Violence…

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

As I sit in my Kailyard I wonder often about the future.

In my home city, and in my home country, violence has always sat uncomfortably with our sense of being who and what we are. There were razor gangs in Glasgow in the 1950s and 1960s which were not only notorious but attracted celebrities to come over to Glasgow to try and halt them.

With some ill-disguised pride we wore the mantle of the murder capital of Europe for a while. Glasgow is a violent city, known as No Mean City to many, but now it is no more than many others. In fact, it is less violent than ever thanks to an initiative which sees knife crime as a social issue rather than as a criminal pestilence. Police Scotland and its forbears, Strathclyde Police should be commended for their approach as it has saved lives.

It still does not stop Glasgow from boasting about an apocryphal tale of the very first vending machines – even as I type this, I do hope it is true. The story goes that these were trialed by Coca Cola in three places in the world: a notorious suburb of Moscow, Soweto in South Africa, and The Bronx in New York. All three newly shiny vending machines in various guises survived six months of being in each location. They dispensed drinks, they functioned as they should, and they were not robbed of their contents. The story continues that it was then time to roll them out across the world.

One was placed in Glasgow Central Railway Station.

It lasted 30 minutes.

Somebody stole it.

Even if it is not true, the fact that people believe it, shows that the background to the tale has very real currency. We all want to believe it. In the UK we have always looked across at the issues facing American society and wondered if there was not a better way of dealing with your crime and your violence. It is perhaps a condescending attitude as we always believe, do we not, that we have the answers. Even to questions that are either none of our business or that we have little experience of we think we can find a way that those on the ground have not.

And so, we hear that New York is suffering a wave of gun violence.

There is a call for more policing and a more visible presence of the blue uniform. The BBC article I found this news in, quotes a mother who has lost two sons – both shot and fatally wounded – incredibly 16 years apart. If there was ever proof that things had not moved on, right there was the evidence.

What made it even more tragic was the fact that the boy who shot her second son and killed him was 13 years old.

Violence around young people as well as the way in which it is described by the media is a sensitive issue, but when a community are telling you that things have never been this bad, you need to listen. It should not take the death of innocents (irrespective of the level of their innocence) to make officials pay attention, but it does. When there ain’t no visible problem, there ain’t no need to pay it no heed is their mantra.

There is always a need, to give young people something which they can embrace positively. Perhaps not more police, but more youth workers, activities or taking crime as a social illness would help?

There we go again, trying to advise when we don’t know what the issues really are. It is also a time in the UK when we also have an issue with violence that does not quite sit well with our policy makers.

Just last week we had the return of a phenomenal television series by the BBC, The Peaky Blinders. It is based in England during the 1920s and now the 1930s. It concerns a family who have had their troubles but managed to lift themselves from the end of the First World War to some prominence. People have lauded it and it has gathered awards for its portrayal of the time and for the skill of the actors who have been mesmerizing. The storylines are punchy, intriguing and beautifully crafted. The theme tune is brilliant and sung by Nick Cave. It has all the elements it needs for televisual success.

This success has come during an exceptionally biased media campaign about knife crime in London. Black on black violence has apparently spiraled. Or at least it has if you read the media. Many have called out the backgrounds of those involved in the violence and attacked the racial profile of what they see as “the problem”.

But they miss the point, and they miss the problem. The Peaky Blinders were a razor gang based in Birmingham who have been used as a vehicle for one of the most violent adaptations of gang warfare for the small screen.
Of course, there is an obvious difference between the Peaky Blinders and what is happening in London, and it isn’t that they have different regional accents…
Can you guess what it might be?

A view from the new Kailyard or, how you look over there, from over here…

(Kailyard n. a cabbage patch, often attached to a school of writing – the Kailyard School – a genre of overly sentimental and sweet Scottish literature from the late 19th century where sentimental and nostalgic tales are told in escapist tales of fantasy, but here we seek to reverse it by making the Kailyard Observations of effective invective comment from that looks not to return to the past but to launch us into a better future by the one Donald worth believing…)

And today’s Scots word tae bamboozle ye…

Each time we see ye, we shall try tae leave ye wi a word o oors tae replace a word o thine. Jist fur the sake o learnin, ken!

Da Aald Rock – An affectionate term that Shetlanders give to their own islands at the very north of Scotland.