Report calls for a Glasgow mayor and the Greens square up

Dear readers, it’s Monday morning again. How did that happen? We’re looking forward to some sunshine towards the end of the week, although in some ways, dare we say it, the change of weather has proffered the occasion for a bit of R&R and reading. Not for our intrepid reporter, though. 

Calum was off fishing on the Cowal peninsula over the weekend, where he shared a moment with a silvery salmon in the brackish waters of the River Ruel, watched over by inquisitive Highland cattle in the driving rain. On Friday, Robbie was out at the pub with a photographer, yoga instructor, former paedophile hunter and founder of a leading Scottish independence website. Quite the wee crowd.

It's time for your jam-packed Glasgow in Brief.

Glasgow in Brief

💰 Think tank Centre for Cities has released a new report which warns Glasgow risks “falling behind” English cities unless it receives a devolution deal and a directly-elected regional mayor. In a press release accompanying the paper, titled ‘The missing piece in the big cities’ jigsaw’, Centre for Cities said Glasgow is “constrained by fragmented governance and a lack of powers over key areas such as transport, housing, skills, and economic development”. The organisation estimates the Scottish economy would be 4.6% larger if Glasgow was performing nationally according to its size — the equivalent of “adding another oil and gas industry”. They think a lack of local power is what’s holding Glasgow back. Funnily enough, this analysis dropped just as council leader Susan Aitken has accused the UK Treasury of “sidelining” Glasgow City Region in last week’s spending review. Cllr Aitken is unhappy with Glasgow’s lot compared to English devolved mayoral authorities who received one big pot of money — and more powers so they can decide how to spend it.

💡 Of course, devolution doesn’t have to come with a mayor — that’s the English model. Holyrood could devolve more powers to local Scottish authorities via different mechanisms — as think tank Our Scottish Future, established by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, noted last year.

🗳️ Glasgow’s business leaders have backed Centre for Cities’ recommendation. Stuart Patrick, chief executive at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce told The Bell that: “The Chamber has consistently called for a single devolution deal for Glasgow City Region. Many of the economic development priorities raised by our members, including investment in skills and the delivery of transformative transport projects like Clyde Metro would be more effectively addressed at a regional level”. He noted it’s been 11 years since Glasgow City Region secured its City Deal — the first in Scotland, which brought together eight councils — and that the £1.13bn in funding acquired through the agreement is mostly ‘delivered’ (aka, the money has been spent. Now, Patrick says, it’s time for Westminster and Holyrood to agree a deal for Glasgow. “This need not require additional national spending – devolving existing budgets to the regional level, as is already the case in other major UK cities, would allow for more locally accountable and effective delivery.”

🌳 An all-women trio of Glasgow Greens activists and councillors have announced they’re challenging long-time MSP and current party leader, Patrick Harvie, for selection to run as candidates for Holyrood in the 2026 elections. Ellie Gomersall, Iris Duane, and Councillor Seonad Hoy have formed a slate of “radical women”, and are seeking to win an internal party ballot that will decide who gets to fight next year’s battle to represent the party at a national level. Earlier this year, Harvie — who has represented the party as an MSP since 2003 — announced he would not be re-standing for election as leader (we covered that here). Despite wanting to continue as an MSP, his decision has sparked a contest on home ground. Gomersall — a prominent party activist whose campaigning nous has won her great popularity in the Glasgow branch — says “lack of ambition is [...] failing ordinary people”. 

🏗️ Mack update: councillors are set to approve plans for student accommodation on the former site of the ABC and Jumpin Jaks tomorrow, despite 130 objections. Planners greenlit Vita Group’s ‘House of Social’ proposals for 356 student beds and a food hall. But the Glasgow School of Art and Historic Environment Scotland, among others, argue the nine-storey building is going to impact the (supposed) rebuild of the Mack, and the Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson designed CCA building next door. Professor Penny Macbeth, director and principal of GSA has said the proposed building puts the Mackintosh rebuild at “significant risk”. Over the weekend, architect Professor Alan Dunlop sent an open letter to the ten Glasgow City Planning Committee councillors who will meet tomorrow to decide whether or not to grant permission to the project. In the letter the architect of the Hazelwood School in Bellahouston described the proposed buildings as “unequivocally over scaled” and said it offered “limited architectural merit”. Professor Dunlop also criticised images put forward by the developer that show sunlight beaming into a proposed public space at the rear of the planned building as "misleading". Citing his knowledge of the area and its buildings, Professor Dunlop claimed that for the amount of sunlight to be realised in the image, “four or five storeys” from the front of the building would have to be removed, and only in “high summer” would sunlight then flood into the public space as depicted. 🏫Speaking to The Bell, Garnethill community councillor Jay Sutherland described the plans as “pure profiteering” that had “nothing to do with the character and nature of this city”. In 2017, plans for student flats behind the Mack were rejected at committee stage, at which Sutherland voiced her opposition. However, Sutherland added that: “The Mackintosh building is of global importance. I have no doubt it will be restored and reopened”. We’ve previously reported on whether this optimism aligns with the current reality: you can read Margaret Taylor’s investigation into court-stalled attempts to resurrect the Mack and decide for yourself.

🎵 Glasgow Jazz outfit corto-alto has signed a three-album record deal with London label Ninja Tune. We’ve had our lips sealed about the news since we profiled Liam Shortall back in March, when he prematurely broke the news to us, then immediately swore us to secrecy. Shortall announced the deal and a new single which drops this Thursday, by crumpling his beloved trombone into two-dimensional form and proclaiming he’d given up the instrument; we’ll see how long that lasts. 

From Govanhill to the world: Glasgow’s jazz revolution

Buckfast, big basslines and brand sponsorship: a new musical wave is coming of age

The BellRobbie Armstrong

Stories you might have missed: 

🎢 Loch Lomond theme park plans are on hold after outrag

🎨 Nine Alasdair Gray works have gone on display at Kelvingrove for the first time

💡Is this Clydesdale politician the First Minister-in-waiting? (£

🚔 Man arrested over shooting of Scots in Spanish bar

⚽️ Why the Scottish Football Museum is one of the world’s best (£)

Read/listen/watch: Huntleys + Palmers: Inside The Outsider's Party 

Glasgow’s clubbing scene has changed drastically in recent years. Some stalwarts are still going strong, sure, but many nights and nightclubs have gone into the dark. We stumbled across this short doc from Stamp the Wax of Huntleys + Palmers last party at Kelvingrove Museum from 2018. The eight minute video feels like a neat reminder of a heyday in the city’s nightlife, even if the label, founded by Andrew Thompson in 2007, is still going strong. It features interviews with Auntie Flo, as well as the late Jackmaster. Fittingly, given the label released her first single back in 2013, SOPHIE also makes a fleeting appearance. Perhaps the ephemerality of club culture is something to be embraced, not resisted, an ethos that has defined artist-run club Exit since 2023. The nightclub’s long-anticipated closing weekend takes place at the end of the month. Redevelopment plans are to knock down the B-listed building and replace it with an 18-storey tall Radisson ‘apart-hotel’ and serviced apartments.

We also rec: 
📻 Take a trip inside Barlinnie’s radio station in this audio documentary

Catch up and coming up: 

• On Saturday, our resident criminologist Alistair Fraser considered how to improve Glasgow’s concerning rise in youth violence. He asks how Glasgow managed to reduce violence after the turn of the millennium and shed its “murder capital” reputation. What successes can be revived now? Do the same feelings of frustration and hopelessness persist? Among others, Maryhill’s pioneering G20 Youth Project gives him some insights.

Glasgow beat its youth violence reputation once. Can it do it again?

Recent increases in violence among the city’s youth are concerning. But the blueprint for change remains

The BellAlistair Fraser

• Calum was underneath the hulking grey Woodside overpass last week, totting up the astronomical costs of repairs to the M8 motorway. Behind the stats, there’s always a human impact. Read it here. 
• Jim MacNee works as a printer for the council. He’s also the man behind pigeon football — the hobby he took up to help him cope with his wife’s illness. Robbie penned the definitive profile of Glasgow’s top (and only) doo footie manager. Brace yourselves for plenty of pigeon puns — and some unexpectedly moving moments — here.
• Later this week, Robbie’s long-awaited (in the office, at least) pizza rankings will hit the electromagnetic press. Paesano or Sears? Franks or Caesars? No need to decide, for the man who maintains that his own dough comes out trumps will let you know where the rest lie. 

Unconstructive critique: The Clarence, 168 Hyndland Road

This Hyndland spot has undergone a few changeovers and facelifts in recent times, but appears to have finally hit upon a winning, if not original, recipe: it’s now a gastropub. Not all gastropubs are made equal though and The Clarence is a cut above; the roast we were served this weekend wasn’t far off flawless. You’d expect this from the team behind Cail Bruich and Brett, but The Clarence wears its credentials more lightly than its sister spots. A chateaubriand of beef was roasted to its zenith and paired with a delicious bone marrow gravy. This was accompanied by a Yorkshire pudding the size of a small child’s head. Sole in a sauce vierge and brown butter was also impeccable. The cauliflower steak, no vegetarian afterthought, was licked with smoke and well charred, cut through with a salsa verde, shallots and roasted hazelnuts. There’s a fine wine list, and pints for under a fiver (three pounds on Mondays–Wednesdays). Aye, I’ll be back. - Robbie

Glasgow calendar: Live mapathon, Who owns the Clyde? 

An experimental afternoon of collective mapping at the Briggait, by the folks who brought you Who Owns the Clyde. Search for ownership sites within the city land and find out more about land ownership along the River Clyde. 21 June, 2–5pm.

Other dates for your diary:

🎼 Glasgow Jazz Festival.
18–22 June. Various venues.

💃Hand of God all-dayer at the Rum Shack
21 June, 4pm–1am