Wednesday 21 September 2011

In praise of Neil Baxter and the RIAS!

the intelligent and attractive Neil Baxter - boss of the RIAS
You know, I've been doing a little research today on Neil Baxter, the illustrious head of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland or RIAS for short. He came to my attention this morning when he publicly exposed himself to the pretentious, snobbish and elitist modernist hordes on Urban Realm and Twitter by praising and defending the wonderful designs for Dr Donald Trump's new Clubhouse at Menie prepared by servant architect Gareth Hopkins with the assistance of Acanthus Architects based in Torry, a slum near Aberdeen. This is the link to the Scotsman article.

Secretary & Treasurer of the RIAS, Neil was previously principal of his own architectural and interpretation consultancy and Development Director of GBPT. He has lectured on urbanism, written for The Daily Telegraph, Herald, Sunday Herald, Homes & Interiors and the AJ, and is a frequent media spokesman so he knows his onions, so to speak.

Neil wrote 'The Wee Green Book', a history of Glasgow Green, co-authored Pat Lally’s 'Lazarus Only Done it Once', edited the Glasgow medieval history, 'A Tale of Two Towns', the monograph 'Matt Steele, Architect, A Biography' and 'A Life in Cities', the autobiography of David Mackay (MBM, Barcelona). In May 2008, Neil received Glasgow’s Lord Provost’s Award for services to heritage. All in all, his CV is an impressive mouthful and he is more than qualified to speak on matters of design.

Now I have to say at the outset that I am not stalking Neil but he does seem like a nice chap - good looking and intelligent, with extraordinary taste and judgement. He is also very brave as his defence of this marvellous building will surely bring calls for his resignation as a betrayer, a whited sepulchre and a modernist denier. Humph! More likely he will be called to the Trump HQ at Menie to prostate himself at the feet of the great one himself and be lathered with sumptuous gifts. For my part, I wish Neil all the best and commend him and his organisation to everyone who is interested in Scottish Architecture and Planning.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you serious - have you met the man?

Anonymous said...

On second thoughts this sounds like it's been written by Mr. Baxter himself - his narcissistic tones are coming through nicely.

Dave Thompson said...

Dear Anonymous

Hello again and thanks for joining the debate. No I have never met Neil but I'm now very concerned about his safety and that of his wife and family. Some of the vicious comments flying around are quite unnecessary. On your second comment, I can assure that this is my own work - apart from copying bits from his CV which I'm sure he won't mind. We are all a little prone to narcissism perhaps.

Thanks very much for visiting Auchterness!

Yours in planning

Dave T

Anonymous said...

As someone who knows neil Baxter very well, i am surprised by the comment about his wife and family. Neil has been with his partner Josh for a number of years now, though that fact hasnt stopped him making frequent trips to thailand. Maybe you should do a bit more research into him before praising him too highly, would you still feel the same if you knew he met his boyfriend in Kelvingrove park when he was a fifteen year old rent boy.