Blog - Chris Creegan

Plagues don’t end unless we care enough to stop them — but we knew that didn’t we?

10/07/2021

I've been thinking of writing again for a while. I said I might, didn't I? I even said I'd let you know how this plague ends. But that looks hopelessly naive now. The way things are going, if I wait until then you could be hanging on a long time. And tonight, it'll be 26 […]

Supernova – love, death and the sound of silence

06/07/2021

Harry Macqueen's new film Supernova portrays the love between two middle-aged gay men. But it is not about sexuality. The word gay is never uttered. When I was asked to review the film for BBC Radio Scotland, I knew little about it except that it starred Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a gay couple. I had to […]

‘We’re a’ Jock Tamson’s bairns’ — and finally our parliament is catching up

08/05/2021

I was in the gym when it happened, about 20k into a 35k ride on a Wattbike. Since my knees started playing havoc in 2018, I have had to make do with two wheels. Outdoors is okay but the indoor version is mind-numbing. I need all the distraction and inspiration I can muster. Yesterday, it […]

‘It’s a Sin’ is dramatic art as redress— it tells our story and gives a voice to those who didn’t make it

04/02/2021

‘The houses are all gone under the sea. The dancers are all gone under the hill.’ East Coker, The four quartetT S Eliot In the beginning, I sobbed. At the denouement, I howled. I cry routinely at the telly. But this was different. These tears came not just from shallow, passing sentiment but deep, permanent […]

The epidemic is a shitstorm — I don’t need the daily news to know it’s there

17/12/2020

“I’ve asked so many people if they know anyone who has had Covid. Hardly anyone. Two people knew someone (not close) who’d died. Without daily news would we even know there was an epidemic?” I don’t know which world Allison Pearson inhabits. I’m sure, once upon a time, it collided with mine as the viewer […]

When plagues meet: if we can learn from the past we can change the future

01/12/2020

“I guess the last lesson I’ve learned as an AIDS activist and the hardest one to learn, is that fights are never won. They just go on and on. They are. And yet they must be fought. They must, must, still, continually, and forever, be fought. Over and over and over, they must be fought.” […]

There are reasons to be cheerful…but only for a moment

09/11/2020

Half a lifetime ago, on a bright, crisp December day in Harrogate, I was reunited with an old friend. We had first met 12 years before at university — as politics students, fellow Labour Club members and union hacks. Tragedy had brought us together again — the premature death of a mutual friend who had […]

The Pope may be late to the party, but make no mistake — he’s a star guest

21/10/2020

“Go for a long hard run, take a cold shower, and avoid the occasion of sin.” My dad’s closing words in a letter he wrote to me 40 years ago. And the first that came to me as I read this afternoon that Pope Francis has said he thinks same-sex couples should be afforded legal […]