Alastair Kneale's blog

News from the Celtic League:

The Celtic League continue to campaign against the training of Saudi pilots at RAF Valley in Wales.  They can then go on to use this training in actions leading directly to the killing of innocent people in Yemen. They point to the article below, where the Welsh government were already warned of the implications of training Saudi pilots at RAF Valley:

WELSH GOVERNMENT WERE URGED NOT TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO SAUDI TRAINING AT RAF VALLEY (Nation Cymru)

News from the Celtic League:

The Celtic League continue to raise objections to the use of Ronalsway airport in the Isle of Man for military aircraft training. The war planes are based at RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales. The RAF has trained Saudi military pilots at RAF Valley. As well as the Air Forces of Kuwait, the UAE and other Gulf states which contribute aircrew and planes to support the Saudi led bombing of Yemen. Actions which have been deemed a war crime by UN investigators in August last year. See the Celtic League article below:

News from the Celtic League:

The Celtic League has written a series of articles criticising the use of areas within the Celtic countries being used for military practice. They draw attention (see below) to the compliance of the Manx government in these exercises and the need for the Welsh government to raise objections. The repercussions of the military training, exercises and weapons testing taking place is at present being felt by the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of men, women and children in Yemen by Saudi forces:

Yesterday 8th March was International Women's Day. Interesting to see an item by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) or as it should be better described English Broadcasting Corporation. With their usual sleight of hand they wrote: "In 1919 Lady Nancy Astor became the first elected woman MP to sit in Parliament." Their little trick was to include the words "sit in". In fact the first woman to be "elected to" to the British parliament was Constance Markievicz (February 1868 – 15 July 1927).

Charles Altamont Doyle was born on 25th March 1832.  Today he is mainly remembered for being the father of Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. However, Charles Altamont Doyle was a talented illustrator and watercolourist. He was the son of Irish artist John Doyle, the political cartoonist known by the pen name as H.B., and Marianna Conan Doyle. Charles Altamont Doyle moved to Edinburgh in 1849, where he worked as an assistant surveyor  at the Scottish Office of Work.

News from the Celtic League:

I remarked recently in a post about the Celtic Leagues long term opposition to the disposal of nuclear waste in the Irish sea and remarked that the practice was to continue with the disposal of contaminated silt from Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station to a site off Penarth South Wales The tidal flow at this point is sure to take contaminated sediments out via the Bristol Channel into the confluence with the Celtic and Irish Sea (link here includes infographic of radioactive waste disposal):

Bernard Moffatt wrote an article for the Mannin Branch of the Celtic League recently (see below). He pointed to results from last year's Social Attitude Survey  undertaken in the Isle of Man.  This showed that only about one in three people trust ether the government or parliament. Not really a surprise given the very negative views that consistently continue to be expressed by Manx people on a daily basis towards the present Manx administration.

In February 2000 the funerals took place of the seven crew members of the Scottish fishing boat Solway Harvester. It was on the 10th January 2000 that the boat set out from Kirkcudbright (Scottish Gaelic: Cille Chuithbeirt) in south-west Scotland. They fished until the following day 11th January and planned to set sail home. Due to the stormy conditions they sought refuge in the shelter of Ramsey Bay (Manx: Baie Rhumsaa) on the northeast coast of the Isle of Man.

There has been increased interest in the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin) recently about Rushen Abbey. Rushen Abbey was founded in 1134 by Monks of the Sauvignac Order on land granted to them by Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 29 June 1153) who was a twelfth-century King of the Isles. The Kingdom of the Isles, also known as the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, comprised the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Man from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD.

Isle of Man Post Office (Manx: Oik Postagh Ellan Vannin) have presented a new issue of ten stamps to show the diversity of wildlife to be found on the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin). The Island, which is located in the Irish Sea, was cut off from the surrounding islands of the Atlantic Archipelago, a group of islands off the north-western coast of continental Europe, in around 8000 BC.  The Island has a richly-varied landscape in a small area with a unique composition of wildlife, making the need for its protection very important.