AGENDA
_ Go west
It wasn‘t the Glasgow Development Agency’s seductive submission of two designs by big natne architects Sir Norman Foster and Terry Farrell. or even the lure of Euro-money dangled above the west coast like a golden carrot. No. the decision to locate the new National Gallery of Scottish Art in Kelvingrove Park was made because of the site‘s ‘dynamic potential‘.
Angus Grossart. the chairman of the Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland announced that Glasgow had been chosen after a considerable period ofdebate. ‘The architectural possibilities of a new building on an open site are very attractive.‘ he said.
Donated free by Glasgow District Council. the space in Kelvingrove Park enables the new gallery to be constructed much faster than a conversion of Edinburgh‘s rival bid for the Dean Centre. Grossart seemed confident that the proposed budget of £25—£3() million could be raised by the public and private sector with contributions from the National
:- Bells push
Over 15,000 revellers squeeze into a short stretch of Edinburgh’s High Street around the Tron to bring in the bells, but civic leaders reckon the traditional drunken scrum doesn’t present visitors with the best impression of a Scottish llogmanay.
This year’s three-day Hogmanay party, the first of what is hoped will become an annual institution, is intended to broaden the appeal of taking to the streets at New Year. A number of family events, including a concert in Princes Street Gardens by members of the cast of Les Miserables, have been organised to take the focus away from the Tron.
‘The idea stemmed from last year’s summit when there was a feeling that there should be something for the people,’ says Pete Irvine of Unique Events, which is organising the llogmanay celebrations. ‘llogmanay is a Scottish festival but no one makes much of it. We are trying to create a festival with lots of things going on which are open to anybody.’
With around £250,000 put up by organisations including the district and regional councils and the Edinburgh Tourist Board, Unique has put together what it describes as ‘the biggest free show in Britain’. The event is expected to grow steadily bigger with a huge millenium bash at the end of 1999.
‘llogmanay is the busiest night in the office but there is not much for : visitors to do,’ according to tourist board marketing officer Gordon McGuIIoch. ‘If we organise events then people will get something better and will leave with a good memory of the city.’ (EG)
Edinburgh’s llogmanay events run Thurs 30-Sat 1 and full listings will be published in the Christmas issue of
v The list.
4 The List 3--l(i December l()()3
g Lottery. the Scottish Office and the i Millenium Fund. and that the project
; Gill Troup, head of student services at 2 Glasgow Caledonian University.
1 throughout the Scottish higher
;, unemployment runs at its highest level
graduates are unemployed - more than double the figure for 1989.
could be completed within five years. The Gallery will be run from Edinburgh and will house most ofthe Portrait Gallery‘s collection of Scottish art plus 95 per cent of the Scottish collections of the National Galleries. Although an insider expressed concern about the close proximity of the project to another large gallery. the Glasgow site is an obvious choice. Attendance figures for Kelvingrove Art Gallery ' alone are almost a third more than 5
Elllllll Gradual Increase
There is a growing sense of bitterness among graduates who studied for a
degree to improve their job prospects but are still unemployed, according to
This is likely to be a familiar story education sector as graduate
for ten years. A recent survey by the i
i Institute of Manpower Studies shows ?
that over eleven per cent of recent
Ironically, admissions to higher education have never been higher, with the eight established universities 1 in Scotland taking 40 per cent more
i w. .. - .
.l E Lauder’s ‘James Watt and the Steam Engine’ Edinburgh‘s three galleries put together and Glasgow‘s now rather tatty City of Culture tag still attracts the aesthetically-minded tourist.
Although Farrell and Foster‘s designs are still being considered. the Trustees hinted that a major international competition may be held to find a design for the gallery. With over 900
I Scottish paintings currently in store. the
need fora new space is evident and the potential for a construction as ambitious as Pei‘s Louvre could be realised. (Beatrice Colin)
Edinburgh's Pollock Halls of Residence; fuller than ever students last year than they did in 1987. The new universities such as Napier and Glasgow Caledonian are not included in the figures but have
; also contributed to the expansion.
‘We are keen for students to start
‘ thinking as early as possible about
_ Opinion poll
The people of Falkirk are being given the chance to say whether they support the idea of a Scottish parliament in a mini-referendum organised by the Coalition for Scottish Democracy.
Around 30,000 ballot papers are being distributed in Falkirk, which was chosen because it is a medium-sized town which was seen as representative of the political views of urban Scotland. The Falklrk folk will be asked two questions: are you in favour of a Scottish parliament and, if yes, should it be part of the UK or independent?
‘We want to highlight the lack of democracy in Scotland,’ says organiser Gordon McDougall.
The count will be held on 12 December, exactly a year after last year’s mass democracy rally. (EG)
A cross-party debate will be held in Falklrk on 6 December and the Coalition is looking for volunteers to help collect ballot papers. Details on 041 331 1107.
careers because they have to be highly competitive,’ Troup says. Glasgow Caledonian runs a large number of vocational courses which are developed with employers’ help, but is finding that as companies recruit fewer graduates they tend to look to the established universities to fill the vacancies they have.
llUS Scotland is in favour of widening access to higher education but argues that students are encouraged to run up debts to improve their career chances, only to find there are no jobs when they graduate. ‘Edinburgh and Glasgow have some of the best qualified bar staff in Britain,’ says depute president Douglas Trainer. ‘We are keen to see expansion but not under the illusion that graduates will automatically get a iob.’
The IMS survey showed unemployment is lowest for graduates with business and social science degrees and highest among those who studied humanities and maths. (Eddie Gibb)
:— Point glasses :
A man drinking in a pub nearly lost a linger when his glass spontaneously
; exploded and a publican needed
seventeen stitches after he was
showered with fragments from a glass
which had been thrown against a wall. These stories are supplied by Derek
Grimes, commercial director of the ' Ravenhead Company which is one the
biggest suppliers of ‘standard‘ pub glasses in Britain. His point is that both incidents involved toughened or tempered glasses claimed to be safer than ordinary glasses.
There is no doubt that injuries from ‘glassings‘. where the jagged shards from broken glasses are used as weapons. are horrific. A surgeon in Wales. who has seen numerous facial injuries from glassings, is leading the
campaign for pubs to switch to
toughened glasses designed to shatter
g into tiny fragments like a car
windscreen. But Ravenhead and other ; British glass manufacturers claim the 1 ‘safety‘ glass has other dangers; its . apparent tendency to spontaneously explode.
ln laboratory tests carried out at Edinburgh University. toughened glass
appeared to be safer but now
researchers want to look at evidence of injuries from ‘exploding‘ glasses. ‘There are a lot of unsubstantiated war stories,‘ says Professor Martin Plant of the Alcohol Research Unit. ‘We are interested in the evidence that is alleged to exist that tempered glass explodes spontaneously.‘
Ravenhead could be accused of highlighting the dangers of toughened glass because it only manufactures ordinary glasses. but Grimes is convinced that the benefits are. at best, unproven. ‘People associate strength with safety but they don‘t look at the down-side.‘ he says. ‘The dangers. in our opinion. outweigh the so-called advantages.‘ (Eddie Gibb)
ARU would like to hear front anybody with personal experience of a pub glass accident. particularly those they think may have involved toughened glass. Contact the researchers on 03] 447 20/] ex! 4509.