Demolition of flats for Games is least of Glasgow's troubles

KELVINGROVE is iconic; the Finnieston crane is iconic; even the Duke of Wellington wearing his cone has become iconic.

City Council leader Gordon Matheson should be embarrassed at handing the dreadful Red Road flats the same status.

The concrete monstrosities have dominated Glasgow's skyline for 50 years, but thankfully not for much longer. Plans to dynamite five of the six remaining towers have been cunningly brought forward to replace the customary fireworks during the opening ceremony to July's Commonwealth Games.

The 15-second demolition, the biggest seen in Europe, will be live on a 328ft wide screen at Celtic Park and beamed to a TV audience of one billion.

Typical Weegies. Find an empty, have a party and wreck it. Or maybe it's self-parody on the stereotype of the tight-fisted Scot.

Either way, it's sparked the biggest stooshie since Matheson's architectural aberration over George Square.

So, what relevance does such demolition have to a sporting celebration? Well, London 2012 opened with the history of Britain's Industrial Revolution and the NHS and by common consent was an Olympian success.

Glasgow 2014's opening is expected to reveal the city's rich history and culture, with the Red Road demolition woven into its social regeneration. And I suppose there will be contingency planning should demolition need to be postponed.

London's opening was directed by Academy Award-winning British director Danny Boyle. To hear Matheson's critics, he's hired Frankie Boyle.

It's a joke, they cry, something could go wrong, so let's not risk it (an uncanny echo there of Bitter Together's Project Fear message).

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Demolition of flats for Games is least of Glasgow's troubles