Mailbox

ROAD RAGE

Fdrnhurgh rs turnrng rnto a traffrc nrghtmare. The amount of trme and money Invested by E-drnburgh Crty Councrl rn 'traffrc management systems" rs vergrng on the rrdrculous. Traffrc srgns change on an almost darly basrs. Once you have almost run over several small chrldren whrle tryrng to frgrrre out where you are meant to be. you frnally get onto Prrnces Street and. before you can say 'double yellow Irne'. one of Fdrnburgh's army of parkrng wardens lumps out from behrnd the Scott Monument to grve you a trcket. Ben Baser Walker Fdrnhurgh

POLY MATHS

Some may be wonderrng why all the frrss over a tax on poly bags. The latest on thrs proposal rs that the Parlrament needs more Information before rt goes any further. Not a had thrng. It's rrnportant We get rt rrght. brrt the statements; of some who oppose the move rfrérérl (:lf;1H(2r1r;(>rl.

It rs clear that charges on poly bags work and that they result rn dramatrc decreases rn the amount of bags used. Some say rt wrll create an rncrease rn use of paper bags. but thrs rs not evrdenced. and rn any case paper rs recyclable and reuseable. Some say rt wrll hurt the poor whrch rs lust plarn daft. No one rs forced to buy a bag; there rs the reuseable optron. Of course. rt may affect the profrts of Tesco et al hardly the poorest.

There rs work to do on the brll rn areas such as VAT and srmplrfyrng the collectron mechanrsm If these can be resolved then the brll shorrld pass next year.

The Greens v-rant Scotland to adopt a ‘/ero waste' approach

The List,

to dramatrcallv reduce the amount of y'./aste berng created rn the frrst place. Bv usrng resources effrcrently’. Scotland wrll hecorne more self suffrcrent and we can cut out the Inter that blrghts our streets.

Mark Ruskell MSP

Green speaker on the

I nvrronment

OFFICE ANTICS

Oh, God. It's that trrne of year agarn. when you have to stagger out of the offrce clutchrng your 'secret Santa" offerrng. and get lashed '.'./rth your co workers. all In the

n; me of festive 'honrlrng‘

I et's be honest. the Christmas party rs a disaster ‘.'.'artrng to happen. You 'nrght let slrp about that crush you've get on your bcss, Worse. you might drunkenly decrde that you must act on thrs hassron. How are you meant to command respect the next mornrng after your husrhesslrke exterror has been exploded. and everyone knoy'rs that you are besotted wrth the boss and a

pt ssronate far‘. of (lelrne I)ron karaoke? If you must rnrx y'rork and play. lust make sure that someone else rs alsxays more drunk than you.

Eleanor Duff

St Andrews

CHAOS THEORY Scotland's ermronment and de\.relopment groups have come together to form Stop ()lrmate Chaos Scotland. We are y‘xorkrr‘rg together to press for strong targets and actron on clrrnate change to help people make srrnple changes rn their Irves to reduce clrrnate change emrssrons.

The threat posed by clrrnate change rs the greatest r‘rrsrs hurnanrty has far ed. If we let

the average global

What did YOU think? Highlights of 2005

Magali

Centre

Kort"? 1' (Mono?) fit":

'I realty irkezl some of the theatre here at the MAC, BlueOrange was very good' the acting was great. I also loved the Roslyn Festrval '

2 THE LIST 17') Her, 7005) 7') Jan 70’?!)

14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE

or The List at the CCA

350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD or email editor@list.co.uk

temperature rrse by more then ’2 (3 we wrll face the threat of devastatrng runaway clrrnate change leadrng to extreme weather. crop larlures. floodrng and overall me ssrve socral. econornrc and envrronment;tl costs. Wrthout urgent actron hy thrs generatron we are headrng for a clrrnate catastrophe.

Ihe UK Government was crucral In gettrng the ()llttl'téll Kyoto Protocol agreed but Tony H!arr's recent statements are sendrng y'xorryrng srgnals. In a frrtrle attempt to get the llnrted States on board he rs talking about the ‘end of Kyoto'. and appears to be drstancrng hrmself tr'orn legally hrndrng clrrnate targets.

ll‘rs mistaken strategy on chntate change could not

come at a ‘.'.rorse trrne.

homosexual par'tnershrps. Harriet Shawcross I drnburgh

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

I am completely rn favour of the rntroductron of same sex crvrl

THE LETTER OF THE ISSUE WILL RECEIVE TWO BOTTLES O

Internatronally we need deeper and more raprd crrts rn emrssrons to help prevent dangerous clrrnate change. At home the Scottrsh Parlrament must set ambrtrous targets for Scotland when rt prrhlrshes rts revrsed Clrmate Change Programme after Chrrstmas. Christian Aid, FoE Scotland, Oxfam, RSPB, Scotland Campaign against Climate Change, Scottish Environment Link, SUSTRANS, Tearfund, WWF Scotland, the Woodland Trust

CORRECTION

In the last Issue we ran a prece on new skate shops. and credrted rt rncorrectly to our shopprng edator'. Katy McAulay. In fact. the prece was wrrtten by Anne Ivtclvleakrn.

partnerships. but wanted to share a cautronary tale, about my experrerrces rn Calrfornra last year. Srnce January 200:") vegrstered domestrc partners rn Calrlornra have enjoyed the same rrghts as legally married couples. rnclrrdrng cornrnunrty property rrghts Ilerern lres a tale. Whrle rn San l 'ancrsco I met Hrrttany' and (iorrrn. a female couple who adored each others company and had been cohabrtrng for two years. I ast /\prrl they got 'marrred' and became legal dornestrc partners. rn a beautrful ceremony complete wrth flowers and vows. l-Iowever'. Brrttany and ()orrrn are heterosexual roommates. who were tak'ng advantage of the tax breaks that berng a legal couple gave them on then student rent. So before we extol the vrrtues of gay marrrage. bear rn rnrnd that rt rs an rnstrtrrtron that can all too easrlv he explorted. cheapenrng the perception of

GIL-uh".

GRAHAM'S THE TAWNY

GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH

Michael

f .‘m maker

'lhe f'ytark Morras Dance Group really stood out. It's rare for clroreograpners to he so musical. Ihrs rs also a great trme for Scottrsh Ballet We should be proud

Kenny

Srrger; Krng (Jamsote 'lhe best moment for me was to see the whole of the C'een Man festrval arrdrence stand up durrng Krng Crrx>sotes “Twrn Tub Twm".'

EVENTS GUIDE

CONTRIBUTORS Publisher 8 General Editor RCIELI‘. Hodge

EDITORIAL

Editor Nrck Bad-3y

Deputy Editor Brran Donaldson Assistant Editors

Mark Robertson Paul Da Subeditor Ashon Dawes Research Manager Juer Graham

Research Henry Northmoro (Frlm. Rock 8 Jam Ruth Hodges rArtl Rachael Street tlhoatrc- Dance. Comedy 8 Sport» Morao Bruce rAround Town. Classrcal folk 8 KrdSr

SALES & MARKETING Advertising Sales Manager Rachel Shrclds

Senior Media Sales Executives

Carol Ferguson

Brrord Kennedy

Media Sales Executive chhro Moldrum

Media Sales Support Sharon Stephen Promotions Manager Shcrr irrers Promotions Assistant Comma Board Circulation Manager \‘c'i Tarnshan Circulation Executive K-Erlh Boone

Special Projects Amanda Munqall

PRODUCTION Art Director

Krrsta Robertson Production Manager Srmon Armrn Designer lucy Reeves Production Assistant Russell Sloedman

ADMINISTRATION Accounts Manager Georgette Ron-rack Accounts Assistant Manager Donna Taylor

Reception

Tracey Frsher

Edinburgh Office Manager Karro Scott

Glasgow Office Manager Katharrno Haslett

SECTION EDITORS Around Town Morao Br uro Books Brran Donaldson Clubs Henry Northmorc- wrlh Sandra Marroni Comedy Brran Donaldson Comics Paul Dale

Dance Kelly Aptor

Eat 8 Drink Barry Sholbv Film Parrl Dale

Gay Robrn too

Kids Kelly Aptor

Music Mark Robertson

rmth Norman Chalmers (iarol Va." Kenny h‘atltrosr‘r‘ Irona Shophordi

News Allan Radclrlfe

Play Henry Northmoro

rwrth Iarn Dayrdsonl

Shop Katy McAulav

Television Brran DonaldsOn

Theatre Stove Cramer

Travel Rachael Street

Visual Art Alexander Kennedy