Glasgow

Glasgow was the second city of the British Empire at the start of the 20th Century, and outstripped London in science, transport and finance. Today it is a place where drug use is rife, HIV is rising, a city of death where people’s lives end early and no-one can work out why.

The Icarus city

For a time, Glasgow led the world. Pick any arena — from science and engineering to literature and culture — and this city will boast a first. It is a city whose inventors—Kelvin and Watt—gave temperature and power their names, whose art dealers pushed Europe towards impressionism and whose ships allowed trade to become global. A century ago Glasgow was truly great.

Today Glasgow is a special place for other reasons. A city where the past trappings of innovation, and wealth run together with ill health, violence and despair. There is no other city in Western Europe where a man stands a worse chance of reaching 50 than Glasgow. It is a place where young people are snuffed out early by drugs, violence and suicide. No city has crashed quite like this one. How did it happen?