Blog - Chris Creegan

What next after post-truth?

24/08/2017

Back in the 1980s, I used to spend a lot of time with a journalist. My friend Tim, who sadly died more than 20 years ago, was a local hack. He was a sub and he loved to collect improbable headlines.

Realising the potential of Wolfenden

27/07/2017

Against the Law, shown on BBC1 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales, left me momentarily lost for words. That doesn’t happen too often. But as is more usually the case it is by getting some words down on a page that I can best make […]

Singin’ in the rain with Ricky and Lorraine

24/07/2017

Oh, what a night. I’m not as much of a concert goer as I ought to be. And I’m not a fan of stadium gigs. But there are some opportunities you just can’t turn down. And seeing Deacon Blue at Edinburgh Castle is definitely one of them.

Why Tim Farron’s experience of intolerance cuts both ways

20/07/2017

If I had a pound for every one of the column inches that have been written on the Farron affair I’d have a nice little windfall. Notwithstanding the fact that I’ve thrown my tuppence halfpenny worth in a couple of times too. In fact, on the first occasion I had initially been reluctant to contribute […]

Good Work: glass half empty or half full?

12/07/2017

It was a wet morning in Edinburgh. Much like many others these past few weeks. As I scurried off to work, it was hard to keep curmudgeonliness entirely at bay. And as I started to hear trade union responses to Matthew Taylor’s much anticipated report on Good Work, it felt as if they were determined […]

Same sex relationships: a very modern morality tale

28/06/2017

The publication of the 34th British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey report today chronicles another chapter in the remarkable liberalisation of attitudes to homosexuality during the last 25 years. In this very modern morality tale we are increasingly choosing liberalism over conservatism and the pace at which we are doing so shows no sign of abating. […]

Sprinklers: find the money and start on Monday

17/06/2017

What a wretched week. In a year where tragedy has hardly been in short supply, Grenfell Tower has marked a new low. An accident waiting to happen born out of a scandal hidden in plain sight. These are clichés and yet they are for once entirely apt. Their very paucity seems to capture the most […]

Late call: married at last

31/05/2017

In Angus Wilson’s 1964 novel, Late Call, Ray, the grandson of its hero, Sylvia Calvert, is a gay man. Wilson was one of Britain’s first openly gay writers. I was 14 when the novel was serialised on television in 1975.