BLIIIIZIIIH” new
GIVE PEACE A CHANGE
The tone of last week's letters page epitomised a worrying undercurrent pervading elements of Scottish society. As a recent 'immigrant' from Wales. I am keen to sing the glories of this country to acquaintances. but I am often surprised by the vitriol, ire and. dare I suggest. bitterness of small but vocal cadres of inhabitants. Whether directed against the English (who. incidentally, don't give a toss). Protestants/Catholics. Rangers/Celtic fans. Glaswegians/Edinburghers or any other division of ‘them' and ‘us'. I've never experienced such an intensity of hatred and narrow—minded polarisation anywhere else I've lived in England or Wales. I would like to reiterate that this is only a small proponion of the populace. but it is noticeable nonetheless. February's Glasgow/Edinburgh edition was a perfect example of how ‘difference' can be used to our advantage: celebration of diversity and friendly banter between the two 'sides'. Scotland is a great place: it does us no good to propagate such fractious animosity. Andrew Jones
Glasgow
CRUMBS: A PEDANT Re: Taking the biscuit (490) The Jaffa Cake is. in actual fact. a cake. not a biscuit. I’m led to believe that McVities. the makers of the Jaffa cake, went to court to have this proven. Apparently this country's antiquated tax laws state that VAT is payable on biscuits but not on cakes.
McVities' defence team took a very large Jaffa Cake into the court showed it to the judge and asked him if it was a cake. He replied it obviously was and that using the ‘Mr Kipling' rule of logic that it remains a cake even when minaturised. promptly declared the Jaffa Cake a cake and VAT was scrapped on the chocolate
2 THE LIST 15—29 Apr 2004
Letters
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coated household fa\./ourite. So therefore I declare the Jaffa Cake be given an honourable discharge from last issue's biscuit competeition and subsequently entered into any similar cake-related articles. Brodie ‘Bakers Dozen’ Smithers
Edinburgh
MOTHER OF GOD
Re: Rituals, religion and rock’n’roll (490)
I will hopefully not be the only ex-Sunday School attender to point out that Mary Magdalene was in fact not Jesus' mother but actually his ‘girlfriend'. I use the term ‘girlfriend' in the loosest possible sense.
Craig Stephenson
Gourock
We’ve been whipping ourselves with palm branches ever since we noticed our heinous sin. Thanks for rubbing salt into the wounds.
ZINE SPLEEN
Re: Going underground (490)
After noticing on the cover of The List that there was a feature concerning Scottish zines. you can imagine my disappointment when inside I found an article that didn‘t really SCratch the Surface of Scotland's thriving zine scene. Maybe I'm over-reacting as my zine. EMBDOPEZINE lest 199:3) — was not mentioned. even though we've been geing for nearly a decade and have a circulation of more than 2500! If you can't find EMBDOPEZ/NE in virtually any of our city centre outlets — The City Cafe. EH1. Village. PopRoket. Basement. Analog. Odleut, Swish and more — then it‘s because they‘re all being read.
EMB
Edinburgh
PS —have a look at wwwbanditadscom and click onto embdopezine, bless.
We love EMBDOPEZ/NE, and we 're publishing the web link because we want other readers to see it too. We didn 't
include it because we wanted all the featured publications to be hot off the press.
RIGHT ON OUEUE
Re: Access all areas? (491) I found Mark Brown's self- aggrandising article hilarious. Nikki Milican has the courage to say what the rest of us dare only wish — she indeed has no need of the press. I attended three of the five days the National Review of Live Art was playing at the Arches. I know for sure two of those days were sold out. I went specifically to see Colette Sadler the first night — but was at the end of the queue — and missed this clearly popular performance. So instead I saw Mark Jeffery's piece — which introduced me to the work of an intriguing and difficult artist — which is what I want the
NRLA to do. You can be sure that come the Tehching Hsieh event on Sunday I got to the Arches early enough to be towards the front of the queue. If Mark Brown was genuinely interested in live art he would get there early and stand in line like the rest of us. Perhaps the Guardian should commissron a student from the RSAMD Contemporary Theatre Practice COurse to review the NRLA when it comes round next year, they would clearly be a more reliable source of copy! Stewart Laing
Via Email
PS — a Qtiick visit to http://www.newmoves.co.uk/P ageAccess.aspx?id191 shows some very appreCiative quotes from journalists who have managed to attend the NRLA —: three of \Nthh. incidentally. are credited to The List.
LETTER OF THE FORTNIGHT
CAT SHIT
should not see. ever.
laughing.
unbelievable. not even a kid called Eugene would make a to do list at aged 7 or whatever she was.
l have learned my lesson and in future I Will take y0ur film reviews more seriously! Joanna Rattray Edinburgh
Why oh why did I not trust my better judgement and take your review on Cat in the Hat as a sign that it was something I
However I was foolish and deeded to take advantage of a cheap cinema deal to go and see the film with my boyfriend. hoping for a laugh. However. the laugh was on us for staying till the end. Not even any of the children in the cinema were
Not since I saw . . . actually I can't think of the last time I saw a film so dull, cringeworthy and full of crap acting. Mike Myers was simply Austin Powers in a fat hairy suit. down to the geeky laugh. protruding teeth and inappropriate sexual innuendo. and your description of the kids was spot on. The boy. a future subject in America's fight against obesity. was the 'trying to be hard kid“ who was scared of his mom and his little sister. The sister was the epitome of the school nerd. yet totally
TWO BOTTLES OF
An ideal drink for any occasion
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EDITORIAL
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