Just a wee bittie from the editorial of the West Highland Free Press (26th August). Again in reference to the Scottish Government's recent research/opinion poll.
"Action not surveys are needed if Gaelic is to survive.
...But overall, we do not need a census to tell us that spoken, community Gaelic continues to decline. And we do not need another Scottish Government survey to reassure us that 81 per cent of Scots "feel it is important that Scotland does not lose its Galeic language traditions". In present circumstances that is at best condescending.
At worst it is whitewashing failure. What money is available to Gaelic should be spent on Gaelic, not on canvassing shoppers in Cambuslang for their opinions of Gaelic.
And the money that is spent on Gaelic must be spent more bravely, more imaginatively and more distant from from the dead hand of Inverness. If it is not, if there is not a root-and-branch reappraisal of current policies, we will all have reason to dread the results of the 2021 census."
There are those in the Gaelic world that think that too much is organised from Inverness. "The dead hand of Inverness" could apply to a lot of other things too couldn't it - especially the way the status of Nairn has been gradually eroded by Invercentrics at the heart of local government in the Highlands.
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