BRITAIN:BATHED IN brilliant sunshine, Glasgow yesterday served up a series of warm welcomes and pleasant surprises. And the city's East End (or at least the parts I visited) contrived to look anything but the Third World throwback some coverage of Thursday's byelection might have suggested.
This indeed provided a rare point of agreement between the rival Labour and Scottish National Party camps, battling hard for every vote in a tough contest that might well trigger another crisis for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's leadership.
There was perhaps more than a hint of understatement about Labour acknowledgements that "of course there are problems" accompanying strongly felt complaints about media attempts "to put down the people who live here". The problems in this Labour's third safest seat in Scotland certainly make for grim statistical reading.
Life expectancy is significantly lower than the UK average, with men in some parts of the constituency living 11 years less. In 2002 a UN ratings system described the Shettleston area as the most deprived in Britain. The East End also registers Scotland's highest rate for alcohol-related hospital admissions.
Anti-social behaviour, knife crime and gang culture are also big issues on some doorsteps. Passing through Easterhouse my taxi driver told me that he and his wife finally sold their house and moved away in a desperate bid to break their teenage son's addiction to routine casual violence. "But then again," he says: "I was telling this to an Irish couple one night recently and they told me 'It could hardly be as bad as Limerick'."
Shettleston might feature in all those lists confirming everything still wrong in Britain after 11 years of Labour rule but in the Sandyhills area - lots of greenery, people sitting in gardens enjoying the unexpected sun, a decent looking mix of private and housing association properties - Labour candidate Margaret Curran is well received by most of those she stops to talk with.
The greatest heat here is generated by a supporter keen for reassurance that Labour really will do something about welfare cheats. "We worked hard all our lives and we're no better off," she says in complaint about "other people who do nothing and get everything paid for them." Ms Curran makes reassuring reference to James Purnell's Westminster statement on that subject yesterday afternoon and moves on. The unlikely and unexpected candidate, who Labour insiders are now happy turned out to be the right one, is taking nothing for granted about her defence of the party's 13,507 majority. "People are telling me the vote is there. But it needs to come out," she tells me. To those inclined to question the worth of her promises after 11 years of Labour government, the candidate summons candour to acknowledge "we have the vision but we've also got to deliver".
It's probably the best answer she can give in the circumstances. Whether it's good enough for voters in the Cran Hill area, however, is unclear. The SNP are canvassing Annavore McCabe again as she and her daughter consider switching from Labour.
"Labour isn't Labour any more," she asserts while detailing her concerns about rising living costs: "But I'm not so sure how we would stand on our own."
SNP MP Mike Weir reassures her the point of the byelection is to "send a message to Gordon Brown", while understanding that Independence "is a big step for people to take" - which is why the SNP Government at Holyrood is determined "that must be a separate vote".
Mr and Ms Muirhead have just returned from holidays in Lanzarote and Florida. The Muirheads will "probably" stick with Labour.Minding her two grandchildren, Ms Morrison likewise has "a funny feeling" the SNP's John Mason is going to squeeze in, although she knows Margaret Curran is "a good candidate".
Back at camp Curran, Labour MSP Frank McAveety is confident the nationalists will fall well-short of the 32 per cent swing needed to win. But if everybody is agreed it will be tight, I'm puzzled as to why canny SNP First Minister Alex Salmond has not chosen to "manage expectations" and is instead predicting a political earthquake. Frank, too, is "surprised" by this. "I don't understand it," he admits. Like Gordon Brown, he'll be hoping enlightenment doesn't take the form of a nasty surprise come Friday morning.