This is a curiosity. At first glance it looks like a normal pre-war scene in Glasgow with a rag-and-bone man trading balloons for old clothes, possibly in the Gorbals. But the picture caption says it is the summer of 1964 and it is in Finnieston. Take a closer look and you see cars in the background, and the boys in the picture are all well dressed, with clean faces and no hint of rickets at all. That is also a rather smart bike the young lad on the right is casually hanging on to. One youngster even has long trousers which were rarely seen before the sixties on anyone younger than a teenager.
But has life really changed that much? We still put out old clothes only this time in plastic sacks that are shoved through our letter boxes. And we don't even get a balloon any more. So how is that progress?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
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Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
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