Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2023
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
Summary
Easterhouse is the most geographically isolated suburb of Glasgow. It’s seven miles from the city centre; literally the furthest point at which you are still in Glasgow. It’s wedged between the M8 to the south and the countryside to the north. It feels like it should be a separate town and not part of Glasgow, ‘cause many people here don’t identify with the city. I’d say I’m from Easterhouse rather than Glasgow.
My family were amongst the first people to be moved into this area. I was born in the old Easterhouse, when the gangs were still a major power. Violence and drugs were much more prominent then. If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs. At one point that was the reality, but it’s never been predominant. You’re looking at roughly 120 people at any given time who were involved in that. There are 5,000 people that live here. When you tell people you come from Easterhouse – and they think you’re possibly going to stab them – that’s an immediate misunderstanding.
It’s easy to say that Easterhouse is a better place now than it was in 1999 when I was born. Drug use has stagnated a wee bit recently and the gangs have disappeared completely. Houses have been knocked down and rebuilt. Most of the schools have been knocked down and rebuilt. I’ve seen the area change from a new town to what now resembles a traditional suburb. You could argue that this transformation is responsible for the decline in culture. It’s responsible for the decline in drug use, but most of the issues that were in Easterhouse before the gangs are the issues that caused the gangs, and are still present: sectarianism, child poverty, unemployment, health…
There’s the view that progression is a good thing, and then there’s a sentimental attachment to the past. In many respects, progression in the housing developments has been for the best. Most of the houses that were pulled down here didn’t have central heating or indoor toilets. But it feels like a backhanded attempt to raise property prices. Easterhouse was built for 40,000 to 50,000 people and there’s now less than 5,000 here.
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- Information
- Invisible BritainPortraits of Hope and Resilience, pp. 16Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018