I grew up in Aberdeen on Rosehill Drive. My house blew up in a gas explosion when I was 4 years old – maybe a story for another time.
We also lived two doors down from Michael Gove. You can decide which one was most pivotal to my future personal development.
I went to Kittybrewster primary then St Machar (it was called Powis in my first year so that gives me an extra cred when you speak to ex Powis-ers), at age 13, I moved away for a few years.
Not far, to Morayshire but at 13 it was far enough to feel like I was losing my universe, my best friends and a chance of a pash with a teenage crush.
Jump forward to 17 -years-old and I return to the city to study law at Aberdeen University.
I got involved in sports clubs and the Charites Campaign, taking part in the Student Show and the now long gone Torcher Parade.
I earn my degree and move away again, to Edinburgh and holy moly that was fun.
But when the firm I worked for at the time asked me to move back to the north-east, I did. I came back to Aberdeen.
And I’ve been home for the last 20 years and don’t regret a second of it. Why am I telling you all this?
I love my city. However, I fear I have become that much-maligned character of late – I have become an Abermoaner.
I’ve tried hard not to change. It goes against every fibre of my being, but it turns out, as a human being, it’s quite hard to resist.
Abermoaners complain about everything from bus gates to council leadership
It’s something innate in our psyche. And by ‘our’ I don’t mean the north-east, I mean as humans.
Now, this used to be the preserve of the faithful taxi driver who would welcome anyone from that London town or further afield with a 30-minute monologue of everything that was wrong with Aberdeen. Nowadays we have Facebook and Twitter so more people can join in the fun. Hooray!
Complaining is a valid form of communication. It might not be the most productive in the long term but, for me, it’s the first step towards accepting there might be a problem.
The Flying Pigs had a character many years back that I love. After being asked his opinion on a local topic the character would respond in a high-pitched whine:
“Weel, you ken me, I’m nae a moaner….but…”
He then proceeds to moan about the next-door neighbour, the bin collection cycles or the Dons. He always had a moan sitting handy. I think he would moan if he won the lottery – “weel, you ken me, I’m nae a moaner…but fit am I gonna dee wi’ a’ this money? Oh me”.
The Flying Pigs play ‘the moaner’ for laughs. Sadly, there are serious issues in our city that this Abermoaner is worried about.
I’ll moan about child poverty. And the wealth divide that exists in our city and it is a physical divide. Take the Number 19 bus across the city from end to end and you’ll see it first-hand.
The need for charities to fill the breach because public funding, both national and local, simply doesn’t exist anymore. The social mobility challenges we have. And I haven’t even started on the need for better public transport, and the worrying rise of unsociable behaviour in the town.
And now we have bus gates polarising opinion between council leadership and, well, what feels like everyone else.
So, is there any good news? When we look at the bigger picture, the EY ITEM Club, says in its winter forecast that global growth is likely to be stable into 2025, even considering the US’ intention of increasing tariffs.
Interest rates should come down. There is a prediction of recovery, of sorts, in consumer spending with progress on inflation and pay growth to normalise.
There’s so much to be positive about
And there is also much to be positive about if you read the recent Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (‘AGCC’) Investment tracker, which calculates a total investment of about £30 billion into the region over the coming years.
This, they say, will be the biggest wave of capital spending “since the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s”.
From an industrial perspective there is much to look forward to in terms of investment into important commercial developments such as the carbon capture and storage project, Acorn, in Peterhead., Funding towards the Energy Transition Zone and a Hydrogen Hub should serve to stimulate further activity.
And yet, for some reason, this positivity, this good news story about what the investment might mean for jobs, for retaining our young people to stay and work and raise their families in the city and the prosperity of the region potentially gets lost in the noise of complaining.
As I was trying to understand the psychology of complaining I came across this acronym penned by an author called Will Bowen who wrote a book analysing why people complain – G.R.I.P.E. It goes like this:
G for Get Attention (complaining to get noticed).
R for Remove Responsibility (the ‘well, it’s all impossible so why even try” argument).
I for inspire envy (ie complaining that’s akin to bragging – “those people in charge know nothing, I know much better”).
P for Power (having power over others); and
E for Excusing poor performance (this is the ‘well, what did you expect? It’s all rubbish, anyway, so why should we even try to do something good?”).
For me, complaining and moaning is the first step towards acceptance. This article falls into the G category – Gripe. Complaining to get noticed.
I know what I will be doing to try to make my city a fairer place to live. What could you do? And if your answer is “hae a moan”. Fair play. Then think about why you’ve said that.
Moray Barber is managing partner at EY Aberdeen, chair of Castlegate Arts, and a performer and writer with The Flying Pigs
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