My genuine best wishes go to the Gold Coast as they prepare to embrace the XXI Commonwealth Games.

I’m still pinching myself over being part of history when Glasgow hosted the XX Commonwealth Games nearly four years ago – I was based in Dundee as a Clyde-sider where many athletes stayed for the shooting event. The Clyde-siders were a superb team of volunteers who drove the whole event alongside many other great colleagues.

It was one of the best things I have ever done in the whole of my life. I had a phenomenal time as the photo here shows (many thanks to the person who took it for me).

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Eid Mubarak to everyone!

May God shower mercy upon us all, whether you are celebrating or not (always best to be inclusive!).

…something changed in the last week.

On Wednesday evening, I was so uninspired that I randomly decided to go ingredient shopping. ‘For what?’, I subconsciously thought at first, but then Macaroni Cheese began to dominate my cerebral horizons.

Rather than spend a small handful of pounds buying a ready made version of the much loved tea time treat, I wanted to take the initiative and make it myself – having something cooked by myself to be almost proud of.

I bought all of the required ingredients after a short trip round my local town – and then got going once in the kitchen. Every potential was there for things to go absolutely wrong, particularly given how laughably lamentable I am at cooking. Midweek didn’t necessarily represent the first time me trying to make something in the kitchen – I’ve put pasta sauce over…pasta, put toast into a toaster and made a cup of tea. But they don’t count. I wanted to show myself I had some skill for a change!

And my lack of culinary skills isn’t all that surprising, but is disappointing – it makes me somewhat shockingly undesirable. Why would anyone ever want to love a man like me who can’t cook? And as if romance will be coming in my direction any time soon anyway!

But I digress. Meanwhile, over to the action in the kitchen. Firstly, I took a pan and put it on the cooker. I poured three cupfuls of milk into the pan and put the heat onto a reasonably moderate level. It didn’t really boil, which was annoying. The lack of boiling of the milk meant little progress was being made and represented a setback which had all the power to floor me to defeat. But I had other ideas – cue in the spirali!

Next followed a reasonable amount of butter which didn’t move things much further forward. But, like a crucial turning point in a game of football, grated cheese dramatically boosted my hopes of culinary success.

Finally, the hopeless mixture I was making began to transform into something a bit like the final product I was aiming for. I mixed and mixed and mixed – a bit of salt, pepper and coconut was added to make the meal all the more worthwhile.

The final product eventually went into my mouth…and it actually was Macaroni Cheese! Oh my goodness – have I an unrecognised talent after all?!

I think it’s daft of me to get carried away over successfully making Macaroni Cheese at the first time of asking – people will laugh at this thinking I’m just being silly. However, my experience in the kitchen earlier this week was a strange yet welcome confidence booster. It might not have been the best looking Macaroni Cheese, but as far as the taste was concerned, it wisnae bad!

You can never truly knock yourself unless you try something you think at first you’re useless at, when in fact you are truly amazing at, like in my case (steady on, Anas you utter Manace!).

What’s next on the food menu for me?

On a sunny lunchtime on Sunday 9 September 2018, I found myself located on the ground floor of DC Thomson‘s building speaking with one of Scotland’s most well known music artists.

K T Tunstall was in Dundee hours before performing in front of thousands of people, alongside Simple Minds and The Pretenders, in the city’s Slessor Gardens. The event there was the final stop of for all three of their 2018 Grandslam Summer Tour which has visited various places within much of the UK since August.

In an interview for Wave FM News, she told me about her time at the High School of Dundee, her gig later that night in the city centre and her forthcoming involvement with Social Bite’s Sleep In The Park, which is taking place this December across Scotland’s four main cities, including Dundee, with the aim to raise £4 million to help the homeless. 8,000 people took part last year in Edinburgh.

You can listen to my interview with K T Tunstall. Also, below, is a transcribed version of what was said between us both.

My special thanks goes out to her for giving up some of her important time to talk and to everyone else involved in making this interview happen – you all know who you are!

Finally, without me sounding far too excited, I’ve never felt so delighted, grateful and humbled not just to be handed such a major interview opportunity in what is the early days of my broadcast journalism career, but to also spend some time with such a genuinely great person. For me, journalism, and life, should be all about people. We human beings are all social beings after all.

Enjoy!

Anas Hassan: “I don’t need to give you an introduction if…

[K T Tunstall starts to laugh]

Anas Hassan: “…we all know who you are…”

K T Tunstall: “Hello!”

Anas Hassan: “Hello K T Tunstall! How are you getting on today?”

K T Tunstall: “Fantastic!

“It’s a beautiful day in Dundee. The sun is blazing and it’s just looking so good. Dundee’s looking great. It’s lovely to see it feeling so vibrant and the V&A looks amazing so it’s just lovely to be home.”

Anas Hassan: “Yeah absolutely…”

K T Tunstall: “I can see, I’m sitting here and looking at the High School…”

Anas Hassan: “Oh yes!”

K T Tunstall: “…where I remember very vividly graduating from on my 17th birthday on those very steps, wearing a stupid hat!”

Anas Hassan: “Was it a graduation style hat?”

K T Tunstall: “I was in a graduation outfit and it’s just one of of those, you know, mistakes that you make when you’re 17!”

[K T Tunstall laughs at this point]

Anas Hassan: “Ah right ok!”

K T Tunstall: “All good though!”

Anas Hassan: “It’s no different to the ones you get at uni though, I suppose.”

K T Tunstall: “Exactly. Well, no, it was like you could dress up. We were wearing fancy outfits and I chose badly that day.

“But it was a very happy day, regardless.”

Anas Hassan: “Yeah, I bet it was.”

K T Tunstall: “I was really excited to get off and out into the world, but that was where I learnt guitar – at Dundee High.

“It was in the Music Department, which is next to the building as you look at the High School to the right, and I used to go and grab a guitar and just taught myself. That’s where I started writing songs.”

Anas Hassan: “Magnificent, fantastic. It’s a very special place for you then obviously.”

K T Tunstall: “It is, definitely.

“Always being back up in this part of the world where I grew up, it’s that thing where you know all the pavements and you know the street and you know where the trees are and you know all your little corners and it’s just an amazing feeling being that familiar with somewhere and travelling the world and coming back and having that relationship with somewhere.”

Anas Hassan: “So tonight then must be very especially special for you, because given the fact that the waterfront – you talked about the V&A. [And there’s] the Slessor Gardens coming to fruition. Does this add an extra dynamic to tonight’s gig? Because I know you’ve been on tour UK wide.”

K T Tunstall: “Oh, I mean, can you imagine what’s going to happen tonight when Simple Minds play waterfront?

“It’s going to be so cool.

“But this tour in general, just being on tour with Simple Minds and The Pretenders as well, Chrissie Hynde being really a number one inspiration for me for years and years and Jim and Charlie are just family now – they’re the most generous, hilarious, good time creative people I’ve ever met and they’ve really supported me a lot over the last couple of years, since meeting them.

“And I’m just so glad that the tour is finishing here in Dundee and there’s I think basically a sold out show, 10,000 people – just absolutely magic. It’s a real celebration and The Pretenders have just to wish that they were Scottish tonight, I think.”

[K T Tunstall and I laugh]

Anas Hassan: “Well I suppose anybody that comes here, people feel Scottish instantaneously – even Dundonian as well, given the unique character of this place.

“Now tell me a wee bit about the Big Sleep Out, because I know that’s three months away, but you’re obviously taking part – is this the first time you’ve taken part in an event [like this one]?”

K T Tunstall: “It’s the first time I’ve been involved with it.

“I was aware of it through Amy [Macdonald] last year when she was talking about it and I agree with what she’s said about it.

“It’s embarrassing in 2018 that we even have this problem of people not being supported in society. Society can afford it. It’s just about organising a situation where people are given an opportunity to thrive in their life and it’s a very complicated issue [homelessness].

“It’s much more than not just having somewhere to sleep, although that’s a very important and life threatening part of it.

“But these are people who’ve come through often very, very difficult circumstances and backgrounds and as a society, we are always going to have those people and those people always deserve to be helped, through that, for us to prosper as a society as a whole.

“When you go on a hike in the mountains, you’re only as fast as the slowest person in your group and so the best thing for the group is to help that person and support them and you’ll be more successful as a group and that’s just a microcosm of how I feel that a healthy society should work – is you look after the people who need looking after and they can go on to do the most incredible things, because they know what it’s like to be in that situation of desperation.

“It’s an amazing organisation to be doing some work with – I’m really glad to be involved.”

Anas Hassan: “Absolutely and given the fact that there’s going to be 12,000 people taking part in this…”

K T Tunstall: “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Anas Hassan: “Absolutely huge! Do you think that vast number is really going to bring home the cold reality that too many people face in this country every night?”

K T Tunstall: “I think with homelessness and with social issues that lead to homelessness and perpetuate homelessness, a really important part of it is just making sure people are reminded that it’s existing, because it’s really easy to just go home to your house and watch the telly and go to bed with your hot chocolate and forget.

“Just that awareness raising of being reminded what the numbers are of the people who are having to deal with that is really important.”

Anas Hassan: “And you’re going to all four of Scotland’s main cities as well [including Dundee]?”

K T Tunstall: “I know, in one night! It’s like Live Aid!”

Anas Hassan: “Have you ever done that before?”

K T Tunstall: “No, never ever have I attempted that before!

“It’s a technical, logistical – it’s going to take some wizardry. I’ve got my big loop pedal set up and it takes a minute.

“We’re coming up with a plan, but so excited to be jumping in a donated helicopter to go and do this.

“And I think that’s an important thing too – it’s just making sure it’s fun. When you’re talking about these serious issues, it’s also coming together and celebrating what a positive group of people can do about a situation and the first thing you’ve got to do is make them feel positive so I think that’s important.”

Anas Hassan: “The last question I’ll ask you, because I know you’ve got a busy schedule this afternoon, is what would you say to anyone in this country who has never done such a thing as a Sleep Out, as 12,000 people are going to do, because I know they’re looking for people to take part – what one message would you give to anyone to take part in this event on the 8 December?”

K T Tunstall: “Well my experience of showing up for social issues, I suppose the first time I vividly remember, it was going on the march against the Iraq war in London – it was a million people. I recently went on the Women’s March in [Washington] DC in 2017.

“There is something personal that is offered by showing up and taking part in these things where you look back across your life and you look back at the things you’ve done and the choices that you’ve made and there’s an enormous deep pride in taking part and being there for these events that are incredibly special.

“It’s not to be taken lightly when 12,000 people come together to do something and it’s quite an extreme thing to do to stay out all night and sleep on the street. And I would say that doing something like that will stay with you for the rest of your life and you’ll be really glad that you did it. And you’ll meet people. And you’ll learn stuff. And you’ll look at the positive effects of that and you’ll say to yourself, ‘I’m part of why that happened’ – and there’s a lot of fulfilment in that.

“I would say that there’s just a lot of power in showing up and a lot of personal fulfilment and it ultimately, I think, with an issue like this leads to a lot of gratitude for what you’ve got in your life and that’s a really key ingredient of personal happiness – of being grateful for what you’ve got.

“I think it’s all round just a life enriching thing to do with your time.”

Anas Hassan: “Absolutely. Well good luck, and I’m sure it’s going to be a very powerful event.”

K T Tunstall: “Cheers, thank you.”

Anas Hassan: “No problem and good luck tonight as well!”

K T Tunstall: “Cheers! Really looking forward to it all!”

Last night, with exactly one month to go until Social Bite’s Sleep In The Park 2018, I spoke at Dunfermline Toastmasters to explain I decided to take part in the event.

About two months ago, I had the privilege in chatting with KT Tunstall for Wave FM News – she told me about the importance of December’s event, which is taking place in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. A few days after speaking with her, I was inspired to sign up to play my part in helping the homeless. God willing, I’ll join many people in sleeping outside on a December night in Dundee to experience life living without a roof over my head. 12,000 people are to participate across Scotland’s four major cities. The aim is to raise £4 million to help the homeless in Scotland with those taking part calling for an end to homelessness across the country.

This week, I hit my £100 fundraising target, but I’d like to see the total I raise towards the social enterprise go much further.

At last night’s Dunfermline Toastmasters meeting, during my speech, I told the audience, “Each participant who takes part in Sleep In The Park next month is expected to raise a minimum of £100, including an initial contribution themselves of £50.

“Now, so far, unless I’ve received a donation during this meeting tonight, I can confirm that I’ve raised for Social Bite, £105.

“But, I would like to raise more!”

To donate, please visit my Virgin Money Giving page here and thank you for your support which will go to Social Bite and help the homeless in Scotland.

Here are my thoughts on video via YouTube about this weekend’s Sleep In The Park 2018 (please note for some bizarre reason, the date on this blog post reads December 6 2018 when at the time of publishing it was during still December 5 2018 – I mentioned the latter of the two dates in my video to refer to this particular blog post, so I hope this clarifies things!).

A transcript of what I’ve said will follow in the near future.

You can still donate to Social Bite via my Virgin Money Giving link – please click here.

Today, I visited Lockerbie. 30 years since this beautiful small Dumfriesshire town became the centre of international attention for harrowing reasons.

I wasn’t visiting, because I was necessarily obliged to. But because after learning lots about what happened on the night of 21 December 1988, I wanted to come here alone and at my own expense to simply show my respect to everyone who had died.

Lockerbie felt like any other Scottish town today. Busy, with plenty of traffic flowing through the town and Christmas lights on display, like in other places. But, in a sense, it felt surreal.

Given the context of recent history, it feels honestly difficult to truly imagine the horrors of what unfolded 30 years ago in this very same place. It’s very rare for any Scottish town and it’s surrounding areas to face the scary prospect of parts of an aeroplane smashing into it’s ground after falling from thousands of feet in the air above. And it’s even more upsetting when people’s personal belongings end up scattered all over the place following such a sinister event above in the sky as what took place 30 years ago tonight.

11 people on the ground in Lockerbie lost their lives. A further 259 people, who were on board Pan Am Flight 103 travelling from London to New York when the plane was blown up, also died.

I spent about an hour today at the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial and Garden of Remembrance, situated about a mile west of the town centre. I felt hit hard by the scale of the tragedy, even though I have no direct connection to Lockerbie nor was I directly affected by what happened three decades ago. There are just so many names on display at the memorial, illustrating the magnitude of this particular disaster.

The feeling was very sobering and definitely is when being present at the memorial. It’s tough to let everything sink in at once, because the disaster was so enormous and so horrifying. People from many walks of life are understandably still feeling emotional about what unfolded all those years ago. There was a lot of flowers on display with loving tributes towards the dead.

And one person’s memorial, Steven Lee Butler, contained such a powerful quote on display which says, “Life is life – Enjoy it” – I hope those five words serve as a constant reminder to me and to you also to make every moment count in life, because it really is so short. Life really isn’t a rehearsal after all.

I don’t think I can ever properly imagine how ghastly the disaster was in 1988, because at the time, I was too young to understand what was going on. I have to rely on facts that have emerged about the events of that dreadful night and other people’s observations. But the key here for me is to appreciate what impact the disaster has had on not just Lockerbie, but Scotland and the world as a whole.

This disaster could have happened anywhere. Nobody on earth deserves to suffer the consequences of such an awful event. It’s so unfortunate this lovely and quiet Dumfriesshire town bore the brunt of such a tragedy. It’s so upsetting that this place will for a long time yet be associated with this particular tragedy for a long time to come. It deserves to move on.

On a different note, Lockerbie is a fine place to go and visit for even an afternoon. It’s situated within the quiet, but fabulous area of south western Scotland where anyone would be spoilt for choice for places to explore. Dumfries and Galloway is a great place to escape to, away from the hectic atmosphere of other parts of the country like, for example, the central belt.

Lockerbie is a place that deserves happier days ahead, particularly given the sadness people there and elsewhere worldwide have had to experience over the last few decades. Lockerbie doesn’t deserve to feel isolated – people across Scotland and the world should remember this place and keep it close to their hearts. And, especially at a time of year like this one, people should put their Christmas festivities to one side for a moment to remember that this time of year is not a happy time for everyone. Relatives of the Lockerbie disaster in particular, as well as people in the town directly impacted by what happened in the run up to Christmas in 1988, will be experiencing a difficult time. They deserve dignity, our love and respect.

The whole purpose of being in Lockerbie today was to reflect, understand and remember. Reflect on the impact of what happened 30 years ago. Understand what effect it’s had on the families of loved ones lost and on Lockerbie itself as a town. And remember all those who died. May God prevent such an incident like this ever happening again, regardless of where.

RIP to all 270 victims of the Lockerbie air disaster.

Picture credit: © Stellify Media/ITV

I’ve had a major obsession with ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ since growing up.

It’s the television show that’s truly captured my imagination. It’s still my favourite television programme. The drama, format, lights, music and tension – all combined to create what has been the most successful quiz show phenomenon of all time. The show, first aired in the UK back in 1998, pulled in millions and millions of viewers in it’s early days and created such a buzz that no other game or quiz show has matched before, then or since. Quite simply, it’s the greatest quiz show of all time and nothing will probably truly better it.

It’s return to UK television on ITV/STV/UTV last year was very welcome and the series last week is heavily appreciated. It’s been well received and the show making a return within the last few months has made sense for three key reasons.

Firstly, it’s a format which is so simple and understandable – get all 15 questions correct and you become a millionaire (even £1m is a fortune, two decades on). Secondly, it’s still great light entertainment. And thirdly, given the fact the show started here in the UK, it’s a bit odd it wasn’t on air in the very country it started in whilst it was being broadcast in other countries worldwide.

Last week, Jeremy Clarkson’s second ever series of the hit ITV quiz show broadcast. Almost a year ago, I, like many others, learned he was going to host the revival. I must admit, I was sceptical initially when his name got first mentioned with regard to the revival of Millionaire. Was a quiz show really within Jeremy’s comfort zone as a TV presenter?

But nonetheless, I was excited at the prospect of Millionaire’s return, Stellify Media being the force behind getting this world class quiz show back up and running and welcomed Jeremy with open arms (not literally, of course!). I was aware of Jeremy from the BBC’s Top Gear, but didn’t really get into what he did on previous programmes he’d been involved in until he became the UK’s Millionaire host. It’s a bit like a footballer welcoming the newly appointed manager to the training ground for the first time, despite not having met properly before and knowing much about what they did previously.

His appointment has proven to be an inspiring one. Like him or loathe him, he’s been impressive in the presenter’s chair. Not many people have cried out for Chris Tarrant, the original host of Millionaire and Jeremy’s predecessor, to come back. And that’s a success in itself – don’t get me wrong, Chris was fantastic and will always be the original ‘Mr Millionaire’. However, after last week’s series, Jeremy has never looked more comfortable in charge of the proceedings on the show.

I remember being in the audience for the pilot edition of Millionaire last April at dock10 in Salford, Greater Manchester. When I walked into the studio to take a seat in the audience, my heart almost broke as the set looked and felt a little too unfamiliar to start with, compared to previous times. I initially feared it’d became too different. Before last April, I’d appeared in the Millionaire audience at Elstree five times, including Chris Tarrant’s final ever recording in December 2013 which was a live Christmas edition of the show featuring celebrity contestants like Sir Alex Ferguson and Eamonn Holmes. The set became all too familiar to me.

Meanwhile, around over four years later, it wasn’t until the lights were switched on when the set really came to light up and glow in it’s electrifying form. Today’s Millionaire set is aesthetically beautiful, colourful and funky. The LCD floor is one hell of an innovation that I love and has really brought about a classic feel to this show with the background of the logo dominating it – it’s made it modern, despite having the ability at the same time to make major fans of the show like me feel a bit nostalgic about the original run of the show. I almost feel I’ve been put in a time machine and taken back to 1998, in a strange yet nostalgic way!

The only drawback with the lighting now is in the latter stages of the money tree – the lighting around the set remains blue and the studio remains too bright unlike previous times. In Chris’ day, from £32,000 to £1m, the contestant and host would be in the dark with dark blue lighting left on. And in Chris’ latter years presenting when the money tree was slightly different (£50,000 to £1m), the set would go dark, but with red in the background. Today, it doesn’t really change from £1,000 onwards – I feel a trick is being missed for the final five questions. The studio needs to be less bright in order to amplify the tension for the final questions and therefore add to the atmosphere for those in the studio and for viewers at home.

As far as the music is concerned, the return of the original music beds and theme tune is brilliant, albeit initially personally unexpected. Plenty of TV programmes do ‘modernise’ and Millionaire was no different back in 2007 when the music changed and the money tree was cut to 12 questions. Whilst it was ok, it felt nothing like the original programme. There are only so few changes that can be successfully made to a TV show – for Millionaire, there is little room for manoeuvre. Too many unnecessary changes don’t necessarily make things better.

Which leads me nicely onto the two changes that have been implemented since Mr Clarkson took over. That new fourth lifeline, ‘Ask the Host’, and the second safety net. Jeremy gives himself too much of a hard time with the questions and recently published statistics by Stellify Media on Twitter prove this.

In the 20th anniversary series, the success rate of ‘Ask the Host’ was 46%. However, for last week’s run of shows, that jumped to 64%. This now means, contestants have almost a 2 in 3 chance of Jeremy providing the correct answer should they need to use that lifeline – most definitely not a case of ’embarrass the host’. Interestingly, the success rate of ‘Ask the Audience’ dramatically fell between last May’s series and this month’s run of shows. Last week, it was 69% while 8 months ago it was 100%! There hasn’t been much change between the two series for 50:50 and ‘Phone A Friend’.

As far as the second safety net is concerned, the fact contestants don’t need to set it to £32,000 necessarily (that’s what it was originally at in the first years of the show) has really livened the format up. And there was no better example than Eleanor Ayres who was the first contestant on last week’s run of shows. She became the first contestant in the show’s history to successfully set it at £125,000 – it probably helped in the fact that she bravely took the risk to go for the £500,000 question, but sadly got the question incorrect. However, in the original format, she would have lost £218,000. But because she set the safety net at £125,000 then she won that amount and therefore still left the studio on a successful amount of money. Where to put that safety net is now a test in itself for each contestant appearing on the show.

One sad thing from the last few days was Millionaire missing out on a potential National Television Award for this year. It didn’t become a shortlisted nominee for the award ceremony in under a fortnight’s time. God willing, it has better luck in 2020.

Separately, I’ve bought the board game and quiz book released both within the last few months and they have made great additions to have. But I would love to see either the creation of a fresh new edition of the quiz show for game consoles or for smartphones/tablets, reflecting the game as it’s played on TV and with the current format.

It’s still early days for the revival of Millionaire, but the fact it’s back is just brilliant and only far too welcome. It’s always a great addition to the TV schedule, particularly these days. And congratulations to Stellify Media, Jeremy Clarkson and ITV/STV/UTV for getting this super show back on air. I’m only too grateful!

My interview with Gavin Hugh about his upcoming Scottish short film, Cold.

Here’s a conversation I had with Kirkcaldy film-maker Gavin Hugh on his forthcoming short film which is about a young woman who struggles with depression at Christmas time.

Rowan Birkett is the main star of the short film – she plays Niamh.

Please note that mental health is discussed as a topic on this audio – if you or someone you know is affected by a mental health issue and expert advice is required, then please consult your doctor as soon as possible.

Samaritans is available if you or someone you know needs to talk about your thoughts and feelings – the number for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland is 116 123. The charity says it’s a free number to call.

Picture acknowledgement: Cold Short Film 2019/Gavin Hugh/Grant R Keelan

I’m raising money for a good cause again!

After raising money for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and Social Bite last year, I’m raising money again this year for another good cause.

I will be taking part in this year’s Kiltwalk in Edinburgh for the Big Hearts Community Trust and your donation would be much appreciated please!

To go to my fundraising page, please click here.

Thank you in advance!