In late 1891, an outlandish collection of wagons rolled up deep in Glasgow’s East End.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show had come to town, and between November that year and the following February, an estimated half a million Scots had packed in to the East End Exhibition Buildings for the American’s residency, featuring the likes of sharpshooter Annie Oakley and Lakota Sioux performers.  

The episode is a curious and colourful one in the history of Glasgow – and I was reminded of it for two reasons as we approach election day in Scotland on Thursday.

Firstly, how we could do with just a little of the excitement, buzz and razzmatazz which that wagon train brought, in an election campaign which has never managed to rise above lacklustre.

But secondly, it seems fitting to recount the episode given the more recent arrival of a different set of wagons in the East End.

The travelling circus this time was in the form of Reform UK, whose Scottish election campaign targeted the Tollcross area of Glasgow with banners about immigration.

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Opinion........

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