Blogs

Following on the April 2014 announcement on the finalisation of the Standard Written Form for the Cornish language comes another milestone in the brightening future for the restoration of the Celtic tongue of Cornwall.   The Cornish Language Partnership (MAGA) have announced a collaborative effort with Cornwall College and the Institute of Cornish Studies at Exeter University in the formation of the “Research Network for Cornish" 

The rebirth of Celtic Identity in North America and accompanying surge in attendance at Celtic festivals is not letting up. The Annapolis Irish festival is being held this weekend, (July 11-12) in the historic American city of Annapolis, Maryland.  A stunning 20, 000 revellers are expected to attend.  Estimates vary on the number of American’s claiming descent from the modern Celtic Nations.  An analysis of the American 2010 Census data proffered in an August 2013 article in “Business Insider” estimates descendants of Celtic immigrants to be in the vicinity of an astounding 50 million.

A study which will be of interest to Celtic language activists has been published by Soillse, the Gaelic sociolinguistic research network based in Scotland’s University of the Highlands, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. The study shows that less than 30% of immigrants into the Scots Gaelic language heartlands make an attempt at acquiring Celtic language proficiency.

Transceltic have been notified by anonymous sources on the Isle of Man who report a disturbance north of Kirk Michael on the island’s North West coast. The unrest seems to be concentrated in an area of wetlands called Ballaugh Curraghs. 

Unconfirmed reports are that a renegade band of Irish trooping Faeries, blown off course when caught in a gale off of Donegal‘s Malin Head (Cionn Mhalanna) in Ireland's far north, have made an  unwelcome landing on  the Manx coast. 

Two institutions of higher learning in the forefront of the struggle to return the Celtic language of Scotland to its rightful place are in the news for demonstrating academic excellence and for advancing Gaelic medium education.

Welsh language activists continue to recognize Property Development as a lethal threat to the future health of the Welsh tongue.  The “Tivy-Side Advertiser”, a weekly Welsh language newspaper, is reporting under the headline “Hunger Strike For Welsh Language” that language activist Iolo Selyf, a member of the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas Yr Iaith) has joined a 24 hour hunger strike to protest the fact that the recently unveiled Welsh Government draft planning law “does not contain a single reference to the Welsh language”.

Mae agwedd y Llywodraeth Brydeinig tuag at annibyniaeth Yr Alban yn dystiolaeth fod yr agweddau trefedigaethol yn parhau tuag at y Celtiaid (The UK Government's Attitude on Scottish independence demonstrates the colonial attitudes that still prevail towards the Celtic peoples).

An estimated fifteen thousand people demonstrated on the streets of Nantes yesterday calling for the reunification of Nantes and the Loire Atlantique with the rest of Brittany. It comes after other such protests across Brittany calling for the Loire Atlantique to be returned to its rightful place within the ancient national boundaries of the nation of Brittany. The participants braved the rainy conditions and came from all sections of Breton society.

The government of the United Kingdom has apologised to the Isle of Man (Mannin). This followed Manx protests after the Island was included on a map of the UK. The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom. The map was posted on the UK government twitter page as part of its campaign to keep the Scottish electorate from voting to leave the UK in the forthcoming referendum.

Yesterday a group was launched by English people living and working in Scotland who are in favour of Scottish independence. The group is called-English Scots for Yes. This is part of a growing movement of people of English descent who support an independent Scotland. This all comes despite a campaign of misinformation from the British press which has spent months trying to foster divisions between those born in and outside of Scotland.