Westminster<\/a> seemingly intent on spending more than \u00a38 billion on new ones.y\n<\/p>\n\n ![]()
When would we, the UK, use Trident as a ‘first strike’ weapon? (Image: Colin Mearns)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s not without its values in terms of employment but it amazes me that we ever allowed a nuclear base to be situated so close to Glasgow,\u201d says Paterson.\n<\/p>\n
\n Like the dust bomb story, the other tales refer to much of what was occurring outside the back greens of the tenements.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do Just William stories \u2013 I wanted the context to be bigger issues that were happening around us,\u201d Paterson says.\n<\/p>\n
\n This includes the disappearance of Glasgow\u2019s beloved trams and the demolition of swathes of old tenements to make way for new roads and high rise flats, a planning decision that pulled the old close-knit communities apart.\n<\/p>\n
\n It upsets him that Glasgow is still losing some of its most historic buildings and is particularly distressed about the two fires at the art school.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere are not many cities where the most famous and most loved building isn\u2019t a cathedral or a palace,\u201d Paterson points out. \u201cGlasgow had a school of art which was loved even by people who would never have stepped over the door as students there. To have lost that and for it still to stand as it does, to me is absolutely heartbreaking. At my age, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever see that resolved and that saddens me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Although his home is now London he is often in Glasgow but feels it has \u201clost its way\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m not happy in Glasgow at the moment,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel that the voice of Glasgow seems to be utterly muted compared to what it was. The greatness of Glasgow holds on but it\u2019s not kicking with its full strength these days.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Paterson suspects the chattering and influential classes are reasonably content living in a West End bubble, whereas the city centre and other parts are deteriorating due to a \u201clack of love\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m probably going to get into trouble saying that since I live in North London but I do feel Glasgow has lost its way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n At 81 years old, Paterson may be gloomy about seeing a rebuilt Art School but considers himself lucky to be still around and in demand.\n<\/p>\n
\n He is also delighted Birlinn have decided to reprint his book, although he is quick to stress that it is a reissue with an updated introduction by himself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf people bought the book before, they don\u2019t need to buy it again.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n His preface tells how the stories started out as short tales for radio, with the first one sent to the BBC short story department under the false name of Tulloch Cameron.\n<\/p>\n
\n Paterson kept his identity in the dark because after years of reading other people\u2019s scripts, he thought it would be fun to hear an actor reading something he had written.\n<\/p>\n
\n To his surprise, the BBC wrote back saying they would like to broadcast the story with the actor Bill Paterson reading it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMaybe Cameron Tulloch should have said he didn\u2019t want Paterson anywhere near it because he would just ruin it,\u201d he jokes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Instead, he came clean about the authorship and agreed to read the story on radio which went down so well he was encouraged to send in more tales.\n<\/p>\n
\n When people began to ask for them in bookshops, it was decided to publish them, with the book coming out in 2008.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEven since then, the world has changed totally,\u201d he points out.\n<\/p>\n
\n While some aspects may be for the better, today\u2019s children would possibly envy the great freedom of Paterson\u2019s generation \u2013 even if ideas like their dust cloud did occasionally get them into bother with the adults around them.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tales From The Back Green: A Glasgow Childhood by Bill Paterson is published on Thursday by Birlinn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He muses that it might be worth a bit of money now as he reflects on how he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-724207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}