Glasgow: the host with the most

John Nicolson MP | 27th October 2021 | Comment
Screenshot 2021-10-27 at 09.34.27

As the Scottish city gears up to hold Cop26, John Nicolson MP tells the story of his hometown and offers tips on where to visit, drink & dine

Glasgow has been through many incarnations – sleepy medieval ecclesiastical centre, elegant Georgian merchant town, throbbing industrial powerhouse, and model city for post-industrial reinvention. So, finding ourselves in the world’s spotlight yet again – this time as the last chance saloon for climate change crisis talks – won’t phase denizens of the ancient “dear green place”, as its patron St Mungo named Glaschu in the sixth century.  In a way, it could not be more apt that Glasgow finds itself hosting the Cop26 climate emergency summit. The city was, after all, synonymous with industrial might. For most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the once salmon-rich River Clyde ran black, as titanic city factories spewed the detritus of what seemed like a cost-free industrial miracle. Glasgow was home to textile, glass, paper, cotton and iron manufacturing on an epic scale. “Clyde built” became synonymous with quality. And our shipbuilding industry was the envy of the world with the Cut...

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