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Spectator
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
I've rekindled my love affair with England
Late spring. Sitting in the armchair in the living room, I was chilly and disconsolate. My middle daughter was seven-and-a-half months pregnant and unwell. The pregnancy had triggered two serious autoimmune disorders. She'd been successfully treated for thyroid cancer a few years before, but this new disease was attacking her lower spine; she was exhausted and in almost constant pain. At times she couldn't pick up her two-year-old daughter. I could barely afford to fill up the car, never mind pay for parking and a flight back to England, and every night lay awake worrying. Beside the chair to the left, a live rock wall, and in front, a wood-burner. To one side of the stove, on a table-easel, was a framed print; the last and most optimistic in a series of allegories I painted during my immediate post-marital separation years. The five works depict the same semi-naked woman turning away from a sparse and gloomy interior towards a bright landscape (hope) in the distance, but with each new work, the interior became lighter and more colourful, and the landscape moved closer. Next to the print, a painted concrete cast of Tintin's dog Snowy. On the other side of the fire, a plaster tortoise and a small copy in oils of the Victorian symbolist painter G.F. Watts's 'Delusive Hope'. Hope or, to the more pessimistic, 'delusive hope' was the last of the 'evils' to escape from Pandora's box. In Watts's painting, a blind girl sits on a rock trying to play a tune on a broken lyre. An email appeared on my phone. Would I be interested in hosting one of the Spectator writers' dinners? I looked at the blind girl playing the single string on her lyre and re-read the message. It was definitely for me and, although doubtful anyone would turn up, I said yes. A date was set. I tried not to think about the prospect of no one coming and forgot about it until I was told it had sold out. Sixteen Spectator readers bought tickets. A couple of weeks later I learned from the Times's Diary the evening was also the one in which Sarah Vine was holding a launch party for her book about being married to the editor of this magazine, Michael Gove, and by chance – or not – Vine's ex-friend Emily Sheffield (Samantha Cameron's sister) was hosting a big party as well. And it was Boris Johnson's birthday. After some thought I couldn't decide which of these four events would be more terrifying. I needn't have worried. The evening was jolly and there were a couple of familiar faces, Nicola and Woody, whom Jeremy and I met on the 2015 Spectator cruise from Venice to Athens. A bonus. Alasdair came down especially from Glasgow and I, sometimes mocked as a young nurse for reading the Times or the Glasgow Herald on lunch breaks, was particularly pleased to meet two Spectator-reading nurses, Siobhan and her friend Caroline. My only regret was to yield to the request from features editor Will to tell the dinner guests my entry to Jeremy's 2011 puerile and offensive joke competition. It was how Jeremy and I met; the winners were invited to his first book launch. The joke was bad enough 14 years ago. What kind of fool would recount a misogynist joke in public these days? Three glasses down I hoped the tide of wokery was, if not exactly ebbing, turning at least, and thought too that Spectator readers more than most, would laugh. They did. Being a woman helped. Imagine a bloke telling the one about the man who goes to the doctor worried that his wife is dead which ends with the punchline: 'Well, doctor, the sex is still the same but the ironing's piling up…' The following day I headed to Oxfordshire to see my middle daughter and meet my grandson for the second time. Since he was born in the middle of May, he's almost doubled in size and is now smiling and cooing and holding his head up. My little granddaughter ran into my arms, and my daughter, although still tired and on fortnightly injections, is almost completely pain-free and 80 per cent more energetic than she was. We had an early dinner in the garden of The Fish in nearby Sutton Courtenay and another day went to a bougie family festival. The sun shone and rekindled my love affair with England. As a child, because my father was dead and my mother worked full time and had a boyfriend I feared and loathed, I spent the summer holidays away from Scotland with my grandparents in Staffordshire. Between the ages of eight and 11, I stayed on an aunt's farm, helping with housework and stable duties and learning to ride on a palomino pony called Silver. Eventually I was proficient enough to be allowed out alone to explore the bridle paths on an old 16-hand chestnut mare called Monica. She was a gentle creature and allowed me some of the happiest moments of my childhood. Occasionally in my mind's eye I catch a glimpse of myself, aged ten, trotting along sun-dappled lanes on that big steady horse. Back home in Provence the summer rentals I manage have begun. Although quieter than previous years, they'll provide a little income and I've received two, possibly three, new commissions for paintings. For now at least, the copy of 'Delusive Hope' is no longer the dominant image in the room.
Glasgow Times
12-07-2025
- Automotive
- Glasgow Times
Times Past: How Glasgow's Clyde Tunnel changed the city forever
The Glasgow Herald article from that day captures the sense of public excitement generated by the opening of the road tunnel, with drivers and passengers "marvelling at the steepness of the dip under the Clyde and the climb out on the other side." Two days earlier, on the 3rd of July 1963, hundreds of spectators had crowded behind the crash barriers on Govan Road to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at the official opening ceremony. West Tunnel under construction looking north, showing lighting, trunking and exhaust duct cladding (1963) (Image: Supplied) The effects of the new tunnel on Glasgow's traffic were felt immediately. On King George V Bridge, at the time the most westerly of Glasgow's bridges and the site of regular snarl-ups, traffic flowed freely. The long queues of cars that could usually be seen waiting for the Govan ferry at rush hour had disappeared – "they must all be using the tunnel today," commented ferryman Kenneth McKenzie in the Evening Times the day after the opening of the tunnel. West Tunnel, general view looking north (1963) (Image: Supplied) The opening of the Clyde Tunnel had been a long time in the making. Glasgow Corporation had been eager to improve Glasgow's cross-river transport infrastructure since the end of WW2. The importance of the stretch of the Clyde westwards from Govan and Finnieston to Glasgow's shipbuilding industry rendered a bridge across that section of the river undesirable. The boom of the motor car and the resultant congestion in the city, however, required a solution. A pamphlet created to mark the opening of the tunnel, held at Glasgow City Archives, outlines the difficulty faced by those attempting to cross the river by car prior to the construction of the tunnel: "motor traffic has had to rely on vehicular ferries to carry vehicles between the opposite banks or make a detour into the heart of Glasgow and cross the river by one of the four city bridges." In 1948, Glasgow Corporation acquired the powers to construct a road tunnel under the Clyde, between Whiteinch and Linthouse. Financial troubles meant nearly ten years would pass before Lord Provost Andrew Hood would sink a silver-plated spade into the soil at Linthouse to mark the beginning of the construction of the tunnel. Building the Clyde Tunnel was gruelling work for the tunnellers underground. Nicknamed the 'Tunnel Tigers', the cohort included many emigrant workers from County Donegal. The 'Tigers' spent eight hours a day digging tonnes upon tonnes of stone and silt from beneath the river. Beyond being physically exhausting, the work could also be dangerous. There were numerous cases of workers suffering from 'the bends' during and after their work on the Clyde Tunnel, and two workers, Leslie Bone and Thomas Roache, died from decompression sickness. When the first tunnel was completed in 1963, it was hailed as a feat of civil engineering. At time of opening, the Clyde Tunnel's 6% gradient made it the steepest road tunnel in the world – a fact which won't be surprising to anyone who has puffed their way out of the tunnel's cycle lane on their bike. The initial estimate was that 9000 cars a day would use the Clyde Tunnel, but within a year of opening that figure had shot up to 22000. While the Clyde Tunnel proved popular with motorists, some certainly felt its disadvantages. The neighbourhoods of Whiteinch and Linthouse were considerably altered by the construction of the tunnel, with the demolition of 250 tenements, a church, several bowling greens and a number of allotments. The residents of these areas found the peace of their neighbourhoods disturbed by the traffic of the large new roads. The Herald reports how "people accustomed to quiet nights found the late-night and early-morning traffic interrupted their sleep," while children who used to play freely in the street found themselves hemmed in by crash barriers. The Clyde Tunnel is a landmark not only of Glasgow's road network, but of the country as a whole. In the 62 years since its construction, it remains Scotland's only road tunnel, and now carries around 25 million motorists, cyclists and pedestrians a year.
Spectator
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
SNP plotters should think twice before moving against John Swinney
For those who feel Scottish politics has become a little dull of late, fear not: a rebel faction within the SNP is plotting to make things very interesting again. Today's Glasgow Herald brings the news of a secret summit of top SNP insiders at which plans to remove incumbent party leader (and Holyrood first minister) John Swinney were discussed. The paper says 25 'senior' figures gathered on Monday to consider the boss's future after the SNP's surprise defeat in last week's by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, a seat they had held uninterrupted since 2011. The conspirators are reportedly frustrated by Swinney's moderation on domestic policy and his failure to ramp up efforts to take Scotland out of the United Kingdom. They are said to be giving Swinney two weeks to present a new independence strategy or face a leadership challenge before the year is out.
The National
29-05-2025
- Sport
- The National
Scottish Strokeplay Championship returns to North Berwick
Boris Becker, a smash-hit of a 17-year-old from Germany, would become the youngest Wimbledon champion that summer. A couple of weeks before his conquest at the All England Club, Becker romped to his first top-level triumph in the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club. His win wasn't enough to earn top billing in the sports pages of the Glasgow Herald that June weekend, mind you. Above a report of Becker's barnstorming breakthrough down in West Kensington was the headline act of Colin Montgomerie and his five-shot procession in the Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship at North Berwick and Dunbar. One likes to imagine that a 21-year-old Monty flicked through the pages of said newspaper, caught a glimpse of Becker's feat underneath his own write up and said, 'all credit to him' in that phrase of praise that would become a bit of a trademark. Or perhaps he chirped, 'all credit to me' before pinning the cutting on to his wall of fame with gleeful gusto? Here in 2025, the Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship returns to East Lothian again this weekend as the West Links at North Berwick stages the event for the first time since it co-hosted back in 1985. The decades hurtle by, don't they? 'Is it really 40 years?,' gasped Montgomerie of this passage of time. It sure is. Back in the day, a young Montgomerie had already underlined his potential by winning the Scottish Youths' title in 1983 before losing to a certain Jose Maria Olazabal in the final of the Amateur Championship at Formby a year later. 'Now on the Champions Tour, my parking spot at events is next to Jose Maria and he still mentions the Amateur Championship 40 years on,' smiled Monty of the Spaniard's gentle ribbing. In 1985, Montgomerie was a 21-year-old student at Houston Baptist University in Texas and arrived back on home soil for the Scottish Strokeplay Championship as one of the favourites. He justified that standing with a fine display of poise, polish and purpose on the east coast and eased to a victory which, at the time, was the biggest of his fledgling career. 'I'd just come back from American college and was playing better and better,' he reflected. 'I went into that event as one of the favourites and thankfully got the job done. 'The strokeplay was one of the big two amateur titles that I wanted on my CV and in 1987 I was able to win the Scottish Amateur Matchplay at Nairn. 'But I was thrilled to win that first title and it sent me on a really strong run for a few years.' That success at Dunbar in '85 helped Montgomerie secure a place in the GB&I Walker Cup team and he would retain his spot in the side two years later before making the leap into the pro ranks not long after. The rest is history. 'I look back very fondly on my amateur career,' said Monty, who was the European Tour's rookie of the year in 1988 and won his first title on the circuit the following season in Portugal by a whopping 11-shots. 'When I turned pro in September 1987, I very quickly had to go from trying to beat Sandy Stephen, George Macgregor and Ian Brotherston – all very good players - to coming up against Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle.' A new generation, including reigning Scottish Amateur Matchplay champion Alexander Farmer, will tackle the delights, the rigours and the charming quirks of North Berwick over the next three days with an international field of 144 players gathering for this terrific links test. They'll be hard pressed to put on a show like Englishman Dominic Clemons did in the championship 12 months ago. Just along the A198 at Muirfield, Clemons conjured a quite remarkable performance that left onlookers scraping their jaws off the ground as he brought the formidable Open venue to its knees with a 24-under total. His closing day rounds of 65 and 62 gave Clemons a record-busting 17-stroke win which blitzed the previous best of eight set by Barclay Howard in 1997 and matched by Tommy Fleetwood in 2009. All credit to him, as Monty might have said.
The Herald Scotland
29-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish Strokeplay Championship returns to North Berwick
A couple of weeks before his conquest at the All England Club, Becker romped to his first top-level triumph in the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club. His win wasn't enough to earn top billing in the sports pages of the Glasgow Herald that June weekend, mind you. Above a report of Becker's barnstorming breakthrough down in West Kensington was the headline act of Colin Montgomerie and his five-shot procession in the Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship at North Berwick and Dunbar. One likes to imagine that a 21-year-old Monty flicked through the pages of said newspaper, caught a glimpse of Becker's feat underneath his own write up and said, 'all credit to him' in that phrase of praise that would become a bit of a trademark. Or perhaps he chirped, 'all credit to me' before pinning the cutting on to his wall of fame with gleeful gusto? Here in 2025, the Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship returns to East Lothian again this weekend as the West Links at North Berwick stages the event for the first time since it co-hosted back in 1985. The decades hurtle by, don't they? 'Is it really 40 years?,' gasped Montgomerie of this passage of time. It sure is. Back in the day, a young Montgomerie had already underlined his potential by winning the Scottish Youths' title in 1983 before losing to a certain Jose Maria Olazabal in the final of the Amateur Championship at Formby a year later. 'Now on the Champions Tour, my parking spot at events is next to Jose Maria and he still mentions the Amateur Championship 40 years on,' smiled Monty of the Spaniard's gentle ribbing. In 1985, Montgomerie was a 21-year-old student at Houston Baptist University in Texas and arrived back on home soil for the Scottish Strokeplay Championship as one of the favourites. He justified that standing with a fine display of poise, polish and purpose on the east coast and eased to a victory which, at the time, was the biggest of his fledgling career. 'I'd just come back from American college and was playing better and better,' he reflected. 'I went into that event as one of the favourites and thankfully got the job done. 'The strokeplay was one of the big two amateur titles that I wanted on my CV and in 1987 I was able to win the Scottish Amateur Matchplay at Nairn. 'But I was thrilled to win that first title and it sent me on a really strong run for a few years.' That success at Dunbar in '85 helped Montgomerie secure a place in the GB&I Walker Cup team and he would retain his spot in the side two years later before making the leap into the pro ranks not long after. The rest is history. 'I look back very fondly on my amateur career,' said Monty, who was the European Tour's rookie of the year in 1988 and won his first title on the circuit the following season in Portugal by a whopping 11-shots. 'When I turned pro in September 1987, I very quickly had to go from trying to beat Sandy Stephen, George Macgregor and Ian Brotherston – all very good players - to coming up against Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle.' A new generation, including reigning Scottish Amateur Matchplay champion Alexander Farmer, will tackle the delights, the rigours and the charming quirks of North Berwick over the next three days with an international field of 144 players gathering for this terrific links test. They'll be hard pressed to put on a show like Englishman Dominic Clemons did in the championship 12 months ago. Just along the A198 at Muirfield, Clemons conjured a quite remarkable performance that left onlookers scraping their jaws off the ground as he brought the formidable Open venue to its knees with a 24-under total. His closing day rounds of 65 and 62 gave Clemons a record-busting 17-stroke win which blitzed the previous best of eight set by Barclay Howard in 1997 and matched by Tommy Fleetwood in 2009. All credit to him, as Monty might have said.
