In 2006 the city of Glasgow was named by Conde Nast Traveller magazine as the UK’s favourite tourist destination, beating London and Edinburgh to the punch. Another promotional stunt disguised as fact? As a native I find these accolades dubious perhaps because I’m conditioned to the negative reckoning of my home city: violence, substance abuse, impenetrable argot. I’m writing this on the week Glasgow played host to the MOBO Awards, the first outside of London, several of whose…

On Saturday 23rd February,The Devil’s Plantation finally screened at the Glasgow Film Festival. Billed as an eagerly-awaited world premiere, it was only completed last Wednesday, the day I learned it had sold out. To say I was surprised is an understatement.

On the morning of the screening, I rush to the GFT to check that the film is glitch-free. Here I meet Barney McCue, their legendary chief projectionist, who tells…