Fay Young

Category: The City Talks

  • The human city

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    People Make Glasgow.  The new slogan was revealed after a marketing research campaign that trawled the wisdom of the crowd. Across the city and round the world, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau sought themes and words that summed up  the city.

  • Give us statues we can look in the eye

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    I might have known better. Getting into the taxi in Queen Street Station one rainy day I couldn’t help commenting on George Square. Looking a little tidier today, I say, but what’s happening to the statues?

  • It’s not Tesco

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    My curiosity was raised by three words scratched on the empty shop window. “It’s not Tesco,” was a nicely enigmatic teaser which turns out to be true. The food store about to open in Canonmills is a very different kind of business.

  • Wanted: a covered market for Edinburgh

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    Imagine this. A warm October evening in the covered market: on the ground floor stalls packed with gleaming fruit and veg, upstairs friends gather to chat, drink and eat. We wander round, selecting small dishes to taste, secure our stools by the bar and dream about what might have been in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms.

  • The future is in our pockets

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    The philosopher’s toe: pictures by Andrea McCarthy Looking back it was a prophetic moment though I did not know it at the time. Almost 14 years ago I covered a Scottish Enterprise conference on the future of Scotland. US futurist Joe Coates, grey and spindly as a heron, stalked the stage and talked about the…

  • Clear the clutter on Leith Walk

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    Ray Perman’s recent commentary on Leith Walk prompted Ross Armstrong to put down some thoughts about how to improve Edinburgh’s most interesting boulevard (but first he measured it on Google maps). The amazing potential of Leith Walk strikes me every time I walk down it. It’s a great big boulevard that feels like it’s going…

  • Don’t scrap the tram

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    Flashback to the successful Friends of the Earth Scotland campaign 2007 “A great city let down by its elected representatives”, BBC Scotland environment and science correspondent David Miller sums up last night’s Newsnight Scotland tram story, possibly the best news coverage so far of this extraordinary mess. The thunder is still rumbling around the city…

  • New Town rubbish: our World Heritage

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    What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located UNESCO World Heritage website So who owns the New Town? The morning after blogging about the bin bags of the New Town, I…

  • Edinburgh’s New Town Wasteland

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    Oh contrary Edinburgh. While the people of Leith Walk are (rightly) angry with the council for messing up their street (see comments on Ray’s recent ‘rant’) round the corner residents of the posh New Town are turning their neighbourhood into a tip all by themselves.

  • Wanted: a vision for Leith Walk

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    Ray Perman takes a critical look at Leith Walk in this guest blog. With imagination and a little money it could become  the most elegant and cosmopolitan street in Edinburgh. [Many local people agree, see the excellent comments at the end of the post] There are a lot of reasons for despairing at the dysfunctional…

  • Scott free?

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    I see the Guardian is asking for memories connected with the Scott Monument. This probably isn’t what they are looking for but I can’t resist publishing a provocative piece which first appeared in The City Talks. Colin Cumberland  makes a pretty good case for getting rid of the monument which he describes as a “Gothic…

  • Wanted: an Angel for Leith

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    Where once only the sounds of heavy industry could be heard, now you can hear the sweet refrains of music and warm ripples of applause. With a bit of imagination, Leith Walk could be one of the grandest streets in Edinburgh. It is already one of the most interesting but on a sunny September afternoon…