Tongs Ya Bas: The Explosive History of Glasgow's Street Gangs

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In nearby Bridgeton, locals are enthusiastic about the regeneration and the dwindling presence of gangs. Allan Kelly, 49, was born in the area and believes that it has improved dramatically. The scores for the members linked to the Calton Tongs dropped off. Their scoring now pales into insignificance compared to three years have been practically wiped our radar." The film sets up a series of oppositions - gangs (Glens versus Tongs); romantic family life vs tough and unromantic street life; loyalty vs betrayal. Far from resulting in simplification, this actually makes the life of young Lex even more complex as he is, sequentially, drawn to each aspect of these opposing ideas. Former Simpsons scriptwriter David X Cohen is working on an adaptation of two books by Scots author Colin MacFarlane, The Real Gorbals Story and No Mean Glasgow. In the late 70’s and 80’s the word “real” was added to their title after a spate of copycat Tongs springing up in Ibrox and elsewhere in the east end. Read More

A saying, a war cry, a slogan that at one point seemed to appear on walls in every corner of the city. Over the years it has become universally linked to the city of Glasgow and the gangs that have lurked within. Read More Related Articles ya bass' Belligerent phrase affixed to gang names in graffiti or slogans: 'Tongs ya bass!' Presumably this derives from 'you bastard' rather than from calling someone a fish. Gsw. 1989: But thankfully it seems that it is, along with sectarianism, is one unsavoury aspect of Glasgow’s culture that the younger generations are rejecting. During one particularly hot summer in 1961 the gang from Calton, going by the unimaginative name of The Calton Team, decided to make good use of the cinema’s air conditioning by going to see Christopher Lee’s Hammer film classic “Terror of the Tongs”. The Terror of the Tongs released in 1961 (Image: Mirrorpix)The application of the phrase caused some dispute at first. Nobody doubted ya bass meant you bastard. But the grammarians who discussed it were undecided about its vocative or apostrophic use. Some said cogs ya bass meant O Cogs! You are bastards! Others said it meant we are the Cogs, o you bastards! Gsw. 1979 Maurice Lindsay Collected Poems 77: This year Glasgow can finally shed the tag as the UK’s violent crime capital as it was revealed that violent crime has dropped by more 50% in little more than a decade, putting Glasgow behind London, Manchester and Liverpool in reported incidents of violence. It was also confirmed this year that active gangs in the city were at the lowest in living memory and had almost become completely non-existent. The young teams were at the heart of the violence and dealing with many, some as young as 14, working as peddlers for east end drug barons. The worst parts of The Calton, including one area known locally as 'Muggers Alley', were virtually lawless. Strathclyde Police's strategic development manager Martin Smith said: "Calton Tongs are virtually dismantled.

I caught this film late night on the Sundance channel. It is extraordinarily well done. It's good to see more and more cinema from the UK showing on cable here in the US. He said:"We don't really get trouble any more, nothing worth mentioning. The vast majority of people around here are really decent and want a quiet life." There is a well-executed, pardon the pun, killing at an ice-rink, but I was otherwise unconvinced by the dialogue and thought there was an over-dilution of the way things really were (for instance, I didn't see one razor-slashing) and I can guarantee that the language and actual violence of the times was much stronger than we see here, although I can understand this may have been done for certification purposes. He said: "My wife's brother had to tell the local gang here that I needed a free pass because I was marrying into the family. It was in 2004 when long held stereotypes were confirmed in the eyes of many when Glasgow was named as the murder capital of Europe with 6.5 murders per 100,000 people. Violent crime levels were also at a record high with 80 violent crimes per 100,000 people.BASS, n.. 4 Usu. in phr. ya bass, term of abuse, often used in gang slogans. Gsw. 1972 George Friel Mr Alfred M. A. (1999) 528: It was during this time that the drug trade really started to get a grip of the city. Being in a gang was suddenly no longer just about territorialism or the thrill of the violence. This was about protecting your patch and therefore protecting a profit. Read More Related Articles They soon became one of the most infamous and feared gangs in the city with long running rivalries and bloody city centre battles with gangs like The Gorbals Cumbie and others. Ya bass" is generally taken as Glasgow slang for "you bastard", though it has been proposed it could be the Gaelic war cry aigh bas meaning "battle and die". [7] Another Glasgow gang slogan was "Spur ya Bass" (this was the name of one of the two rival gangs from the Barrowfield area). [8] "Tongs Ya Bass" arguably became Glasgow's unofficial motto in the 1960s and 1970s. [9] Director Gillies shows he knows how to film his environment and gives us telling and memorable images - such as a huge close-up of blood running down a plug-hole that looks like some work of abstract art.