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Parliamentary Motions and Questions from Sessions 1 and 2
Motions
S2M-4940 Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): Congratulations to Eejits That the Parliament congratulates Itchy Coo publications on the success of its book, Eejits, a best selling Scots translation of Roald Dahl's children's classic, The Twits, and on the work of its develop... more
Parliamentary Debates and Discussions Concerning Scots (Current Session)
1 April 2009, Economy, Energy and Tourism Comittee
Rob Gibson asks witnesses about a Homecoming Scotland blog post that described Scots as "slang".
http://tinyurl.com/dbhclb
18 June, Meeting of the Parliament:
In the stage 1 debate on the Creative Scotland Bill, several MSPs discuss... more
Parliamentary Motions on the National Languages Strategy
S3M-1768.1 Hugh O’Donnell: International Education— As an amendment to motion (S3M-1768) in the name of Maureen Watt, insert at end "and calls for the Scottish Government to bring forward a comprehensive national languages strategy including a rolling programme to introduce a second langu... more
European Charter
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a Council of Europe treaty. You can find out about it here and through the links below.
About the Charter
The Charter was drawn up in 1992 to protect and promote regional or minority languages in Europe and give speakers of these... more
Oral Parliamentary Questions on Scots (Current Session)
23 April 2009
Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government how many higher education institutions ensure that their teacher training graduates are competent to teach Scots. (S3O-6664)
The Minister for Schools and Skills (Keith Brown): There is no teaching q... more
Creative Scotland
Recent written questions:
S3W-22710 Pauline McNeill: To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of Scottish Screen.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, May 07, 2009): I had a meeting with the Joint board of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council on 21... more
Parliamentary Motions on Scots (Current Session)
You can find all Parliamentary motions and see which members have signed them in the daily Business Bulletin at http://tinyurl.com/59o5eb
S3M-4170 Willie Coffey: Robert Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock That the Parliament congratulates East Ayrshire Council on the occasion of the opening ... more
Parliamentary Questions about the National Language Strategy (Current Session)
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament
S3W-8784 Cathy Peattie: To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to develop the proposals in the na... more
Written Parliamentary Questions on Scots (Current Session)
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament
S3W-21111 Christina McKelvie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will produce a Scots translat... more
Conversation Now Translated into Scots
The Scottish Government’s 'National Conversation' document, published in the autumn of 2007, has now been translated into the Scots language. Ministers Linda Fabiani and Maureen Watt are to be congratulated for taking the decision to include Scots. Both of the ministers, who are currently explo... more
Kay calls on SNP to support Scots culture
Scots broadcaster and writer, Billy Kay, has urged the Scottish government to find ways to support Scots culture. In a letter to Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani, Kay, the author of Scots, the Mither Tongue describes his “shock” on hearing the news that the Scottish Arts Council is to cut fund... more
Network for Multilingualism in Europe Established
The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) has decided to set up a network to promote European multilingualism, with a particular focus on Europe’s regional and minority languages. Many European regions are bilingual or multilingual, and the network’s main aim is to make better use of... more
Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity launched in Brussels
On 11th June, the new Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) was launched in Brussels. The NPLD has been established to work for the promotion and development of Europe’s less widely used languages.
The new network comprises the language departments of member states and autonomous g... more
MSP Asks About the Use of Scots Language in Scottish Schools
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has written to the education directors of all of Scotland’s cooncils to ask whether in-service days for teachers cover discrimination against Scots speakers, and/or the benefits of including the Scots language within the curriculum.
More info... more
Bill Wilson MSP Demands Support for Scots Language and Music
West of Scotland MSP Dr Bill Wilson has called for Scotland to follow Ireland in supporting indigenous culture.
Dr Wilson is a longstanding critic of the Scottish Arts Council’s cuts in funding for the Scottish Language Dictionaries and the Scots Language Centre. Speaking on 4th September a... more
Lib Dem Leader Calls for More Funding for Scots
Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MSP for Shetland Tavish Scott MSP has lodged a motion demanding the Government supports the Scots language.
Shetland ForWirds raised concerns with Mr Scott that Scottish Arts Council funding cuts could be catastrophic for the Scottish Language Centre and the... more
Allocate funding for Scots say academics
A group of academics have told the Scottish government that they need to do more to support the Scots language. In a letter to Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani, members of the Forum for Research on the Languages of Scotland and Ulster say they are “astonished” that the Arts Council has decided... more
MSP Marks the Contribution of Scots to Europe's Culture
South of Scotland MSP Aileen Campbell has lodged a motion that describes Scots and Gaelic as “distinctive contributions to the cultural and linguistic life of Europe”. Her motion, lodged in English with translations into Scots and Gaelic, calls on the Parliament to note the European Day of La... more
SNP Conference Calls for "fair treatment" for Scots
On 16 October the SNP conference voted unanimously for a motion that calls on the Scottish Government to "guarantee fair treatment for Scotland’s unique cultural inheritance".
The motion welcomes the Government’s audit of Scots language provision and calls it "a key area very badly affecte... more
MSP Writes on Wedding Row
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has written to Linda Fabiani, the Scottish Government Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, asking her to inform all Scotland’s registrars that they must conduct wedding ceremonies in Scots, if couples request it.
Dr Wilson’s l... more
"Encourage children to speak Scots" says MSP
Rob Gibson MSP, convener of the Cross-Party Group on Scots, called on Scotland's schools to encourage children's use of Scots. Speaking in a debate on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, he said:
"we have to allow children to express their views in their own languages an... more
Gaun Yersel, Scottish Government!
Scots is making inroads into the world of official strategies. Two Scottish Government documents published this autumn have Scots words or phrases in their titles. "These Are Our Bairns", the Government's guidance to councils and their community planning partners on being good "corporate parents"... more
“Aw human sowels is born free and equal in dignity and richts.”
Amnesty International Scotland is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by presenting the First Minister, Alex Salmond, with a framed copy of a Scots translation of the UDHR. The presentation, which takes place on 10th December, is part of a series o... more
"Scots Education is a Human Right"
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has lodged a motion stating that a recent pronouncement by the EU Parliament Civil Liberties Committee clearly implied that it was a human right for the children of Scots and Gaelic speakers to be educated in these languages.
He said, “The EU... more
"Give Scots and Gaelic equal status" says MSP
West of Scotland MSP Dr Bill Wilson has called on the Scottish Government to make representations to the United Kingdom Government to give speakers of Scots and Gaelic the same rights as it gives to speakers of Welsh an English.
In a supplementary question to his question on the European Chai... more
Scots Translation of UDHR Accepted by UN
The Scots translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has been accepted by the United Nations and will be added to its list of more than 300 languages in which the document is available.
This is a result of Amnesty International’s publication of a poster of the UDHR in Sc... more
MSP Spreads Scots from Aberdeen to Argentina!
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, shared his love of the Scots language with primary school pupils aboard The Reading Bus on Friday 16th January.
Dr. Wilson read two Scots poems by Hugh Macdiarmid, “The Watergaw” and “The Sauchs in the Reuch Heuch Hauch”, and talked abo... more
MSP "Incensed" by Scots Omission from Draft Census
Dr. Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has criticised the omission of the Scots language from the draft of the 2011 census questionnaire.
In a letter to the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Dr. Wilson pointed out that Question 16 asks which language one speaks, reads,... more
Equal Opportunities Committee to Assess Audit
Tomorrow's meeting of the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee will assess the Scottish Government's audit of Scots language provision, which reported recently.
Find out more about the committee's work at: http://tinyurl.com/bzns48
Watch the committee meeting at: http://www.h... more
Equal Opportunities Considers Audit
Last week, the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee considered the Scots Government's recent audit of Scots language provision. The committee agreed to refer the audit to the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee and to draw that committee's attention to three points: ... more
Scottish Government Considering Research into Scots in Schools
Last Thursday, the Minister for Schools and Skills, Keith Brown MSP, revealed that the Government is thinking about comissioning research into Scots language provision in our schools. Responding to a question by Bill Wilson MSP, Mr Brown said that Scottish Government officials met on 18 March to ... more
A Little Respect
Hello aw, howp ye ar aw daein weill an managed tae survive the hinmaist week wiout a blog frae me tae keep ye gaein. I micht be awa up tae the heilands neist week, sae I'll pit a bittie mair intae this ane nor ordinar in case I dinna get tae dae nest week's ane on time.
Nou, I'm shair mair no... more
New fundin, internet, Dictionars
Weil, first o aw, I maun say weil duin tae the fowk at the SLC an the Dictionars that haes at lang an last got the govrenment tae fund thaim direckly raither nor through the Airts Council. Gin ye missed it, tak a keik at the News section an ye'll see that frae this October, baith o thir organisa... more
Scunnered...
Been a wee while syne I wis last able tae blog on here (hou maun Uni wark get i the wey o whit I'm wantin tae dae?), but a story I saw a week or sae back fair got me thrawn an I thocht I'd let ye aw feel thrawn wi me ;)
I saw this story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new more
Parochial smarochial...
I jalouse like maist o ye I wis mair nor a wee bittie bemused by David Starkey's comments on the telly a couple o days syne. Offendit? Na, no ralley, jist a bit dumfounerit. Mainly I wis wunnerin whit he meant by crying Rabbie Burns a "provincial poet" as though this wis a bad thing... I thoch... more
Nps n tatties
Ok, back again - been a while syne I wis at this...
Been that thrang wi this an that, ne'er got time tae sit doun tae ma blog. First, I'd like tae gree wi Bill Wilson an wir verra ain Iain Mcgregor about Scots labels on fuid... whit maks the Scots names for things wrang? Is "tatties" wrang a... more
A Sober Student Looks at MacDiarmid
Weil, first aff I maun say "weil duin" tae Billy Kay on gettin his honorary degree frae the University of the West of Scotland (read about it i the news section o the site). He ralley deserrs recogneition for the braw wark he's duin for the Scots leid an the cultur o Lawland Scotland ower the ye... more