Blogs

There is a big demo planned tomorrow at the Dail in Dublin against afforestation - report here from Green News ie:

https://greennews.ie/large-protest-held-state-conifer-plan…/

Its being spearheaded by a group from Co Leitrim one of the counties in Ireland worst affected by the introduction of non indigenous conifer plantations.

William Wallace was a hero of Scotland and a true patriot. He struck fear into the the tyrannical, evil, cruel and invading English King Edward I.  Standing on the hill of Abbey Craig overlooking Stirling in Scotland is The National Wallace Monument. Designed by the Edinburgh-born Glasgow architect J. T. Rochead (28 March 1814 – 7 April 1878) it was built between 1861 and 1869.  It is one of more than 20 Wallace Monuments which are located throughout Scotland. The National Wallace Monument is a 220 ft (67-metre) sandstone tower, built in the Victorian Gothic style.

Local six-piece band Clash Vooar (Big Groove) has been breaking new ground on the Manx music scene with their extraordinary powerful mix of songs, tunes and languages, which has been described as Manx Gaelic gypsy jazz blues, with their debut album hot off the press,

There has been increased interest in the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin) recently about Rushen Abbey. Rushen Abbey was founded in 1134 by Monks of the Sauvignac Order on land granted to them by Óláfr Guðrøðarson (died 29 June 1153) who was a twelfth-century King of the Isles. The Kingdom of the Isles, also known as the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, comprised the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Man from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD.

I’m reading about this Manx Radio report on the latest Climate Change Coalition (CCC) foray and humming the tune of Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ to myself. You know the one with the line; ‘you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows’:

https://www.manxradio.com/…/momentum-is-building-says-envi…/

Obviously the Dylan analogy is a little awry (check Weathermen’ on Wiki)’.

Local quartet Drogh Yindys was selected to represent the Isle of Man at the annual Pan Celtic International Song Contest in Letterkenny, County Donegal, during the local heat Arrane son Mannin at the Masonic Hall in Peel recently.

Robert Burns was born in the scottish village of  Alloway (Scottish Gaelic Allmhaigh) on January 25, 1759. The eldest of the seven children of  William Burnes (1721–1784), a tenant farmer from Dunnottar in the Mearns, and Agnes Broun (1732–1820), the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer. His parents ensured that their son received a relatively good education.  He died at the age of 37 on 21 July 1796 and his Mausoleum is at St Michael’s churchyard in Dumfries (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phris). Throughout his life he was a practising poet and wrote many poems, lyrics and other pieces.

Isle of Man News and Politics host, James Corrin, sends me a link. I thought my reading tastes were wide ranging what with The Star (of Lebanon) and the Finsbury Communist but James supplies a much more exoitic link, ‘The Nepali Times’.

Nepal to us is more associated with twinned towns, mountain holidays and overseas aid but it seems it's also in the arena of ‘tax twinning’ or dodging.
It’s apparently a land of hidden money as well as hidden mystical ‘paradise’ (no pun).