Latest news with #GlasgowUniversity
Daily Record
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Peregrine falcon chick in Glasgow Uni tries to soar on its first flight with limited success
Recently hatched Peregrine falcon chicks Jack and Victor, nesting at Glasgow University, are starting to test their wings. High drama has unfolded atop one of Glasgow's most iconic landmarks, as a pair of peregrine falcon chicks nesting at the University of Glasgow's tower are beginning to test their wings, with mixed success, Glasgow Live reports. The chicks, affectionately named Jack and Victor after the beloved Still Game characters, hatched earlier this spring in the nest of proud parents Bonnie and Clyde. Since their birth in April, the duo have captivated followers of the Glasgow Peregrine Project, which has been closely documenting their progress high on the Gothic spire of the Gilbert Scott Building. The project, led by the RSPB, the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club, with support from several other groups, has offered bird enthusiasts a rare glimpse into the lives of these elusive raptors. In recent years, they've even held public watches, allowing people to see the birds up close through scopes and learn more about their behaviour. Now, as fledging season begins, the chicks are preparing to take the ultimate leap, quite literally. But Victor's first attempt at flight proved anything but graceful. In a social media update posted on Sunday morning (June 8), the team behind the project revealed: 'And lo it came to pass! Victor made his break for freedom this morning by accident or design at 0630hrs. 'As we predicted, it didn't go as planned. He ended up in the Quad and thankfully he was spotted and the protocol was followed. University Security was alerted and Clarke Elsby coordinated the effort of Toby Wilson and Paul Baker. 'The team attended, inspected Victor and got him up to the nest box we use for such occasions. He's looking a bit sheepish now.' Thanks were extended to the photographers who had been keeping a watchful eye and were first to notice Victor's mishap. 'They followed the protocol and that helped with a successful rescue,' the post added. The team say this is one of the most thrilling and unpredictable periods in the life cycle of the peregrines, as the fledglings leave the safety of the nest for the first time. To help protect the young birds, the University has a specific protocol in place for members of the public who may come across them grounded. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. The team stresses: Do not attempt to pick them up. Peregrines may be injured, and handling could worsen their condition. Their talons are also extremely sharp and can cause injury. Cordon off the area and keep a respectful distance, ideally a few metres away. Kindly ask others to stay back. Alert University Security immediately by calling 0141 330 4282. The Security Team have direct contact with trained and licensed specialists who will assess and care for the birds. These remarkable raptors are among nature's finest hunters, able to reach speeds of 200mph in a stoop, making them the fastest-moving animals on Earth. With a height of up to two feet and a wingspan nearing four feet, they are awe-inspiring birds that can be found across the globe.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
An upstart rival is taking on a university stalwart
And so it was with gleeful curiosity that I learned of a newspaper war breaking out in the rather more genteel habitat of Glasgow University. Until late last year the sylvan territory around Gilmorehill and Hillhead was the exclusive preserve of the hallowed Glasgow Guardian, one of the best and most influential student newspapers in the UK. Its pages launched the careers of dozens of Scotland's top journalists. Read More It's still a splendid publication with comment and culture sections that would do justice to the national, paid-for prints. Yet, I'd been failing in my paternal duty to these young scribes if I didn't point out that having 30 or so editorial executives and one reporter (as listed on their back page) suggests they might need to, you know … get out a wee bit more. Since November last year though, the Glasgow Guardian has faced stiff competition from an upstart rival called the Hillhead Review, launched by two of its brightest student journalists. The battle for the hearts and minds of Glasgow University's sprawling student body may not have the Brylcreem and Kensitas ferocity of the 1960s Glasgow print wars but it's intense all the same. The split was rooted in concepts as old as the history of the printed word: freedom of expression, censorship and challenging power. The battle took another twist last month when the Hillhead Review, with far fewer personnel and a fraction of the Glasgow Guardian's resources was voted Student Newspaper of the Year in The Herald's prestigious Student Journalism awards. Their Editor-in-Chief, Odhran Gallagher added Student Journalist of the Year to the paper's accolades. This is some going for a publication that's barely six months old. Mr Gallagher and his co-Editor, Katherine McKay are telling me rather bashfully of the story of their success. We're in that imposing big edifice at the foot of University Avenue called the James McCune Smith Learning Hub, which I should also point out has a hearty cafeteria where a chap like me can get all of his five-a-week in one sitting. It all started with 'that abortion story' as I clumsily describe it. They tell me 'that abortion story' is somewhat more nuanced than this. 'There's a society on campus called Glasgow Students for Choice, a pro-abortion group who raise awareness and funds for their cause,' said Mr Gallagher. 'They'd received some match tickets from Partick Thistle, who were keen for more students to attend their games.' At this point, Ms McKay tells me she's very pro-abortion and had considered joining this group. It seems though, that Glasgow Students for choice raffled the tickets off to raise cash for an abortion charity. Partick Thistle got wind of this though, and said they didn't want to be associated with it and that besides, the tickets were a free donation and not for fund-raising. The Herald Student Journalism Award winners (Image: Mark F Gibson) 'We understand that some Catholic students had informed the football club,' they say. Ms Gallagher says they wrote the story up for the Glasgow Guardian, having solicited comment from both Thistle and the Abortion group. 'It was a straightforward news story, containing no bias and we wanted to publish it. But someone contacted the editor anonymously, claiming it wasn't true. We were then told not to run with it.' The pair had also wanted to run with a story about Sandy Brindley, the embattled chief of Rape Crisis Scotland who had connections to Glasgow University. 'But the editors killed that story quickly too, insisting it was 'anti-women, which it certainly wasn't. I thought it was in the students' interest to run it, says Ms McKay. 'Of course it's a sensitive issue but we're supposed to be about publishing stories about sensitive issues.' 'That's when we told them we were leaving the paper because we weren't happy about them killing stories. We both still wanted a platform to write and we both still had ambitions of getting into journalism.' In the course of a single weekend, they built a news website; purchased the domain name and published their first story on-line: a belter about a bloke who'd exposed himself in the University library which was picked up by the nationals. 'We got a decent following right away and many requests from students wanting to write for us.' Some of them, it seemed, had been rather intimidated by the rarefied atmosphere around the Glasgow Guardian with its 30 editors. 'Print is very expensive,' says Mr Gallagher, 'but both Katie and I had part-time jobs and had just enough to self-fund an initial 12-page print run of 400 copies which were quickly snapped up.' Their first splash in the middle of last November was another belter about students using paid essay-writing services on the Chinese social media app WeChat to plagiarise assignments. This young pair are far sharper and more switched-on than I was at their age. I tell them of my own experience at the hands of the Glasgow University Guardian as it then was in the early 1980s. I had a part-time job at the Theatre Royal and pitched a review of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. The editor had looked down his glasses at me and laughed, before asking me if I played a musical instrument, to which I'd replied No. but resisting the urge to tell him that if I did he'd be getting chibbed with it. I ask them about the perception that some universities have become captured by contrived ideologies bearing little resonance to the lived experience of the majority of students. 'Am I just being an old curmudgeon out of touch with what progressive young people think,' I ask them. They both re-assure me I'm no such thing (though I do still wonder). 'In February, I wrote a piece about Glasgow Students for Choice, though not deliberately aimed at them,' says Mr Gallagher. There was an interview with them in the Glasgow Guardian discussing sex education in Scotland. I disagreed with some of it, including the expressed view that working-class people didn't understand sex properly. I asked why people from Glasgow should listen to drivel from an overseas student. 'There's a class element to this. When you went to Glasgow there was probably around 70-80% who came from the West of Scotland. Now, there are a lot more overseas students, which is great. But there's a wealthy, middle-class cohort who have a certain attitude to working-class students from the West of Scotland and I wanted to push against that.' At this point, they're wary of saying too much on the record. Women especially, are subject to intense levels of online abuse when they venture onto this terrain. 'At the Hillhead Review,' declares Ms McKay, 'we want to give people an opportunity to express different views from outside that narrow echo chamber that's become dominated by the Far Left. Her colleague adds: 'All some people want to write about is Palestine and trans rights. 'A lot of this is coming from middle managers. I don't think many of the senior academic staff believe any of this and nor do a lot of students. It's all about ideological capture by people who don't want a debate or scrutiny. We don't want to be told what to think and to be free to speak.' These are the principles on which the University was built and it's reassuring that some of our brightest and best young people still cherish them. I'm also delighted that Scotland's mightiest university in its newspaper capital has two excellent titles scrapping for news and readers like the old days. Kevin McKenna is a Herald writer and columnist. He's fiercely proud of never having been approached by any political party or lobbying firm to do their bidding.
Al-Ahram Weekly
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
The moral high ground
A few months into the war on Gaza, following the 7 October attacks, I found myself like everyone else, glued to the news around the clock, watching non-stop the horror coming out of Gaza. One night, as the Israeli forces started to bomb Al-Shefa Hospital – a spot I was familiar with, having developed a bond with the reporter who broadcast from there – I realised that reporter was no longer there. He was not even mentioned. That night was particularly heartbreaking for me. I felt pressure in my head, as if it might literally explode. Waves of anxiety surged through me, along with terrible thoughts, and I had to turn off the television and wander around my house at 2:00am, desperately trying to shift my focus. I remembered that night as I watched the Palestinian documentary A State of Passion – directed by Carol Mansour, a Lebanese-Canadian filmmaker with Palestinian ancestry, and Muna Khalidi, who has a very close friendship with Abu-Sittah – which follows the renowned Palestinian-British plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah when he volunteered to enter Gaza for the sixth time at a time of conflict only to realise that this time it was full-scale genocide. He had never performed this number of amputations on children ever in his life, as he said at one of the most moving moments. At this point, when the film was recently screened at Zawya in the lineup of the Between Women Filmmakers Caravan – an independent initiative organised by a group of female filmmakers and film curators – the Gaza war was already one year and eight months old. Still, I'd missed the first screening of the film, which made its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival, receiving three awards: the top award of the Horizons of Arab Cinema section, the Saadeddin Wahba Award for Best Arabic Film, and the second prize for Best Palestinian Film as well as a Special Mention for Abu-Sittah. After 43 days in Gaza, Abu-Sittah jumped on a plane to Amman to spend 24 hours with Mansour and Khalidi, who had called to request the meeting. As they stated in an online interview with the audience after the screening, the phone call that appears in the film is the real phone call. In Amman, the camera captures the emotions involved in the meeting, which also involves an old friend of Abu-Sittah's and his proud mother, whose favourite son he was, according to the two filmmakers. Mansour and Khalidi accompany Abu-Sittah on a quick visit to Kuwait, where he was raised and where he reminisces about his father, also a doctor, in front of said father's former clinic. Abu-Sittah was born in Kuwait to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother. His father's family originated in Maain Abu-Sittah in the southeast of Gaza, which they were forced to flee when the Zionists attacked during the Nakba. They moved to Kuwait and later to the United Kingdom in the 1980s and Abu-Sittah eventually realised his father's dream by studying medicine at Glasgow University. The documentary includes some harsh photos of children undergoing surgical procedures, especially when Abu-Sittah is trying to prove that Israel used white phosphorus in their military operations, but such graphic imagery was limited, reflecting the filmmakers' decision to give only a small taste of the horror after they were faced with the predicament of whether and how much to show. Abu-Sittah recalls performing amputations on six children in a single day, and when he elaborates on how complicated the situation is there, he explains that health procedures are based on people directing you to save the life of the only living member of the family or whether a doctor can just clean up a wound that will keep someone alive for a day so as to save a few other lives that require urgent attention. Abu-Sittah made his way to Gaza to treat patients all the way through Rafah many times; his first medical visit to Gaza was during the first Intifada in 1987. He was back during the second Intifada in 2000 and then in the wars of 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021 and finally 2023. Mansour alone accompanies Abu-Sittah to London where he lives with his family: his wife Dima and three sons. Khalidi couldn't go due to complications with her visa. And this is where the documentary becomes a more personal exploration of Abu-Sittah's extraordinary character. When he's not working, he is with his family, a dedicated husband and father whose presence is a delight to them. He is seen ironing his sons' school uniforms and putting together their lunch boxes in the morning. There is a sequence in the 90-minute documentary when we hear the exchange of voice messages between him and his three sons. It is touching how he says good morning to each of them in spite of the horrors he is enduring so many miles away. Dima and Abu-Sittah have a sweet relationship with the Palestinian cause at its core. Dima explains how she took the children to Gaza, showing them every corner of it with a strange presentiment that it might not survive. They went to the beach and visited all the landmarks. Her presentiment was right: they returned on 7 September, exactly a month before the horrific incidents began. When Dima and Abu Sittah were in Gaza, they took along Dima's mother, who needed medical attention in London while her father remained alone, an old man tired of being repeatedly displaced, refusing to leave his house. The mother could not return to Gaza but she has been living in Egypt: she was even present at the screening of the film. When Dima spoke of Palestinian resilience, it rang true in a way it usually doesn't. 'If he hadn't gone to Gaza, I wouldn't have known how to maintain my respect for him,' she also said of Abu-Sittah, who, for his part, said they were both so clear about his need to be there, the decision didn't even have to be discussed. * A version of this article appears in print in the 5 June, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Britain is Scottish: a truth from history that's still true today
A couple of examples. James Boswell's diaries for Sunday 21 November 1762 describe his meeting with a fellow Scot Walter Macfarlane who was 'keenly interested in the reigning contests between Scots & English'. Boswell says this of Macfarlane: 'He talked much against the Union. He said we were perfect underlings, that our riches were carried out of the country and that many others were hurt by it.' Switch the date from 1762 to 2025 and some of the language but not much of it, and this is very familiar stuff. Another example. There's been a bit of a fad of late for books about James VI, focusing mostly on what his sexuality might have been, but I quite enjoyed The Wisest Fool by Steven Veerapen and, as with Boswell, there are striking familiarities with now. In the bookstalls of London and Edinburgh in the early years of James's reign, there were pamphlets explaining why unionism was a wonderful idea and pamphlets explaining why unionism was a terrible idea. There were also Brexit-style arguments over what kind of union Scotland and England should have; was the best idea some kind of loose federation or should the countries go for a much closer, Wales-style deal instead? So ancient, so modern. On top of all that, there's now a new piece of work that suggests a more surprising historic take on the relationship between Scotland and Britain. It's by the Glasgow University Professor Dauvit Broun and it concludes that medieval Scottish historians and scholars regarded the Scottish kingdom as equivalent to Britain; Britain as fundamentally Scottish in fact. 'Scotland as Britain can be detected quite clearly in histories of the Scottish kingdom written in Latin and read by Scots between the 1380s and 1520s,' says the professor. Professor Broun says this idea of Britain as fundamentally Scottish will be provocative in today's polarised debates about national identity and I can see what he means. There are some Scots today who think one of the big problems in the debate about national identity is that there are English people who project their sense of nationhood on to Scotland, do not appear to respect the separate Scottish identity, or actually conflate England and Britain. I don't think this happens as much as we think, but when it does, it's irritating. Read more However, what makes the idea of the English projecting their sense of nationhood onto Scotland more interesting is Professor Broun's idea that it's happened the other way around as well and there are Scots who conflated Britain and Scotland. The professor quotes John Mair, sometimes called the father of Scottish unionism, and says Mair's vision was essentially of a Scottish kingdom expanded to include England. Mair assumed a Scottish king would come to rule Britain which is indeed what happened in the end. As we know, the king that did it, James VI and I, was certainly of the Better Together persuasion; 'this kingdom was divided into seven little kingdoms,' he said in an address to parliament, 'Is it not the stronger by their union?' But a Scottish king projecting his sense of self, and nation, and union, onto England wasn't the beginning or the end of it. Indeed, the extent of the Scottish projection or influence on England and the UK makes me wonder how surprising and provocative the idea of Britain as Scottish really is. It seems to me that it still underlines the way the United Kingdom works. Britain was Scottish and still is. Obviously, England remains the dominant partner constitutionally and politically, but even politically Britain has often been Scottish. One of the history books I've opened recently is The Wild Men by my former colleague David Torrance, which relates how Scottish the first Labour government was, but it's continued ever since with Scots often at the top of British government, and not always when it's Labour in power. The history books also tell us it was bigger than that: much of the British Empire is covered with Scottish fingerprints so not only is Britain Scottish, the British Empire is Scottish too. James VI and I (Image: Free) The signs of Scotland as Britain are more permanent as well; they're built in stone. I did a walk round Glasgow recently with Colin Drysdale, the author of Glasgow Uncovered, a book on the city's architecture, and many of the architects we talked about went way beyond Scotland and had a massive influence on England and Britain too. John James Burnet, for example, designed Glasgow's Charing Cross Mansions and lots of other fine buildings in the city. But he also worked on British icons like Selfridges and the British Museum. Visit London and look at the buildings and a lot of what you're looking at is Scottish. The projection of Scotland onto Britain is everywhere else as well, once you start to look for it. Business and trade (the vast majority of our exports are to England). Population: there are more Scots living in England than there are in any single Scottish city. And music, culture, the arts, food, drink, technology. And Lulu of course. All of it, as well as our influence on politics and government – and a Royal family that's arguably more Scottish than English – says to me that the idea of Britain as Scotland is not surprising at all. Professor Broun says it raises fundamental questions about the nature of British identity, so let me suggest an answer. The concept of Britain as Scottish isn't a distant idea in the minds of medieval scholars. It still exists, it's still real, and it's still proving how interconnected we are. And of course, it raises the eternal question, the one that bugged us then and bugs us now: how much would it cost to unravel it all?
Press and Journal
03-06-2025
- General
- Press and Journal
New project to help drive down Scottish farming and crofting suicides
A major new research project aims to get a better understanding of some of the mental health issues typically faced by farmers and crofters and, ultimately, save lives. Stress, isolation, and poor access to healthcare – these are all too common realities of life in Scottish farming communities. Because of this, farmers are at higher risk of mental illness and suicide. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics and Public Health Scotland are alarming. In 2021 the UK suicide rate for male farm workers was about three times the male national average. Every week, three people in the agricultural sector die by suicide. RSABI, the charity supporting people in Scottish agriculture has now teamed up with Glasgow University for a new initiative aimed at tackling the problem. The three-year project will be supervised by Professor Rory O'Connor, director of the university's Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab. He is one of the world's leading experts in suicide prevention. RSABI and the university want to hear from prospective PhD researchers who are keen to undertake 'this vital work'. Their study will combine academic rigour with 'real-world impact', addressing challenges faced by people working in Scottish agriculture. The research will start with a major review of existing literature to explore links between agricultural life and suicide risk. In its second year, the project will conduct a national survey examining psychological and social factors affecting mental health in the farming community. The final phase will involve in-depth interviews with people from agricultural backgrounds who have experienced suicidal thoughts or been bereaved by suicide. RSABI chief executive Carol McLaren said: 'Tragically, suicide continues to be responsible for the loss of too many lives in the agricultural community. 'This research will play a vital role in deepening our understanding of the factors behind suicide in farming and help shape the most effective prevention strategies.' Tragically, suicide continues to be responsible for the loss of too many lives in the agricultural community.' Carol McLaren, CEO, RSABI Prof O'Connor, a former president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, said: 'For far too long, suicide risk in agricultural communities has not received the attention that it so badly needs. 'Over the next three years, we hope to gain a better understanding of the specific factors associated with suicide risk, which will, in turn, inform suicide prevention efforts nationally and internationally.' The findings of the study will directly inform RSABI's suicide prevention activities and wider mental health support work. This will, in turn allow the charity to deliver more tailored services, campaigns and tools to support those at risk or affected by suicide. Applications are now being accepted from people with a strong academic background in psychology, mental health or related disciplines. Past experience of mental health-related research and/or practice as well as agricultural experience is especially welcome. Those interested in applying or finding out more about the project can get all the details they need via The launch of this study follows RSABI's recent appointment of Josie Barclay in the charity's newly created role of suicide prevention lead. In addition to overseeing the research project, the aim of Josie's role is to maximise the opportunity for partnership working and collaboration with specialist organisations involved in suicide prevention. RSABI's free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234 555 (calls won't show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on RSABI's website at If you are having thoughts of suicide,speak to someone you trust or call one of these helplines: If you are ever in immediate danger or have the means to cause yourself harm, you should dial 999 and request an ambulance.
