Back to the future?

Wildcat strikes. 'British Jobs for British Workers'. Factories on short time working. Business closures. The pound in deep trouble. Redundancies on hte rise. Empty shops 'To Let' on High Streets across the nation. The 1970s? No, this is the UK today. And another old sore that's never properly healed - the Troubles of Northern Ireland - erupted once again last week with arguments over payments to families who have been bereaved - including those of terrorists.
It's like going back in time - mass meetings, placards and braziers. The golden years! And while every news report last week was like an edition of All Our Yesterdays, Friday night also saw me stepping back into the 70's. My son Brian is working in Harry's Bar off the West End, so I thought I would check it out. Admittedly no flares or kipper ties - and the prices were decidedly 21st century - but Harry's Bar on Friday evening was essentially a 1970's disco bar, filled with office workers letting their hair down and boogieing the night away to the classic sounds of the seventies. Poptastic!
Then this morning on Andrew Marr's show, who else but singer-songwriter legend James Taylor. Gone is the shoulder length hair of the Mud Slide Slim years, but that voice remains the same - and brings back warm memories of happy and innocent times of long long ago. Carolina on my mind indeed.
And goodbye to another 70s legend this week - Scotland's own John Martyn passed away, leaving a rich musical legacy that's right up there with Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens and the rest. To me, 'Solid Air' was one of the finest albums of it's day and stands the test of time, ranked right up there with 'Blue', 'Teaser and The Firecat' and 'Sweet Baby James'. It's an age thing.
Anyway, enough nostalgia - back to the present. Another paper off to print on Thursday, and thankfully Fairer Scotland Fund doesn't feature on the front page - although it does get due attention on the inside pages. January is always a slow month for stories in NEN, but, as in previous years, things start to pick up and so it's proving this year. Some good news stories from our schools in next week's issue and it's always great to report these. You do have to wonder, if we didn't report them - who would?
Meetings? Of course - Inverleith's FSF Panel was far less traumatic than the Forth experience, and lessons have clearly been learned. As a result, most projects seem satisfied with their Inverleith allocations (or recommendations, as these must be agreed at a full Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership meeting, another departure from the Forth process). Obviously there was much less money to distribute - and projects' expectations were not as high following Forth - but the decisions were made in a fair and transparent process that was reasonable and can be honestly justified.
The other meeting of note was Drylaw Telford Community Council's first meeting of the new year. Lots to discuss, including the annual Thomas Tierney Award (a major drop in the number of nominees this year)and ongoing environmental issues. The meeting was brisk and business-like, though, and well chaired by Thomas.
Next Week
I've got a day off on Monday - plan to tackle a major filing/deletion task as I seem to have accumulated an email inbox of over 900 items since the middle of December, so that needs to be dealt with.
Meetings - Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership on Monday evening, a Fuel Poverty Conference on Friday afternoon and possibly a meeting of the Unionist Club's office-bearers to talk about financial concerns.
Meetings aside, it's both my dad and son Brian celebrate birthdays over the next couple of weeks so Caroline has decided to have a party next weekend - we didn't do much socialising over New Year for obvious reasons, so it also gives us the opportunity to use up some of the booze lake that seems to have accumulated in the run up to Christmas. The argument now is about what music should be downloaded as party background music - Caroline is not so keen on Atomic Rooster, Jethro Tull or Uriah Heep, so this 'debate' could run and run. James Taylor, anyone?

Back to the City Chambers for this week's picture. Not an abstract, but a picture taken through the haze created by a radiator under a window caused this striking effect. Artistic or what, eh?