AGENDA
:— Wild ones
When the new head of youth television at Channel 4 surveyed his department‘s output. he found it was fast becoming synonymous with The Word and decided to commission something that would present a different side of youth culture. The result is Walk On The Wild Side. a six-part documentary series on youth crime in Britain. which has inevitably been dubbed ‘hard-hitting’.
The series was produced by Glasgow- based Big Star In A Wee Picture and two of the six programmes were filmed in Scotland. Possil Girls follows three young women trying to have some fun against the odds in the Glasgow housing scheme and Dedridge Cowboys is the story of two hard men from Livingston who view the police as the enemy.
‘We are always interested in doing areas of youth culture that are not frequently covered.‘ says series producer Stuart Cosgrove. ‘We‘re seeking to do programmes in the tradition of youth culture where young people can put forward there views unmanipulated.‘
The resulting series must have hit a nerve somewhere because at least two
right-leaning national newspapers have assigned reporters to the story and are expected to criticise the programmes for glarnourising violence. This can only reinforce what Cosgrove refers to as the ‘moral panic' surrounding youth crime. which was the starting point for making the series.
‘Some of the things people 5 interviewed say are unpalatable but we 3 would rather they said them themselves 3 than having community workers saying . it‘s terrible.‘ Cosgrove argues. ; Livingston is depicted as a place
] where new town planning has gone
I awry and the programme filmed on the ! Possil estate shows knife carrying as a i way of life for some people in
l Glasgow; an image the city has spent
! the last ten years trying to lose.
1 ‘Though Glasgow doesn‘t come out
5 particularly well. the city should be proud that the talent and money to
3 make the programme came from iGlasgow.‘ Cosgrove says. (Eddie Gibb) i Walk On The Wild Side starts on Wednesday I 9 January at [1pm (m
: Channel 4.
I Road block Work has begun on narrowing the Royal Mile in Edinburgh in an attempt to reduce the numbers of cars using the street. The possibility of banning tourist coaches is also being considered as part of the £4 million project to make the High Street more pedestrian-friendly.
I Motorway protest There are twelve reasons why Glasgow‘s proposed motorway building programme should not go ahead. according to a report published by the pressure group GRRRR! The group has sent the report to regional councillors who are about to consider an environmental impact survey on the road-building programme. One ofGRRRRl‘s main objections is that meeting the cost of the motorway would suck money out from the public transport system. Details on the campaign on 041 552 8776.
I Mackintosh sale A collection of furniture and drawings by Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. which is expected to raise £l million at auction. can be seen at a sale preview from Monday i7—Wednesday 19 January at Christie‘s on Bath Street. Glasgow. The collection was started over 40 years ago by a university student who scoured junk shops while studying for a PhD in Glasgow. Details on 04] 332 8134.
I Orchestra review The plan to merge the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Opera Orchestra has been scrapped after the review body rejected the idea. However. the interim review also decided the two orchestras could not continue to operate entirely separately and recommended some form of joint management and marketing structure. The review criticised the merger plan as having been hatched without proper consultation.
10a bugle
'V "l V;
Is the new shopping mall at South 6er the next step towards an ‘Edingow' or ‘Glasburgh’ conurbation sprawling across the central belt of Scotland? Or is it simply an ugly carport which slipped past the planners into the
- bottom of Edinburgh’s garden?
These are the sort of questions which
; a panel of internationally-renowned
S architects will be addressing in
- Edinburgh next week at a public
: symposium on the theme of ‘City: The
? city-house analogy’. The seemingly
? pretentious idea, that the buildings of
= a city can be considered as ‘rooms’ of
a large ‘house’, is in fact a
l fundamental concept of architecture,
; as old as the discipline itself.
3 ‘Cities are made of conlunctions of
: buildings,’ says ilobert Tavemer, chair
i of Architecture at Edinburgh
: University who organised the
: symposium. ‘We come unstuck when we think of them in isolation. The
1 furore about tower blocks and what
The Cyle; the way forward or a planning slip-up? has been going on in Glasgow with the
Basil Spence tower blocks and their demolition is all part of that; it is the
I problem of seeing buildings as isolated monuments for particular
“833.,
I With the ‘lather’ of brutalist
5 architecture, Peter Smithson, and
5 Gordon Benson, architect oi the
: llational Museum of Scotland
E extension in Edinburgh’s Chambers
3 Street, among the speakers there is
! bound to be a certain amount of
i friction at the event. For instance
i Charles McKeen, secretary of the
; Scottish architecture institute, who
; will be in the chair, has argued that
6 Edinburgh went into decline when it
, moved into the flew Town.
i ‘In a way, South 6er is another
; decanting, another loosening of the ties,’ says Tavemer. (Thom Dibdln) The symposium is on Saturday 22
1 January at 9.30mi. Details on 031 650
{2306.
V ACTION
I Unemployed Worker’s Centre Benefit in order to raise much needed funds for the Centre. the volunteers there are holding a pub night on Sat 22 from 8pm. The money raised will go towards the general upkeep of the Centre which provides information on benefits and a general community resource for meetings and other public events. The UWC Cafe is now open at lunch times on Tuesdays. Thursdays and Fridays. with a flea-market running every Tuesday. Details from the UWC. 103 Broughton Street. 031 557 07l8. I Stone Extravaganza An evening walk round the Victorian opulence of the Empire's second city. organised by the Mid Clyde River Valley Project on Tue 18. Meet at the Royal Exchange Square. off Queen Street at 6.30pm for ‘a night to remember' with Peter Martin who is Glasgow City Council’s building expert.
\ l
{£31
I Mystery Event! Advocates for Animals. Scotland‘s leading animal rights organisation. is organising a mystery demonstration outside the gates of Glasgow University on Mon 17 January at 10.30am. The event will draw attention to work being carried out at the university‘s neuropathology department in which guinea pigs‘ optic nerves are extended. ‘We are against the work itself, and we are against the fact that once again the university is collaborating with the Head injury Research Centre in Pennsylvania.’ according to Advocate's campaigns officer Stan Blakely. ‘We have video recordings taken by researchers themselves ofthe previous collaboration between HlRC and Glasgow University. it shows the most callous abuse of animals. not only cruel but completely sloppy methodology. We argue that Glasgow University shouldn't be involved with this institution again.‘
I Talking to the Warlords Michael lgnatieff. writer and broadcaster. gives a lecture. ‘Talking to the Warlords: in search ofthe new nationalism' at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on Thurs 27 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £2 and are bookable from the museum enquiry desk (031 225 7534).
I Action Against Bloodsports With the fox-hunting season in full swing. the Edinburgh Hunt Sabs are going out to hunts twice a week. Anyone interested in joining the group is invited to go along to one of their organisational meetings which are held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7pm in the Unemployed Workers Centre. 103 Broughton Street.
I If you have news of any events or courses which you want publicised in this column, please lorward them to ‘Action’ at The list, 14 lllgh Street, Edinburgh Elli "E and include a day- time phone number.
The List 14—27 January I994 5