The ‘War on Neds’ and Contradiction: 1995-2008

Abstract

Glasgow is a city that is well renowned for its poverty and violence. From the slums to the schemes, and the hooligan to the gangster, Glasgow’s reputation for notoriety has been almost cyclical. In an effort to rebrand itself in the 1980s, Glasgow City Council brought billions of pounds in inward investment through various service industries. As a result, Glasgow would be named the City of Culture in 1990. Though, this seeming success brought with it glaring socio-spatial disparities, with the wealth in the city unevenly distributed, simultaneously worsening inequality. By the early 2000s, some areas of Glasgow are some of the poorest in Western Europe, and has a growing problem with crime across the city. In response to this, First Minister, Jack McConnell of Labour announced his ‘War on Neds’. The result, was a nation-wide moral panic, which resulted in police brutality, and a restriction of rights and freedoms for the poor working-class youth of the city. Through use of data gathered from primary research which includes several semi-structured interviews and observational methods, combined with a range of archival material and secondary literature, this blog will explore the history of Glasgow and its relationship with class conflict, youth cultures and moral panics. It will then examine the experience of Neds and Ned Culture in the early 2000s in response to this moral panic, as they tried to exist in the face of systemic violence and oppression in doing so the blog will address the themes of Injustice, Grievance, Alienation and Polarisation, to reveal the material struggles of the poor, young, working-class Ned...