John Gibson: ‘Commie’ sounds a tad common

Was a time when, if you were called a Commie, you could be subjected to an inquisition – it was called McCarthyism – and they’d set the Ku Klux mob on you. That was in the US of A.

Here in common parlance, on the streets, ‘“the Commie’’ is short for the Commonwealth Pool. “Commie”, I feel, strips the pool of what remains of its dignity.

I mean, dare we expect, one day, to see Rebecca Adlington get her bathing suit wet there? The late, great Ned Barnie, Edinburgh schoolteacher and English Channel swimmer, would have torn a strip off you had he heard you similarly bad-mouth his beloved Portobello Baths.

Tune in, folks

Good music’s making a come-back in Edinburgh. Quality music. Well, within the space of four days. For starters we’ve got Curtis Stigers at the Queen’s Hall on March 26 and he’s bound to play to capacity. Chris Rea’s at the Usher on the 28th and back at the Queen’s, blasts from the past Gallagher and Lyle on the 29th.

Afterwords . .

. . . Frosty the showman (Sir David, of course) says: “The interviewer’s art can be a power of strength. On the surface it is a very simple format. Two people sitting across from one another and having a conversation but underneath it is often a power struggle – a battle for the psychological advantage with both sides trying to hold on the initiative.”