John Kilbride After the fire
The first thing we should do after the Glasgow Union Street fire is to be grateful no one died. Had it happened during the week it could have been very different. A station packed with commuters heading home or coming into the city, offices, shops and businesses full of people as the fire took hold in the building they were in. Count our blessings.
Equally there were no casualties among the firefighters. Sure, they’re trained for the job and experts at what they do, but fire can be an unpredictable foe. Few of us put our lives on the line for our jobs, but those folk do. Yes, the building was destroyed, but Central Station is still standing as are the other buildings in a very close radius. That’s a big win given what could have happened.
But what we shouldn’t do is fall into the trap of social media speculation. A quick visit to X/Twitter sees a local tragedy being exploited by many with no involvement in Glasgow at all.
The racists keen to pin the blame on those that don’t meet their approval. Some are explicit, others guard their comments about ‘British heritage’ being destroyed by ‘outsiders’. We see you, and we know what you’re up to. There’s no place for it here.
The conspiracy theorists who are ‘just asking questions’. Inevitably they suspect an insurance job, perhaps some master plan to turn the location into student flats or whatever architectural bogeyman that they have. Or blaming the council, the Scottish Government, or the political party of their choice.
There are also the opportunists, telegraphing their urgent ill-informed think pieces for social media clout. Blue tick accounts from around the world posting their wisdom that’s full or basic factual errors before chasing the next trending topic.
Avoid all these distractions and focus on the reality. Maybe best to wait for actual information, which may take longer, but is more reliable. And keep in mind that a huge number of local people are going to be struggling in the aftermath of the fire.
The businesses and offices that were destroyed were mostly small businesses, where people had invested their own money to pursue their opportunities, whether they were art studios, nail bars, tattoo parlours or small businesses. Of course there will be insurance, but that won’t pay the wages at the end of the month. Anyone with any experience will tell you how these things can drag on for months.
Many of the small businesses that were destroyed have set up gofundmes. You can find the list online, and if you’ve supported any of these businesses in the past, now might be a good time to support them again.
