Blogs

News from the Celtic League:

This article from the Celtic League looks at the disastrous environmental impact of Super Trawlers overfishing. The new restrictions by the Irish Government to create a 6 mile coastal ban on fishing by large trawlers is welcome, but further action needs to be taken:

Super Trawlers Will ‘Slip The Net’ Of Large Trawler Ban

A move by the Irish government to restrict larger trawlers from a 6 mile inshore zone around Ireland is welcome but is it too little and too late (links):

Construction of a rock ramp is under way as part of a project intended to return fish to the upper reaches of a West Lothian river in Scotland. The ramp will be built at Howden Bridge as part of a project known as RiverLife in a bid to replenish fish stocks in the Rivers Almond and Avon. It will allow fish including salmon, sea trout, brown trout and lamprey to return to the spawning grounds in the upper reaches of the the rivers. Helping to form pools, runs and easy leaps to help fish negotiate difficult sections of the river.

On 21 December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103, a transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York, was destroyed when flying over Scotland by a bomb. Eleven people in the Scottish town of Lockerbie (Locarbaidh)  died along with 259 passengers and crew on board. A service has taken place in southern Scotland to remember the victims of the Lockerbie bombing 30 years on. Victims relatives joined members of the community, many of who assisted in the aftermath of the atrocity. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the victims of the bombing would always be remembered:

Last Tuesday statistics were released that showed more people than ever before have reported seeing the Loch Ness Monster. Official figures revealed that 'Nessie'  was spotted by 13 people in 2018, up from 11 in 2017. This makes a total of 1106 sightings of the Loch Ness Monster since it was first spotted by St Columba over 1000 years ago. Columba was an Irish monk who in 563 AD founded the monestery on Iona (Scottish Gaelic: Ì Chaluim Chille), an island in the Inner Hebrides (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan a-staigh) off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. 

A flag has been chosen to represent the county of Sutherland following a public vote. The winning design, which features a Saltire and a Nordic cross which is said to represent Sutherland's position as the historic mainland frontier between Scotland and the Vikings. The black is to acknowledge the peat of the Flow Country and dark skies, which together with the white recalls the central colours of the former Sutherland Council arms. There is golden sun on the flag, formed where the arms of the crosses meet.

The repercussions continue in regard to British Conservative MP Priti Patel's suggestion that potential food shortages in Ireland could be used as leverage in Brexit negotiations. Despite her claims that her comments were taken out of context the criticism shows no sign of abating. Priti Patel's comments were viewed as particularly insensitive in light of the Great Famine, which was exacerbated by British trade policy at the time and resulted in the deaths of millions.

A Manx silver ring found by a man who was metal detecting is thought to date from between 1400 and 1500 AD. It was found by Gordon Graham from Edinburgh, in a field in the north of the Isle of Man (Mannin). The ring is engraved with geometric shapes and when he found it in May of this year Gordon Graham reported his find to the landowner and the Manx Museum (Manx: Thie Tashtee Vannin). Finds of archaeological interest on the island must be reported to Manx National Heritage within two weeks.

Curiosity is the name of a space exploration vehicle launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011. It landed on the planet Mars on August 6, 2012. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System.  The goals of Curiosity include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology and data on Martian minerals has been beamed back to Earth. The Aberdeen-based James Hutton Institute studied this data and researchers compared the information against the institute's Scottish soil dataset.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. This year marks the 150th anniversary of his birth and today, 10 December, the 90th anniversary of his death. To mark this a statue of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been unveiled in Glasgow, the city of his birth, by Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.  The bronze statue, which is 2.8m tall and weighs three tons, was created by sculptor Andy Scott.