Blogs

As reported on the website "forArgyll.com", the BBC Alba Gaelic Broadcasting Channel have announced an increase in funding of 1 million pounds for the coming year.  The channel offers a wide selection of Gaelic language programming and has been widely hailed as a force in the preservation and renewed growth of Scottish Gaelic. The announcement also highlighted statistics showing an increase in viewership for its Gaelic Language programming.  

The latest expression of Nationalist unrest on the Isle of Man (Ellen Vannin) is reported by the Celtic League News Service. Nationalist graffiti was sprayed on the residence of the Lieutenant Governor. The Celtic League's report includes the following: "The Governor is the last vestige of English Colonialism and despite calls over the years for a range of solutions to the 'Governor Problem', the anachronistic role continues."

Councillor Dick Cole, Leader of the Party For Cornwall (Mebyon Kernow) has congratulated the Truro City Council on the adoption of a Progressive Language Policy.  

Truro is the administrative centre of Cornwall and thus the advancement of Cornish language rights in the city is a significant step forward for the Cornish tongue.

The Mebyon Kernow give us the following from their web page: "It is our belief that the historic nation of Cornwall, with its own distinct identity, language and heritage, has the same right to self determination as Scotland and Wales."

Reflecting the recent surge in support for the Welsh language, The Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas Yr Laith Gymraeg) have called for the status of Welsh in education to be upgraded to that of a language of instruction in various subjects rather than its current status of merely being taught as a second language.

The Nova Scotia Herald News has an article on the the 75th Anniversary celebrations of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts; "Seventy five years of ceilidhs, milling frolics, fiddle playing and bagpiping certainly sounds like something to celebrate...the only college in North America devoted to the preservation of the language, culture, traditions and musical legacy of the Highland Scots..".

The "Scotsman" website features an article by Brian Ferguson entitled "Scottish Independence Focus of National Theatre of Scotland 2014 Programme".  The article quotes the newly appointed National Theatre's Artisitc Director, Laurie Sansom, as stating that Scotland's 2014 referendum on Independence affords a "brilliant opportunity" for the artistic interpretation of this "unusual and remarkable event".

The web site "Show Me Wales" reports that the ITV series "Britains's Secret Homes" highlights the home of the founder of the Welsh speaking community in Argentina,  Michael Daniel Jones.

Another sign of the surge in Celtic identity in North America is the report in the Irish American web site "Irish Central" that the Milwaukee Irish Festival to be held August 15 - 18 on the shores of Lake Michigan is expecting an astonishing 130,000 revelers.  The Irish Central calls this the "..world's largest Irish festival..", no doubt excluding St. Patrick's day celebrations.

Language tensions spilled on to the Cricket pitch over the lack of respect for the Wesh language during a Cricket game.  As reported in the Western Telegraph, two players for Crymych walked off the field to protest remarks about the Welsh language made by members of visiting Lamphey: "Statements on the Crymych club Twitter page later that evening suggested that the players had walked off following criticism from the opposition over the batsmen's use of the Welsh language on the pitch."

The following was posted to the Offical Web Page of the Oireachtas (Irish National Parliament) on June 13, 2013: "The Joint Committe on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement this morning engaged with a wide range of advocates on the work in developing the Irish Langauge in Northern Ireland."

The article continued: "Committee Members, and indeed each of the witnesses, are at one on the necessity for an Irish Language Act (by the Northern Ireland Assembly) which was promised in the (2006) Saint Andrews Agreement."