C of E Adopts An Unusual Position On Gay Bishops

Why do so many religious bodies seem to spend so much time debating issues related to sex? I’m no psychologist, but there seems to be something rather odd at work in the collective psyche in the Church of England right now.

Not content with splitting itself over whether women should be allowed to become bishops, the established church in England has, it seems, been debating whether or not gay men should be allowed to don whatever fancy robes their bishops wear.

Now normally such a discussion in a church would be of interest only to the ever decreasing numbers who actually take part in its activities. But as an established church, the C of E is allied to the state. Some of its senior figures sit in the House of Lords, taking part in the governance of the country, and the appointments the church makes are therefore of interest to all of us.

So back to the division in the church. On the one hand there are the fundamentalists who say no to gay bishops, arguing that the bible defines gay sex as a sin. Then there are the modernisers who say yes, contending that a church must change to reflect the society it finds itself in. So it was perhaps inevitable that the House of Bishops would look to fudge the issue.

Their rather bizarre solution is that gay men will now be allowed to become bishops as long as they are in a civil partnership – but don’t ever have sex. And they must also repent for any past sins, meaning sexual acts of course. No, this is not a long lost Monty Python movie script, although it sounds very much like one.

Now this raises so many questions. Why not single gay celibate men? Just what will the interview process be? What exactly constitutes gay sex in the Church’s view? What sort of guarantees will any potential candidate be expected to give? How will their continued celibacy be monitored once in post?

And can you imagine the conversation that a gay candidate would have with his partner, telling him that there was good news and bad news: a possible promotion to look forward to – but also a lifetime without sex. (There’s a joke about bashing the bishop in here somewhere …)

There are those who see the fact that the church has moved this far as a good thing. The Rev Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said the change was welcome. “This is good news that makes common sense,” she said.

But the Rev Rod Thomas from Reform, which is an evangelical network that wants the church to be more traditional, said, “It’s a very worrying development. If someone were to be appointed who was in a civil partnership, that would be a very divisive step”

So should a Christian church not simply stick to the biblical position? After all they do believe that it is the word of their god, don’t they? “You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman: it is abomination” according to Leviticus. Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it?

But then a lot of things are wrong according to Leviticus. Eating three day old cooked meat for example. Harvesting the corners of fields. Cursing the deaf. Wearing a garment of mixed linen and wool. Shaving the side of your head. Tattoos. All of these are forbidden in that one book of the bible.

And there are some pretty strict rules for priests there in Leviticus too. They cannot become bald, must only marry virgins and cannot offer the bread of god to any disabled person. Honestly, it’s all in there.

I’m sure anyone who considers homosexuality to be wrong because of the biblical prohibition also follows all of these other rules, and also the many other oddities that their holy book contains. Because to pick and choose which of their god’s pronouncements to obey and which to ignore would be rather hypocritical, wouldn’t it?

But back to the Church of England. It will be interesting to see what happens the first time that a gay man applies for a post as a bishop. Just how will they apply these rather strange new rules – and how will congregations react to them?

The Church has got itself into a rather strange position after its considerations of who can become a bishop, first over women and now over gay men

Its conclusion seems to be that a bishop must have a penis, but can only use it in some circumstances.

 

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The Real Meaning Of Christmas

So is everyone busy preparing for the Winter Solstice celebrations? Or will you be celebrating Christmas instead?

Now some will see this as a silly question, as everyone “knows” that 25^th December is Christmas Day, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, while the Winter Solstice is a totally separate occasion on 21^st December.

But it’s actually not as simple as that.

The Winter Solstice does indeed happen on 21^st December. Technically this is the moment in time when the earth tilts furthest from the sun. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. The word solstice comes from the Latin phrase for “sun stands still”.

The Winter Solstice is essentially the year’s darkest day, but it’s almost never the coldest, as oceans are slow to heat and cool and the seas still retain some warmth from summer.

For thousands of years the winter solstice has been celebrated as the rebirth of the sun by societies who placed astronomy and the turning of the seasons at the centre of their beliefs. One of the functions of Stonehenge, built at least 4,000 years ago, is to mark the time of the solstice.

And as many of these societies worshipped the sun as a deity, the idea of the winter solstice marking the birth of a god an ancient one.

Roman pagans introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between 17^th and 25^th of December. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule”. The victim was then forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week.

At the festival’s conclusion on December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.

This was actually based on an older Greek festival. The ancient Greek historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions widespread intoxication, going from house to house while singing naked, rape and other sexual license and consuming human shaped biscuits.

On December 25^th, many pagan Romans celebrated Natalis Solis Invincti, the Birthday of the Invincible Sun God, Mithras. The Mithras cult originated in Persia and rooted itself in the Roman world in the first century BCE.

And then, somewhere around 320 CE, the Christian church decided to import the Saturnalia and Mithras festivals into its own rituals, hoping to bring the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders did indeed succeed in converting large numbers of pagans by promising them that they would continue to celebrate the Saturnalia.

But they decided to rename the festival to make it less pagan sounding. They chose to mark the final day of the festival, December 25^th, with a special mass to mark the birth of Jesus, calling it the Christ Mass. The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence and singing naked in the streets – an early form of carolling, perhaps, although I guess it has changed a little since then!

So it was a deliberate decision of the Christian church to locate Jesus’ birth on 25^th December. Nowhere in the bible is the date mentioned. There is no suggestion in Christian mythology that the nativity even took place in December.

And indeed many of the traditions that we now associate with Christmas come from very different, and non Christian, traditions.

The Celtic festive of Yule is celebrated at the solstice; the name refers to the wheel of life. The winter solstice was considered a mysterious and powerful time. After the longest night of the year the sun is seen as growing stronger and the eventual return of the warmer season is welcomed

The Celtic tradition of bringing sprigs of holly and ivy into the home pays homage to the masculine and feminine elements. Both plants are evergreen, a reminder in itself that the earth never dies, but merely sleeps during the winter months. The male element is represented by the prickly holly, with its sexually potent red berries. The mistletoe is the female; entwining, gentle yet powerful. The idea of “decking the halls” seems to have started in London in the 15^th century.

The use of a Christmas tree seems to come from 16^th century Germany. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime.”

And the eating of turkey on 25^th December seems to have been imported to the UK from a native American custom.

So Christmas is merely the Christian version of several very much older festivals based around the Winter Solstice. And any talk of the true meaning of Christmas should really include the honouring of ancient festivals that go back much further than 1,700 years.

It’s only logical after all, as Mr Spock would surely say.

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Almost Half Of Britains Have No Religion, Survey Shows

The recently published 29^th British Social Attitudes Survey has a vast array of interesting results. It shows a country that sees health as its priority (68%), but wants to see a reduction in immigration (75%). A country that is steadily losing trust in all political parties but still believes in a United Kingdom.

And it also shows a country where religion is less relevant than ever. 45.7% of respondents stated that they do not belong to a religion. And this figure rises to 65% for the 18–24 age group.

Since the British Social Attitudes survey was first produced in 1983, religious affiliation among people in Britain has dropped from 68% to the current figure of 54%. Clearly this is a trend and not just a one off finding or a statistical blip.

The survey also showed that levels of religious practice remain static at a fairly low level, with only 14.3% attending religious services once a week or more. So it seems that even among those who consider themselves to have a religion, under a third actually attend a church or equivalent place of worship.

The annual British Social Attitudes Survey is prepared by the National Centre for Social Research and asks a vast array of questions to a sample of over 3,000 people, representing a cross section of the British population.

The religion with which the largest number identify is ‘Church of England’ at 21.1%. 8.7% of respondents identified as ‘Roman Catholic’, and 10.1% identified as ‘Christian’ but did not give a specific denomination. 3.4% of respondents identified as ‘Muslim’, 2.2% as ‘Hindu’, 0.8% as ‘Jewish’, 0.4% described as ‘Sikh’, and 0.2% as ‘Buddhist’.

The results of the questions on religion have not been widely publicised, with the media concentrating on findings about attitudes to public spending and immigration. But surely almost half of respondents having no religion is worthy of comment?

The academics who analysed the 2011 findings concluded that this long term decline in religion is not good news for the current Government, which seems more and more inclined to involve religion in public life.

“What does this decline mean for society and social policy more generally? On the one hand, we can expect to see a continued increase in liberal attitudes towards a range of issues such as abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia, as the influence of considerations grounded in religion declines. Moreover, we may see an increased reluctance, particularly among the younger age groups, for matters of faith to enter the social and public spheres at all.

“The recently expressed sentiment of the current coalition government to “do” and “get” God (Baroness Warsi, 2011) therefore may not sit well with, and could alienate, certain sections of the population.”

Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at the British Humanist Association, commented on the government’s attitude. “Certain government ministers have recently taken a more aggressive stance regarding the role of religion in public life, and have claimed that Britain is still a Christian country. We urge the government to take note of these new survey results, and to recognise the fact that almost half of the British population are in fact non-religious,” he said.

At a time when church leaders are commonly in the media being quoted on all sorts of subjects it seems strange that I cannot find a single quote from any religion on this survey. Perhaps they are all too busy with campaigns against marriage equality?

 

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500 Not Out!

It’s a more than a couple of years now since I started up a blog. Inflicting your thoughts on the world in this manner is a relatively new phenomenon but as everyone else seemed to be doing it, I thought I may as well join in. And I kept going.

So welcome to blog number 500!

In the past 499 blogs I’ve covered many of my favourite subjects: sports and music, politics and mental health issues. And the surprising thing is that people like you regularly read what I have to say.

In total, WordPress’s excellent stats facility tells me that my articles have been read about 119,000 times in total. That’s an average of around 240 reads per article. And it seems that around 140 people will read an article on my blog every day. 5,000 per month us about average at the moment.

Of course the numbers vary daily depending on what I write about. And readership understandably dropped during the three months or so that I was ill and didn’t write anything at all.

In recent times my blogs on the demise of the former Rangers Football Club PLC in administration) have proven to be particularly popular, with several achieving over 1,000 views in a day. I guess bad news really does sell – particularly amongst those who don’t see it as bad news!

My blog has been viewed in 99 different countries to date. Not surprisingly the UK, the USA and Ireland are topping the list, but for some reason I also seem to have regular readers in Iceland, Thailand and India. And I’ve even managed to reach Vietnam and China, which is nice.

As well as those who follow my blog and receive notice of new posts directly (and thanks to you all!), a large number of visitors come from Facebook and Twitter, and many come from other sites that have links in place permanently or who take a particular liking to an individual article.

Celtic sites are high on the list of referrers – Celtic Quick News, Celtic News Now, Kerrydale Street and Celtic Minded among them. But there are political sites there too – Lallands Peat Warrior, Newsnet Scotland and Scottish Round Up have all sent people to my blog.

Thousands also find my writing through search engines. WordPress helpfully lists all of the terms used in these searches, and while many are the obvious footballing and musical ones, there are some strange searches in there too.

Some relate directly to particular blogs I’ve written. How much pocket money to give children seems to be a common search, as do various republican and anti-royalist terms. Some interesting combinations used include “coalition, Thatcherite” and “MPs, convictions”.

I’ve written a fair bit about bipolar disorder and so quite a few folk find my sites by googling celebrities’ names in connection to the condition. Johnny Cash comes up quite often, and I’ve often wondered myself. But the one that surprised me most was “Is John Major bipolar”? Now if you can think of anyone less likely to suffer from extreme mood swings then let me know!

On a sad note, the individual article that has been viewed the most times is one I wrote when I lost a good friend, Steve Reynolds or Pablophanque as many knew him. That’s a tribute to how many people marked his passing and still miss the man.

So, 500 blogs and still going strong. Who would have thought it? I’ll keep writing as long as folk keep reading – I’m never short of something to say! With Scottish football in a turbulent state and a referendum campaign just starting I won’t be short of subjects.

My thanks to everyone who has read my blog. I know the totals are probably small in comparison to those that some other sites get these days, but it’s kind of gratifying to know that my articles have been read almost 120,000 times in total!

 

 

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It’s 2012!

Like many other people, my thoughts in January turn to trying to predict the year ahead. It’s never an easy task of course, and one that exposes the writer to risk of later ridicule if he turns out to be well off the mark. But I’m going to assume that the world won’t end in 2012 as some believe and go for it anyway.

Let’s start with sport. Come May, there will be title celebrations in Glasgow and Manchester. That much is fairly obvious given that the titles on both sides of the border look very much like two horse races, but who will take the honours?

Celtic will lift the Scottish title. I know I’m not exactly a neutral observer, but I’m convinced that momentum lies with the green side of the city. Rangers’ financial problems will likely see a January weakening of their already stretched squad and a rather large tax bill expected sometime near the end of the season threatens the very existence of the club. Ally McCoist could go down in history as not only an unsuccessful Rangers manager, but also as the last Rangers manager, at least in its present form.

In England, City may be the favourites but I have a sneaking suspicion that the red side of Manchester might just be the ones to take the title. Come the business end of the season the great experience of Sir Alex in the home straight could be the difference between the two clubs.

Euro 2012 will see Spain seeking to win a third major title in succession and it is hard to see past them. The golden generation of Xabi, Iniesta et al has been all conquering so far and I’m backing them to do it again. The one Spanish weakness may be up front, with Villa injured and Torres off form, but goals in this side come from all over the park. The main challenge will come from a young and improving German side who play exciting football. England? The usual hype, exit and media recriminations for them.

The summer’s other big sporting event is the Olympics, which are being held in London. I added that last bit just in case anyone has managed to avoid every media outlet in the country for the past year and didn’t know that the games are coming to the UK. Look out for a torch procession coming to your town soon.

Home field advantage should mean a good medal haul, especially in the traditionally strong area of the sitting down sports – cycling, rowing, sailing and whatever they do on horseback. The UK will probably do less well in things that involve running and jumping. And it will be very interesting to see how a combined British football team does.

In the political world, David Cameron will hope for a feel good factor from the twin flag waving opportunities provided by the Olympics and by some anniversary relating to Elizabeth of Saxe Coburg and Gotha that involves parades and days off work.

Cameron will be praying that all the Union Jack photo opportunities he will no doubt find will keep people’s minds off other stories, like economic failure, rising unemployment, repeated attacks on the sick and the poor, creeping privatisation of the health service and xenophobic immigration policies.

What of the Lib Dems? Well, Clegg and co are rather stuck at present. They cannot pull out of the coalition as the party would be wiped out in an election. So they will remain locked with the Tories while trying to distance themselves from the more extreme actions of a government of which they are a part. Not a great position to be in – but one entirely of their own making.

Ed Miliband meanwhile will be trying to persuade the public to blame the current government for the mess it is making of things rather than continuing to lay all the problems at the door of the previous one. The economy is always the key issue and at the moment Cameron and co.’s policies are not working yet they retain a strong support in the country. If Labour can’t change this in 2012 they really are in trouble.

Talk is of an offensive that will portray the government as the party of the rich while Labour will present itself as the champions of the “squeezed” middle classes. Which begs the question, who speaks for the poor in British politics? With a battleground that looks like right against far right, where is the left wing?

And talking of right against further right, there will be a presidential election in the USA this year. While the reality of an Obama administration may not have lived up to the over hyped visions of milk and honey presented during the last campaign, the incumbent should win comfortably come November against whichever of the ragtag bunch of contenders the Republicans eventually choose as their candidate.

In Scotland, debate will concentrate on when the long promised SNP independence referendum will take place. Alec Salmond appears to favour the anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn in June 2014 – nothing like stirring it, is there? If he wants to recall a victory over the English, what’s wrong with Wembley in 1977?

Salmond knows that he does not have a majority in favour of independence but will gamble that he can build one over the next two years. Hopefully the debate will concentrate on the real issues of how an independent Scotland would be financed, defended and governed. This must not become a romantic discussion of some oil funded paradise where the sun will always shine and we can all wear kilts and eat shortbread to our hearts’ content. Hard questions will need to be answered if the people of Scotland are to make an informed choice rather than one based on emotional rhetoric.

Alex Salmond has secured a dominant position in Scottish politics at the moment and the job of leading the opposition now falls to my old friend Johann Lamont. She is an astute and experienced politician but has a massive job on her hands. The Labour Party in Scotland is at a low ebb and needs considerable work if it is to regain the trust of the Scottish people.

Scottish Labour has to realise that simply opposing David Cameron and Tory cuts is not the way to win votes in Scottish elections. The party must make a case that it can govern the nation better than the SNP can. It must develop a distinctive programme and sell it to Scotland. Labour cannot rely on gratitude for delivering devolution – it must show that it can make it work.

So those are my thoughts on 2012. A new age of enlightenment, as some interpretations of the Mayan prophesies suggest, seems unlikely. Another hard year of economic gloom, erratic weather and the occasional unexpected good news story is far more likely.

Enjoy 2012 everyone!

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Looking Forward

The more observant amongst readers of my little blog will have noticed that I haven’t posted anything over the last few months. At least I hope you noticed …

2011 had not been the best of years for me. I won’t go into why: it’s a long story. Then in October I ended up in a Liverpool hospital for a few weeks with a bad case of pneumonia and several chest infections. My lungs were severely weakened to the point that I was intubated and on an intensive care ward for several days. But I lived to tell the tale – although a consultant did later tell me that my condition was “touch and go” at one point.

This was the first time that I had been an in patient in a British hospital since I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was five. I don’t remember much about that stay in Hairmyres some forty years ago, apart from that the ice cream after the operation was excellent.

I’ve always been a strong supporter of our National Health Service. It’s the single greatest achievement of the Labour Party in government. High quality health care on demand and free at the point of need is something that my generation has come to take for granted. But we are privileged to live in one of the very few countries to have such a wonderful system – and I will never tire of defending it.

Despite the cuts imposed by the current government, the creeping privatisation agenda that continues to threaten its very existence and the repeated reorganisations it has suffered from, the NHS is still a marvellous institution. It is there for all of us. There are no financial checks or expensive health insurance required. No danger of being refused treatment on economic grounds.

The staff at the Royal Liverpool Hospital who treated me were, quite simply, wonderful. Nothing was too much trouble for the nurses, many of whom routinely stayed on the ward long after their shifts were supposed to have finished. The commitment to patient care they displayed each and every day was inspiring. And their professionalism and compassion greatly assisted in the first phase of my recovery.

The second phase, now that I am out of hospital, has taken far longer, but I am finally getting back to somewhere near full fitness. Or at least as near to fit as I am likely to get.

So I will be glad to see the back of 2011.

Hopefully 2012 will prove to be a better year – although the whole concept of a new year is a somewhat curious one. It’s just a convention really to decide that one day in particular is the one where we will reset the calendar to 1/1 and start all over again. But it does offer a convenient point for reflection and to look both forward and backwards from.

I gave up making New Year’s resolutions a very long time ago. Most of them never see the end of January anyway so what’s the point? But I will be trying to get back into the habit of regular blogging, which some may see as a good thing.
So, see you all next year?

And whatever you are doing when midnight strikes wherever you might be, I hope you have a great time and that 2012 is a good year for us all.

A Happy New Year everyone!

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A New Lie Detector?

Scientists at Bradford University have developed a sophisticated new camera system that can detect lies just by watching facial changes.

Like a poker player the system picks up on tells, such as dilated pupils, biting or pressing together of the lips, wrinkling of the nose, breathing heavily, swallowing or blinking. And a thermal sensor can pick also up on non visible signs such as the swelling of blood vessels around the eyes.

The computerised system uses a simple video camera, a high-resolution thermal imaging sensor and a suite of algorithms. It successfully discriminates between truth and lies in about two-thirds of cases. Lead researcher Professor Hassan Ugail from Bradford University believes that he will eventually be able to reach a 90% accuracy level.

So far, the new system has only tested on volunteers. Researchers say the system could be a powerful aid to security services. Later this year, though, they plan to deploy it in a UK airport, probably running alongside experienced immigration officers as they conduct security interviews. The algorithms can then be tested against the verdicts of these officers.

This new system does have advantages over the polygraph. It is unobtrusive and quicker to use. And secondly the subject need not know that he or she is being tested. This, in theory, gives a more honest response.

But the researchers acknowledge, though, that these tests can never be 100% accurate. And so any use that is made must be done carefully, especially if it is to be used in security situations.

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Remembering 9/11, Ten Years On

The photograph above is of a model of New York City that used to sit 102 floors above the city in the Observation Deck of the World Trade Centre. It was taken on 12 March 2001.

At the time I took that picture the phrase ‘nine eleven’ would have meant nothing. Just six months later it was to enter the lexicon after the terrible events of September 11 2001 in New York City and Washington DC.

There were a total of 2,996 deaths on that day. The victims included 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon in DC.

I was in New York City on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy and witnessed the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero. I stood beside New Yorkers and others from many cities, many countries. I heard the names of the dead read out one by one. I watched the grief and the tears.

So much has been written about the events of 9/11 that little more needs to be said. It’s a day I will never forget.

Those who were killed, the survivors and their friends and families are in my thoughts today, ten years on.

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We’ve Finished Painting The Forth Bridge

For many years painting the Forth Bridge has been synonymous with a never ending task. The reason was that as soon as a team finished painting the bridge it was time to start the mammoth task all over again.

But come December the use of a new type of paint that lasts for 25 years will mean that there will be no painters on the bridge and no immediate need to restart painting.

A 200-strong team has been applying a triple layer of new glass flake epoxy paint, which is similar to that used in the offshore oil industry. It creates a chemical bond to provide a virtually impenetrable layer that protects the bridge’s steel work from the weather. The new paint has been applied in three protective coats after the old layers were removed using an abrasive blasting technique.

The refurbishment of the famous crossing between North and South Queensferry has taken 10 years and an investment of around £130m.

David Simpson, Network Rail Scotland’s route managing director, said: “Over the last decade the bridge has been restored to its original condition and its new paint will preserve the steelworks for decades to come.

“Now, with scaffolding being removed and the final sections of painting being completed, we’re confident that job will be finished before Christmas.”

The bridge, which was nominated as a Unesco world heritage site earlier this year, carries the east coast main line across the Forth Estuary and sees up to 200 train journeys a day. It was built between 1883 and 1890, and is 1.5 miles long.

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Glasgow Plays Philly In Brad’s Movie

Scenes from Brad Pitt’s new movie, World War Z (pronounced ‘Zee’ I’m told) are being filmed in Glasgow, which is standing in for Philadelphia. A section of the city centre around George Square has been closed to traffic and given a special makeover for the part.

Yesterday afternoon I headed for the centre of Glasgow and walked through a Hollywood film set with my camera. That’s not something you can do every day, is it? OK, Brad wasn’t around and neither was Angelina, but it was still a lot of fun.

Philadelphia is a city I know pretty well. I’ve been over about a dozen times over the years and can see the logic for my home city doubling for the City of Brotherly Love. The architecture of the two cities is similar, the grid pattern of the streets is almost identical and both have a square featuring the main civic headquarters at their heart.

So if you take Glasgow and repaint the roads, replace the familiar street signs with Philly ones, then fill the streets with yellow cabs, PAPD vehicles and the odd fire truck you really could be on the streets of Philadelphia.

Glasgow has scored a major coup by bringing Brad Pitt and co. to this side of the Atlantic. And the filming will bring several million pounds into the city’s economy. A few streets may be closed but we can live with that for a couple of weeks.

But on the other side of the pond they are not happy at all. Philadelphia lost out to Glasgow for the filming for financial reasons, leaving many bitter. The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper has said that says the decision cost the city tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue and hundreds of jobs.

And the Inquirer also noted that JFK Plaza has been reconstructed in George Square, which was named after George III, the monarch whose intransigence over taxes sparked the American War of Independence.

“The very despot Philadelphia led the Revolution against,” the newspaper observed sourly.

Whatever the politics and historical ironies, Glasgow looks good as Philly and it will be great to watch the film when it comes out, knowing exactly where some of the scenes have been filmed.

Here’s a link to some more pictures of the film set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordon_j/sets/72157627374871879/

 

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