Blogs

Since the beginning of Catalonia's bid for a referendum on independence, the Spanish Government has made every effort to prevent it. As the date for the referendum approached the Spanish state mounted a disgraceful degree of repression. During the period leading to the vote on 1st October 2017 the Spanish police force arrested 15 Catalan Government officials. The Spanish Civil Guard then searched a number of newspaper offices without warrants and large amounts of referendum material was seized.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon will visit Dublin this week where she will meet political and business leaders, including Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar. This is Nicola Sturgeon's second trip to Dublin in less than a year. On that occasion she addressed the upper house of the Irish Parliament. The First Minister has said that she views Ireland as an important friend to Scotland and looked forward to strengthening links between the countries.

Plans by developers to build 250 homes on the Bannockburn battle site have been refused by Sterling Councillors. The Battle of Bannockburn on 24 June 1314 was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence against the English forces of King Edward II. In a unanimous decision at a Sterling Council meeting on Wednesday the refusal took into account the need to protect the historic importance of the Bannockburn site and also because of the environmental harm of the proposed development in a Green Belt area.

Kernow

3rd October, 2017

Kernow Matters represented on Japanese TV 

Following an approach made by a Japanese TV company, a senior KMTU member, Craig, spent time in the company of popular Japanese media star and musician Narumi Yasuda and her production company. Following initial discussions with us, our Japanese guests came to Cornwall in order to find out more about Cornwall and the Cornish people, our beliefs, culture, ancient sites, mythology, legends and identity.

Media Release from Culture Vannin:

The Cooish is back!

The Cooish, Manx Language Festival, returns this October after a few years’ absence and in a very different format to previous years.

Re-launching, thanks to the work of the Yn Chruinnaght committee and with support from the Manx Language Development Office for Culture Vannin, this year will see a two-day series of events on the 20th and 21st of October.

The coastal town of Newcastle (An Caisleán Nua) in the northeast of Ireland witnessed a dramatic rescue yesterday. A Minke whale had become stranded on a sandbank close to the promenade. Concerned locals watched on helplessly at the plight of the distressed animal. Then John Lowry came to the rescue. A commercial diver, he put on his dry suit and told one of the onlookers to phone the Coastguard. 

The Scottish government has said that fracking "cannot and will not take place in Scotland". Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse told Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP's) that the present moratorium on fracking, which has been in place since 2015, will continue "indefinitely". He went on to say that MSPs will be given a vote on the issue later in the year before a final decision is taken.

Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales) Member of the UK parliament for Arfon has condemned the actions of the Spanish state and criticised European political leaders for their slow or lack of reactions to the events in Catalonia last Sunday. Travelling back from Catalonia, where he had been acting as an international commentator, he described the actions of the Spanish state against peaceful voters as “reprehensible.”

Nearly 900 people were reported to have been hurt yesterday after riot police stormed polling stations, dragging out voters and firing rubber bullets into crowds. Intimidation by the Spanish state did not prevent millions of Catalans managing to cast their ballots, however, others were forcibly stopped from voting as schools housing ballot boxes were raided by police. On a day that saw the reputation of Spain in absolute tatters, the bravery of the Catalan people stands in stark contrast to the cowardly and abusive behaviour of the Spanish national police and paramilitary Civil Guard. 

News from the Celtic League:

A Catalan Member of Parliament (MEP) I used to know posted on Twitter this morning:

“Spanish police using violence against Catalan voters. Don’t ever call it a democracy again #CatalanReferendum"