Blogs

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.

This media release circulated by the Celtic League:

News from Celtic League

GS Urges Branches to Call for Breton Reunification

The General Secretary (GS) has written to the French authorities ahead of a planned demonstration in Nantes this Saturday (28th June 2014) in support of Breton reunification.

A tweet by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in the run-up to Scotland's independence vote has been countered by the Manx government. His tweet includes a map which shows the Isle of Man (Mannin) as part of the United Kingdom with a message from David Cameron saying: 'By staying united we have much more to share and much more to gain'. Unfortunately for Cameron he does not even seem to know which Nations are in the United Kingdom! A tweet from the Manx government has pointed out that the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom and asks for the map to be corrected.