The Hidden Glasgow Forums

Happened to notice Glasgow has been deemed to be jobless capital of the uk. I don't know the truth in this but anytime I am in Glasgow I can't help but notice the place gets poorer along with the people. Just seems the majority of employment is in low paid retail sector work. This surely can't motivate people to work.

I feel for the people in Glasgow. My younger cousins who have lived in Glasgow all their life do not have any trade behind them, work part time in bars and seem to study the "cooler" non-vocational subjects in College. This seems endemic of the mindset though with the majority of young kids in Glasgow. The future looks bleak IMHO.

I remember having this conversation many years ago with someone, and the jist of it was that Glasgow is a lot more wealthier than a lot of people realise or appreciate. May I guide you to this excellent article by Kevin McKenna in the Guardian a few days ago:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... eprivation

I take the view that the outside impression of Glasgow is badly distorted by the ill-informed opinions of the London right-wing media (and dare I say it, the Edinburgh based Scotsman), who love revelling in doom and gloom. People criticise the Evening Times and the Herald for being Glasgow propaganda machines, but equally - who else is speaking up for the city??

Nobody is denying that Glasgow is still suffering from a post-industrial hangover that 50 years of regeneration schemes and various other shots in the arm haven't quite addressed, and you can't dispute some of the hard facts in terms of quality of life indices, death rates, unemployment figures and all the rest of it, but I think the city is always made out to be far worse than it actually is.

Not sure if I've answered your question, but that's my opinion.

I would take this with a pinch of salt.Edinburgh can fit into Glasgows south side!.And it forgot to conveniently mention the wealthy Glasgow suburbs.Yes the city is taking a battering like everywhere is! And it forgot to mention its still the largest cultural and arts centre outside London.only overtaken by eburgh during few weeks at festival.and it is actually higher up the rankings in the finacila services that eburgh.Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.And it is no different to cities its size.who share the very same problems.Scratch the surface in Eburgh and you will find plenty wrong.

Someone tweeted about this a week or so ago. Can't remember exactly what they said or vouch for the accuracy of their claims, but the suggestion was that a not insubstantial chunk of this 'jobless' total included students, retirees and those who couldn't work due to sickness, disability or caring responsibilities. The actual jobless total - i.e. those who were able to work but currently weren't doing so - still wasn't particularly small, but was in no way of the shock-horror proportions that the headlines would have you believe.

Yet there IS money in Glasgow.

Look at the number of people in shops, restaurants etc. Look at the cars. House prices are going up again (though thankfully not as quickly as before).

I believe it was mentioned (whispered?) in the passing that Glasgow`s figures were -- literally -- about a half percent higher than either Liverpool`s or Newcastle`s. The point being, it made a nice change for the media to target someone else that week.

The Egg Man wrote:Yet there IS money in Glasgow.

Look at the number of people in shops, restaurants etc. Look at the cars. House prices are going up again (though thankfully not as quickly as before).

And a lot of these "splashers" are doing it on "the plastic". Haven`t they learned anything from 2008 yet?

Dundee's jobless rate is (fractionally) worse, it seems. Citations available on request.

Stop Press: Metropolitan* journalist writes lazy copy that fits with the audience's preconceptions.

*Word used advisedly.

Ruchazie Rat wrote:

The Egg Man wrote:Yet there IS money in Glasgow.

Look at the number of people in shops, restaurants etc. Look at the cars. House prices are going up again (though thankfully not as quickly as before).

And a lot of these "splashers" are doing it on "the plastic". Haven`t they learned anything from 2008 yet?

Good point RR - I was in London at the weekend, and the amount of construction going on is a big eye-opener. Obviously there is the big public infrastructure stuff like Crossrail for instance, but the amount of skyscrapers and new offices going up in the centre is unreal and the surge in house prices...mostly being driven I suspect by the re-availability of credit. As you say...haven't they learned yet?

A comment made to me at Easter by some visitor's from Kenya. You must be a very wealthy town as so many people drive cars to pick children up from school at 3.15 pm. Made me really think -but yes I have to agree!

I get a bit irritated by the comments about Glasgow. I worked in Manchester in the mid to late 80's and used to see deprivation every bit as bad if not worse than Glasgow.
The answer is, of course, that all post industrial cities have levels of deprivation and Glasgow isn't unique, it's just that the media like to play up the 'No Mean City' image, which of course was a work of fiction...

RDR wrote:I get a bit irritated by the comments about Glasgow. I worked in Manchester in the mid to late 80's and used to see deprivation every bit as bad if not worse than Glasgow.
The answer is, of course, that all post industrial cities have levels of deprivation and Glasgow isn't unique, it's just that the media like to play up the 'No Mean City' image, which of course was a work of fiction...

Me too - it's an image planted by the London media. I still get quite heartened when I speak with people from down in the deep south who had came to Glasgow full of preconceived ideas, and come away realizing that the city is quite different from the stereotype.

Although we HAVE done it to ourselves to some extent if we are honest - shows like Rab C Nesbitt, Still Game, and Taggart do tend to proliferate the outside image of Glasgow and Glaswegians.