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An Interview With Chad MacGregor – The Z-list Celebrity Tweetgate

Jan 162014

Suzanne Kelly interviews controversial local campaigner and activist Chad West-MacGregor

Chad MacGregor is a young local activist who supports the Conservative party and who campaigned for building in Union Terrace Gardens.

Following recent developments, he met with Suzanne Kelly for an interview.

Background:

Chad MacGregor may be known to those who follow political issues in Aberdeen; he is something of an activist for his young age. He was a supporter of the Granite Web scheme, and organised last year’s ‘protest against Aberdeen City Council.’ He is an outspoken campaigner, and has lately been working on a few projects for the Tory party, such as a website.

He hails from Torry, has lived and worked in the US, and for the record it happens that he is gay.

He has courted controversy online and is very outspoken to say the least. His language online can be provocative and peppered with four letter words. However, this hardly marks him out from the millions of other internet users in his age group.

So how did he find himself the subject of two Press & Journal articles, following his tweet which referred to SNP celebrity supporters as being ‘lefty Z-list celebrities?’ How accurate are these articles, how newsworthy are they, and could there have been any ulterior motive in their publication? What are MacGregor’s actual views, given that the internet has a host of contradictory, often inflammatory and offensive remarks attributed to him?

Chad’s activism has been known to me for some time now; his stance on the future of UnionTerraceGardens is pretty much in direct opposition to mine. I have seen contentions remarks – and a dubious image or two on his Facebook page, and elsewhere on social media. Quite frankly he is, on the face of it, someone I’ve not been able to understand.

One social media site has comments under his name with a photo, and other sites have completely contradictory opinions also attributed to him. However, I’d not given him much thought, until the Press & Journal ran two articles this week.

The first article came out on 6 January; it was written by Frank Cassidy. In part it reads:-

“Chad MacGregor, who claimed to be the party’s campaign manager in the city, branded presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli and actor Alan Cumming “lefty, Z-list celebrities” on Twitter. The former Aberdeen Youth Council member went on to accuse comedian Janey Godley, a former Scotswoman of the Year nominee, of being a poor role model for her daughter, Ashley Storrie, after she waded into the row. Mr MacGregor removed his Twitter profile last night after rejecting Mr Singh Kohli’s request for an apology.”
– Press & Journal 6 January 2014

If the above paragraph made me wonder, then the follow-up article by Kenneth Watt forced me to do some research. On 7th January Watt wrote:-

“The Conservative group on Aberdeen City Council was said to be “all over the place” last night as a split emerged following online comments by a local party member… Group leader Fraser Forsyth insisted at the time that Mr MacGregor was not a party official. However, a new Aberdeen Conservative website launched yesterday, names Mr MacGregor as a campaigns organiser for the local executive committee.”
– Press & Journal 10 January 2014

MacGregor’s politics and views are more often than not the polar opposite to mine. However, these two stories and the paragraphs above made me wonder about a few things. A search of the internet made things more confusing: contradictory posts on a host of issues, the twitter messages, all of these pointed to a young man who ran hot one day and cold the next, who had great political ambition one moment, then appeared to be shooting himself in the foot the next. Who was this guy?

If he is a party official of some sort (and he is pictured, as a student, visiting the PM as part of a delegation), then his actions recalibrated the definition of self-destructive. I sent him a tweet.

An Interview with Chad:

In the past when I have uncovered political figures in contradictory or compromising statements, the responses to my contacting them tend to be dismissal and deflection, lack of response, and on more than one occasion threats of everything from legal action to my being reported to the Scottish Football Association (a long story). Chad however got straight back to me after I tweeted.

I sent him a list of some of the inflammatory, contradictory and just plain bizarre comments I’d found attributed to him. Was he going to sue or threaten? No, he suggested we meet to discuss.

I asked whether or not he was a party official.

“I am just a volunteer; I’m studying design and I’m good with computers. I made a website.”

We talk about the website Kenneth Watt referred to, which is not an official Conservative party site. It does list MacGregor as part of this grassroots group’s executive. The website clearly explains:-

“We are a voluntary organisation within the city which is solely funded by local party membership, subscriptions, donations and fund-raising events. We are open to all and everyone is welcome to join us or attend our campaigning or social events. We support the Scottish Conservative Party in a number of different ways.”

The Watt article doesn’t really explain what the website is about. Then again, the Watt article doesn’t tell you who Kenneth Watt is. Perhaps all P&J readers know that Watt is a Labour party member who, like his former Youth Council peer MacGregor, is a fairly active campaigner on local issues.

“The Press & Journal seems biased – Ken is a Labour man. After the second (Watt’s) article, people asked me ‘Why is Kenneth writing for the P&J?’ (The paper was hardly on Labour’s side over the web or in the present). I am most disappointed this made headlines; it must have been a very dry time for news.”

I think this is a very interesting question indeed, and one that made me wonder about the slant of this whole story, which after all is that a young activist conservative unionist tweeted that ‘Z list’ celebrities were being brought out to support the SNP, and that many tweets followed. It was hardly the twitter storm of the century. Indeed, neither side of the tweets show their authors in a great light.

Jane Godley’s tweets are certainly no more befitting a SNP spokesperson’s than this twenty-something activist with no official party role. She displays a good command of some four letter words and seems to have got stuck into the fray – but this is not reflected in the P&J articles.

However, if MacGregor was a party official of some sort, then age notwithstanding, he’s posted some extremely unwise remarks that would have reflected badly on his party. I ask if he wants a career in politics.

“Who would want to be a politician? If I were a councillor or someone who had a role, I’d have an obligation [about what to tweet and post]. I don’t see why anyone would want that kind of scrutiny. But I do think everyone should be active. These are times of austerity and drastic changes. Many people have become disillusioned.”

Cautionary Tales:

We talk about some social media sites. Either the man has some mental health issues and holds opposing views at the same time, or someone has made at least one or two fake accounts in his name in the past.

“I wrote to one of the social media sites when I learned about some of these posts, but have heard nothing back.”

It seems clear that there are comments out there attributed to him, which have nothing to do with him; he is concerned about them, and is continuing to try and do something about them. I contacted one of the social media sites in question on this matter, and likewise have had no response.

Why a Tory:

Chad was raised in Torry, where there is one elected Tory city councillor. It is not exactly the hotbed of conservatism. Chad explains that when his mother was struggling to bring up her children, it was a Tory party member who gave her practical advice and helped her find the best solutions for the family; he still feels that loyalty.

Don’t believe everything you read

We have two Press & Journal articles; one written by MacGregor’s fellow former Youth Council member who is active in Labour. The article makes no mention of this political affiliation and the clear conflict between Conservative and Labour inherent in Watt’s approach.

But then again, the P&J doesn’t see fit to explain the cosy relationship between its editor Damian Bates and his wife’s role at Trump International Golf Links Scotland: there are no stories about the problems on the estate, no stories on Trump’s beleaguered empire, and nothing but praise (6 out of 6) for the club’s restaurant.

The Watt article quotes several Tories as to what MacGregor’s role is, making it seem as if the party cannot even get that right. The website Watt refers to makes all quite clear; the website address was not part of the story, making it a bit difficult for people to easily get to the heart of the matter.

In the Cassidy article, the author claims in the paragraphs previously quoted that:

“Chad MacGregor, who claimed to be the party’s campaign manager in the city”

MacGregor made no such claim. If journalist Cassidy could not understand the difference between the website Chad worked on and the Conservative party, it is worrying.

Cassidy also claims that Chad removed his twitter profile. It is still there for all to see, complete with some choice words from some of the celebrities. For that matter, if Chad chooses to see these people as ‘Z list’, as a private person who is also a political activist, who is to deny him that right?

Chad and I are very different, but it has been an interesting meeting. I don’t agree with his politics nor he with mine – but this very odd, skewed P&J reporting has us both wondering. Precisely what the P&J is attempting to do in this case is a good question. Perhaps they will explain once this piece is published.

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A Bad Coin

Featured, History, Opinion 7 Responses »

Jan 162014

By Duncan Harley.

Lord Kitchener is to be featured on the new Royal Mint £2 coin.

Kitchener drowned after his ship was sunk at sea on the 7 May 1916 but in some quarters the man is still celebrated as an heroic general who rallied the nation to send the youth of Scotland to their deaths in the madness of the trenches of France and Belgium during the first years of that war to end all wars.

Thought by some modern thinkers to be a thoroughly nasty man, in 1898 he famously sent a force of 8,200 British troops equipped with modern weapons against 20,000 Sudanese citizens and a few thousand or so Egyptians on dromedaries up the Nile to destroy a town in the Sudan by the name of Omdurman in a revenge attack for a previous British defeat.

Sven Lindqvist, a Swedish historian, has pointed out that the decisive battle of Omdurman was fought in the name of civilisation but nobody in Europe asked how it came about that 15,000 Sudanese were killed while the British lost only 48 men. Nor did anyone question why almost none of the Sudanese wounded survived.

In his book ‘Exterminate All the Brutes’ Lindqvist refers to some sad and shameful 19th-century newspaper accounts of British massacres of wounded Sudanese after the battle.

Maxim machine guns, lack of any medical care or indeed any victuals for prisoners plus sharp British bayonets may have been the weapons of choice, however the British resolve for HRH Queen Victoria and her then imperial empire, was almost certainly the prime motivation for this quite appalling pre- WW1 slaughter.

In that dated and historically inaccurate film The Great Escape, the German prison commandant advises the British Senior Officer that 50 of the escapers were shot while attempting to flee Nazi Europe and that their personal effects will be returned to the POW camp.

–          How many of them were wounded?
–          Here are the names of the dead.
–          How many of them were wounded?
–          I am advised by a higher authority that none were wounded.

On the 26th of January 1899 at the ‘battle’ of Omdurman’s conclusion, Winston Churchill wrote to his mother with the message that:

“Our victory was disgraced by the inhuman slaughter of the wounded and Lord Kitchener was responsible for this.”

Kitchener’s influence over his contemporaries remains undeniable. Throughout his life and well beyond it, even those who knew him best, such as his school friend Raymond ‘Conk’ Marker, invariably seasoned their affection with a curiously resonant awe:

“In this age of self-advertisement there was always a danger that Lord K. with his absolute contempt for anything of the kind, and his refusal to surround himself with people who attract attention, would not be appreciated at his real value but I think the country recognises him now.

The more I see of him the more devoted I get to him. He is always the same – never irritable – in spite of all his trials, and always making the best of things however much he may be interfered with. As Chamberlain said, “to praise him is almost an impertinence.”

Many of us Scots are of the opinion that the new Royal Mint £2 Lord Kitchener coin is unworthy of the memory of our dead ancestors and is quite shameful.

Worth refusing perhaps should you be given the opportunity.

Should you agree, there is a petition at http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/royal-mint-replace-the-kitchener-2-coin-with-one-that-truly-commemorates-the-millions-who-died-in-the-first-world-

Should you disagree there is a Lord Kitchener appreciation society at http://www.kitchenerscholars.org/pages/khartoum.htm .

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Musings Of A Not So Newish Music Photographer No. 10

Articles, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 132014

Julie Thompson continues her series on photographing bands in Aberdeen taking in Malfunction and KWEEF at Downstairs @ The Malt Mill and the Complete Stone Roses supported by Dave Winston Brown at The Lemon Tree.

As I sit here typing these words, Christmas is past and a new year is very imminent (in, oh, 25 minutes in fact). Between these two events I have had 3 successive nights at The Lemon Tree – with a quick dash over to an album launch at Downstairs after the first of them.

The first of the 3 Lemon Tree gigs was Big Country, supported by Dave Sharp (formerly of The Alarm).

As this gig has been reviewed by Suzanne Kelly, I won’t be saying much about it.

George Mackie was the only other tog there, which surprised me. I would have expected maybe at least one of the local newspaper photographers to have been there.

Once the first 3 songs were over, George Mackie suggested we head over to Downstairs @ the Malt Mill, where there was an album launch gig for a local band, Malfunction. It turned out that he was also going to be shooting the next two nights at the Lemon Tree, so this gave me an excellent opportunity to get to know him a bit better and to get our interview done.

KWEEF, the support band, was just finishing their set when we arrived and Downstairs was looking very atmospheric – the smoke machine had been on overtime by the look of it. There was a decent sized crowd there, which was good to see so close after Christmas.

Using KWEEF for a camera settings check, I found a boost on ISO was needed – up to the scary 5000-6400 level. The images would be noisy but if a focus lock was achievable and a lucky light was shining in the right direction then I should hopefully get some reasonable results.

From a previous visit here, I knew I could get an almost drummers-eye view of the band so I decided to see how it looked from there with a fisheye lens. I think foggy might be the best way to describe it – so much so, the other side of the small stage was impossible to see.

However, it’s not often you can get close enough to the drummer for photos so I stuck around waiting for the end of the last number and a flourish from the drummer.

After a short hiatus, it was the turn of Malfunction, who were there to promote their new album.

I have to say, crowd watching is always fun at punk gigs, which is handy when you have tricky shooting conditions – you can, for example, crowd watch when waiting for the smoke to clear or even see possibly shots building up; crowd interaction with the band is often interesting.

A flashgun would maybe have made the shoot easier but, as I’d not originally planned on going to Downstairs and couldn’t use one at The Lemon Tree, I had not brought one with me.

Some planning and patience (and a certain amount of luck) was needed for photographing the band – mostly waiting for one of the lights to swing around for illumination and hoping it coincided with a good shot and a lull in smoke output. Now I have some experience of them, a challenge like this is always good fun – it keeps you on your toes.

Malfunction will be one of 32 bands playing for the chance of a record deal at the Battle of the Bands, organised by Fat Hippy Records.

The first elimination heats kick off from the 10th January at Downstairs. The Facebook link above gives a list of the bands (4 per heat) and dates they’re playing so why not go along to provide some support.

On chatting with George Mackie I discover he has been photographing live music for some 3 and a half years now – starting with a standard DSLR & kit lens and on camera flash.

Not knowing any different at the time he took his photos in fully automatic mode. His first foray into the live music world was at a UK Subs gig in Drummonds, on a night when Dod Morrison & Andy Thorne, both established music togs, were there to shoot.

The reason he began shooting gigs? Well, I’ll let him tell you in his own words:

“There was a lack of reporting online of smaller gigs in Aberdeen that I’d attended and it annoyed me a bit. Some shows were just great but only attended by thirty people and my friends all said they didn’t know it was on blah blah, just one excuse after another. That, and reading then Explodes (now New York Johnny) lengthy write ups on his My Space page of gigs he’d attended made me wonder if we could create something ourselves; like a paper fanzine of old, but online.

“Godzilla Blues is another person who can put his learned thoughts into words and give you a detailed account of a show. Both these people are experienced musos who write as it was, not as `all the roses are blooming` type reporters.”

This is what led to the formation of Flares n Seagulls – described as An alternative music magazine for the Kingdom of Aberdonia – where George shoots (sometimes doubling up as reviewer) the images to go with the reviewers words.

I asked him what he found the most difficult in live music photography. Frustration, mostly, when he doesn’t nail the shots he was wanting at a gig.

He’s very self critical and as a big fan of live music feels the need to justify his place in the pit by getting that 9/10 shot he was after.

One of the things he finds most challenging is when a band or artist looks disinterested:

‘Trust me, if you look disinterested on stage then it will show in the photographs. Make an effort, look good, and do those songs you practice justice. You get one chance to capture (or lose) that audience so don’t bore us with endless `banter` but lose yourself in the music, whether it be pin drop silence and an acoustic guitar or a 100 mph amp busting set. I know what set of images I’d rather look at.’

One of his early gig shoots (with aforementioned kit camera/lens & flash) was remembered when I asked about one of his more exciting shoots:

“Cancer Bats and Vera Cruz at Drummonds. I’ve never seen the place rammed like it was that night and the bands and crowd were intense to the max. Loved it.”

I’ll continue with this interesting interview next time, but for now we go back to The Lemon Tree.

Dave Winston Brown was providing support on my second evening there – local lad, with a pleasant and very gravelly voice, also plays with a local band called The Smokin’ Bugler Band. I was actually quite impressed with his performance – an acoustic set which closed with a cover of the T-Rex classic, Get It On.

By this time the place was packed to the brim with Stone Roses fans, some brandishing rubber bats – no, I don’t know why, either.

Complete Stone Roses soon had the place bouncing. There is something about the Stone Roses – they have passionate fans and looking into the crowd you could see they knew all the words and were singing along.

The lighting was tricky at the start – red lighting is hard to photograph as it washes out a lot of the detail and makes the photos look mushy. This can be fixed for some images – to a certain extent – in processing.

One of the reasons I shoot RAW files is for that added flexibility during processing. It’s not ideal though and can make for some time consuming sessions at the computer.
Quite often the only option is conversion to black & white but many people prefer colour images. It’s a fine balance to find.

One thing that is not commonly known is that photographers will spend more time working on the photos than actually taking them – a lot more time.

One 3 song shoot (anywhere from 10-25 minutes) of an active band can leave me with some 200 or more photos to pick through.

With experience, the numbers taken do decrease and the hit rate increases. Indeed I have noticed that happening – at the start, my trigger-happy self would come home with 500 or more photos per band (most of them rubbish). It can take hours to go through them all, remove the chaff and pick out the best ones. Then you add on processing time for those you finally pick out.

When our time in the pit was over, it was time to grab a drink, relax a bit and watch the rest of the show – at The Lemon Tree we hang out by the security guy at the pit entrance, where there is usually some space.

It’s not the best place for a good view of the band but you can crowd watch and – something that I think is no bad thing – become familiar to (and with) the security people at a venue. It’s just good manners after all.

Sadly, the enjoyable evening came to an abrupt end. I noticed the security man, stationed at the other end of the pit, move forward and leap over the pit wall into the crowd. He had spotted that someone was down – a woman appeared to have collapsed or fallen and was not getting up again.

Up on the stage, the lead singer noticed the activity and stopped the band playing, calling for the house light to come up.
After it became apparent this was not going to be a short hiatus, the band said they were leaving the stage, as this had to take priority – full marks to them.

An ambulance was summoned – it was very quick to arrive – but in the meantime a first-aider from the audience came forward to help and security cleared the immediate area.

It appeared that she may have banged her head when she fell, so she was taken off to the ambulance and, I assume, onward to the hospital to be checked over.

I can’t fault the reaction of the band, The Lemon Tree staff, the first-aider and the ambulance service in their response to this. Well done everyone.

The last of the three Lemon Tree events of the weekend was for Terry McDermott & The Bonfires. You can read about this, along with the second instalment of the George Mackie interview, next time.

Earlier, I totalled up the number of gigs I’ve attended and photographed since mid September. It came to 34 – all on top of my day job. I guess that explains why I was pretty knackered most of the last 3 months. Now I’m on my way up the learning curve I think I can slow down a bit. So far, January is shaping up to be a fairly quiet month, as far as gigs go.

Happy New Year to you all – I hope your 2014 is full of joy and excitement. Oh and feel free to come and say hello if you see me at a gig one day – I don’t bite, honest.

More photos:

Malfunction/Kweef
Complete Stone Roses
Dave Winston Brown

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Old Susannah’s Journal No. 140 – It’s Academic

Opinion, Satire and Humour 4 Responses »

Jan 102014

Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.

Tally Ho! Happy New Year!

I trust everyone is happily settling down to the 9-5 routine after having time off for the holidays. The sales continue, despite dire warnings that the city council has to build something to save the retail market. Amazing.

Over the holidays I took a little walk around the Menie Estate; the friendly security guards patrolled in unmarked white vans. Someone seems to have planted gorse on a footpath or two, and the beautiful entrance gates have been decorated with a rusted-shut padlock and a few boulders.

Having sealed this gate to the parking lot, the area is further made inviting by more sand and dirt piled up on the sides of the gate, topped with dying squares of loose turf.

Mountain goats will have no problem going around the sides of this gate.

But don’t worry: Aberdeenshire’s Access Officers have been working on improving the situation. Since last March. I’d hate for them to feel embarrassed into enforcing the laws they are paid to enforce. For that matter, the bunds still remain in place; no doubt the council will want to save itself further embarrassment and get this situation rectified sooner rather than later.

As much as I admire the boundary/pushing spirit that BrewDog embodies, I’ll be happy if they can stay away from a new beer fad emerging from whaling –happy Iceland. I’m sure no one will have anything to do with Brugghús Steðja who have decided to make whales into beer. This is apparently been marked as ‘beer for real Vikings’. I personally think it is beer for real %!£$(@ #!!^&$£ “£$&*£”!# s, but there you go. While most of the rest of the world is trying to eliminate unnecessary cruelty, there are still some nations happy to make a go of making money out of it.

I’ll stick to my BrewDog, many thanks. BrewDog have in the past used a small number of road kill animals for taxidermy; I wasn’t mad about it – but no animals were killed deliberately. Companies like Stedja are probably why I’ve gone vegetarian again. By the way, congratulations to the makers behind excellent documentary ‘Blackfish’ about the cruelties of Sealand towards orcas and other creatures – they’ve been nominated for a BAFTA.

One of the more charming stories over the holidays was the discovery of mice, wasps and bedbugs in Aberdeen’s schools. I guess this puts the schools on a par with the local hospitals. With recent stories in the news about the state of our schools, dodgy teachers, educational league tables, vocational education and so on dominating local and national news lately, it’s time for some timely definitions.

Left Wing Academics: (modern Eng. phrase; plural noun) Educators with political views less conservative than the views of the ruling Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government.

Perhaps home schooling is the only way forward for caring parents who would shield their children from what Michael Gove , Secretary for Education calls ‘Left Wing Academics.’ These sinister figures may tell your children to question authority, and to question the accuracy of what they are given to read. Remember, if something is in print, then it is true – just pick up a copy of the latest Press & Journal, and you’ll be ahead of the class for the latest factual information.

No, the class structure and the elite had no part in the War to end All War

We need to be careful what sort of revisionist ideas are being circulated, and Gove has bravely stood up to left-wing entertainer, Sir Tony Robinson. This left-winger has been involved in archaeology which can lead to an interest in history. If that weren’t left enough, Robinson is an actor who appeared in an anti-war satire.

You won’t have heard of the little-known Blackadder comedy television franchise, but one of its series suggested that World War I might have been in some ways flawed. Gove says: left-wing academics:

“were using Blackadder “to feed myths” about World War One.”

Our education supremo went on to display his grasp of history and command of the language as he explained:-

“The conflict has, for many, been seen through the fictional prism of dramas such as Oh, What a Lovely War!, The Monocled Mutineer and Blackadder, as a misbegotten shambles – a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite.

“Even to this day there are left-wing academics all too happy to feed those myths.”

No, the class structure and the elite had no part in the War to end All Wars, which was the crowning achievement of military strategy. The shooting of shell-shocked, mentally distressed deserters ordered by officers had no class struggle in it at all. Perhaps there were one or two little military awkward moments like Gallipoli, the Allied defeat at the Dardanelles and all those front line attacks , but a google search on ‘World War 1 blunders’ only got me 949,000 results. One of the websites had a very left wing slant indeed:

“In Britain alone one third of the male population were casualties. We should learn from these costly mistakes of history so that we will not make similar errors.” http://hornherald.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/military-mistakes-of-world-war-1-part-2.html

That kind of talk is no way to get the next generation ready to sign up for the next war, is it?

Robinson told left wing media news agency the BBC:

“I think Mr Gove has just made a very silly mistake; it’s not that Blackadder teaches children the First World War. When imaginative teachers bring it in, it’s simply another teaching tool; they probably take them over to Flanders to have a look at the sights out there, have them marching around the playground, read the poems of Wilfred Owen to them. And one of the things that they’ll do is show them Blackadder.

“And I think to make this mistake, to categorise teachers who would introduce something like Blackadder as left-wing and introducing left-wing propaganda is very, very unhelpful. And I think it’s particularly unhelpful and irresponsible for a minister in charge of education.”

Gove’s people countered:

“Michael thinks it is important not to denigrate the patriotism, honour and courage demonstrated by ordinary British soldiers in the First World War.”

These men both unselfishly do all they can to help their spouse’s careers

So there you have it. On one side, an uneducated, demented man known for his silly clowning around and being the jester to his superior. And on the other side you have Sir Tony Robinson.

So, keep your children away from those left-wing academics. And to help you do so, thankfully we have the wise words of Sir Ian Wood.

Footnote on Family Values:

There is a similarity between P&J editor Damian Bates and Michael Gove that I’ll briefly mention in passing. These men both unselfishly do all they can to help their spouse’s careers, and if that isn’t love, then what is? We have seen the factual pieces in the P&J extolling the virtues of Mrs Sarah Malone-Bates’ employer Donald Trump – world’s greatest golf course, world’s biggest sand dunes (well, it’s written on a plaque Trump designed, so it must be true), and a restaurant rated 6/6.

Then we come to Mr Gove’s devotion to Mrs Gove. In testament to her rapier-like wit, she’s been given a newspaper column to write (nothing to do with her husband’s position of course). She’s such an independent, honest woman that she writes under her maiden name, Sarah Vine. This is like the modesty Sarah Malone shows, working for Trump not as Mrs Bates, but as Sarah Malone. Sarah started a wee company to help the rest of us look as beautiful as she does; and conveniently on Facebook, it has a link to a government Department of Work & Pensions.

According to the Mirror:

“The Department for Work and Pensions’ Facebook page includes a link to Get the Gloss under a post advising how to “dress for success”.

Get the Gloss was co-founded by the Tory Education Secretary’s beauty journalist wife Sarah Vine. It offers products such as Creme de la Mer serum at £230 and Gypsy Water perfume at £130. The website’s beauty expert Judy Johnson also shares her words of wisdom on the Facebook page.

They include:

“The first impression you make with a potential employer is the most important one.”

She adds:

“Make sure your eyes look perky so you don’t look all sleepy – people will hire you more if you look awake! (A good night’s sleep usually helps or a good under eye concealer).”

Labour’s Teresa Pearce expressed surprise that the DWP was suggesting people on jobseeker’s allowance of £71.70 a week could afford such items and accused ministers of being “patronising” and demeaning”.

She added:

“It is a cheap marketing ploy designed to exploit female body insecurities and the anxieties of those seeking work to make a quick profit.

“The reason so many people are unemployed is the lack of available work and not because they need pricey beauty products. Having ‘perky’ eyes won’t change that.” http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/michael-gove-wife-sarahs-beauty-2999455

I wonder if these two power couples, the Mr Bates and the Goves shouldn’t get together?

Want to know what kind of educated citizen is valued and rewarded by Sir Ian? Old Susannah is happy to oblige.

Honorary Doctorate: (Eng. compound noun) A person whose achievements are so considerable that an institution of higher education confers a diploma on them without their having attended courses.

Think of successful businessmen, model citizens, virile hunters of African game and if you don’t first swoon with admiration you think first of Donald Trump. More accurately, Donald Trump, Doctor of Business Administration (Hon DBA).

Sir Ian, who will be chairing a committee to shape your children’s future, is of course Chancellor of RGU. He conferred this title on the deserving Donald.

Mr Trump’s behaviour in north-east Scotland has been deplorable

Alas! Not all were happy. One disgruntled academic returned his degree to RGU. Dr Kennedy had probably been jealous; Trump had earned lots of money and didn’t therefore have to go through the usual hard work of getting a degree. Kennedy, who is probably some kind of left wing academic like Sir Tony Robinson said at the time:

“Mr Trump is simply not a suitable person to be given an honorary degree and he should not be held up as an example of how to conduct business.

“Mr Trump’s behaviour in north-east Scotland has been deplorable from the first, particularly in how he has treated his neighbours.”

Sounds like envy to me.

Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce: (Scottish Government Quango) – Body created one year ago by central government, chaired by Sir Ian Wood “tasked with bringing forward a range of recommendations designed to improve young people’s transition into employment”.

Let’s face it, the real purposes of education are to learn how to pass tests and to learn how to do some task that will make you money. It’s wonderful that Sir Ian Wood will be passing on all of his ethics, philosophical, architectural and cultural skills to upcoming generations. If we stick to vocational education and business studies, we’ll have a better society. I’m sure Sir Ian means to also call for more young minds to study philosophy, ethics, environmental protection, fine and performing arts – but it seems he’s not got round to that yet.

There is coincidentally a skills shortage in the oil industry: this means that you have to pay people more than if you train lots of people up to do specific energy industry jobs. We need to train people how to do manual labour. We also need to train people how to look for tax loopholes. For those of you interested in the vocational training they want to roll out from an early age to your children (presumably there is more time for this now that music, sports and arts have been cut back), here are some details.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/09/7161

Some final thoughts on education:

There are still some people out there who think that the purpose of a good education should be to let children explore all of the arts and sciences and then let them decide where their talents and interests take them.

there are many different views and no religion can claim superiority

There are some who think there is value in learning a musical instrument, in learning how to play, and enjoy physical activity. Still others believe that if you teach a child how to use logic so they know how to frame an argument, weigh up facts for themselves and reach conclusions, you make them better, more informed citizens.

Others believe that the environment and nature should be experienced first hand and studied (perhaps this would have helped the police in the borders who mistook skinned roe deer they found for badgers. NB – I hope the poachers will be caught, but alas, they never seem to be).

Some people believe that studying art and nature will lead to creativity and a sense of aesthetics (I’d like to know where the granite web’s architects studied form and aesthetics).

There are proponents of comparative religious studies, so people can realise that there are many different views and no religion can claim superiority. Some believe that if you teach children about history, they may learn from the mistakes and triumphs of those who came before and learn about their own culture and therefore identity (I wonder where the property developers and obliging Central Government Reporter who will allow building on the fields by Culloden studied history?).

There are those who feel if girls learnt about the struggles women made in the recent past to be able to vote, to own property and to study, they would be empowered (and then there is the Taliban, who had teenager Malala shot in the head for going to school). And there are even those who believe children studying all of these arts and sciences with the tools of logic and philosophy engrained would build a better, gentler, happier, cleaner world.

Thankfully, all that nonsense will soon be gone when upcoming generations are taught how to make money and hang the rest.

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Big Country, Small Venue, Complete Fan Bliss

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion 2 Responses »

Jan 102014

By Suzanne Kelly. Photos by Julie Thompson.

It’s been said that the greatest acts and greatest guitarists have a sound which is unmistakably theirs alone.

This remains true of Big Country, Scotland’s longest-serving, most successful, arguably most loved rock act.

You can identify a Big Country track within the first few notes, and the sound instantly evokes bagpipes, highlands countryside, pipe bands… the sound of Scotland, if you will, is the sound of Bruce Watson and Big Country.

The last time I saw Big Country they were opening for the Rolling Stones in front of thousands. Now their tour took them to my doorstep and the intimate Lemon Tree. Julie Thompson and I arrived early to find dozens queuing to get in. As to the audience, I think every age group was represented. Once inside, we found the whole front of the stage area had been staked out, and the Lemon Tree filled rapidly.

I spoke to Stuart, “a fan of the bands for 25 to 30 years now” and his son Cameron. “I brainwashed Cameron into liking them” Stuart says; “You didn’t brainwash me at all. I like them a lot” is the son’s answer. Stuart has seen them many times “mostly back in the ‘80s”.

He continues:

“I saw them here about 3 years ago too; they were amazing. I’ll be interested to see the lineup now it’s changed…we’ll see how it works with a few more faces.”

The lineup has changed over the years with Bruce Watson being, for many fans, the lynchpin around which everything works. Mike Peters has amicably left after three years and the current line up is BRUCE WATSON (guitars/vocals); MARK BRZEZICKI (drums, vocals); JAMIE WATSON (guitars/vocals) and former SIMPLE MINDS’ bassist/vocalist , DEREK FORBES.

No rock act of this longevity and success is without personnel changes, but Big Country take it in their stride – they keep touring, writing and releasing new material; without a solid lineup, the sound wouldn’t have remained the same. And while the lineups change, the crowds keep coming.

I’d spoken to Watson on the phone not long before this date; it was clear that Big Country had been on the road a long, long time, but were genuinely looking forward to being here in Aberdeen, and spending some time in Scotland. We discussed playing stadiums as compared to smaller venues like the upcoming Lemon Tree date; Watson told me the band enjoy playing smaller venues:

“We played Shetlands for the first time… there are lots of people who can’t get to see bands…”

Making live music accessible is something I wish more major acts could or would do.

When we spoke, Bruce Watson told me that Dave Sharp from The Alarm was going to do a set, and that Big Country like ‘mixing it up a bit to keep things fresh’.

Sharp is a good choice of opening act; as he comes on stage he’s been introduced as being ‘from a wedding band called The Alarm’. Sharp opens with Woody Guthrie’s I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore.

His music seems to take most of its inspiration and flavour from American folk/traditional/blues road music. His short, sweet set goes down well and sets a good tone for the night ahead.

Big Country come on to huge cheers and applause; AnglePark is the opening number and a rousing one. The harmonies are working well; everything’s gelling; and the band seem happy and relaxed.

Porrohman is next. It’s likewise rousing; a sort of Scottish marching band/traditional percussion-driven rock anthem.

I find it still has a hypnotic quality to it (I’m not sure they’d appreciate the comparison, but for me U2 is to Ireland what Big Country is to Scotland – this thought hits me in the middle of Porrohman). I see what Watson meant about ‘mixing it up a bit’; band members are swapping roles and instruments.

I’ve never seen an audience at this venue so attentive. No one is talking through songs; no one is talking on their mobile or texting; they’re all singing with every face fixed on Big Country. This is a room filled with devotees, and clearly the current line up has gone over smashingly.

By the third number, all the band members have been introduced, and Watson announces ‘a song for my favourite politician’ which can only be Republican Party Reptile. I hope future writing will continue this tradition of pithy political satire. Not only do I love the lyrics, but I am remembering how much I always rated the slide guitar work on this piece.

It’s been performed beautifully with high-energy and that little hint of menace the words convey.

The night feels like it’s over far too quickly. The audience has loved the new material from The Journey as well. We’re all glad we were there – the audience and the band alike. Stuart and his son Cameron will definitely go to see Big Country the next chance they get – and I’ll be there as well.

More photos:

Big Country

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The Stealing Of Sheep

Articles, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 102014

Duncan Harley looks at the debate about the looming war with Wales.

The film Braveheart is held dear by some despite having been described by others as one of the most historically inaccurate modern films ever made.

Seemingly based on Blind Harry’s epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, the epic story was adapted for the big screen by one Randall Wallace who, for reasons best known to Hollywood, chose to pair William Wallace up with the Princess Isabella despite the fact that she did not actually travel to Britain until 1307 a full two years after Wallace’s execution.

In the poem Blind Harry somewhat famously wrote:

“Till honour ennymyis is our haile entent
It has beyne seyne in thir tymys bywent
Our ald ennemys cummyn of Saxonys blud
that nevyr yeit to Scotland wald do gud.”

In the Hollywood film Mel Gibson somewhat famously shouted:

“Freedom.”

Directed by and starring Mel Gibson, the film Braveheart met with some positive reviews and won several academy awards. Indeed Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 81% with an average score of 7.1/10. The film’s depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge was listed by CNN as one of the best battles in cinema history, rivalling Stalingrad and even The Fall.

In the screenplay New Yorker Gibson portrays William Wallace, a 13th-century Paisley man from just outside Elderslie who led the Scots into the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England.

In truth, The English authorities saw Wallace as nothing more than a dangerous outlaw who had killed the son of an English constable in Dundee. In the film, however, Gibson invents everything that is Scotland in what to many of us chiels seems like re-run of Brigadoon.

In the May of 1297 Wallace was in Lanark. It is said that he was visiting his wife, the very beautiful Marion Braidfute, whom he had married in secret. Lanark Castle was then held by an English sheriff, Sir William Heselrig. When Heselrig’s soldiers learned that Wallace was with Marion they surrounded him.

Wallace escaped but Marion was captured by Heselrig. The English sheriff then had Wallace’s wife put to death.

That night Wallace and his men made their way back to Lanark Castle where under cover of darkness Wallace broke into Sheriff Heselrig’s bedchamber and hacked the Englishman to death with his broadsword. Justice was served.

over 5000 sheep have been rustled by agents of the Welsh office

In 1999, a full 694 years after the Scottish heroes brutal execution by the tried and tested means of being hung until almost dead then being ritually disembowelled before a baying crowd at London’s Smithfield market, Scottish hackers declared war on Wales following a sorry tale of sheep rustling.

After first warning the then First Minister Donald Dewar, an urban terrorist Scottish protest group calling itself the Hardcore Highland Haxxors (HHH) took control of the Scottish Executive Web site and renamed it as the “Scottish H4xecutive” after the web consultancy responsible for the security failings on the Scottish Parliament site with content including:

“The new civil servants charged with advising Scottish politicians and enforcing their policy have also accused the Welsh Office of rustling sheep. In retaliation, the HHH has declared that Scotland is now at war with Wales.”

“The Scottish Executive has estimated that over 5000 sheep have been rustled by agents of the Welsh office in the last six months. It is of our opinion that these sheep that were destined for the butchers of Carlisle will soon end up on the streets of Cardiff.”

“In force IMMEDIATELY is a state of WAR between us to put right the theft of our precious sheep.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said that although the incident was embarrassing there was “no threat to internal security” and “Our internal system is quite separate from the information on our Web site”, he said adding that all was being done to resolve the problem.

Newspapers around the world carried the story.

Spanish media’s www.noticias.com reported that:

“Un grupo hacker denominado “Hardcore Highland Haxxors” consiguió acceso al servidor web del gobierno regional de Escocia, reemplazando la imagen del Primer Ministro Donald Dewar con la del líder nacionalista Alex Salmond. Los administradores del sistema tuvieron que desconectarlo de la red para arreglar el daño hecho por los hackers.

“La nota del gobierno, sin embargo, no ha especificado si los hackers tenían algún motivo político. Salmond es el líder de la independentista Scottish National Party (SNP), la mayor oposición escocesa en el nuevo parlamento. Entre otras cosas, los hackers cambiaron el nombre del Scottish Executive por el de Scottish H4xecutive y declararon em broma la guerra a Gales, alegando el robo de 5.000 ovejas escocesas.”

ZDNet’ s Will Knight commented that the “Hardcore Highland Haxxors had made a serious political statement by replacing a picture of the First Minister of Scotland, Donald Dewar, with one of Alex Salmond leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party”.

A spokesperson from the Scottish parliament, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not consider the Welsh war declaration an earth-shaking matter.

“I don’t think the messages were really serious. I don’t really know what they were all about. I think it was some sort of abstract humour. It just shows that security needs to be a bit tighter.”

In the January of 2014 just after the bells had rung and a full 708 years or so after Wallace’s death, many of us Scots received a message from the current incumbent of the post of First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond. In a quasi HRM Queen Elizabeth II delivery Mr Salmond said that 2014 would be a “truly amazing year”.

You can view Mr Salmond’s New Year message at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/#slide/1/paused of course but in essence it says

“Happy Hogmanay from the National Library of Scotland. I am at an exhibition called The A to Z of Scotland. It highlights the contribution our country has made to the world from Dolly the sheep to the Dandy, penicillin, Harry Potter, television and tarmac roads.”

Penicillin is of course a life saving invention but the Dandy and Harry Potter? Dolly is of course thankfully deceased God rest her soul.

The discovery of Penicillin is often attributed to Sir Alexander Fleming, though according to Welsh history, Fleming’s friend and colleague Merlin Pryce may have been the actual discoverer.

No wonder the Hardcore Highland Haxxors were so keen to declare war on Wales back in 1999.

As for the Dandy and Harry Potter, many of us Scots hesitate to boast about either.

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TV Smith – An Advert For The Art of Protest

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion 1 Response »

Jan 022014

Local Punk stalwart Fred Wilkinson of Toxik Ephex opened for Tim aka TV Smith at the Moorings on 21 December; anyone for hundreds of miles around – literally – who truly loved punk was there. Suzanne Kelly reviews.

There are some people for whom The Adverts’ contribution to punk starts and ends with Gary Gilmore’s Eyes; they are the equivalent of the adult who never grows out of eating fish fingers and has no idea a whole world of culinary delights are out there.

Such people are either to be pitied, or frogmarched if not pogo’d to a TV Smith performance.

A few years (decades?) back I had the privilege of seeing Smith perform fairly frequently in London.

It is amazing how little he’s changed physically (the hair is now short, and he remains wiry in the extreme), or sadly how little the need for his music has changed.

Lyrically, I can’t think of any similar punk solo artist who is so consistently, elegantly sticking a metaphorical pin into society’s ills. The melodies are haunting, elegantly simple, and no small part of the reason people remember the words and their messages so accurately.

‘Lies’ is easily one of the most powerful and musically engaging anti animal experimentation works anyone’s ever written.

It appears on a compilation, ‘Artists for Animals’ and even with contributions from Madness, Captain Sensible and Chumbawamba, it was the most memorable track on the album. Its opening lines sum up the animal experimentation industry sharply and succinctly:-

So you say we’ll live longer
With a cure for cancer, with a cure for heart attack
Science saves!, Science conquers!
And we get new toothpaste, and we get a new floor wax
You lied to me, lied to me, lied to me
I fell for it, cause I wanted it, I wanted it easy

http://www.tvsmith.com/archives/tabs.php?sid=65&sort=

Before the show I have a chance to speak to Tim; he’s relaxed and smiling as he’s getting ready in a Moorings back room.

He has four books out now which are on sale tonight (Volume Five will be out this year and Aberdeen will be in it!); there are a few t-shirts left and a host of CDs – unreleased material, live shows, studio work. We briefly talk about how merchandising is a necessity for every act on the road today. Petrol, hotels and food are not getting any cheaper, and with music being openly pirated/stolen, sales of goods to the fans keep acts on the road. He’s done an incredible 122 shows in 2013; tonight will be his last before 2014.

“If I didn’t love doing it, I wouldn’t be doing it” he confirms.

We talk about the rigours of touring, and how it’s taken its toll on many different acts (he’s now frequently touring as an opening act to the UK Subs; the Vibrators mainly used to take that spot).

Touring has taken its toll on many bands; Knox for instance doesn’t tour with The Vibrators at present. But Smith seems to thrive on tour.

“I don’t use a set list” Smith says as I try to get an idea of what he’ll be doing tonight, “I try to react to what the audience wants.” We chat for a while longer, and I thank him for his time, telling him he’ll probably want some time to get ready. He laughs and says “I’m going to have a beer.”

Smith and Fred Wilkinson talk for a while at the bar; they’ve not met before, but have more than a few things in common – subject matter, punk longevity, writing/singing/playing. When Fred comes on, Smith listens attentively.

What can I say about Fred Wilkinson?

A fortnight ago, a Press & Journal reviewer gave his boss’ wife’s restaurant at the Trump golf course a score of 6 out of 6. I’ll bet the reviewer would not have dared to do otherwise.

Thankfully no such pressures exist at Aberdeen Voice, where Fred is editor and a founder. That Wilkinson’s performance was worth a 6 out of 6 rating on the P&J scale is due not to Fred’s editorship of the Voice, but is rather due to 30+ years of writing and performing brought to bear tonight.

He sings and plays bouzouki with material covering industrial injury (“cotton dust has got my lungs”), coal mining (“I miss the noise, I miss the boys, I miss the collier’s ways”). The backing band includes musicians who have been in and out of long-running local punk act, Toxik Ephex.

Tonight’s set is significantly more restrained an outing than the recent Toxik Ephex Malt Mill appearance with Dod Copland (and half the audience) on vocals.

That outing was chaotic, frenetic with band members and audience members changing roles and places with some speed.

Some random guy played guitar while Dod Copland left for a cigarette. Pink feather dusters were waved in the air, a nod to the bizarre arrest of Copland this past summer.

The police lay siege to his flat for hours on the apparent eyewitness claim a man was inside with a gun. The police eventually realised the home was empty, trashed it in a search for guns, and took Copland into custody (they deny it was an arrest) days later in a dawn raid at his girlfriend’s flat.

During his hours in custody, they apparently tried to get him to say his feather duster could have been mistaken for a gun. Of course it could have. There’s no shortage of material for punk songwriters in Aberdeen.

Meanwhile, back at the Moorings, Fred Wilkinson introduces and his newly brought together backing band for the last few songs, and their set goes down well.

That there is much more to Fred’s music than classic punk is displayed tonight in material clearly influenced by traditional Scottish music, rock and dare I say it – country.

Smith comes on. A couple, probably in their 30s, are singing every line; we are singing together before I know it.

We are all happy when Smith plays the first few chords of ‘March of the Giants’ (one of Smith’s most recognised and acclaimed songs) and at least half the crowd is singing along on the chorus (“It’s not art, it’s not science, it’s the march of the giants”).

The couple have driven up from Manchester today.

“We come to see TV every time he plays in the UK” they tell me.

I soon can’t help but call out for two of my favourite songs like the rest of the audience is doing, ‘Lies’ and ‘Straight and Narrow’. The Manchester set particularly approve of this last choice, and start shouting for it as well.

“I haven’t played this for a while” Smith says.

It’s a short, sad story of the difficulty if not impossibility of coming back from a criminal record, and how people can be forced into crime in certain circumstances.

I was thinking about this piece with its reference to ‘3 months of Sundays’ as a reference to a prison sentence in light of the ‘Affluenza’ defence shockingly and successfully used by a rich American man recently who struck and killed someone with his car.

The defence had argued that the accused believed his family’s wealth and position cushioned him from being responsible for his actions. How true that proved. And I’m happy that the couple, clearly younger than Smith or than me, know every line. (Here are the lyrics, which are well worth reading )

Smith’s playing sounds just as rousing, heartfelt and true as it ever has.

The voice is the same; it has anger and appeals; it is a call for people to get involved in what’s going on all around us and do something positive about it.

His music and lyrics have influenced more activism than he may suspect. This is not music to be complacent by.

I think of Donald Trump, and can’t help but wish TV Smith would pen something about the goings-on at Menie; it seems a natural for Smith’s talents.

‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ comes towards the end of the evening; even those who weren’t as familiar with the solo material as they are to The Adverts are singing along.

For some reason a human pyramid appears at the front of the stage, and sways drunkenly for a few minutes before its inevitable collapse in a heap of legs.

“I’ve not had a human pyramid before” Smith says; he’s amused. The Moorings have managed to entertain the entertainer.

More drinks are had; more CDs and books are sold. While I am no autograph hound, I do like to collect books signed by their authors; and the opportunity is seized.

He’ll be back before long, and we’re looking forward to it; I do think the Manchester contingent will be back, too.

This evening’s been another memorable one for the Moorings; Hen, Flash and Fudge continue to come up with amazing acts. We’ll just have to see what’s next, but do come see Smith when he’s here next – particularly in a town like Aberdeen, his music strikes chords and hits nerves.

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The High Girders

Articles, Opinion 13 Responses »

Dec 262013

Duncan Harley has a review copy of “Scotland’s Future” – the book the Scottish Government don’t want you to read because it’s so awfully longwinded.

The Scottish Government has quite recently published a glossy 649 page guide to Scotland’s Future as a pdf and you can of course order a free hard copy.

If all 7.132 billion of the world wide population ordered a copy of “Scotland’s Future” even the Darien Disaster would appear insignificant in terms of the resultant Scottish national debt and the more recent history of Scotland.

If all 5.295 million of us Scots ordered a copy the English would no doubt be made to pay.

Billed as the answer to all questions regarding the independence debate it’s a riveting read indeed.

This correspondent can however reveal that to date however, few have actually read the longwinded tome.

Mrs Catto of Aberdeen commented:

“I don’t understand why they even published it. It’s too heavy.”

Mr Green from Methlick commented that:

“I can’t even lift the book, never mind understand it.”

Mr Brown from Hamilton said:

“I never asked for this, what is Salmond playing at? As a registered blind person there is no way I will read this.”

Most Scots however should, at the very least, order a few copies so as to tell their grandchildren that they looked hard at the issues and completely understood the way ahead prior to independence.

The White Paper on Scotland’s Future promised much more than either the document or the launch managed to deliver. Scotland’s current First Minister Alex Salmond and his sidekick Nicola Sturgeon MSP launched the white paper with a promise that “every child from age one to starting school is guaranteed 30 hours of provision for 38 weeks of the year.”

Bang on really in terms of independence speak. Bang on really in terms of impressing the world’s press.

A wet squid? A damp banger? Or just a wasted opportunity perhaps. History will no doubt reveal the truth.

Defence of the realm, the Scottish economy, Scottish EEC membership and the issues of tax, social welfare, diplomacy and healthcare are indeed however covered in some detail throughout the length and depth of the book.

On page 236 the slightly embarrassing publication details plans for the defence of Scotland in the event of invasion by a foreign power.

It seems that Scotland will be part of “collective defence arrangements involving the reconfiguring of the defence estate inherited at the point of independence to meet Scotland’s need and the progressive build up of Scotland’s army to a total of fifteen thousand regular troops over the ten years following independence.”

As if the reassurance offered was insufficient, the White Paper goes on to say that units of the Scottish Army will seemingly carry on the names, identities and traditions of Scotland’s regiments, including those “lost in the defence reorganisation of 2006.”

On Macroeconomic Policy we are advised that countries of a similar size to Scotland have enjoyed very low levels of borrowing costs via careful management of public finances. Scotland will seemingly “establish a debt management function.”

Regarding firearms, the white paper advises that the Scottish Government will introduce full powers to introduce airgun legislation. Regarding drug use, the Scottish Government will introduce a drug strategy. Regarding Road Traffic Law, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding gambling, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding broadcasting, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding Channel 4, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding the National Lottery, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding culture and heritage, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding international phone charges, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding Royal Mail, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding the price of stamps, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding mobile phone charges, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding the question of a separate passport for Scottish Nationals, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding citizenship, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding crime and the dialling of 999 for assistance, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding the police, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding justice, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding oil and gas emissions, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding carbon capture and storage, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding farming and food production, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation. Regarding health and safety, the Scottish Government will introduce legislation.

The tome drones on and on about people down the decades wondering about how “a country blessed with such wealth, talent and resources could and should have done more to realise the potential we know exists for everyone.”

“constructive working together will continue after independence” says Alex Salmond in the introductory message.

In truth many of us Scots will have little idea what he means.

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Aberdeen V Motherwell – Pittodrie Stadium 26.12.13

Aberdeen City, Sport No Responses »

Dec 262013

Aberdeen were left with their tails between their legs by a frustrating and defensively stubborn Motherwell side, says Voice reporter Andrew Watson.

Brisk weather conditions ensured the match would be an evenly contested outing, as opposed to the freakish winds that aided Barry Robson’s corner kick goal against St Mirren about a fortnight ago.

He insisted in an interview earlier, however, that it was entirely deliberate!

Moving on, Aberdeen had a clear cut chance very early on in the game, with Jonny Hayes sending a free header totally off target. His timely tackles throughout more than made up for this.

The Dons dominated most of the first half with chances aplenty. However, there was little incision, with many backward and side to side passing merely to maintain possession.

After the break, Motherwell came out resolved and ready to turn the tables on the Pittodrie side. Slack passing between Willo Flood and Ryan Jack gave opportunity for the Fir Park men to exploit.

0-1 (Lionel Ainsworth) after 49 minutes.

70 minutes into the game, defender Joe Shaughnessy left the pitch to be replaced by Josh Magennis. Fifteen minutes later, Robson came off for Craig Murray, and Calvin Zola came on for Scott Vernon.

I suppose it’s only karma that Aberdeen would have a seemingly legitimate goal disallowed. Why, only a fortnight ago, the Reds benefitted from a similar decision going against St Mirren.

The crowd’s reaction, a mixture of relief and euphoria was what you’d usually expect come a goal. However, there was a marked difference. No goal scorer mentioned over the tannoy system.

I daresay that they missed Mark Reynolds in the heart of defence. Also, starting with a player of the size and stature of Zola may have helped batter, bruise and weary the well drilled Steelmen.

Final score: 0-1.

Musings Of A Newish Music Photographer No.9

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Dec 242013

In her continuing series on the life of a pit photographer, Voice’s Julie Thompson pulls focus on The Bloody Marys Christmas Stocking at The Lemon Tree, Darth Elvis & the Imperials and Juicy Juicy Juice at The Moorings and The Lorelei, Brothers Reid and The Deportees at The Lemon Tree.

As Christmas is heading towards us at great speed, I went looking for seasonal musical offerings this week. Unfortunately, with two of the things on my schedule happening on the same evening, it meant a curtailed evening for both events.
Heading off to the Lemon Tree for The Bloody Marys, I encountered many more women than I am used to these days.

There was also an extreme preponderance of feather boas. Hardly surprising, given the nature of the reason we were all there. We were all there to party.

The Bloody Marys are a trio of guys who, considering what I had heard about them, were pretty sedately dressed in matching Christmas jumpers (a Reindeer pattern with a flashing red nose) for the first half of their set.

I was waiting in the pit – which I had to myself – when they walked on and ripped straight into Fame, which quickly had the place jumping, followed by Disco Inferno & Mama Mia.

The stage was curtained by shimmering material, and a Christmas tree adorned the raised platform normally occupied by a drum kit.

Under the tree were a series of wrapped presents. Snowflakes dangled from the ceiling. All very festive.

My 3 songs were up so I wandered off up to the second tier as they began Pray – which they accompanied with choreographed boy band style dancing. At the end they had the first present giveaway – punters had to vote on who was the best dancer and the winner got to distribute a present to someone in the crowd.

I caught a glimpse of the contents of one of the parcels later on – they were limited edition Bloody Marys t-shirts.

I went down into the dance area to get a bit of atmosphere before I had to leave for The Moorings. A Grease medley, Heart Attack, another Abba number, Hungry like the Wolf and Gloria later, I headed off, as Gimme Gimme Gimme began.

When I had arrived at The Lemon Tree, I bumped into someone I knew from a shop I frequent. I asked her how the second half went – apparently the guitarist & keyboard players reappeared in wee white frocks and the lead singer in an angel outfit. Stockings, wings, full make-up – the whole works.

It was a shame I missed the second half as it would have made for some fun photographs. Maybe I’ll be able to catch them next year.

So, a great gig for a girls night out and even the guys had fun – yes, I saw you there!

So, on to The Moorings and Darth Elvis.
I had timed my arrival to the estimated stage time for the main act, but I was lucky enough to catch the very end of the debut of Juicy Juicy Juice, as things were running a bit late.

I had time to grab a few shots and get my camera adjusted from Lemon Tree to Moorings settings.

Darth Elvis – now there’s a name that plays with the imagination.

From their Facebook page bio:

“Darth Elvis & The Imperials are a Star Wars themed Elvis tribute band from Viva Mos Eisley. In 1977 Elvis didn’t die he turned to the Darkside of the Force and ever since he has been playing music venues around the Outer Rim Territory. The time has come for the Dark King of the Sith & his band of Imperials to return to the Galaxy where he is best known.”

OK, right now I am going to give some major kudos to these guys – especially the drummer, TK4468, who was in full Stormtrooper gear.

They stay in costume the whole show.

Anyone familiar with the Moorings knows how hot it gets in there – sweatbox is the word I hear used most often by bands to describe the place – so how these guys were not puddles of goo at the end, I have no idea.

The band – minus the lead vocalist – mounted the stage (it was actually quite amusing watching the Stormtrooper trying to bend his knees enough to climb up there) and began playing The Imperial March as Darth Elvis advanced through the audience, jingling bells.

Under the dark cloak wasn’t the bejewelled white Vegas suit I was expecting, but a red & white Santa suit.

So, it seems we have a Darth Elvis Santa tonight.

Between such numbers as Gungan in Disguise ((You’re the) Devil in Disguise), Viva Mos Eisley (Viva Las Vegas), Burning Sith (Burning Love), You ain’t nothing but a Nerf Herder (containing the memorable line “You ain’t never caught a womp rat and you ain’t no friend of mine.”) Darth distributed presents from a snowman stocking.

I’m pretty sure he said one of the objects he tossed into the crowd was a tin of lube, but maybe my ears were playing up.

Of course there was the obligatory Christmas song – Merry Sithmas Everyone – and lots of laughs and singalongs.

It was an easy shoot, apart from the hood obscuring the face of Darth a lot of the time. All in all, a fun, totally non-serious but exhausting night.

My last festive gig was at The Lemon Tree with the ever popular The Lorelei – possibly my favourite local band – which I first encountered at Belladrum this year. Always a fun bunch, I’d been looking forward to this one. Sadly, Diane (who is currently cooking a new mini-Lorelei, due next year) was unable to join the boys on her viola.

The Lorelei – ‘Imagine a rock band and a folk band having a fight and the rock band just coming out best.

That’s The Lorelei!’

The stage area was decorated with tinsel and fairy lights and there were a few balloons scattered about the place.

There were two support acts before the main – The Deportees and Brothers Reid – both providing pleasant folk/rocky music to get us in the mood.

Before The Lorelei came on, I went to check with Captain Tom if it was ok to shoot from the floor after my time in the pit was up.

He was happy to let me do that and also said I could go behind the magic curtain (well, the side curtain that the band use) so I could photograph the shy and elusive Keith the drummer.

John came on stage and began to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. There was a murmur from the crowd and I turned to see a white bearded Flossie (Mandolin/Fiddle) leading a dancing Rudolph through the crowd.

Beefy (Lead Guitar) & Jonny (Bass) hurriedly disrobed brown fur and the band joined John onstage. Keith the elf took the drum stool and away they went, 100 miles an hour as usual.

Something soft bounced off my head at one point and I looked around to see what was it was. Oddly, there was to be a lot more balloons about than there were between me walking down to the pit and now.
I had no idea where they came from, but better a balloon to the head than any of the other things it could have been.

My 3 songs were up as the pit started filling up with balloons, so I waded through them to the exit and took up position at the pit wall for the rest of the gig.

I’ll tell you this, it is really hard to keep a steady camera hand when you’re bopping to the music. I’ve been in The Lemon Tree quite a few times now – on some very busy nights – but this was the first time I had actually felt the floor bounce.

There were bets taken as to how long Keith would wear the elf suit before evaporating and we were treated to a striptease – with appropriate music – when he finally gave in.

The elf suit made its way across the stage and was thrown into the audience with a call of ‘Who wants to smell the drummer?’ This brought a reply of ‘We already can!’ The last time I saw the costume, it was being worn by a brave chap who may have been lacking a sense of smell.

There were explosions from confetti cannons but sadly the snow machine was not co-operating – which I’m sure pleased The Lemon Tree staff.

The crowd was fantastic, there simply to have fun, exchange some banter, sing along and dance.

The inevitable Christmas song was the Bob Dylan song It Must Be Santa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus). A nice change from the typical songs you hear and oddly in keeping with The Lorelei style.

A great gig that really helped kindle some of my festive spirit, greatly lacking until now.

As the evening came to a stomping close, I wandered over for a chat with Beefys wife, Captain Tom and one or two other folk before being politely asked to vacate the premises.

As I left, the brushes were out as staff cleared up the scattered remains of burst balloon skins and confetti.

Candy canes from the tree were being eaten by the bar staff, as this was the last event before Christmas.

I have some gigs lined up in the weekend between Christmas and New Year but George Mackie is proving rather elusive to pin down long enough for a chat.

Maybe I need a tranquiliser gun to slow him down a bit.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Festivus, Midwinter, Yule, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – or whatever you may celebrate at this time of year – and I hope your New Year is a better one.

More Photos:

The Bloody Marys
Darth Elvis
Juicy Juicy Juice
The Lorelei
Brothers Reid
The Deportees

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