glasgowLOST
About glasgowLOST: glasgowLOST website FAQs
Who owns the gL website?
A concerned Glaswegian who can be emailed here.
Why was the gL website set up?
To raise awareness of concerns relating to the transfer of management of Glasgow’s Common Good assets to a charity/private company. It may also be developed into a medium for discussing the consequences of the transfer.
Why should this be necessary?
This is a very serious matter for Glasgow and the city's people have not been consulted before, during or after the transfer process.
Why should anyone care?
Glasgow is a great city, but it needs to develop in a way which embraces, motivates and encourages its population to take part in a process which will be positive and rewarding for the both the city and its people. The transfer has not done this.
Why not write to the leader of Glasgow City Council about your concerns?
I have been reliably informed that such letters are not being answered at this time. Anyway, a website seemed like more fun!
What areas of concern does gL website hope to raise?
- The lack of public consultation before, during and after the transfer.
- The truncated timescale for analysis, preparation and implementation of the business plan for both the transfer, and the creation of the charity and the private company. This short timescale has resulted in a compromised legal due diligence process which may put the charity/company at risk from unforeseen future challenges and/or objections.
- Concerns about the quality of both the initial analysis which produced the ‘Outline Business Case’ (OBC) for the proposed transfer, and also the subsequent interpretation and implementation of that analysis, specifically:
- the lack of detailed, evidence-based strategic financial analysis, planning, and forecasting;
- the lack of adequate, detailed strategic contingency planning, given the acknowledged level of risk;
- the lack of skills and experience of the new charity/company, specifically in areas of strategic business management, finance, sponsorship, and commercial development;
- the over-reliance on – and lack of justification for – one of the transfer’s principal assumptions: i.e. that the revenue generation model for a short-term tactical project (the Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal, KRA), can be replicated at a strategic level and for an indefinite period of time, (especially given the lack of public goodwill towards the transfer, a consequence of point 1 above);
- the lack of due consideration – and further investigation – of one of the OBC’s most important conclusions: that the nature and pace of the review and development of case law in the areas EU procurement, charity law, and state aid, meant that definitive advice in those areas was not possible;
- concerns that the new charity will not continue to qualify for charitable status while being ‘associated’ with both the new private company and also GCC-controlled bodies;
- lack of due consideration for Data Protection principles associated with the transfer;
- the proposed reliance on the largesse of “social philanthropists”, who will view their donations as social investments, potentially insisting on their input into aspects of social policy areas such as: social inclusion, education and lifelong learning, and economic regeneration;
- the proposed commercial exploitation of copyright and intellectual property rights of Glasgow’s museums, art galleries, libraries, and archives could devalue the city’s collections, while at the same time imposing commercial barriers to access for the poor; and,
- unelected and unaccountable individuals could form a quorate majority at board meetings of both the new charity and new company, with drastic consequences for any remnants of the democratic process.
What about the other images hosted on the gL site?
glasgowLOST has kindly been given permission by the copyright owners of a number of photographs to reproduce them on this site.
Is this website funded by – or affiliated, in any way, to – a political party?
No.
Are you supported by – or associated, in any way, with – a political party?
No.
Disclaimer and legal spiel
The views, conclusions, findings and opinions expressed in this website and its constituent pages are those of glasgowLOST and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organisation - political or otherwise. This website is in no way associated with, or endorsed by, Culture and Sport Glasgow... duh!
What is the gL main banner image?
The image is currently an interpretation derived from "Old Wullie" by James Guthrie, but will change every month and, once I have created enough images, will be a 'rotating banner'.
Can I link to gL?
Yes, please do, and let me know and I’ll link back! Feel free to use any of the images on the site as linking images.
"It's as if the global production chain is based on the belief that workers in the South and consumers in the North will never figure out a way to communicate with each other - that despite the info-tech hype, only corporations are capable of genuine global mobility. It is this supreme arrogance that has made brands like Nike and Disney so vulnerable to the two principal tactics employed by anti-corporate campaigners: exposing the riches of the branded world to the tucked-away sites of production and bringing back the squalor of production to the doorstep of the blinkered consumer."
Klein, Naomi (2000) No logo, Flamingo. p.347
Contact glasgowLOST here: info@glasgowlost.org