GLASGOW EAST BY-ELECTION SPECIAL REPORT: We know about the poverty ... but there's more to the constituency than that. Ian Williamson looks at the different lives of two residents

Baillieston
Liz Smith is a 44-year-old single mum. After separating from her partner last year, she moved into a Housing Association property in Baillieston with her children Nicole, 14, and James, 10. She is currently unemployed, but hopes to find work with one of the several charities and community groups operating in the area.

Despite the economic pressures affecting the east end, she enjoys living there. She says: "It's not that bad. I have only been out once in Baillieston, but there was no trouble at the end of the night. The people here are really friendly."

She feels Baillieston has a lot to offer its residents: "There is actually quite a lot to do here. There are shops nearby, and the local community centre organises a lot of activities. My son has a lot of friends here, and I couldn't ask for better neighbours."

However, she does think there are few places for her children, especially James, to go in the area. "There is plenty of waste ground around here that things could be built on, but there is nothing there," she says.

"My son plays football on a bit of grass nearby, but it is right next to the road and buses go past there all the time. I don't think it's safe, but there is nowhere better for him to go."

Smith finds the recent talk of poverty and deprivation in the east end disappointing. She says: "It is true some parts of the east end have problems, but people shouldn't be judged by where they come from. I think politicians have been going into all the worst neighbourhoods during the election and just putting us all in together."

She admits she has not paid a lot of attention to the run-up to Thursday's poll. "I have caught some of it on TV," she says. "I will definitely go to vote, but I don't know who I will be voting for. Lots of people around here vote Labour every time, regardless of who the candidate is. I think mainly it's just because of tradition. I won't do that this time."

TOLLCROSS
Anne Hughes and her family live on the edge of the Tollcross area. A care support worker, she has been there for 12 years and says: "This is a nice area. We have good neighbours, good facilities nearby and great transport links. We have our problems, of course, but there is hardly any crime here and no other difficulties."

Hughes feels the east end has received a lot of bad publicity recently, and says: "I certainly don't agree the whole east end is run down. That is just a generalisation. Of course, certain areas are derelict and depressed. Some other parts of Tollcross are really bad."

But she disagrees with those who blame Labour: "I think the people who live in these places have caused a lot of the problems, rather than the Labour Party. Poverty and lack of employment have made people lose their self-respect."

Anne hopes homes in the area will be revamped, but says residents need to want things to change too. "There's an attitude among people in some parts of the east end, as though they don't want to help themselves," she says.

"I am not too sure who I will vote for. I don't think there is a lot to choose between Labour and the Conservatives. At least the SNP seem a bit different."