Pride

June 22, 2026 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

This weekend was Edinburgh Pride. I went along with colleagues from my work. We meet, do the parade, give away goodies, and then celebrate at the end of the march. Lots of dancing was done, and drink was drunk. However, I have never ever been good at mixing my drinks, and felt ill as soon as I stopped drinking. Rookie error, tbh.

Edinburgh Pride march heading up the Royal Mile.

As time goes on, the need for Pride seems to be more important than ever. In the UK, we have an increase in politicians ripping down pride flags, and cancelling events. Trying to silence a community that is already under pressure. Talking about not just restricting trans folk, and their rights, but making gay marriage illegal, gay adoption? It’s horrific, and there is no need for that. It’s 2026, and it feels like civil rights are going backward.

I have always been brought up with the radical idea that you treat those around you with kindness. Yes, we all have different ideas and beliefs, but as long no-one is harming any other person or creature, they should be able to live peacefully. We all have to muddle through this life in one piece, so if being guided by a religion, or dressing a certain way, can help a person navigate the shit show, then it should be fine. They shouldn’t be targeted purely because they are ‘different’ or ‘not normal’.

When I was at school in the 90s, I remember discovering that I didn’t like boys. I didn’t know who to turn to. I didn’t know anyone who was gay. Any other gay girls. So, I went to a teacher, someone at school to talk about it. To ask for advice. Only to be told, that when I met a boy that really likes me, these feelings would go away. I felt broken, that something was wrong. Section 28 banned schools talking about LGBTQ+ themes and issues to pupils. Put in place by the conservative government in 1988. It was put in place to protect the idea of the ‘nuclear family’, and stop children from being ‘indoctrinated’ into the homosexual lifestyle. It was repealed in Scotland in 2000, with England and Wales following in 2003. But for so many queer people, it was too late. Sexual assault, abuse, suicide, queer people suffered.

We are at a point, in 2026, where it honestly feels like Section 28 could come back. LGBTQ+ people in the UK are genuinely scared. There is an effort by the political right wing, where they want to split the LGB from the TQ+. And it is not because they ‘love the gays’, it’s a method of divide and conquer. We need to stand together as a community, because once the ball starts rolling back on human rights, it doesn’t just take out the rights for people you dislike. It comes for all the rights of every marginalised community. It doesn’t stop till we, as a general population, are set back decades.

We’ll Be Coming

June 1, 2026 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

This past weekend has been another football based weekend. On Saturday I attended Hampden Park for the third time in about 6 weeks. Which is an oddity in itself. Just how everything has panned out.

Saturday was Scotland’s final game before they jetted off to the USA for the World Cup. The first Word Cup Scotland has attended since 1998. I remember the excitement at High School, as I was ending second year when the tournament was on. It was probably the last time that I tried to collect football stickers. Something I tried numerous times, but never ever filled an album. In fact, I think I shared some with my brother, and I remember getting angry at stickers going on squint, and not as neat as I would like.

Anywho, we were driving to Hampden, and the roads were a nightmare. We did eventually get parked up, and went into the stadium no bother. Nothing beats hearing the Hampden roar during a Scotland game.

The game had already started when we reached the stadium to find our seats. Ooops

We found our seats, and it felt like we were right in front of all the action. I had no idea we were sitting, just got told I had a ticket, and paid for it. It was from a friend, by the way. It wasn’t me buying random resale tickets. Luckily the seats were under the shelter, so that we never got hit by the what seems to be constant rain. But it was a pretty great view.

The players all warming up right in front of us.

The opposition was Curaçao, who have been the smallest island nation to qualify for the World Cup, as they are also off to the USA for the 2026 World Cup. They brought a few hundred fans with them, and they were so noisy. It was great to see. And the Curaçao team were pretty scrappy, and they scored first. Which, to the dismay of the Scotland fans, was well deserved. Curaçao player Jürgen Locadia, received a yellow card for a bad tackle. This was then updated to a red card after the referee checked the VAR. Unfortunately, Billy Gilmour went off with a bad injury. Luckily, things picked up and Findlay Curtis scored an equaliser just before half time

The second half was much more controlled by Scotland. With two Lawrence Shankland goals, and a handful of attempts on goal by Ryan Christie, Lyndon Dykes, and Nathan Patterson. Scotland felt in control. Findlay Curtis was brought down in the penalty box, and Ryan Christie scored from the spot. The players on both sides gave it a good go but the game ended 4-1 Scotland.

It was a grand wee day out, and a good send off to the Scotland team. The USA is providing to be very expensive, and a lot of Scotland fans are unable to fly to the states. The best thing about Scotland games, as the club you support is irrelevant, as long as you support the Scotland team. Speaking of support, the official Scotland football team YouTube channel have released a documentary called ’28 Summers’. It is about the qualifying campaign for the World Cup, and speaks to the players about their experience in the Scotland camp. They seem a really great bunch of lads, and if anyone can get us out of the group stages, it’s this team.

Not Everything Can Be Won

May 26, 2026 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

On Saturday, it was the Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Dunfermline Athletic (my team). I was born in Dunfermline, I work in Dunfermline, I socialise in Dunfermline. It is home. Sport is known for having communities of fans. Something that has spread throughout culture, to theatre, music, tv shows, movies, even sweet companies have fan-based communities around them these days. When I have been at my lowest, it has been sport that has been the thing that distracted me. That took my mind off my own failures. Even when you attend sports events on your own, you become a part of the collective, something that makes you feel not so alone. You don’t get that community when you follow behind a TV screen. Nothing compares to being in the crowd, cheering on your team in person.

The last time Dunfermline reached the Scottish Cup final was 2007. Since then the club have had some severe downs. The club went into administration, but were saved from the brink. Things had to build up again. There is a thing in Scottish football, where most clubs have a singing section. Something there has been varying degrees of during the years at Dunfermline. But over the last several years Section North West, a singing section based in North West Stand at East End Park, have been bringing the songs and the vibes to matchday. They help create the atmosphere, and help get everyone behind the teams. There are teenagers, all the way up to older guys within the group, and they are a great asset to Dunfermline Athletic.

a picture of Dunfermline fans at East End park

Section North West also have a TIFO group, who put together fan displays for games. Often it is a few flags, but big games, they organise something bigger. At the cup final they lay out flags at every seat, to create a display of black and white stripes, Dunfermline’s colours, with the Scottish Cup in the middle.

Scottish Cup Final, Dunfermline TIFO display

Game day for me and my family, involved us getting a bus at 10 am. Me and my Dad arrived in Glasgow first, and ended up finding a beer garden for a couple of pints. Every pub was pre-booked, so we ended up going to try and find somewhere else as everything got busier. We ended up struggling to find anywhere, so we got a few drinks from Tesco, and going to sit on the grass outside Hampden Park. It was really sunny, so it was chill. Was also then able to see the Dunfermline team bus go by. There were guys singing songs, and it was such a great atmosphere. We went into the stadium, there was over 15,000 Dunfermline fans there, and it was great. Until a 6 foot tall guy stood in front of me. It was okay, I did manage to see the game. Though, Celtic scored 2 goals in the first half, so maybe I would have been better off hiding behind Hen Broon, in front of me.

The second have had a lot of substitutes, and a much better performance. In fact, there were times Dunfermline were the bigger team. And Josh Cooper scored, with his first touch of the game. The stands were euphoric. I think, we dreamed of a win, however unlikely would be. But, as long as we didn’t embarrass ourselves. The game ended 3-1 to Celtic, which is what we expected. At full-time, there was still a lot of singing, fans left happy after getting a trip to Hampden. Something that we did not think was going to happen at all. The team did well, against much stronger opposition. And it was a good turnout for squad that doesn’t look like will be together next season. With a lot of players having received offers from other clubs, after what has been a successful season for them. So there is a bit of sadness, but the players deserve every success. The way the season started, I never thought we’d not only get to the Scottish Cup Final, but the semis of the Play-offs for promotion to the Premier League.

The fans are what make events like this so special. The people cheering on their local club. The ones who attend weekday matches in the freezing cold of winter, the guys who attend every single match, the ones who buy merchandise, who play the 50/50 lottery, who pay into the centenary club, those who make it to an odd match when their schedule allows it… everyone. As the late great Jock Stein said, ‘without fans paying at the turnstiles, football is nothing’. And he is correct. It’s the fans who help football clubs to exist. And it is the same with every sport. If no eyes were on the matches and the races, there would be no sponsorship, no money, nothing. I do think some sports organisations *cough* FIFA *cough* FIA*cough* need realise who it is who keeps sports going. And it’s not the sponsors from the conglomerates, it’s the attention from fans. And some need to treat the fans better.

Is Social media done?

January 27, 2025 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

If you use any social media, you will probably be aware of the news regarding various platforms, and various information on ownership, and the like. It’s wound up with a lot of people being angry, and a lot of discussions on things like censorship. A conversation that started over the last few years on Twitter (X). Where abuse and death threats became the norm.

It seems as if a lot of the users of social media platforms are just coming to the realisation that we users are not the customers. The customers are the shareholders, the advertisers, the marketing teams, the ones who pay money to access the data of the users. That is where the money is. Not the photograph you took for dinner, but the information of where you bought that food, what bank you used, what shop, what brand of product did you buy. A lot of these things are simply things that your smart phone picks up. And that ‘stuff’ is what marketing companies want. That is how the social media companies make money, by showing you advertising that is targeted to you. As social media oligarchs make changes that benefit the money side of the company, but alienates huge portions of their user base.

I use TikTok a lot. I like watching different videos, and I have found a lot of really informative content on it. I like the whole video diary idea, and follow a lot of people who create daily videos in this way. However, different agencies have come out that TikTok is too liberal leaning, that it attacks the more conservative viewpoints. So there came this statement where the US government was going to close TikTok down, with the app actually closing their US app down. For 14 hours. For 14 hours, the rest of the world could access TikTok, and more local content rather than the US stuff. But after that 14 hours US users were welcomed back with a message thanking new US President Donald Trump.

The thing is, when the US users came back online, they noticed some changes. Various hashtags regarding the inauguration of Donald Trump, or LGBTQ+ things were unusable . With users being told that the topic couldn’t be referenced to for the ‘good’ of the TikTok community. People found that LGBTQ+ user pics were removed, with no indication from TikTok as to why. I, in fact ran a trial of my own after discussing the TikTok ban on my own profile, and found it go hardly any views, where as me asking whether people preferred kittens or puppies got my normal views, This, to me, proved that TikTok wasn’t sharing opinions that were negative in anyway about the TikTok ban. In fact, some users reported their videos just disappearing, without any warning or notification from TikTok themselves. This has lead to people talking about censorship, and try and understand why certain voices are being silenced.

The counter-argument was, that nobody cared when conservative voices were being silenced. But the truth is, they weren’t silenced. They maybe had accounts removed from social media, but that tended to be for threatening violence, spreading misinformation, and breaking the platforms terms and conditions. When Elon Musk purchased twitter in 2023, and renamed it X, he also reactivated a lot of the accounts which had been removed due to abuse. These people came back with gusto, as if nobody could stop them. The abuse they sent was awful. As a user who spoke up against them, I didn’t get a discussion, or even blocked, I got death threats. Every day. I didn’t even have a big account, with only a few hundred followers, but the site was rendered unusable. I closed my account in the wake of this, and ended up floating over to Meta’s Threads. Where I made a lot of bookish and formula 1 friends. And I saw the positives of social media again.

It looks like TikTok is going to be in US hands, when its CEO was trained by Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. And I sit and wonder if this social media ‘fight’ has all been a ruse to make each platform more money, and whittle away the usability for us, the user. I mean, my Facebook and Instagram are currently unusable due to AI, and irrelevant US made bigoted content. What will these big tech billionaires do, if their platforms do become examples of the Dead Internet Theory? Will they simply just buy something else, or stick with their sinking ships? I mean, advertisers won’t pay for things human eye’s don’t actually see.

And then, today, I read the revelation that blogging is back. That people are going to divert away from social media and curate their own online spaces. It’s proof, to me, that if you keep at something long enough, it will eventually come back into fashion again. Look at me, ahead of the trend.

Problems with fandom

November 20, 2024 ~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

Ever since I first got access to the internet, way back in the High School library, I would look up the bands I loved. A lot of band sites, would have their own forums, where you could speak to fans from all over the world. Disecting albums, and lyrics, comparing collections of scrapbooks and merchandise. It was so much fun. Then MySpace, where you became ‘friends’ with bands, and even learned coding to make your profile look cool.

Over the years, social media has become such a huge part of most of our lives. Musicians, actors, tv presenters, politicians, you can be ‘friends’ with them all. Doesn’t even need to be a person, companies send messages to followers, and build up a familiarity. So, people feel connected with people they’ll never meet, and companies feel like friends. Sometimes people need a reminder that they don’t actually know these people they may chat to on social media, as they begin to feel personally involved.

My time on social media at the moment, seems to circle around Formula 1. It is a sport I have loved since I was a child, where the only contact you had with the teams and drivers was through magazines and the TV show around the race. The content we had to consume, then, was nothing compared to what we have these days. And social media is a massive part of that. As said before, connections are forged between fans and their favourite drivers and teams, and these connections can feel very personal. Which is all great, fantastic for advertising, and often creates great promotion for the sport. The communities are filled with people disecting races, and press conferences, talking about livery releases. It can be a lot of fun. Until it is not.

Because people feel so personally connected and affected by the goings ons and offs around the track, things can get a little tense. People can take it upon themselves to ‘defend’ their hero, and do so by attacking other fans and drivers. Doesn’t sound too bad, folk say, ‘just click off social media’, ‘go outside’. But it can escalate very fast. It becomes less about a person defending their favourite driver, and more attacking the drivers they don’t like. Which starts creating whole other problems.

Lance Stroll from Aston Martin, is a driver which attracts a lot of negativity. His father owns the team, and helps keep his son’s position in Formula 1. And whilst drivers have maintained positions on teams in similar circumstances, some fans have taken to heavily dislike Lance. The issue isn’t people throwing comments into the obyss of the internet, it is people sending Lance fans abuse. Sending death threats. Inundating people with abuse. Last season, a Lance Stroll fan I was friends with over on Twitter, attempted to take their life, because people were sending so much abuse. I don’t know on what planet that is okay. Ever.

It’s like, whilst the lines have blurred, and people are closer to their heroes than ever before, they are also so close it’s become abstract. We are so close that nothing seems real, and people have no attachment with what they say and who they are saying it to. It is not just fan on other fan crimes, either. Earlier this season, French driver, Esteban Ocon, had to release a statement about abuse that was sent to him, his team, and his family. It got so bad, that the hashtag of his name, has been banned from TikTok, due to risk of abuse. There has been racist abuse angled at Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu. Lando Norris has had abuse sent to him and his team, including his esports team Quadrant. Last season Max Verstappen and his partner recieved a lot of abuse. Sky sports presenter, Karun Chandhok, has had racist abuse sent to his social media, as well as sent to Sky Sports socials.

Criticism about driving and opinions is one thing, abuse is another. It is not just restricted to formula 1. K-pop bands, movie franchises, boybands, tv series, there are fandoms for almost anything. Situations like the ones I have mention above happen others. Actors and actresses leaving TV shows due to abuse, because the fandom didn’t like their character. Someone speaks poorly about a certain band member, they’d better not sign online.

The point I want to make is that behind every account, whether it be a famous personality or a business, there is a person. A person with feelings and a life. A few years ago someone told me that if I was angry, write down the negativity, if on social media write the comment and save it to drafts. Then, go do something else. Come back in at least 30 minute, 95% of the time, you will simply delete whatever you have written. I find that it stops any angry over-reactions.

Hard

July 26, 2021 ~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

I started this draft saying ‘this week has been hard’. But, I have to be honest. It currently feels the last several months (or years if I squint hard enough) have been hard.

Hard is relative, though. For me, hard pertains to difficult. Life is difficult. To which, I hear the scoff of many folk, who say ‘life isn’t meant to be easy’. Which, I kind of understand, but how high should the difficulty have to be? Like,it can’t be unlimited? There has to be some levels one reaches, moments of respite, where you can look around and decided whether the difficult stuff was worth it.

What is the ‘difficult stuff’?

It’s multi-faceted. Firstly, my brain has a habit of making me not feel good enough, for anything. I have no worth, so what is the point of doing anything. I have felt stuck for many years, and have written many blog entries about it. I have been trying to figure out my own mental health, and how to navigate life whilst suffering problems. The worst thing about having mental health problems, is that there doesn’t have to be anything physically wrong. It can be a lovely day, but I will ignore that and listen to whatever nonsense my brain will come up with. Which is stupid, I know it is, but it becomes a cycle, where the bad thoughts run everything.

Secondly, have you seen the news lately? The world is going to hell, or it appears to be. The climate, with floods, fires, and heatwaves, all taking countries by surprise and doing horrific damage to communities. There is the coronavirus pandemic, which is still ongoing, but the UK government want things opened up as normal, and people aren’t getting vaccinated. Bigotry is on the increase, as homophobic, racist, transphobic people all decry ‘free speech’. Brexit is a mess. Everything is a mess. These aren’t even everything that is going on right now. With constant news coverage, and social media streaming the news to us in real time, it’s really hard to get away from it all. It’s trying to find the balance of caring about stuff, and not feeling so overwhelmed by it all, that you lose any point of doing anything.

I’ve just been feeling a little worn out by it all. Apathy for everything. I’m going to try and deal with things one by one. And try to pull myself up. Because, if I don’t then the cycle will continue. And it has already been going on for too long. If I fail, I never lost out, just get back on the horse and try again.

Switch off!

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

How hard is it to switch off?

To be able to relax, fully enjoy a hobby or activity. To not let things bother you. To be able to silence your brain, to enjoy a tv show.

Facebook is constant, full of people you thought you could trust, making comments that prove you wrong. The feeling of being let down, and that you never know who anyone is, not really. People defending saying racist slurs, because they have always said it. People defending blaming a virus on Asian people, despite the fact Coronavirus was a thing before the pandemic. People laughing about identifying as a helicopter, whilst people they know are feeling threatened because of gender being in the news. The people who speak about mental health awareness, whilst laughing about your problems, behind your back.

It’s not just that. It’s everywhere. The TV is full of people trying to validate their right to berate people. Newspapers give, the most vocal bigots, newspaper columns. They get radio shows. TV shows. Infamy for being intolerant.

I remember being told when I was young, to treat other people the way you want to be treated. That if a person isn’t causing harm, let them be. And it frustrates me, that people treat others poorly l, just because they are different to them.

It’s very overwhelming. To see the hatred. The hatred of anything different. My high anxiety brain always reminds me that I can never do enough. I just want that part to stop.

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Important links:

Stop Hate: http://stophate.org

Stand up against racism and inequality: http://sariweb.org.uk

Human Rights Campaign: http://hrc.org

Citizen’s Advice: http://citizensadvice.org.uk

Mind: http://mind.org.uk

Locked Down

January 4, 2021 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Today, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, put mainland Scotland in lockdown. Again. COVID cases are on the rise, and hospitals are struggling to deal with the increased demand. As frustrating as it is, I completely understand why such rules are required, and it is important that the public do their best to abide by them.

Everything is so annoying, because it feels like everyone has sacrificed so much already. Births, deaths, weddings, all major events that we have had to miss out. And to make those sacrifices to find out that the country is almost just as bad as it was 9 months ago, when this first started.

Everyone just needs to ‘keep the heid’. Keep calm, and do our best to follow the rules as much as we can. It won’t go on forever, we will get there. Eventually.

Black Lives DO Matter

June 2, 2020 ~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

I am white. I have never faced any prejudice over my skin colour. I do have problems, but none of them relate to me being the race that I am. I have watched the news, watched as people around the world erupt into protest.

On the 25th May, just a matter of days ago, a deli owner in Minneapolis (Minnesota, US) phoned the police after they suspected a customer had tried to use a fake $20 to pay for some cigarettes. The man was George Floyd. Police arrived and the way they restrained and treated him, lead to his death. George Floyd was unarmed. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, a police officer held his knee against George’s throat, and continued to do so even after George lost consciousness. It is awful.

How many people must die so horrifically?

James Corden asked ‘how can black people dismantle a system they didn’t create’? And it’s true. So white people shouldn’t be silent. We should educate those around us, and speak out. It is not enough to be simply not racist any more, we must stand as anti-racist. We must use our voice, use our privilege in a way that helps our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues, our families.

Retweet and repost true accounts on social media. Read articles from black writers, listen to their voices. Understand our own history, understand that a lot of this comes back to colonialism. Learn the history that the schools conveniently missed out. Understand where the privilege of being white came from, and understand the damage it does. Understand the anger, and demand change.

Click here for resources