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NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

“It looks like a great engineering job and a much better thing to have on the main street than an old foreign admiral with a broken arm and a missing leg.”

The words were spoken by Liam Sutcliffe in 2003 when ‘the Spire’ which was erected on the site of Nelsons Pillar in Dublin was commissioned.

It turned out, although no one was sought at the time as there was little public concern at its destruction, that Sutcliffe had been the republican who planted the bomb that destroyed Nelsons Pillar that event took place 50 years ago this week.

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

Good news for the SNP ahead of the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections the SNP is recorded on 60% in the constituency voting intention in a new poll. That is more than enough to give them all the constituency seats and a majority in the parliament with the other parties only set to get seats on the ‘list’ system.

It is all the more astonishing because the complex voting system for the parliament was designed to stop any single party getting a majority.

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

I’m at it again plagiarising but sometimes the articles by Scottish blogger Paul Kavanagh are just too good to overlook.

Have you ever noticed the map of Scotland is too small on the BBC weather map? Take it from me it is and you would know that if you’ve ever driven the length and breadth of Scotland as I have on a number of occasions.

So is it a fiendish plot by the BBC to make Scotland smaller Paul Kavanagh’s says not. Here’s a snatch of the blog:

Ireland’s President Michael Higgins has launched Seachtain na Gaeilge 2016, the world’s largest Language Festival, in a speech at the opening of the Conradh na Gaeilge Ard-Fheis (Gaelic League Annual Conference). Higgins opened the conference, with the Language Festival to follow during the first two weeks of March, with an optimistic appraisal of the current and future state of the Irish tongue. Referring to statistics which point to a strengthening of the Irish Language revival, Higgins is quoted on the Conradh na Gaeilge website:

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The daily dose of sycophantic Bell-speak from Manx Radio today focuses on Allan’s angst over the Brexit situation.

In times of crisis it’s important to have a strong hand on the tiller so to speak but Allan Bell the Manx Chief Minister is less a ‘strong hand’ and more a ‘hand ringer’.

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

“Isle of Man’s banking system still akin to that of a banana republic than a highly regulated offshore centre”.

The NAMA (Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency – see link) story has resurfaced to somewhat dent all those assertions last year that the Isle of Man had moved on was no longer a dodgy tax haven where dubious deals were done and had cleaned up its act.

St David is the Patron Saint of Wales and March 1st is St David's Day. The first of March is recognised as a National Day throughout Wales. It is also a day of celebration for Welsh communities throughout the world and the Welsh flag with Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon) is proudly raised. The date is tradionally seen as the date that Saint David died in 589. David was the son of the Prince of Powys and he went on to found a monastery on the site where Saint David's Cathedral now stands in Tyddewi/City of St David's in Sir Benfro/Pembrokeshire, Cymru/Wales.

Rare embriodered bed hangings have been found in the attic of Dunollie House, next to the Scottish town of Oban (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Òban). Dunollie House is where the Clan MacDougall chief moved from the adjacent castle and was built in 1745.

With the advent of spring and the ubiquitous golden daffodils to help shake off the winter gloom, the inter-Celtic festival of Wales, Cwlwm Celtaidd, will burst into life this month and will include musicians and dancers from the Isle of Man in their programme.

Based in the seaside resort of Porthcawl, this family-friendly festival has long been a favourite of Manx traditional dance group Perree Bane, whose vibrancy and colour attract an audience wherever they perform.

With all but a handful of seats left to be declared the Irish electorate have made their views known in the Irish General Election 2016. While no party won the election outright, Fine Gael, the senior partner in Ireland’s present coalition government have most certainly lost it. The winners are Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit and some Independents. However, there is no overall majority for any Party. The seats declared at the present time for the three main Parties give Fine Gael 49 seats in Dáil Éireann, Fianna Fáil 43, Sinn Féin 22.