Blogs

In one of a series of events organised by All Under One Banner, thousands of people took part in a march and rally at Inverness today. Similar events have already been held in Dumfries, Glasgow and Bannockburn. Further marches are planned later in 2018. All Under One Banner (AUOB) state that: 

In the Celtic lands poems and stories are often carried in the minds of the people. Recently in the Welsh newspaper Cambrian News there was an item about a lost rhyme. The rare Welsh nursery rhyme was redicovered during an exhibition at Plasgwyn Care Home, near Criccieth, on the Llŷn Peninsula (Welsh: Penrhyn Llŷn) in Wales. It was recalled by 92-year-old resident Will Hughes from his childhood in Penrhyndeudraeth. He said: “It has just stuck in my mind all my life and it came back to me from when I was in school.”

With summer in full swing, one of the hot spots for family fun and entertainment is going to be Peel, including the town's annual carnival, a new exhibition commemorating internment and the perennial traditional boat weekend.

It will soon be August and Laa Luanys beckons. I toy with the idea of climbing to the top of South Barrule on the chance there will be a group of musicians (and a dog) there but in the end decide to celebrate by ordering the movie version of Brian Friel's Irish play set in Donegal ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’. In any case I feel sure Culture Vannin emerging from the July ‘month of culture’ will have something special in store.

Irish wildlife conservationists have welcomed the five new chicks of the endangered Barn Owl on private farmland near Lough Neagh (Irish: Loch nEachach).  It is the biggest brood of barn owls recorded in the north of Ireland. The nest site, located in an abandoned outbuilding, normally produces one to two chicks per year. 

European wildcats arrived in Scotland some 9000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Now Scottish Wildcats are endangered and face extinction. They are under threat from cross-breeding with domestic cats, disease and habitat loss. In an attempt to save the Wildcat, sometimes referred to as the Tiger of the Highlands, the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan was launched in 2013.

Chores done I turn to the Manx news and apparently there is more doom and gloom. Some outfit called Moody’s say that Brexit will be negative for the Isle of Man economy. The Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK has always been upbeat about Brexit and seemed to be steering us through the storm if he is to be believed. Now I don’t know what to think perhaps Peter Karran will have a view on it tomorrow (link):

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/brexit-will-be-negative-...

Last week Manx Radio was being criticised on one of the forums for carrying wall to wall coverage of Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK and as the 'coup de grace' before heading for the deckchair and reaching for the Factor 50 Howard even popped up in an Arts Council video.

This week the media pendulum has swung and after an initial swipe at the Media Development Fund (MDF) that has lost a staggering £27 million former MHK Peter Karran outlines concerns about the proposed Public Defender System (PDS) - link:

Nothing typifies how out of touch this Tynwald is than the fact that as they were getting the sun loungers out for their extended vacation an appeal was being made for food.

Last week the food bank indicated that stocks were low ahead of a very likely increase in demand during the school holiday period,

KARRAN’S STRAIGHT TALKING WILL DISCOMFORT THE REGIME - BUT CHANGE...WELL!

‘A former MHK says the current Manx government is not open, not accountable, and not responsible in its actions.’ So says the story on Manx Radio as Peter Karran who was a member of Tynwald long enough to become the sort of institution in politics that Terry Cringle is to Manx journalism in a broadside.