Mailbox Ask Bob
Dear Bob, A real tragedy in Italy with the Costa Concordia cruise ship. Did you ever ‘abandon the van’ during your cheeseburger career? Anthony Bennett, Edinburgh Anthony, I have to hold my hands up and say, yes I once abandoned the van and it was shameful. We were in Lochee and some kids were high on hooch and started rocking the van and calling me ‘Mr Blobby’ which I assume, and hope, was a play on ‘Bobby’. It’s important in these cases for the captain to show a cool head and that’s what I did. I leapt out the door, shouted, ‘Frank’s got the money!’ and ran like Alan Wells. Frank came back a few hours later with a terrible limp which, frankly, he milked for nearly a month. All the best, Captain Bob
BOB SERVANT, window cleaning kingpin and beneficiary of Dundee’s Cheeseburger Wars, turns Agony Uncle for The List
Bob, In these times of crisis, it’s hard not to look for divine inspiration. Have you ever cast your eyes heavenwards? Richard ‘Butch’ Thomson, Dundee Dear Richard, It would be hypocritical of me to say I have nothing to do with religion, because I do celebrate Hallowe’en and April Fool’s Day, but I do find it hard to take it seriously. Mary claiming to Joseph that Jesus was an ‘immaculate conception’ is just laughable and must have got the guy pelters from his pals. Yes, I know Joseph went on to have an affair with Mother Teresa but that happened after. The guy was hurting. Bob
Send your questions to bob@bobservant.com twitter.com/bobservant
HAVE YOUR SAY FORBIDDEN PLEASURES Re: Interview with Drew Harvey Bigglestone of Virginia Gallery (691) A big thank you to The List for highlighting the #MAN exhibition at Glasgow's Virginia Gallery. However I was outraged to find the Gallery's website blocked at my local library because it was categorised as 'pornography'. I enjoyed visiting the exhibition and found the Gallery staff friendly and helpful. There were some sexually-explicit artworks but to dismiss them as 'pornography' was an insult to the imagination and skill of the artists. Robert Blakemore, Edinburgh
A spokesperson for the City of Edinburgh Council said: ‘All access to the internet on Council computers is filtered to prevent access to inappropriate material. The internet filtering mechanism relies on categorisation of sites by a third party and the Council cannot guarantee its absolute reliability or appropriateness. Therefore the Council may be willing, on request, to release blocked material.’ CREDITS In the last issue (692), the Portrait Detectives image on page 72 was taken by Alicia Bruce. The Kid Canaveral image on page 77 was taken by Jim Hunter. Apologies to both photographers.
FRANK Responses
As expected, the Frankie Boyle interview we ran last issue – in which he passed comment on Scotland’s anti-bigotry laws, Vernon Kay and the McCanns – generated quite a bit of chatter, especially when several other news sources picked up the story. Here’s a selection of the responses.
Frankie Boyle is a really important voice. He mirrors the truth about others’ behaviour. Christo99 via guardian.co.uk This article confused me when it started, ‘Funnyman Frankie Boyle’. What it should have said was, ‘Frankie Boyle, an Uncle Tom who is an embarrassment to Scotland and panders to the lowest common denominator of society in Scotland and elsewhere’. scottishangle via thescottishsun.co.uk
Good interview with Frankie Boyle in @thelistmagazine made me cackle & think! A bit of boundary pushing done with intelligence. Love it! @jennywicks via Twitter
I can’t be the only one that laughed at that McCann joke? I can’t begin to imagine the hell those parents went through, and what they must feel every time they see something like that in print. However, gut reaction, it was funny, he is a funny guy. I think that says more about me/us than it does about him . . . xxPeepsxx via guardian.co.uk Congratulations to comedian Frankie Boyle for finally saying something laughable, in claiming that the Scottish
government’s crackdown on sectarianism is anti-working class. Boyle thinks
being a knuckle-trailing, bile-spewing bigot is somehow a valid part of ‘working-class culture’, part of that inverted snobbery where the exploited poor are transmogrified into ‘the noble savage’, when there’s little nobility and too much savagery.
It is no more part of any ‘culture’ than anti-Semitism or racism. Mark Boyle, Johnstone, via scotsman.com
He makes a perfectly valid point about solving the root causes of sectarianism, but that doesn’t suddenly make him a person worth listening to. LudwigsLughole via guardian.co.uk
If Boyle feels he can get a laugh out of a missing girl then that’s up to him, for at the end of the day a comedian is only a comedian if they can produce laughter, but if the audience feel disgusted at their antics then soon there will be no audience and hence one has-been, so-called comic. Buzzer via dailyrecord.co.uk Lovely warm hearted man, can’t wait til he gets knighted :) mac it via list.co.uk
2 THE LIST 2 Feb–1 Mar 2012
CONTRIBUTORS Publisher & General Editor
Robin Hodge Director Simon Dessain
EDITORIAL Editor
Jonny Ensall Deputy Editor Claire Sawers Assistant Editor
Henry Northmore, Allan Radcliffe
Editorial Assistant
Niki Boyle Research Manager
Laura Ennor Research
Alex Johnston, David Pollock, Fiona Shepherd, Kirstyn Smith
Editorial Intern Jen Bowden
SALES & MARKETING Media Sales Manager
Juliet Tweedie
Senior Media Sales Executive
Jude Moir
Media Sales Executive Nicky Carter, Lindsay Paul Digital Sales Executive
Freya Cowan Digital Commercial
Manager Brendan Miles
Sponsorship & Promotions
Manager Sheri Friers
Promotions Executive
Amy Russell
Circulation Executive Murray Robertson
PRODUCTION Senior Designer
Lucy Munro Production Manager
Simon Armin
DIGITAL Web Editor Hamish Brown
Senior Developer Andy Carmichael Senior Designer Bruce Combe
Software Developer Iain McCusker
Digital Design Assistant
Daniella Zelli
ADMINISTRATION Accounts Manager Georgette Renwick
SECTION EDITORS Around Town/LGBT
Lauren Mayberry Books/Comedy Brian Donaldson Clubs/Play
Henry Northmore
Dance/Kids Kelly Apter Food & Drink Donald Reid
Film Gail Tolley
Music/Shopping Claire Sawers Noticeboard Anna Millar
Theatre/Visual Art Allan Radcliffe