‘m cancelling my subscription.
Alex Stewart
Shawlands
Glasgow.
What a wonderful cover! At last a woman adorns the front of The List and not just any woman but every real girl‘s role model — Dame Babs herself, the great formative influence of my youth. I was so inspired I sent twice as many Valentines as usual.
Kirsty Fleming
Easter Road
Edinburgh.
Neverthe twain
Having turned offthe telly like millions of Scots after the best bit of EastEnders (the music). I decided you‘d be the recipient ofwrath mine. I do wish you‘d cut The List into two. It‘s an absolute crime to be forced to live in Edinburgh and drool over the pages and pages of unobtainable Glaswegian goings on. It‘s alright for the Capitalists who don’t ken any better about the big G. They mildly assume the pages are there because G‘s population is bigger, without realising what a one-horse hamlet the nightlife is in Edinburgh. But moi? I‘m forced to live here (work) and can‘t wait for a good dose of civilisation at the weekends. Couldn‘t you do the decent thing and give each city its mag, reduce the price and copy the Radio Times who are going to give us a full TV guide? Jonathan Miller identified
Edinburgh‘s anglified soul with his mild description of the city (The List 141) and anyone doubting the fact ought to play bingo one night in Mecca's Empire Theatre. An hour there encapsulates all that stinks about the city — joining uncultured deadbeats snivelling for somebody‘s money. Could anyone imagine Bradford or Leeds allowing an asset like this kind ofvenue to be squandered. far less a decent capital like Stockholm or Oslo?
Gorg Hammatsiin
Clerk Street
Edinburgh.
We are considering including afull TVguide but, although the law has changed allowing us to do so, the BBC and 1 TV have imposed a prohibitive scale of royalty charges. The effect is that rivals to their own heavily plugged publications, Radio Times and TV Times, are unlikely to be viable.
Worth the Candle
Unlike Alan Watson (The List 140), I didn‘t find the picket ofthe US Consulate a ‘depressing affair‘. I am against the war and have attended
Write to The List, Old Athenaeum Theatre, 179 Buchanan Street, Glasgow G1 2] Z, or 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila.
many protests and vigils so far. The picket of the US Consulate was certainly different! Instead of a silent vigil, it was very vocal. Why can’t people who are for peace be loud as well? I held my candle for peace and shouted alongside everyone else.
The US Consulate was closed and that’s why Alan didn‘t see any ‘worried-looking US diplomats‘. But surely the point of the picket was to gather together people who are against the war. I certainly enjoyed protesting alongside my friends and my daughter, social workers and revolutionary communists.
I’d like to congratulate the organisers ofthe picket and urge them to keep up the good work. If Alan would like to organise a similar event I‘ll pop along — so long as he doesn’t afterwards call me part of a ‘complacent rabble‘.
Charlotte Simeone Kings Park Glasgow.
Smoked out
What‘s this then? Have you turned over a new tobacco leaf? Does the inclusion ofa pro-life ASH advert (The List 140) in place of those obscene pro-death fag ads finally smoke signal a permanent dog-end to your shameful dependence on revenue from the killer-drug barons? Pushing the weed has been a big nicotine stain on your reputation. casting a lung shadow on your worthiness. So take a filter tip from me. Give up promoting coffin nails for good health, and I might even start coughing up 80p for your publication on a more frequent basis. R.M. Atkinson Argyll Terrace Edinburgh. You win the prize for the best letter this issue — two tickets for Denis Leary 's next tour. Unless of course you ’d prefer a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila. Asfor your query, we, in common with all other unsubsidised publications, depend on advertising
revenue for our continued existence. We might feel more self-righteous if we started refusing certain clients, but we wouldn 't have a magazine much longer. Sad but true.
Gray’s Eulogy
Why hasn‘t The List marked the anniversary of the publication of Alasdair Gray‘s first novel Lanark, which was published ten years ago this month? The book led to a profound transformation in the cultural landscape ofGlasgow which has touched the lives of all ofus who live here.
"Think of Florence, Paris, London, New York.‘ wrote Gray. ‘Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he‘s already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But ifa city hasn’t been used by an artist not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively. What is Glasgow to most of us? A house. the place we work, a football park or a golf course, some pubs and connecting streets. That’s all. No, I‘m wrong. there‘s also the cinema and library. And when our imagination needs exercise we use these to visit London, Paris, Rome under the Caesars, the American West at the turn ofthe century, anywhere but here and now. lmaginatively Glasgow exists as a music-hall song and a few bad novels. That‘s all we‘ve given to the world outside. It’s all we‘ve given to ourselves.‘
Today. we live in a different world given shape and form by Byrne‘s plays. Kelman‘s novels, Lochhead‘s poems, Campbell‘s, Currie‘s and Howson‘s paintings. The media pundits now take Glasgow seriously,
CUERVD
leading to belated recognition of, for
example, the genius of Marzaroli‘s photographs and Eardly's paintings. In ten years much has been given to the world outside. And to ourselves. G.L. Maxwell
White Street
Glasgow.
Clause 25
Your article on the repressive Clause 25 (The List 141) was generally well argued and the sooner the proposed legislation is ditched along with the infamous earlier Clause 28 the better. But while Ian McKellen’s calm, reasoned arguments are compelling, gay rights activists like
' Peter Tatchell do the cause no good
when their evangelical zeal carries them away. His suggestion that gay foster homes should be provided for gay children reveals the same failure to understand the complexities and uncertainties of adolescence which characterises homophobic groups. We should be campaigning for a more tolerant society not trying to proselytise by transforming one rigid system into another.
D. Simpson
Warrender Park Road
Edinburgh.
on, no, not them again
Thank you, in anticipation, for the T-shirt. I never wrote in last time to take to task that foul-mouthed dickhead from Gourock (The List 140) because I had a falling out with my gung-ho big brother over the Gulf War. Jokes about oil~covered cormorants are not funny.
Never mind Cardinal Newman, I think I’ll nominate David for canonisation, having to endure this kind of f-word abuse. Not that it bothers him, because he craves attention not affection. From now on I'll refer to him as the Venerable David, since he committed one heroic act this weekend - going upstairs on the midnight 41A bus to Easterhouse and sitting on the back seat. Brave or suicidal? After a miracle he’ll be Blessed David, then Saint David of Dennistoun.
If he‘s been sacked/resigned from the Books page (he‘s maintaining a martyred silence), I’ll take over. Unlike David, I actually buy and read modern fiction; he, like that wimp in that awful film Metropolitan, just reads literary criticism for pleasure. Is Bathgate the man to see? Can I p0p down to your Buchanan Street office to discuss salary, deadlines, etc?
For followers of ‘The Papal Bull‘ - they won the Pub Cup competition 3—0 in the final. His nibs got on for the final five minutes in order to qualify for a presentation plastic footballer stuck on a marble base. The lads who done good are happy as sand-boys with their horrible figurines. It’s pathetic.
Lynn G. Bennie Glencorse Street Carntyne Glasgow.
84 The List 22 February— 7 March 1991
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