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Lose my Mind and Dance Forever
The Londonderry Sentinel reports on some obvious, though apparently controversial, points made by poet Wilson Burgess about the Ulster-Scots Agency's spending priorities — which, he says, have left the...
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Brass Necks
The Impartial Reporter is carrying an article on Fermanagh Grand Lodge's response to the recent consultation on an Irish language Bill ("Orange Order Slams Use of Irish"). It once again underlines the...
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Beards and Makars
The last week has seen some debate in Scotland concerning a mooted, and then withdrawn, plan to do away with the title of "Makar" and replace it with the more pedestrian — and more English — "National...
View ArticleEuropa geht durch mich
The approach taken by those who wish the UK to remain a member of the EU leaves something to be desired to say the least. As the Scottish independence referendum demonstrated, if you are arguing only...
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Academies Galore
Agitation for an Ulster-Scots Academy has some history in Northern Ireland. Its key proponents have traditionally been the British-Israelite clique that forms the core of the Ulster-Scots Language...
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The Dug Has Barked
Just a line to say that Wee Ginger Dug has a very erudite article about Scots on his blog that puts the nay-sayers — or, in this case, "No, thanks"-sayers — to shame.More power to your elbow, Paul.
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More, Not Less
David Leask has a refreshing and long overdue article over at the Herald drawing attention to the constitutionally inspired bile now being directed at Scotland's autochthonous languages, self-hating...
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They Prefer This One
Many moons ago when the Blether Region was but a baby Gaeilgeoir, a group of language activists in Belfast took the law into their own hands and affixed the Irish word "bruscar" to some of the public...
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"Out of Perspective"
It seems that the Blether Region may have spoken too soon when it contended that removing the Irish word uisce from two Ballymena water-mains covers would necessitate melting them down. After the blaze...
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A Cold House for Sensitive Bigots
Over the past few days residents of Northern Ireland have been both horrified and amused by a "report" issued by the Orange Order detailing the chilling effects of Catholic crack on its shrinking...
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Ready for a Coort
The BBC reports that Conradh na Gaeilge is to take the Northern Ireland Executive to court over its refusal to countenance not only an Irish language Act but an Irish language strategy.The move is...
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Persuasion, or the North's Anger Abbey
Newton Emerson, writing in the Irish News, allows us an insight into the thinking of a "liberal Unionst". The Blether Region places the words in inverted commas, since, as long-time readers will have...
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Post-apocalyptic IME
Regardless of whether the DUP's hints that it might take the education portfolio next time d'Hondt is triggered are bluff intended to scare Sinn Féin off taking DFP, most folk will surely agree that...
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Let's Abolish Football
Bella Caledonia is featuring screenshots of the kind of embarrassing ignorance displayed by Scottish people with keyboards when linguistic diversity takes them outside their wonted comfort zone. The...
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Respecting Irish-speakers
Not answering the question asked is of course one of the most reliable, if clunky, instruments in the tool-box of any politician worth his or her salt. Luckily for the voters, our broadcast media have...
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Dia ár Sábháil!
Irish-speakers, and the parents of children attending Irish-medium schools, will be feeling sorely let down at the fact that the two key Departments for language, Education and Communities, have been...
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Things to Come?
Conradh na Gaeilge, responsible for advocacy since the Ní Chuilín reforms, has been granted the right to take the Executive to court for its failure to implement an Irish-language strategy.Unionist...
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Nature, not Nurture
What with collapsing markets, political parties in turmoil, and the imminent break-up of the UK, it's worth remembering that there are some things that, in the longer run, are much, much more...
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Soul and Bondage
Twenty years ago, when the Blether Region was a young whippersnapper at university in England, it found itself sharing a house with a Republican-minded landlord from Dublin. One night, out and about in...
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Closed Books
The Belfast Telegraph has an interesting article on how "British" or "Irish" people are according to a DNA study. Eyebrows will be raised at the way "British" has been defined as "Anglo-Saxon"— both in...
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Iggy Pap
Newton Emerson is off in a flap about bilingual signs, and, of all places, in the Irish News, which must be bitterly regretting contracting out its column inches to this "liberal Unionist". Indeed, he...
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Of Ginger Mutts and Nuts
The attacks on Paul Kavanagh, aka Wee Ginger Dug, for having the temerity to produce a Gaelic-language map of Glasgow raise serious questions about Scotland's relationship with linguistic culture. Many...
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World Gone Wrong
An article on the BBC website about the Prince of Wales making a Gaelic learners' award to an Italian unintentionally sums up much that is wrong with modern Scotland.A foreign citizen puts the natives...
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Crowd-source me this one
Last week's news that a Gaelic-speaker would be recruited to facilitate Wikipedia articles in the language was good news. A quick glance at the Uicipeid website shows that it has a mere 14,143 entries,...
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In Defens
Last night one of the Blether Region's Northern Ireland Facebook pals linked to an article reporting John Swinney's defence of Scottish Gaelic. He invited his friends to "discuss" it. Though an...
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