Lack of Scottish talk radio - the REAL democratic deficit

listen to ‘Lack of Scottish talk radio - the REAL democratic deficit’ on Audioboo

Let's increase the variety of voices heard on the radio and faces
seen on television. Excite the listener or viewer and don't
switch them off!

Talk radio is proving to be a popular phenomenon in many different geographical areas. In the Republic of Ireland, Newstalk is their most well known independent talk radio broadcaster. The BBC focuses on talk based programming through it's own output on stations such as Radio 4. And in London, who can forget the popular LBC?

Scotland is about to face the biggest decision in it's entire history in just under three weeks from now. Much debate has been had on television screens, in town halls and on the streets of every city and town across this country. Yet, despite all this, the country can sadly not boast that it has it's own independent national talk radio station. Frankly, this is a national obscenity as well as a tragedy.

A good friend of mine and I had a deep conversation about this whole issue on the phone last weekend. Like me, and I say this with modesty, he has a constructive and analytical outlook on the referendum. Personally, I'm getting more and more fed up of seeing the same faces and hearing the same voices on my television and radio every day, particularly with regard to coverage of the Scottish independence referendum. I'm getting fed up of listening to the same soundbites from politicians on both sides time after time. And I'm also getting fed up of the petty point scoring that overshadows many broadcasts on the issue of the referendum (and on other issues within politics in general). Why can't the broadcasters and other media outlets start looking further afield to other people and commentators to seek their constructive opinions? Are people like me just not interesting enough?

To be fair, I have to feel grateful to the BBC at Pacific Quay for allowing me on numerous occasions to come onto Morning Call on BBC Radio Scotland and speak about the issues featured on their show (of which not every issue that I've discussed on that show has been specifically related to the referendum on independence). But BBC Scotland can only do so much and has to cater for all of it's listeners as Radio Scotland is not specifically a talk radio station. The advantage with having an independent national talk radio station is that it'll enable a platform for a variety of different people to come on air and put their opinion in the public domain. It's wrong to suggest that people don't care about politics. They do - for goodness sake, look at the number of people who have registered to vote for this forthcoming referendum. I know some of you will point me to Talk 107, which was a talk radio station serving Edinburgh, Fife and the Lothians in the 2000's. Sadly it's no longer around, because, in my opinion, it did not reach out to the whole nation and only broadcast to a selected part of the country - that was a fundamental mistake from the start.

If I'm being really honest, the need for Scotland to catch up with the likes of London and the Republic of Ireland in having, exclusively, a talk radio station of it's own is overwhelming. We should be ashamed of ourselves as a country that such a service does not exist in it's own entity. I hope somebody with experience, expertise and passion for such an idea can bring about whatever is required for Scottish talk radio to thrive again and contribute a fundamentally important element to the nation's media.

My genuine fears for Scotland post-referendum

The sun will truly set one way or the other on
September 19th in Scotland.

Four weeks today, Scotland will be at a major crossroad - one direction will lead to independence and another one will lead to remaining within the United Kingdom. Either way, one side of the debate will win and the other will be defeated.

And don't think for a second that this is going to be the first of a series of referenda on Scotland's future. This is a once in a lifetime occasion which will never be repeated. The way the polls are trending at the moment suggests that the result isn't going to be a 70/30 or even a 60/40 split.

For the last few days, the result of people's emotions after the result of the referendum has started to really worry me. Many people have stated their possible intention of quitting Scotland if the result doesn't go the way they want - the results of a recent survey by Panelbase for The Sunday Times and Heart radio station suggested that around 700,000 people in Scotland could emigrate if the referendum ended up with a Yes vote and around 200,000 people in Scotland would quit the country if the result of the referendum was a No. Both figures are not small (link to article from The Scotsman website).

The biggest flaw some people complain about with the upcoming referendum is the fact that there are only two options on the tablet for voters - independence or (arguably) nothing. And the group of voters in particular that will really not appreciate this are those who wanted to vote for a possible third option where it was, for example, "Devolution Plus" or "Devolution Max". What if we end up with a No vote and, after all this long period of time debating, nothing happens? That would go down well with very few people - in June 2012, according to the results of a Ipsos MORI/Reform Scotland survey, only 29% opted for the "status quo" option (link to UK Polling Report website).

Now I know people on the No side insist that more powers will be delivered to the Scottish Parliament under devolution, but how do we really know that is going to definitely happen? The three main pro-union parties at Holyrood have all come up with different ideas and have failed to make a united agreement on what extra powers will be legislated for after the referendum. It could turn out to be their biggest mistake in recent Scottish history and the Better Together side will have nobody but themselves to blame if they lose. However, will it all depend on who wins the 2015 UK General Election? Probably.

On the contrary, it should be asked as to why the Yes side are not leading the polls with just around a month to go. I do not think for a second that anyone within Yes Scotland seem to be panicking at the moment, but time is running out if they want to have enough momentum on their side in order to claim victory. Then again, will they pull off an extraordinary victory? The Scottish National Party certainly did in the 2011 election for the Scottish Parliament, so who knows?

I also felt that the First Minister is still not setting out that unambiguous of a case for Sterling to remain as the main currency of Scotland. When I quizzed Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on this issue in Kirkcaldy last Tuesday, she gave me a really strong and, frankly, unambiguous case - maybe it should have been her debating Alistair Darling on STV over a fortnight ago.

What also attracted my attention this week was the contrast between many of the polls which illustrate that a No vote was likely and the result of a survey carried out in working class communities by the Radical Independence Campaign. They found that support for a Yes vote stood at 44%, No on 25% and Don't Knows on 31%. Take the latter of the three away and the split would be 63/37 in favour of a Yes vote (link to article from The Scotsman website). 

Now I couldn't source results of another separate survey for those that live in middle class communities, but the possible inequality between those that are well off and those that aren't well off and what both groups of people want for Scotland's future appears very disturbing and divisive to me as far as the future of Scottish society is concerned.

The last thing to consider for now is the fact that this forthcoming referendum is unchartered territory for everybody in Scotland. We have never had a referendum of this kind before and none of us on this earth can really determine what is going to really happen after the result is announced. However, I fear that the political mood of this country will become so toxic that matters could become really unhealthy and it is the responsibility of the politicians to ensure that a sense of calm resumes after the referendum.

The outcome of the vote on September 18th 2014 will go right to the wire. Put it this way, it's like a football cup final - there won't be a draw. And only one side can win this debate.

Five reasons why Glasgow should host the Olympics in 2028

Shall we do it all over again with a
Glasgow 2028 Olympic Games?

So we all know how capable Glasgow was in hosting the 20th Commonwealth Games this summer. But whether Scotland wins independence or chooses to remain within the United Kingdom, I think we should not hesitate for a second in thinking about the prospect of bringing the Olympic Games to Scotland's biggest city. Here's why:

1. Glasgow and Scotland are pretty much well organised with our provision of facilities to host events such as football, swimming and the triathlon. And we all know how magical Hampden Park became when the athletics came to town during the Commonwealth Games. It should also be noted that other cities and locations across Scotland can, like during Glasgow 2014, support the city in hosting sporting events such as when the shooting took place at Barry Buddon near Dundee.

2. Glasgow and Scotland has an advanced transportation system which caters for the needs of commuters on a daily basis. And during Glasgow 2014 there were hardly any major problems despite how busy the city became (particularly at venues where events were taking place). With the help of the specially designated lanes across Glasgow's road network, the extended timetable on the railways and extra bus services, traffic continued to flow well.

3. An Olympic Games in Glasgow and Scotland will provide even more opportunity for the city and country to grow and exceed any expectations. Although I did mention Hampden Park and the athletics earlier, there would probably be a need for a brand new Scottish Olympic Stadium in order to provide a higher level of capacity. A Scottish Olympics will provide the chance for improvements to infrastructure such as the roads and sporting facilities and also the opportunity to build other new facilities such as new hotels and retail centres.

4. Glasgow have a strong track record in hosting international events such as the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (now known as the UEFA Europa League) finals (2002 and 2007, respectively), the annual World Pipe Band Championships and of course the recent Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. 2028 is a good year to go for in terms of bidding for the Olympics, because it allows time for the current political situation to settle in Scotland and for us to reflect and consolidate on the success of the 20th Commonwealth Games.

5. Scotland may only be a country of just over five million people, but we Scots are a very big and well known, loved and admired people worldwide. We live for the big occasion and we continuously make a great name for ourselves on the international stage as we beautifully demonstrated during Glasgow 2014. And we are also an outward looking, friendly and ambitious country so welcoming the world to Scotland will be a task that we would all relish with excitement.

So there you go. A succinct, yet thought provoking case for the country's biggest city to be the focus of the world once again. Don't call me ludicrous or blame me for writing this blog entry. We should not hold ourselves back.

MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - Part 5: The best Commonwealth Games ever

The sun has well and truly set on Glasgow 2014, but
the memories of the 20th Commonwealth Games will
remain for a long time to come for many people, including
myself.

This final part of my series of reflections on the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, is an overall conclusion of what has been the most fantastic sporting event to have ever taken place in the country.

Well I hope people reading my thoughts about Glasgow 2014 will appreciate the time that I have taken to put my thoughts on the record and put my feelings on the record. And I want to thank everybody for reading my blog posts and I hope that people reading them, especially who might have volunteered at the Commonwealth Games or who went to an event at the Commonwealth Games or who have any connection with anybody who might have got involved at the Commonwealth Games will appreciate the experiences and maybe relate to some of the things that I have said or shared as part of my blog entries.

I have to say that I am so incredibly proud of Glasgow and Scotland, because I think we have shown the whole world, let alone the Commonwealth, that Scotland is more than good enough to run an event as big as the Commonwealth Games. And I know a lot of people tend to downplay the Commonwealth Games because it is not the Olympics or because it is not as big as other sporting events like the World Cup. But it's still a very major, major event so it does require a lot of investment, time, effort and energy to make the event work successfully. And I have to say that all the stakeholders who got involved and who helped out with the running of the Commonwealth Games did an absolutely incredibly sterling job and did an absolutely amazing job and they should be given full respect for how well they've done.

I think the fact that the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council (an 80/20 split I think) funded the Commonwealth Games solely was just an absolute testament to the fact that devolution has really enabled Scotland to actually take the initiative and bring an event as big as this to Glasgow and to Scotland and to invite the Commonwealth to come to Glasgow and to the other parts of Scotland which held events for the Commonwealth Games to actually enjoy the event.

I had such a brilliant time. I would go as far as saying that it was life changing, because for the first time in my own life, I got to see an event as major as this in my own country and that is just special, because it's one thing to watch an event as big as the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics or the World Cup in another country - and yes it's great, but there's just something special about having it in your own country and that is just marvellous and frankly very inspiring.

I think one of the legacies for me personally as far as the Commonwealth Games is concerned is the fact that I have now taken up lawn bowls as a sport so I'm already thinking ahead to the Gold Coast in 2018 and hoping to compete there at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Now I know some people may accuse me of being delusional, but there is only one life that you live and you have to live it and it's worth seeing how good I can get at lawn bowls and if I'm good enough then I can make it into the Scottish team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that will be absolutely fantastic, but we'll see what happens. The main thing for me personally is the fact that I have taken up a new sport and the fact that I am enjoying it and I am playing it for fun initially and learning is absolutely superb and I think is already a legacy for me personally.

If Glasgow was not in the premiership of the world's best cities before the Commonwealth Games, it is in there now. It is up there with London, New York, Toronto, Melbourne and many, many more cities. It is just a brilliant city to go and visit, to go and run a business in, to go and get a job in and work in and even just spend time with your friends in and to go and see world class events.

And the fact Glasgow has been able to host the Commonwealth Games in such a positive and such a brilliant and excitable manner - Glasgow is truly world class! And now really there are many, many reasons for anybody to go and visit the city or host an event in the city or to even shop in the city or work in the city or run a business in the city - it's just world class!

And although it's not the capital of the United Kingdom or the capital of Scotland, so what? It's up there in the premiership of the world's best cities - it is world famous! And you know, it was always world famous before the Commonwealth Games and now it's reputation has been enhanced thanks to the success of Glasgow 2014.

This Commonwealth Games took place in my home country. I had an involvement in this Commonwealth Games. I played my part in this Commonwealth Games. I personally got to experience this Commonwealth Games. And that for me was just life changing. That was just so special.

I would say nearly everybody is saying that Glasgow 2014 was the best Commonwealth Games ever - Glasgow 2014 was just world class.

When we allowed Glasgow to flourish, Glasgow flourished.

When we were asked to bring it on, we brought it on.

And when we were asked to gie it laldy, we gave it laldy.

MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - Part 4: Being a spectator

The Clyde Auditorium and the SSE Hydro were just
two of the many venues across Glasgow and Scotland
hosting sporting events for the 20th Commonwealth Games.

This is the penultimate part of my overall reflection of Glasgow 2014. In this blog entry, I take a look back at my experience of being a spectator at a variety of events during the Commonwealth Games.

I was lucky to go and see the badminton, squash, para-sport powerlifting and the athletics as far as events were concerned and ultimately the big one I went to was the Closing Ceremony which I was delighted to be at. But I'll start with the sporting events.

The first one I went to was the badminton which took place at the Emirates Arena in Dalmarnock. The first thing you notice about the Emirates Arena is how massive the venue is. It's absolutely huge. And although it wasn't the first time I was in that venue, I sensed how massive this venue really was. And it was absolutely incredible, especially with the badminton taking place there, because I recall seeing on the television beforehand that there was more than one badminton match taking place at the same time. But in my case when I went to see the badminton on the 27th July, there was only one match taking place and I remember it was in the evening. And that was a match between England and India.

The weekend of the 2nd and 3rd August, of which I like to call it the "super weekend" - it was full of events for the Saturday and Sunday. The first of those events was the para-sport powerlifting and I remember watching the English athlete Ali Jawad breaking the world record with one of his lifts and then he broke his own newly set world record - he broke the world record twice in one session which was absolutely extraordinary. It wasn't a sell out for that event, but the atmosphere was absolutely extraordinary and the first sign of this was when the Glasgow 2014 mascot Clyde appeared out of nowhere onto the stage and started singing and got the audience signing and dancing along. That was quite extraordinary to watch and very amusing and light hearted as well.

Later on that evening, there was the three of us - my brother, I and a friend. We went to the athletics at Hampden Park. It was absolutely incredible, because you got this sense that Hampden Park had transformed like magic from what was a football stadium into this athletics arena and you can tell the crowd were really up for it, even though it was raining and it was grey in the skies and the track was wet and that was a bit annoying.

I was a bit disappointed that night, because I didn't see much of Team Scotland prosper on the night which was a bit sad because I wanted to see some medals from my country. Having said that, we did see a certain Mr Bolt compete for Jamaica and he was very entertaining as always. He got the crowd going and surprise, surprise he succeeded yet again and Jamaica scored successfully once again in the athletics (I'm saying that in terms of medals). It was just an absolutely brilliant night for Jamaica. It was just a great night watching a variety of events like the triple jump, javelin, the relay finals and the long distance finals.

I remember we headed to Scotstoun for the squash for the Sunday of that "super weekend" and we (my brother and I) were a bit late for the start actually which was a bit frustrating and embarrassing - it was my fault, because I'd arrived a bit late into Glasgow from Fife and completely didn't get my facts right when it came to getting the right train to Scotstoun. Nonetheless, we got there and we stayed there for a good six hours I think, because there were a lot of final matches being played and we saw a variety of teams playing like Australia and England.

It was great to watch, because squash is one of these sports like badminton which is very fast paced and ruthless to an extent - I'm not implying that the athletes are necessarily ruthless. They are very good natured and have respect for each other, but the velocity of the sport is very fast (squash and badminton fit into that category). We saw a great mixture of competition taking place which was great and eye opening as well. There was a really good atmosphere around Scotstoun.

Afterwards, we rushed back into the city centre and my brother and I met our father and a friend of ours who came to join us for the closing ceremony for that evening. I remember getting a bit agitated, because our friend who was coming in from the west of the city was held up in the train delays heading into Glasgow city centre so I saw all these folk heading into the shuttle buses at Buchanan Bus Station and there I was sitting down in the station thinking, "oh my God we need to get away, because we are going to be late!" - I didn't shout this out in public, because I didn't want to cause any embarrassment.

Nonetheless, we all united and we boarded the shuttle bus and headed to Hampden Park. We arrived very early actually, we arrived around an hour before the start of the actual closing ceremony so I was very chuffed and relieved that we were in our seats before then.

I remember seeing all these tents all over the pitch and I was trying to find out at first what was going on (what were we going to expect?). Fast forward to nine o'clock then the closing ceremony took place and then suddenly I can see all these athletes running out of their tents with absolutely no hint of hesitation, running towards the stage and the stadium absolutely lit up in sound and light and it was just...everybody started going into song and everybody started getting all excited and all these saltires waved across the stadium.

It was a great start to the closing ceremony and it was quite a musical closing ceremony if I rightly remember  - it was almost like being at a concert.

I remember notably HRH Prince Imran saying that the Commonwealth Games was "pure, dead brilliant" and the whole crowd just loved it. There was probably not one person in the stadium who didn't smile at that and it was just absolutely marvellous.

The obvious lowlight was when Prince Edward said the Commonwealth Games were closed. Everybody was very gutted about that, but that was going to inevitably happen.

But I think the highlight of the night for me came at the very end when everybody started to sing "Caledonia" along with Deacon Blue and then when all the acts united together on the stage and started singing "Auld Lang Syne" and then suddenly you can see all around, everybody holding hands together singing that song and it was absolutely a sight to behold.

It's something I have never ever seen in my life, through my own two eyes and just seeing that was so special. It was the best show I have ever witnessed in the whole of my entire life and to be honest I don't think there's going to be very much that beats it, because it was just that special and adding the fact that nearly a billion people (not a million, a billion) all over this planet watched that show - I mean it just summed up how vital and important this event was and how significant it was as well and it was just such a great night.

The other two things I will say - I thought the security team were fantastic. I thought the police, army and other organisations who helped out with the security and looking after everybody - I thought that they were absolutely amazing.

The second thing I will mention, I thought the transport was just fantastic. The trains, albeit some of them were a few minutes late because of high demand, they still ran very well and the shuttle buses especially from Hampden back to the city centre were absolutely fantastic.

A superb experience as a spectator at Glasgow 2014. It's a huge credit to them and all the organisers for how brilliant the experience was and I just loved it.

MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - Part 3: Life as a Clyde-sider

My volunteering as a Clyde-sider was spent on Tayside
at the Apex Hotel which is near the Tay Road Bridge in Dundee.
Around 400 athletes were based there during the Commonwealth
Games.

In my previous blog post, I explored how I managed to land the opportunity of becoming a Clyde-sider volunteer for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. In the third of my series of reflections, I look back at my time volunteering on Tayside.

As far as where I was based was concerned, I didn't care as long I was playing some role even if it was making a cup of tea or coffee then so what? It doesn't bother me. But I got a more prominent role than that which was very good.

After I accepted the role of Clyde-sider, I started attending a series of training sessions. I remember two of them as far as my memory is concerned - the problem is I have got a memory which is the size of a fish and no disrespect to sea animals or fish, because they're lovely but my memory is terrible at times. I remember two training sessions in particular that I took part in...in fact no make that three, because I remember the third one now.

The two I firstly remembered was the one at Hampden which was more of the specific training in transportation, which everyone involved from transportation got involved in for the whole of the Commonwealth Games and all of the venues and it was a limited number of us, I think around fifty of us, in this one big room at Hampden. So I'm not sure if they had other training sessions on - I think they did from what I remember when I booked the sessions on the volunteer portal.

The other one I remember was up at the Apex Hotel in Dundee, where I was based. We (myself and my colleagues who became friends of mine as our time volunteering went on) met our bosses who were fantastic people, absolutely fantastic people and really, really good people and I got a really good sense that we were going to be a great team and that we were going to be a very cohesive team and a strong, closely knitted team.

The third session that I've just remembered and I cannot believe it didn't come up in my memory first of all was the orientation training up at the Emirates Arena in Dalmarnock (I'm going back the way time wise as it was one of the first sessions I went to). I remember seeing Clyde (the Glasgow 2014 mascot) running around the place amusing everybody. And I remember Romeo as well, also known as David Farrell who now presents on STV Glasgow and who used to do a programme called In:Demand on Radio Clyde which used to be broadcast on all of the Bauer stations (across Scotland) so you're talking about Radio Forth, Radio Tay, Radio Northsound and all that. Romeo was his nickname and David Farrell was the MC/compére for the event and his chat was absolutely brilliant and the banter was absolutely enjoyable and everybody was having a good time.

There was about a few thousand of us and we weren't all in transportation Clyde-sider volunteers, there was quite a lot of us in different roles so we had people working in the media centre, people volunteering at the venues, some volunteering in Edinburgh, some volunteering in Dundee and up at Barry Buddon at well (as the shooting event was taking place there). We met all the main staff who gave us a good talk (we didn't meet them in person, we just saw them in the middle of the arena talking to us).

So moving on to the time that I actually volunteered properly as a Clyde-sider, I remember having a mixture of shifts which varied from me starting as early as 6:30am to as late as 9:00pm. I never did any nightshifts as such. I had shifts that were either morning (finishing at lunchtime normally) or afternoon/evening. I really had a good mixture of them and I was responsible for transport. I didn't drive, but I was more responsible for the logistics of the transportation at the Apex Hotel in Dundee where half the athletes were staying for the shooting (at Barry Buddon).

We had regular buses travelling between the Apex Hotel and Barry Buddon so that the athletes could commute between the two venues. And we also had what was called inter-city buses so they would stop between Dundee and Glasgow and go up to Carnoustie as well and during the later part of my volunteering, they would also go to Barry Buddon as well. There was a lot of flexibility in choice for the athletes to choose which transportation they wanted to take according to their needs.

And we also had special cars as well - we had a fleet of cars that were regularly utilised during the Commonwealth Games. We had special drivers, who were Clyde-siders as well, and they drove the athletes around and if say one of the scheduled buses was not appropriate or suitable for someone to move around between the different venues during Glasgow 2014 then we could potentially book them a car or reasonable transportation facilities in order to facilitate their needs.

I also did other tasks such as displaying timetables and making sure the right information was on display and was being fed to the athletes and everyone else involved in the Commonwealth Games and also to answer enquiries. We had our own transportation desk at the Apex Hotel which was great, because it was just the one stop that anybody could make within the Apex Hotel to actually ask us about any transportation needs or anything like that.

And that was really it. It was quite a relaxed role that I had, but it was a very important one as well. We had to get things right and we had to make sure the the buses left on time and keep transportation moving which was important.

The best thing about being a Clyde-sider was making new friends and just knowing that my role was valued and that my input was valued in terms of helping out with the delivery of Glasgow 2014.

MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - Part 2: Becoming a Clyde-sider

This is a street sign indicating one of the most famous parts of
Glasgow. Within just a 10 minute walk from George Square
was the Glasgow 2014 Volunteer Centre, located on Albion Street,
where I got interviewed for the Clyde-sider role.

I am writing a series of blog entries about my Glasgow 2014 experience. In the first of my blogs, I spoke about how I got interested in the Commonwealth Games and how I wanted to become a Clyde-sider volunteer. We continue on from the point where I put my application in to volunteer for the event.

So fast forward the clock to last summer and I remember that the process of the interview or the build up to the interview and the interview itself was very well organised, the place was very well staffed [that was the Glasgow 2014 Volunteer Centre] and there were many, many people from everywhere in Scotland and beyond who came to Glasgow to get interviewed for the chance to become a Clyde-sider and I wasn't too nervous. I was pretty relaxed. I was actually more nervous about another interview that I had scheduled for the afternoon of that day in Highland Perthshire in a place called Blairgowrie and I wasn't really wanting to get too nervous about this morning interview I had in Glasgow.

I got on well with the gentleman who I chatted with (initial person I was interviewed by before my main interview) and they checked my documentation and other things as well and I remember going downstairs to this basement like floor [in the aftermath]. It wasn't like a typical basement. It was quite glamorous and it was well organised and there were a lot of decorations around signifying that the event was coming. And I remember my interviewer (for my main interview) was a lady from Kirkcaldy, where I live, and it was quite incredible actually. I don't know if it was just a co-incidence, it probably was!

I remember she asked me questions along the lines of how would you be suited to becoming a volunteer, what can you bring, are you looking forward to the Commonwealth Games and all that kind of thing. I don't think these were the exact questions that she asked in that exact manner or wording, but it was just questions to try to get to know about me and actually build a picture up of me and whether I was suitable to become a Clyde-sider. So I was basically just doing the usual thing that somebody does at a typical interview saying, "oh I'm enthusiastic and I'm excited and I cannot wait for the Commonwealth Games".

And I was just being all positive and what not. And I thought it went relatively well. So I was quite happy when I left, which is a rarity, because I tend to come out of interviews and start carrying out a post-mortem on how badly I've done. So I was quite chuffed actually and I was very, very happy and I went on to my other interview in Blairgowrie.

It was a number of weeks before I found out that I was offered the chance to become a Clyde-sider. So I accepted the offer and I was absolutely thrilled and very, very chuffed and very lucky as well, because the fact was there were around about 50,000 applications for only around 15,000 places or roles for Clyde-siders.

I felt incredibly lucky and very honoured that I was picked to become a Clyde-sider for the Commonwealth Games.

MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - PART 1: How it all began

I will include random pictures of my favourite parts of Glasgow.
This is one of me and the world famous Armadillo.

This is a five part series of blog entries about my own personal journey with regard to the 20th Commonwealth Games which took place in Glasgow this summer. It is merely a reflection of my own experiences and how I felt from first knowing about the prospect of the event taking place to completing my duties as a Clyde-sider volunteer. Please note that the text transcript within my blog entries may not be exactly as the description I provide in the audio, but should be interpreted in the same way nonetheless. Enjoy!

I was intrigued by the whole bidding process and whether Scotland would have the Commonwealth Games taking place within our own country. I actually remember before hand watching the news and finding out that Glasgow beat Edinburgh to become the host city in terms of the bid for Scotland to have the Commonwealth Games. I remember being a bit disappointed because I'm an Edinburgh lad and I was a little bit biased and I wanted Edinburgh to have it. But Glasgow got it and I lived with that.

I remember one of my first memories of my interest in the Commonwealth Games was when I went to a lecture during my time at university in Aberdeen (at Robert Gordon University) and I went to one of the city centre campuses and walked along Blackfriars Street. I remember hearing from a source that Glasgow had just won the bid to host the Commonwealth Games and I remember punching my fist up in the air and giving it this big "YES!" in the middle of the street and half the folk walking along the pavement just looked at me thinking "what the hell is going on here?!" and they realised that I was happy about something and the thing I was happy about was the fact that the Commonwealth Games were coming to Scotland. I was delighted about that and I was quite excited, because  it's not a tiny event. It's quite a big deal and although it's not the Olympics, it's still a worldwide event and it's quite exciting when you hear about something as big as that happening potentially in your own country.

The next memory I had about my journey to the Commonwealth Games was early last year when I woke up on a Monday morning and watched BBC Breakfast on the television and I remember they did a live piece at Glasgow Central train station. There was all these people walking around the station looking for people to show interest or become interested in becoming a potential volunteer for the Commonwealth Games so they were interviewed live on the television and they were saying that they were looking for many thousands of people to become volunteers for the event, to help deliver the event and get involved and I instinctively decided there and then I was going to apply.

So within a couple of hours, I started the application process which was done online and I got my application form done. I wasn't too fussed with what I wanted to do precisely and I just wanted to be involved in the event and play my role at Glasgow 2014 so I submitted my application as quickly and properly as I could.

It took a while until I heard back that I was being invited to get interviewed [for the Clyde-sider role].