Mary Barbour ‘stars’ in Gala Concert

This is the original release that led to the story re the Gala concert appearing in The Herald recently - here, and also in Pat's Guide to the West End, here. Thanks to both. The tickets are now on sale from the Concert Halls box office - see link below.

A major Gala Concert has been announced to raise funds to create the statue of 1915 Rent Strike leader, and political activist, Mary Barbour.


The concert, which is scheduled for 21 February in Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket, will feature some of Scotland’s leading performers in a great night of entertainment, song and music. Names are to be announced in the New Year.
 

Maria Fyfe

Maria Fyfe, Chair of the Remember Mary Barbour Association said. “We’ve planned this major concert to celebrate Mary’s life and work. It is part of our continuing campaign to create an appropriate tribute to one of Glasgow’s greatest heroes. Following the unveiling of the five statue maquettes, we are busy circulating them, ensuring as many people as possible get the chance to have their say. They’ll be on show at the concert.

“We have been fundraising for just over a year now and are more than halfway to our target of £110,000. So we’ve asked Fairpley to put together this concert. It will be simultaneously a major method of raising the funds to fill the gap, a huge public display of support for this project and, of course, a great night out!”

Mary Barbour led the successful rent strike of 1915 and went on to play a leading role in the labour movement as a Glasgow Councillor and energetic social reformer. Following an extensive campaign to have her contribution recognised, five sculptors were shortlisted to create a statue of her to be placed in her community of Govan. So far each has created a maquette of a proposed statue . These were unveiled in November and are being toured across Glasgow from then until February. See them on the Facebook page here.

Details of the Gala Concert are as follows

Remember Mary Barbour – Gala Concert , Sunday 21 February, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 7.30pm, Tickets: £25, from the Glasgow Concert Halls box office. http://www.glasgowconcerthalls.com/Pages/home.aspx#  0141 353 8000. For further information  - www. remembermarybarbour.com/ and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RememberMaryBarbour/

 

The Word on the Streets.... of Oldham

Of all the commentary on the huge success that was Labour’s victory in the Oldham by-election, few if any commentators seem to have noticed one of the most significant factors.

The key point (I think) is how out of sync the attitudes of the media (and many members of the professional ‘political’ bubble) are with the general public. While hostile commentators (incidentally – this does not only mean right-wingers) were predicting an embarrassingly low majority or maybe even a defeat that they could place at the door of Jeremy Corbyn, the people of Oldham were delivering the best ever result for Labour in the seat with a 62.1% share of the vote!

Jim McMahon and Jeremy Corbyn after the Oldham By-election

So why this disconnect, especially in a week that was supposed to be embarrassing for Corbyn after the Syria vote? Well, there are a number of reasons, and they are not good reading for the right – either in or out of the Labour benches. Oh, and none of them are the sudden conversion of the people of Britain to revolutionary socialism!

First is the tendency of too many people inside the political bubble to only hear the comforting sounds of like-minded ‘bubbleists’ – and by these I mean journalists and commentators as well as political colleagues – rather than the word on the streets.

A Daily Telegraph image from early 2015.

For a long time politicians have tried to make sure that they all look, and sound the same. Media advisers, strategists and PR people have been telling them for so long that they need to avoid committed policy statements, need to try and gather together the ‘middle ground’, that they haven’t noticed that they have all become the same. That is, of course, they have all become the type of career, PR-slick, media-savvy, policy-lite, people that delivered us the Westminster-expenses scandal. The politicians people are thinking of when they say, “They’re all the same – just out for themselves.”

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s advantages with that electorate is precisely that he isn’t that type of politician. He does come across (as incidentally does Nigel Farage!) as someone who says what he believes, and believes what he says. It is unlikely (much as I would like it to be the case) that everyone who voted for Corbyn in the Leadership election, has been part of the huge growth in Labour membership, or who voted Labour in Oldham are revolutionary socialists. They are people who want to see a change. In Corbyn’s anti-austerity, compassionate and principled stance (UNlike Nigel Farage) they think they have found it.

That backing from ordinary people is significant in another way too, of course. It means that Corbyn is not a prisoner of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). He was (for the most part) not supported as leader by them, but was elected by the membership as a whole in the way that the right in the party said they wanted. That also means that he isn’t a ‘prisoner of the unions’ as Miliband was accused of being! This sudden strength of the ordinary member – and indeed the large increase in their number, must be a tad worrying for MPs facing selection! Maybe the urgent hostility of some in the PLP might be to do with a feeling they don’t have long? Certainly Corbyn seems to be the one playing the long game, and his perceived ‘light touch’ in response to hostile comments from supposed colleagues doesn’t seem to be doing him any harm with the public (or the membership). Maybe this is another example of ‘not just another politician’?

The second reason for the disconnect is that there are many fewer journalists with anything like the time to get out of the office or the lobby and actually go and research a story – to find out what is being said on the streets of Oldham or wherever. If all you listen to are politicians feeding you their wishes, if all you check are the tweets of the twitterati, when there is something going on out there, you’ll not spot it.

Of course if you work for a media organization with an agenda that swings only one way then you will also know what you are expected to write, but even if you are a good political journalist (and there are many), the way to get rid of the temptation to take the story fed to you, must often be to give into it, - especially if it is being punted by regular sources.

Thirdly, and maybe more controversially, am I alone in seeing a reduction in the power of the media? The reduction in sales of newspapers and the dispersal of ‘news’ around the social media sites may (and it is too early to be definite about this) herald the relaxing of the grip of the media barons. It certainly appears that there are increasing examples – not least Corbyn’c election as leader – where a media line has failed to deliver the proponent’s desired result.

On the Streets. Campaigning in Oldham

Finally – although this has been mentioned albeit briefly – the other thing that helps at election time is a good local candidate. Many of the current crop of Westminster politicians got where they were after carpet-bagging around the country to try and gain a safe seat. This reinforces the image of the ‘Slick Willie’ brand of politician. While local council leaders aren’t always the right person for selection, they usually have a local profile. Where that is a positive one – and it certainly appears to be in Oldham – a local candidate has considerable weight.

It seems clear that if Jeremy Corbyn can maintain the principled and measured approach he has so far, it will maintain his popularity in the eyes of the public. If that continues to reflect in political support it may help in dealing with recalcitrants! It also means that attacks on Corbyn for continuing to say the things he believes are unlikely to attract much support from the electorate.

Reeling in the (Cuban) Years!

A little late (I was away at a conference when it was published) here is a link to my review of

the First Havana/Glasgow Film Festival that the Morning Star published last Thursday.

Conducta - Five star film

The review was necessarily edited and lost the ratings I gave the films I saw (for the record they were; Conducta - *****; Mi Dicen Cuba - *** and Boccaccerios Habaneros - ****).

The overall standard of the films I saw was very good indeed, and it is quite salutary to realise, that if it hadn't been for this new film festival, people in Glasgow (and elsewhere in the UK) would have had little or no opportunity to see them. 

I think that it is also significant that, despite some levels of support from some local institutions - Glasgow City Council, Glasgow School of Art, GFT, and the bar, Mango amongst others - the Festival's organiser, Eirene Houston, expended a considerable outlay of both money and time to bring it to Glasgow.

We must ensure that this First Festival isn't the last. There is quite clearly a major cinematic ferment in Havana which it would be important to see, and even if and when that is covered, the theme could surely be broadened to cover other Latin American countries. Of course, also usefully explored could be our western view of Cuba (touched on in the festival with the showing of In Cuba They're Still Dancing). 

Let's make sure this is the first of many

The other thing we must ensure is that the infrastructure that makes everything happen, isn't suspended from such a shoogly nail!

Cuba – land of problem and promise

Fernando Perez - in Glasgow Saturday!

The First Havana/Glasgow Film Festival has started with a bang. The first film La Pericula de Ana, was reportedly a very funny launch, and Conducta - on last night, was an outstanding film - a review of which is below. 

Me dicen Cuba

 Tonight, the island's music takes centre stage with Me Dicen Cuba. The highlight, though, comes on Saturday, when the leading Cuban Film Director, Fernando Perez comes to the festival to talk about his film La Pared de las Palabras – this will be shown at 3.00pm, GFT. Later that day a discussion on Socialism Reinvented? will be accompanied by two well-known Glasgow films - In Cuba they're still Dancing, and Red Skirts on Clydeside. This last event is at Glasgow Uni's Gilmorehill Centre, See the festival website for details. www.hgfilmfest.com

Conducta (Behaviour) – 2014 – *****  GFT
This UK premiere of Ernesto Daranas’ Conducta was a triumphant debut as part of an increasingly impressive first Film Festival. The film pulls no punches in its examination of the underbelly of the Cuban revolution. The beautifully filmed, crumbling buildings of Havana are symbolic of the crumbling of the society. But ultimately it is a film full of hope.
 

Conducta - Hope takes wing

 The film centres round the troubled Chala (superbly played by young Armando Valdes Freire), and the impact on him of his mother’s drug abuse, his father(?), Ignazio’s illegal dogfighting ring and his own run-ins with the police.  His only positive is his deep relationship with his (older) form teacher, Carmela (Alina Rodriguez). This is threatened by her championship of the troublesome kid, and his young ‘girlfriend’ Yeni (another great performance by Amaly Junco). Cue clashes with (younger) authority figures over Chala’s future.

But hope wins through – Chala’s real interest is flying pigeons, Yeni (and Carmela) break the link with the dogfights, and Carmela does not succumb to pressure to retire. Is the film a clash between the older ‘revolution’ and the new ‘commercialism’? If so, young teacher Marta’s move from replacement to support for Carmela is hopeful, as is Ignazio’s tacit acceptance of responsibility. The beauty of the filming too, indicates a deep love for the people and city, on both sides of the ubiquitous railroad tracks.

Mrs Barbour’s Army – 100 years on!

As we approach November 17 – the centenary of the day the court case against 18 Glasgow women on Rent Strike was dropped – it is probably not surprising that the amount of references to Mary Barbour, and in particular the proposed statue to commemorate the activist, campaigner and politician, are likely to increase dramatically.

Mary Barbour

The Scottish Morning Star ‘Our Class, Our Culture’ series of events starts the feature tomorrow (3 November) – with a talk by Maria Fyfe on Rent Strikes and Red Clydeside. The former Labour MP for Maryhill is now Chair of the Remember Mary Barbour Association and will no doubt be keen to bring everyone up to speed on the status of the statue project as well as bringing out some of the important advances that Mary contributed. This is at the STUC centre at 7.00pm. Details here.

Hopefully the woefully small number of prominent women marked by  statues in Glasgow (three at the last count) will soon be increased!

The AJ Taudevin play, Mrs Barber’s Daughters, first performed at A

Mrs Barbour's Daughters. Photo - Leslie Black

Play, a Pie and a Pint, at Oran Mor in 2014, has a fresh outing at the Tron this week. From the 4 -7 Nov this short play, incorporating worker, protest and popular songs from the last 100 years, will update the history and point to lessons for today.  7.45pm each night – details here.

And watch out on the 17 itself, for the latest steps in the statue saga!

Political, cultural and lifestyle links celebrated in Glasgow/Havana film festival.

Many people over the years have commented on the parallels between the cities of Glasgow and Havana. The enthusiasm for dance, music and film that envelopes both cities has been often referred to, and no doubt led in part to the historic twinning of the two cities 13 years ago this month. Tangible evidence of the benefits of that twinning are on screen in Glasgow this week, as the first Glasgow/Havana Film Festival opens.

The festival, brainchild of the Cubaphile screenwriter and director, Eirene Houston, features at least three (count ‘em) UK premieres of Cuban films, Q&As with well-known Cuban directors – including Fernando Perez whose La Pared de las Palabras premieres at the GFT on 7 Nov, and Alejandro Valera who recently moved to live in Glasgow. His Boccaccerias Habaneras premieres on 8 Nov at Gilmorehill. It also features Houston’s own 2012 film Day of the Flowers.

Eirene Houston. Pic-Martin Shields

 Houston said at last night’s opening, that she had been ‘in love with Cuba, since 1997. The people are so similar.’ She herself worked at the film school in Havana and has built up many film and TV contacts which became key to the creation of the festival.

The political links between the two cities are also covered by a film and discussion night on Saturday 7, at Gilmorehill, Glasgow University. Glasgow TUC Chair and UNISON official, Jennifer McCarey chairs a discussion on Socialism Reinvented, and two seminal Glasgow-based TV productions are given a welcome airing – Barbara Orton’s 1993 feature on Rolls Royce shop steward, Labour councillor and dance enthusiast, Agnes McLean – In Cuba they’re still Dancing is followed by Red Skirts on Clydeside, the 1984 programme that started the reassessment of the role of Glasgow’s women in red Clydeside.

Me Dicen Cuba - Alexander Abreu

Other films that promise much include, Me Dicen Cuba (6 Nov, Gilmorehill) – the story of Cuba’s greatest musicians coming together to record the title song of a documentary in support of the Cuban 5; Conducta – the UK premiere of the most universally successful Cuban film since Strawberry and Chocolate (5 Nov, GFT); and La Pericula de Ana (3 Nov, GFT) a film about a native Cuban actress and exploitative foreign filmmakers!

Couple all this with a celebration of Cuban food (in Stravaigin on 4 Nov), the launch of Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt’s book on the central role of Cuban Culture – To Defend the Revolution is to Defend Culture - (in the CCA on the 7 Nov) and to make the cities’ links complete – a revival of the Club Cubana nights, Glasgow used to see! (In Mango, Sauchiehall Street, 6 Nov). Full Programme is available from the festival website, here. You’ll find something you want to see, hear or eat/drink!

Sharp in word and politics

The Morning Star has published some more of my Festival reviews. Again, and for obvious reasons, they have amalgamated a number of reviews into one piece here. Here is one of the original reviews - of Elvis McGonagall's excellent new show.

Are you being Served?

Elvis McGonagall - Countrybile, the Stand in the Square. 1.40pm every day. until 30 Aug. 5/5

Performance poet, Elvis McGonagall launched his new show at the fringe. In a Yurt. In the St Andrew's Square Gardens. And he's dealing with the trials (and benefits) of living in the country. Be not afeared though, those of you who revel in his pointed political poetry, there's still plenty of that, particularly now " the Lib Dem stabilisers are off the Tory tricycle of doom!"

But the new show deals in more 'lifestyle' topics than pure politics, although that doesn't mean that targets aren't skewered. Kirstie Allsopp's self-help programmes, Mammals (or middle aged men in Lycra) and in particular the heartfelt lament of pub barstaff (Are you being served?) point to the truth of so-called rural idylls, and can make you lose your mascara laughing. Not that all is nasty in the woodshed. An lovely lyrical piece - Purbeck - the enduring isle - celebrates the beauty and persistence of landscape.

But politics will out, and Greece is the word and No more Mr Nice Guy - a hymn to Aspiration, plant us back in modern times. McGonagall's genius is his ability to hone his language into a a rapier-like instrument - and then to plant it firmly between the ribs that deserve it. "bend it like Blatter'" indeed!

Some more familiar material is woven into the show, from the litany of Scottish icons in The Scottish Lion's Rampant to the gangsta rap version of the Queens Speech - "Bessie in the big house" is indeed "comin' atcha"- and in the process displays McGonagall's gift for impression. We're left with the hint of hope. "Have the courage to be kind."

A top lunchtime treat. What's not to like? Go.

Edinburgh Festivals 3. Sin, Dystopia and Scotland

...and this is the two of the other reviews from Saturday's Morning Star article (see previous blog). (The other one was in my first Edinburgh blog.)

Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Edinburgh International Festival, Queen's Hall. 19-22 Aug 8.00pm 4/5

James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner is deservedly a cult novel. Written at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and set at the beginning of the previous century, it deals with the history of a character (Robert Wringhim) who is convinced by a doppelgänger (Gil-Martin) that he is a member of the elect, chosen by God for heaven and therefore unable to sin whatever he does. And what he does is murder.

However the fascination of the book is in what we don't know. Who is Gil-Martin? The devil? An evil twin? Or maybe a part of Wringhim's own mind - and an early exposition of the duality inherent in Scottish fiction from Stevenson to Gray. The novel operates on different levels.

George Anton in Confessions... (photo Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

This is where the drama takes place, Untitled Projects go on to place further layers of artifice on top of that. It is a recreation of a (failed) attempt to stage a version of the book, and the toll it takes on its participants, one of whom, actor George Anton tells the story.

Constructed from a hugely impressive collection of artefacts - books, notebooks, posters, flyers, filmclips, and even the cassette from an answering machine - the drama unfolds leading to the inevitable death of the key participant - Paul Bright - who ends up inhabiting the part of the doomed Wringhim. The history of a young unsung radical Scottish theatre director is finally being told.

The level of detail that has been created in staging this 'history' is astounding. We enter through an exhibition of the artefacts. But we are gradually aware that something isn't quite right. The artefacts are manufactured, the films are of actors playing actors, Paul Bright never, in fact, existed. And we ask what we are really watching? Just as the book itself leaves us with the key layers and divisions unexplained, so the drama builds even more layers on top of that. Is Bright a reincarnation of Wringhim? What is the relationship between Anton and Bright? Is it all, in Anton's phrase 'lying and getting away with it'?

This is an important treatment of an vital novel - especially important at a time when the image Scotland has of itself is at a crossroads, and has the same fracture referred to by Hogg. It is also exceptionally well staged and created. It is a slight disappointment then, that the layers that are piled onto an already complex story, are a little self-referential. It is about more than drama and the arts.

How would you like your dystopia?
Dark Matter, Venue 13, 17.15, Until 29 August. 3/5
The trouble with dystopias that reflect where we are with any level of accuracy, is that it is

As civilization burns...

difficult to make them funny. Just referring to them as a ‘dark comedy’ doesn’t make it so. Such is the problem with Dark Matter, the first show by Dark Matters Productions. This is a apocalyptic and moral (possibly even religious) take on the financial and political crisis.

A congressman and a banker meet again as violence overwhelms Western civilization.  The financial meltdown has arrived, Congress is burning and the mob is stringing up those they consider responsible. These two have previous. Up to their pretty ears in involvement, and personal relationship, they’ve been brought back together by ‘the boss’, Nick (Old Nick?). There is drama, as the two fight about responsibility and personal guilt, but they are clearly locked together, at the end of the ‘world’. 

All seems dark as they leave the stage – but then a shiny chat show (or televangelist?) reveals the two ‘reborn’ as new age global leaders and happy marrieds. That the new order is based on the exposure/execution of the ‘boss’ and the ‘cleansing’ of most of the population gives the dark, satirical twist – think Chris Morris meets Charlie Brooker. The trouble is, we are shown the problem and the danger but given no inkling of a solution.
The writing is sharp. The acting good. The comedy bitter – but not that funny.  Best ironic moment is the valedictory music, as Barry McGuire (now a born-again Christian) sings his apocalyptic ‘Eve of Destruction’ as we file out!

Beware the spellchecker!... the real names of those Acts! - Edinburgh 2, Steel, Science and Beefheart

This weekend's Morning Star has published three of my Edinburgh festival reviews edited into one article. It is here. It is a masterpiece of compilation and compaction, and I have the utmost respect for those who can do this important job. However, when you are doing this, it is tempting to rely on the spellchecker to ensure accuracy. When you deal with people's names however, that sometimes goes wrong! As it has here! (How many can you spot?*)

The names of some less well known acts and actors have fallen foul of this gremlin, and for accuracy's sake, I'll reprint the original reviews with the real names, below! (My favourite typos are that great band - The Kings of Wheeze and the wonderful new talent - Erin Discarder!!). 

Oh, and if you haven't got your tickets for Elvis McGonagall, at the Stand in the Square - why not? 1.40pm every day until the 30 August. Tickets here.

Who do I think I am? - Mark Steel 5/5 - Assembly George Square, 20.15.  Until Aug 30.

Mark Steel - Who does he think he is?

So. The question on everyone's lips as Mark Steel took the stage in his first return to the Edinburgh Fringe in 20 years was... Would he be able to restrain from mentioning his newly acquired fame at being publicly rejected as a Labour supporter, even if his show was supposed to be about his own birth background (he was adopted from birth).

No great surprises to find out that he couldn't! But he didn't allow it to interrupt the flow of what was an intriguing birth story, yet ultimately one that had less influence on him than his upbringing in Swanley, Kent. For, what emerged from a fascinating story, was that Mark Steel - far from being the offspring of a North London lass, and a French man is in fact, half Scottish, and half Egyptian Jewish!

That, however, is (less than) half the story! For the scourge of British capitalism, whose socialism was fed by the unacceptable face of capitalism exemplified by the corruption of 'Tiny' Rowlands, Sir James Goldsmith and their ilk, has discovered that his birth father is a Wall Street trader and backgammon champion, who played with them in London's swanky Claremont Club!

Almost needless to say, it hasn't lessened the ascerbic tongue that Steel employs to flay those who  suggest that the financial crisis is caused by the poor having too much money, or that allowing gay marriage somehow devalues 'straight' marriage!

But the story both demonstrates how our background is the main driver in the formation of our character, but also allows a softer side of Mark Steel to emerge, especially in the clear love for his adoptive parents, but also in the understanding of his birth mother, and in particular, her family - even if they are revealed as Socialist Party supporters (the SWP's own particular 'People's Front of Judea' moment)!

What is also intriguing in a more general sense is the move of many of the more experienced 'political stand-ups' into more personal, narrative-based material. Mark Thomas also is experiencing that journey with both his Bravo Figaro, and his Cuckooed shows.
Once again - the personal, is the political. Especially in the person of Steel's birth father who, Steel wagers, wouldn't have been rejected from supporting the Labour Party! Get a ticket if you can.

Different for girls?

The Periodic Fable - a 'Panto Science' production,  Assembly Rooms 12.15. until 30 Aug. 4/5.
A Children's Panto Show? On Science teaching? In the Morning Star?

Unusual, perhaps. But if you consider the challenges that this show throws out it makes perfect sense. Designed to reclaim science for everyone and away from the clutches of the geeks, it shares a lot of space (and some of the jokes!) with E4's The Big Bang Theory - and that is no criticism! It also challenges gender stereotyping in the work we do - a key Star principle!

Indeed one of the key premises outlined by writer Bruce Morton and collaborator, Zara Gladman is that science is for women as well as men, girls as well as boys - and the response to the show from the  children present showed that it seemed to be working!

The performers, Erin McCardie and Karen Fraser establish an almost instant rapport with the young audience and the 'evil' Bruce Morton creates the panto vibe. Like good panto, there's also something in it for the adults. Topical references like the 'girls in the lab' gaffe of biochemist, Sir Tim Hunt and puns (Van der Giraffe Generator anyone?) are sprinkled among the songs, physical activity and experiments.

The show is witty, and succeeds in bridging an awkward gap. Its short length and small cast should mean that it is easily transferable to other venues after its run here.  

Beefheart and Cheeze 2, Henry's Cellar Bar, 14.08.15 7.00pm 4/5
In these days of tribute bands and rehashing of classic albums, how do you pay tribute to an

artist such as Captain Beefheart. So original that he hardly ever played his own material the same way twice! That's the problem facing Orange Claw Hammer (the name is taken from a track from the classic Trout Mask Replica album), a four piece formed by saxophonist and composer, Steve Kettley, to celebrate the Captain.

They do it by using Beefheart's music as a starting off point. Authentic tracks like Click Clack, and Veterans Day Poppy, are the inspiration rather than a copycat subject. And the tracks used are those that are primarily instrumental. Few attempts are made to replicate Van Vliet's gravel voice and exotic lyrics (although it sounds like Kettley could have a good crack at it, from the short examples here)!

That it works is a tribute to both Kettley's sax playing, and Stuart Allardyce's guitar. And the love of the blues-based, free-form style that is the real connection between Orange Claw Hammer and Beefheart's Magic Band. It isn't Beefheart. The lack of vocals alone ensures that. But in its instrumental homage, perhaps it is a truer tribute.

The Kings of Cheeze, support band for the night, fitted into the evening well. Their folk-rock, jazz-influenced style gave us the perfect starter for the main menu. Guitarist, Dave Gray and the unique tones of vocalist Trish Murry lead a fine band. If you like your music more on the arhythmic track, both these bands will appeal.

*There are six separate typos (plus one is repeated three times.)

Edinburgh Festivals - 1 - Countrybile, Communist Spies and Joan littlewood too!

Well, the extravaganza that is Edinburgh during the festivals is now in full swing, and trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff is (mostly) what I'm here to do.

I have posted (below) a couple of reviews compiled for the Morning Star (the first one appeared in yesterday's edition, here.). One performance works, one doesn't (quite) yet. I have also seen a number of other shows, and I would recommend Mark Steel's show Who do I think I am? (Assembly, George Square) about his investigations into his birth parents (he was adopted at birth). A review is pending, but suffice it to say, you'll hardly believe his findings!

Another great show (if you have kids of a pre-teen age) is FairPley's The Periodic Fable (Assembly Rooms) It is a panto-style romp through some child-friendly science, and seems to grab the interest and enjoyment of small boys, and (more importantly) girls.

Looking forward next week to Elvis McGonagall's arrival at the Stand on the Square, with his new show Countrybile. More later!


An Englishman Abroad meets Harry Lime

The Communist Threat.  ZOO Southside until Aug 31.  4/5
That this doesn't slide into the John Le Carre/Cold War cliche is down to two things. The quality of the acting by the two protagonists, Kip (David Holmes) and Albert (Kieran O’Rourke, who make up the company, Rusted Dust, and the sheer number of layers on which the plot idea works.

A play set in a post war Vienna basement, and involving spies almost automatically invokes the spirit

Class, as always, is key. Are all communist defectors upper class, cricket loving, Cambridge graduates?  Mr Nightingale's working class Northern rooted character says no (a first class performance by Kieran O'Rourke). Who is the interrogator, and who the interrogated? The layers keep swapping our view. In fact, they all appear to be communists, albeit for a variety of reasons.

The ending comes rather too soon, and provides us with the only unchallenged cliche - the loaded gun in the locked room. But overall the play provides us with an entertaining and impressive exercise in the personal and the political. No more separated here than in real life.
of The Third Man, and the suits, trilbies and accents do nothing to disabuse us. But gradually our perspective shifts. Yes, it's about betrayal, yes it's about politics, yes it's about sexuality but do all these things point in the one direction?

Joan Littlewood

A difficult show, about a difficult woman.

Joan, Babs and Shelagh too.  ZOO Southside until Aug 31. 3/5
Attempting to do justice to one of British political theatre's most important creators in a one-woman show of around 50 minutes was always going to be an enormous task. That it happens at all is thanks to the prodigious performance of gemskii - the one-woman!

What she tries to do is to tell the life of Joan Littlewood, founder of Theatre Workshop and Theatre Union along with Ewan McColl, producer of Oh, What a Lovely War! and mother of British political theatre. And she tries it in Joan's own, improvised, physical, musical style. It doesn't quite succeed, but it has good fun trying!

Minus points include the overuse of documentary comments that tend to intrude instead of enlighten, and the music which tends to overpower the actor's voice. The introduction of individuals who were important to Joan's life works well, and might be more used - Shelagh Delaney in particular, has a very short cameo.

However, this is a difficult piece to bring off - especially in the time allowed for a standard fringe performance - but the larger than life portrait of Joan that shines from the performance means it succeeds in its main aim. Time to continue the 'constantly changing form'?

Box Office for both performances - (0131) 662-6892 or here

Post-referendum, but not post-political!

Here is my piece in the Morning Star on the things I am looking forward to in this year's Edinburgh Festivals. This year the Star will have four of us providing reviews of various events, and my other colleagues (Gordon Parsons, Mike Quille, and Jody Porter) have also their highlights here. I've also added some events in the Book Festival and this and word limitations of the print media mean that the piece below is not a comprehensive survey. I've tried to add additional planned shows at the end (par 8 ff).

AFTER last year’s referendum-related material, this year’s festivals look much lighter politically on the surface. A closer look though reveals that there is plenty to tempt the radical political animal.
Last year’s successes used referendum fever to look deeper into “Scottishness” and this year’s most intriguing material ploughs the same furrow.

Confessions - what levels do we read it?

Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a complex treatment of James Hogg’s 18th-century novel, an early focus on Scotland’s “split personalities.” The novel ranges between family feud and psychological fable and this production by Untitled Projects and the National Theatre of Scotland adds a further layer by telling it as a “metafiction” in which the failed performance never took place — or did it?

This year’s fringe has some political topics, mainly in theatre productions which deal with themes as disparate as the miners’ strike (Undermined); the cold war (The Communist Threat); and Joan Littlewood (Joan, Babs and Shelagh Too).

Mark Steel

This year’s Assembly Rooms (AR) shows concentrate more on the spoken word, with well-known stand ups Jo Brand, Alexei Sayle and Mark Thomas discussing their work in the Talking Comedy series. Both Brand and Thomas also have their own shows elsewhere as does Mark Steel, who makes a welcome return to the fringe after 19 years away. I’m looking forward particularly to Countrybile, the new show from Elvis McGonagall.

Fair Pley’s innovative Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, also returns to the Stand in the Square with some more controversial proposals from academics — ban students from Edinburgh, anyone? This The Periodic Fable, a scientific panto for young and old.

The Periodic Fable

year the producers also target the younger element with

After last year’s Israeli company controversy, this year features at least two Palestinian events. Playwright David Greig has crowdfunded 12 Palestinian artists to visit the festival and perform in an all-day programme. And at the AR Mark Thomas and Mark Steel, along with Daniel Kitson and Ivor Dembina, get together for a Free Gaza fundraiser to provide front-line medical support for people in Gaza.

At the Book festival too, Ghada Karmi (How Does it Feel When You Can’t Go Home?) and Avi Shlaim (Why Israel's Problems Remain Real) deal with aspects of the Palestinian tragedy. It is heartening that these two are already sold out. My other favourite Spurs fan, John Crace is speaking on his parliamentary sketchwriting in Coalition Confidential. Marcus O'Dair discusses his biography of music legend, Robert Wyatt in From Soft Machine to Shipbuilding. A series of talks on the future of libraries promises some interesting speculations and Elvis McGonagall reappears in the Comic Verse session.


Elsewhere on the Fringe one of the most unlikely tribute bands of all time line up to rekindle the Captain! Orange Claw Hammer present - Beefheart and Cheeze!

Programmes with booking links are; Fringe - https://www.edfringe.com/visit-the-fringe/programme
International - http://www.eif.co.uk/festival-2015#.Vb5fFkUwHIohttp://www.eif.co.uk/festival-2015#.Vb5fFkUwHIo and Book - https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/events

Freedom of Information – Threats and Excuses

Here is the recently published article I wrote for the new edition of the Scottish Left Review, on behalf of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland. I've tried to add helpful links into the text. A direct link to the article in the SLR is here.

Current UK Freedom of Information (FoI) law is under threat, and here in Scotland a long-promised consultation on extending the law plans to ignore demands to restore accountability to public services.

At UK level there have been a series of direct threats to FoI from both government ministers and official practices. In May the new Conservative government announced it planned to take powers to defy the Supreme Court and enable itself to veto a decision of a court or tribunal. Arising out of the government’s red face over its inability to hide Prince Charles’ letters - that the Supreme Court said should be released, a government lobby briefing said they were considering moves  ‘to strengthen the ability of the government to veto the publication of documents’. Campaigners have reacted with understandable horror to Ministers attempt to put themselves above the law, Maurice Frankel of the Campaign for Freedom of Information (CFoI) saying – ‘That is too much power for Ministers to have.”

One Minister seems to want to go further. Justice Minister, Michael Gove, responding to questions in Parliament, has said that Government planned to revisit the FoI Act to ensure that civil servants’ advice to ministers was protected. He also seems to have started to try and pose ’open data’ against Freedom of Information - an artificial distinction  long feared by campaigners.

Further concern is being caused by the apparent use of routine email deletions in the civil service and other public bodies that may be deleting information that should be saved. A Commission has now been announced on FoI at UK level. See here for the CFoI response.

In Scotland meanwhile, while there is concern about similar email deletion policies, the main threat to accountable public service coverage has ironically, been caused by Scottish Government consultation about extending coverage. Billed as the answer to persistent calls to extend FoI coverage to the multitude of arms length, private and third sector bodies now delivering our services, the Consultation on further extension of coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to more organisations not only proposes to add very few bodies (private prisons, providers of secure accommodation for children, grant-aided schools and independent special schools) to those covered, but it also contains a series of ‘arguments’ against extending FoI to cover Registered Social Landlords(RSLs). This special pleading is clearly a government response to a tenant’s petition that was recently considered by the Parliament’s Petitions Committee.

Most of these so-called arguments are not new - indeed anyone who has read the lobbying material used by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (which, interestingly, does not appear to be available on their website!) to justify continuing exclusion of Housing Associations (HAs), will have seen them – but the irony is that many of them are countered by arguments in the same document for the bodies that are proposed for coverage!

For example, both grant-aided and independent special schools are already under considerable regulation according to the consultation paper, implying that the extra duty of FoI will be not onerous– however similar existing regulation is given as a reason NOT to extend coverage to HAs!
Similarly one of the special pleadings on behalf of RSLs – that they carry out other (non-public) functions - is comprehensively blown out of the water by the consultation paper’s own admission that the only impact would be on “the information they hold concerning their functions of a public nature.”

The consultation document was one that promised to ‘swallow a camel’, instead it appears to be ‘straining at a gnat’. While the small number of bodies that are listed are in themselves, welcome. The list  in the first extension consultation paper of 2008 included private contractors providing schools, hospitals, trunk roads and prison escort services as well as private prisons. It is disappointing that the overwhelming public support expressed at that time, is continuing to be frustrated by government resistance.

A previous extension (the first ever) added arms length trusts providing leisure and cultural services to the list of bodies covered. Recent research by Strathclyde University PhD researcher, Calum Liddle has shown that there are worrying loopholes in that coverage – especially in the way that the law is framed to define which trusts get covered. Suggestions by both the Scottish Information Commissioner (in Commissioner's Special Report: FOI 10 Years On - are the right organisations covered? )  and the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland for a better approach to extending coverage, have only been tangentially addressed in this paper.

It is also worrying that an artificial distinction is being suggested in our public services. The paper refers to education as an example of a ‘core’ public service. No agreed definition exists of what services are ‘core’ and what are not. Indeed such a distinction threatens to create a whole new unwelcome debate dividing our services, and possibly leave some without transparency or accountability – or indeed without other protection. Even if it were to be adopted as suggested here – it begs the question where is the extension covering PFI contractors providing schools?

On the positive side, the adoption of  ‘case-based’ extensions, rather than specifically naming private contractors or third sector bodies might be a small step in the right direction. As long as definitions of bodies are not too tightly drawn, it is hoped that this means that changes to the contractors/other bodies providing these services would not require future legislation. The CFoI in Scotland has long argued that this principle should apply across the board and that FOI laws should apply to the public service – whoever provides it. The Scottish Information Commissioner has advocated a similar approach.

The consultation paper is available here - http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/5112/downloads - and is open for comment until the 4 September.  During the summer the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland will be co-ordinating a campaign to try to ensure that the original aim of Freedom of Information; that all public services are open to Freedom of Information requests is restored to those who have been excluded from coverage.

Cuba and Qatar - a meeting dilemma

This Thursday (the 18 June) delivers a particular dilemma for those interested in campaigning on international issues. Two significant topics are to be aired at clashing meetings in different parts of Glasgow. Hopefully this variety will be fully exploited by the many comrades who are currently taking part in the UNISON conference in the city, as well as interested weegies.

At the STUC Centre in Woodlands Road at 7.00pm, the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign hosts

internationally renowned Cuba expert - Dr Stephen Wilkinson, who is in town to explain the significance of the Obama administration's thaw towards the island, and why it is too soon to celebrate a new era just yet! As Churchill once said of a different struggle - 'It is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Stephen Wilkinson first visited Cuba in 1986 and has been traveling to and writing about the island ever since.  Now the Chairman of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba based in the UK, Stephen has a PhD on the subject of Cuban literature. He has written numerous articles on such questions as the history of European and US - Cuba relations, Cuban attitudes and policy towards homosexuals and the nature of the Cuban state. He blogs at The Cuba Bug. 

However, if the future of a sun-soaked land of socialism, international solidarity and health and educational advances doesn't float your boat, then another, less happy, sunny country is also attracting (less positive) coverage. The position of workers in Qatar employed in constructing the infrastructure needed to stage the forthcoming football World Cup has moved centre stage. 

The Playfair Qatar campaign intends to build on that profile to explain why pressure on authorities there needs to be increased. While UNISON's conference will no doubt address the many problems faced by Trade Unions organising in Cameron's Britain, the medieval labour conditions, and flouting of basic health and safety standards in Qatar have led to many workers' deaths. The

meeting is at UNISON's Scottish Office at 14, W Campbell Street, G2 6RX, also at 7.00pm. Speakers are Philippe Gousenbourger – ITUC-CSI International Trade Union Confederation; Abdes Ouaddou – Moroccan International Footballer, victim of Qatar’s Kafala system; Helen Martin – STUC and Michael Connarty – Author of Report on the Reform of Football Governance to Council of Europe. Chair – Eileen Dinning, UNISON & Show Racism the Red Card


Of course, in the UK workers can elect reps to ensure Health and Safety rules are followed, but even

Robert addresses demo outside SECC

here that doesn't mean employers are all sweetness and light. UNISON Health and Safety Rep, Robert O'Donnell was recently sacked by managers at the SECC - the very venue where the union is holding its UK Conference! 

Despite being 91% owned by Glasgow City Council, the SECC has never recognised UNISON for its own workforce. Surely a trait closer to management practices in Qatar than the UK. No doubt the sole Glasgow Councillor on the SECC Board - Cllr Graeme Hendry - will soon be putting forward the case for a more progressive treatment of his own union's representatives.

Portraying the Red Clydesiders - and young women of the East End!

A couple of events to draw your attention to today. Firstly an event slightly detached from its original slot in the Mayday celebrations - it was postponed from the original date of May 5 as that was only two days away from the General Election. and now takes place on Tuesday 26 May at 7.00pm in the STUC offices on Woodlands Road (above the Stand).

In one of the interesting and different talks put on by the Scottish Morning Star Campaign Committee as part of their Our Class, Our Culture series, John Quinn of the Glasgow School of Art will be talking about 'Portraying the Red Clydesiders' - with a slightly different angle on Maxton, Maclean, Shinwell, Gallacher et al. These events are always worth attending and manage to give us a interesting and political perspective on culture that we think we know about. Its a free event, so what's not to like?

In other political cultural events, the Southside Fringe Festival has just finished. One of its intriguing

shows was a newly written and composed musical on the 1888 Matchgirls Strike in London's East End. I say a new musical, because it seems that this strike has been the inspiration for two earlier musicals. In the 1960's both Joyce Adcock and Gordon Caleb (Strike a Light), and Bill Owen and Tony Russell (The Matchgirls) wrote musical treatments of the dispute, one of which (Strike a Light) played Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre in 1966.

Be that as it may, writer, Fatima Uygun says she deliberately didn't look at either until after she had written her own! The show - which played in The Steamie - part of Govanhill Baths was successful overall, but there are some elements that need attention, as I say in my review in the Morning Star - here. The cast and musicians are well worth some more exposure.