HOUSE MOVES
New life abroad
Are you dreaming of a new life abroad? That dream can come true sooner than you think. A major TV production company is offering you the chance to change your existing life for a new one.
You tell us where you and your family want to go. what you want to do there and we‘ll take care of the relocation. We‘ll help transpon you and (almost) everything that is involved with the move for the first months. then you get on with your new lives. For the first month we‘ll be there with our cameras and if you really hate it. we'll bring you back home.
We are looking for people who are in this for the long term. so if you fancy being a sailing instructOr in the Maldives or a flying doctor in Australia, send us a video telling us all about you and your family. We are waiting to change yOur life.
Send all your details and the video to: The Relocators. PO Box 25297. Glasgow G2 6YW. Katie Lander Executive producer BBC Scotland Glasgow
TURN THE MUSIC OFF Re: Stewart Braithwaite on the Music (451)
Good on the well-aimed kick up the arse swung in the direction of the Music. this latest example of the emperor's well-threadbare new clothes. I had 'em pegged as Ocean Col0ur Shite go Baggy. a la the Stone Roses. but I hope you get the general drift.
And what about the ‘singer' and his rhythmless northern soul-a-Iike flakies? These guys are a bigger confidence trick than the Coral and that's saying something . . .
Another thing that's been bugging me of late is why isn't there a Glasgow Film Festival? I bet they'd have programmed the MC5 documentary. A True Testimonial. Coming soon
2 THE LIST 3—1 7 Oct 2002
Letters
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whether the Lynne Ramsay Appreciation Society likes it or not.
Douglas Firs
via email
POLE POSITION Glasgow City Council
St Vincent Crescent was built in 1849. It is a beautiful crescent. so much so that the city planners decided to grade it an ‘A' listed building.
All of a sudden. the residents of this beautiful landmark were served with a planning application to allow the erection of a 15m ‘flagpole'. This ‘flagpole' turned out to be a mobile telephone receiver. Naturally. all of the residents got together and objected on the grounds of it being out of place in this conservation area and. of course. the unknown health risks.
It no doubt comes as little surprise that the receiver has now been built and boasts a five page report setting out why it has been allowed. No need to worry. we are told. it will be painted white in order to fit in with the Surrounding environment. Not only that. but electro magnetic radiation 'is not felt to be at a level where damage could be caused'.
This is outrageous. I do not need councillor Malcolm Green to tell me the risk to my health is negligible. as he did during a telephone conversation. That is still too great a risk. Would he and others responsible for this decision allow such a structure near their families?
I choose to drink alcohol — I know of the risks involved. it is my choice. I choose not to use a mobile phone as I am unsure of the risks involved — it is my choice. I do not want to have a mobile phone receiver beaming into my home and yet I have had my choice taken from me by a council for which I voted.
I am not the only person incensed by the audacity and arrogance of Glasgow City Council. Alas. however. what can we do? All of the channels of accountability are closed to
us. The decision was probably made before we even got Our pens out. This is disgusting and disheartening and oh-so typical of a corrupt system No labour government or COuncil will ever get my vote again and obviously. in their blinding arrogance. they don't give a damn. Carol Laula via email
UNPUBLISHED AND DAMNED Re: Give ’em an inch (450) I feel I must question why Jonathan Robert Muirhead thinks his stories should be published first above everyone else's. Jonathan. if you are as good a writer as you seem to think you are. you'd have spotted that competition and sent yOur entry off pronto. Just because you're a good writer and have had some letters published in The List. that doesn't mean they're automatically going to publish everything y0u've written. Think about that before you ask for any more eaSy rides. Madeleine Smith via email
FOOT LOOSE
Re: Driven to distraction (451) Just read yOur opinion column on motoring. and it lasted all of one-and-a-half paragraphs before I felt my hackles rising. Couldn't agree more about the speed cameras. and the blind spot that most drivers have abOut their own behaviOLir. Unfortunately. you then had to spoil it by setting up pedestrianism as the shining example to which we should all aspue.
Nothing against that in principle. but all l can say is that if motorists used the road as badly as the great number of pedestrians (and a good number of cyclists) do. we would be in big trouble.
One of the reasons that as many children get killed as they do is because they are simply not taught to do otherwise — I'd be a rich man if I had a fiver
for every time I've seen a parent lead their progeny by the hand into the road between parked cars and only look once they are out there. or cross against a red man at pedestrian crossings without even looking at the half-ton of metal hurtling towards them.
There's a simple. very pragmatic. reason why it's the pedestrian who waits to cross the street: in all modes of free- travelling transpon (road. sea and air) the rule is: the more agile unit gives way to the less agile. Yet pedestrians routinely walk out in front of vehicles — and then look really surprised if they get honked at (and sue if they get hit). Whose is the selfish behaviour in that case?
It ends up with crazy situations like the Cowgate in Edinburgh being closed to through traffic at night because the pedestrians can't look after themselves.
In my opinion many pedestrians are at about the same level of consciousness as those people who sue fast- food restaurants for the temperature of the hot drinks — really not fit road-users. But of c0urse. the motorist will continue to be the villain . . .
Just in case you're wondering. I don't own a car. |an Gibson via email
MAG ATTACK Re: The Shining CD (451) What's the deal with giving away a CD that doesn't work on Apple Macs? Or are yOu just trying to protect people with taste enough to own a decent computer from the perils of untasteful music? Perhaps I will never know. Brian Graham via email
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evens 9L0; CONTRIBUTORS
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