I’ve just come across Information is Beautiful - an amazing blog by journalist/designer David McCandless which more or less turns news and trivia into abstract art. And these ‘visualising’ designs aren’t just pretty – they also convey information far more compellingly and memorably than would be possible with text alone. Have a look at the billion dollar o-gram (above) to see what I mean. I’m certainly not about to forget the fact that internet porn is worth almost the same as global aid donations or that the money spent on the Iraq War is almost six times the annual amount required to shift the world to renewable energy! There’s a feed from McCandless’ site at the bottom of this page.

Sadly not, it seems. A Scottish Government review published earlier this month has spoken of a

Really?

How many other cameras in Scotland are not doing their job - and how easy will it be to turn the current situation around when recession-hit public finances are so stretched? Has CCTV been nothing but an expensive – and invasive – waste of time for many of the people who need it most?

Without meaning to gloss over the complex and painful subject raised by Moss, or suggest that the situation in terms of media pressure is anything like as heavy for men as it is for women, the Moss furore got me –as a man, and a skinny one at that – thinking about the male flip side of today’s body image obsession. If, for some women, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, then it’s the opposite for men. These days, the worst thing for a man is to be thin – unless it’s being cultivated as a look. Weight and size get carried by men as confirmation of their masculinity, even as cool. Why? Is it because traditionally male domains – work, white-hot competition, drink, hunting-gathering – are open territory in our age of equality and women’s lib? Is body mass the one defining feature left?

OK, so more men are taking out gym membership and bulking up. Fair enough (except when it involves using steroids). But the striking thing is that flab and gut poundage are now flaunted – admittedly often in a tongue-in-cheek way - alongside abs and biceps (as in this youtube slideshow, for example – one of many!).

 Hell, it may even be that fat is taking over from muscle as the male uniform of the moment. According to Guy Trebay of the New York Times, many of NYC’s hipsters were this summer sporting a lightweight but definitely-there beer belly called the Ralph Kramden. Apparently it’s a reaction against superman Barack’s hit-the-gym-first-thing-save-the-world-economy-by-lunchtime work ethic. Seems the preening men who spend hours in the gym sculpting their bodies have also become a bit of a turn-off. Jackie Gleason must be turning in his grave…

Kramden: trendsetter

People ask me why I’m so skinny all the time. ‘Weed’, ‘chicken legs’…I could go on. A good friend of mine from Germany – who often remarks on my meagre frame with concern and, at times, genuine alarm – suggested during a recent visit to her home near Munich that I might have an over-active thyroid gland and urged me to get it tested.

Shortly before flying out to visit this friend I had an unsettling, late-night conversation with a prospective date that went something like this:

“You’re cute, but you’d be far cuter if you gained some weight.”

“Oh? How do I do that?”

“Eat crap…kebabs and things. Eating late at night is good – that always helps to pile on the pounds. And make sure you eat plenty of liver sausage and wheat beer in Bavaria…”

Which I did, idiot that I am. The only thing I gained was bad indigestion. The date, when it finally happened, was a total disaster. No surprise there.

I got back to Edinburgh and had an opportune conversation with a generously proportioned work colleague who’d been told by this guy she liked that she had a nice face but that it was “a pity about her body”. I like to feel I have a fair idea of what she was going through.  

Just want to add that I have absolutely no problem with weight. Weight is cool and looks good if the individual is happy in his or her own skin. But I always smile to myself when I read about women wanting to be thin and realise I’m after exactly the opposite.

It would seem Edinburgh’s restaurant scene is weathering the recession better than most. Yet there’s little evidence of resilience on the city’s Brougham Place. A usually cheerful street curving from the Meadows to Tollcross, it enjoys a steady throughflow of students and professionals, and has offered a wide range of international cuisine – from East African to Thai to French – for years. Sadly, it’s suffering from a severe outbreak of toletsignitis and has clearly seen better days.

Things are pretty much full steam ahead at the moment. Having only recently agreed to take on the premises, Cindy will pick up the keys and sign a new contract this Friday. She tells me she feels “stressed” because of a new UK Border Agency rule requiring her to obtain a special permit before she can sponsor workers from Thailand. “My business has been put back by about eight weeks because of it,” she sighs.

Cindy - Sirapassorn Srisotorn to family and friends in Thailand - is 35, single and a native of Bangkok. She arrived in Scotland about six years ago with her fiance from Edinburgh (they’ve since split up). If anyone can help revive Brougham Place, it’s her. She’s a brilliant cook. She’s also ambitious, determined and smart, and holds a degree in Communications from one of Bangkok’s top universities. Previously, after studying English at Telford College, she worked for the distribution arm of a well-known Scottish social affairs magazine, helping to increase sales by 40% in the first half-year of her employment.

She has vivid memories of her father protesting on the streets of Bangkok in support of ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra,

Rioting in Thailand

As she peers enthusiastically through the window of her restaurant, discussing new furniture she hopes to buy, it  seems that Scotland has treated Cindy well. Sadly, this isn’t the case. She’s certainly quick to acknowledge the warmth of the individuals she’s made friends with. However, having worked for DTAC, one of Thailand’s biggest mobile phone companies, and enjoyed numerous employment perks, her ambitions for life in Scotland extend well beyond the restaurant trade. She feels there is little prospect of realising them.

“I wanted to go abroad, speak English, see things,” she says. “I wanted to do a postgraduate marketing degree at Strathclyde – but it wouldn’t have worked.

“Scottish people are quite conservative. It’s not easy to affect their social life. You have to do something that Scottish people like. If you do something they expect, that relates to their social life, you can succeed.

“I know some Thai people who tried to run furniture import/export businesses from Scotland but they never succeed. It seems Scottish people can’t accept something that’s unusual to them.”

Being female hasn’t helped either. “I know I am a business woman. I have much determination to run a business. I am accurate; I can drive things. But life’s not easy here. Not many British people accept a South East Asian woman as leader of the team.”

A new opening with new possibilities. Yet the decision of this woman to open a Thai restaurant also feels like a restriction, an indictment, a waste. What would Cindy be doing now if she’d decided to make her home in London or America?