Yes, a Nairn farmer has taken top accolade at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in the Asda/ABP Beeflink steak competition. 'James Fraser said he was delighted with the win, more so as it was the first time he had entered the competition. "I was over the moon last week when we found out we’d qualified for the final eight, to win something on this scale is simply amazing."' There's another report of the win here, with a photograph of the prize presentation.
Well done!
Monday, 27 June 2011
Monday, 20 June 2011
The egotist has landed ...
Yes, "The Donald" has jetted-in in an aeroplane bearing his name to oversee progress on his new golf course development near Aberdeen. According to the linked BBC report, he is is expected to spend a number of days at the Menie Estate.
I watched an interview with him on the BBC news at 1 o'clock and he was quite frank in stating that, without the projected golf development arousing controversy, few would know it was happening and although he did not state this explicitly he implied very strongly that he was very happy with this. Of course "The Donald" could never be accused of being a shrinking violet! And why should he be? He has built up what appears to be a successful business empire and 'brand' by being brash and tough, with his name being plastered across everything from office buildings, hotels and of course his aeroplane. My attitude is definitely one of "Good luck to him!" and of course I am not one of those who objects to him developing a golfing, hotel, residential and leisure complex north of Aberdeen, indeed I think it is great and I hope the whole place will be a huge success once completed.
PS/ My slightly ironic title for this article is not in any way critical of him, it is just my little joke based on the title of the movie The Eagle has Landed, by Trump's hawk-like facial features and his not inconsiderable ego.
I watched an interview with him on the BBC news at 1 o'clock and he was quite frank in stating that, without the projected golf development arousing controversy, few would know it was happening and although he did not state this explicitly he implied very strongly that he was very happy with this. Of course "The Donald" could never be accused of being a shrinking violet! And why should he be? He has built up what appears to be a successful business empire and 'brand' by being brash and tough, with his name being plastered across everything from office buildings, hotels and of course his aeroplane. My attitude is definitely one of "Good luck to him!" and of course I am not one of those who objects to him developing a golfing, hotel, residential and leisure complex north of Aberdeen, indeed I think it is great and I hope the whole place will be a huge success once completed.
PS/ My slightly ironic title for this article is not in any way critical of him, it is just my little joke based on the title of the movie The Eagle has Landed, by Trump's hawk-like facial features and his not inconsiderable ego.
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Strange things people leave behind after a day out
(Please see UPDATE at end)
Spotted from my apartment earlier this evening and still there now. I hope and pray the parents actually remembered the child which presumably formerly occupied this push-chair and anorak. The scene is at the edge of the cricket pitch, immediately in front of my apartment.
UPDATE (Sunday 19JUN2011 22.32 BST) Amazing - I wasn't aware my little blog was quite so widely-read; within 15 minutes of me publishing this article the push-chair and anorak have disappeared, presumably collected by the owners - but who knows. I took the photograph only about 5 minutes before writing my article.
Spotted from my apartment earlier this evening and still there now. I hope and pray the parents actually remembered the child which presumably formerly occupied this push-chair and anorak. The scene is at the edge of the cricket pitch, immediately in front of my apartment.
UPDATE (Sunday 19JUN2011 22.32 BST) Amazing - I wasn't aware my little blog was quite so widely-read; within 15 minutes of me publishing this article the push-chair and anorak have disappeared, presumably collected by the owners - but who knows. I took the photograph only about 5 minutes before writing my article.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Bill's encounter with a hot steam iron ...
I tweeted a couple of days ago about my carelessness whilst using my steam iron:
After a day the scorch marks on my arm began to be quite visible and this morning I took this shot of the affected arm after my shower:
- the longer scorch at the top is a little sore, as the wound is beginning to scab, but it doesn't seem to be infected in any way - in any case a dab of Savlon has been applied just to be sure. I'm sure in a week or so it'll just be a painful memory.
After a day the scorch marks on my arm began to be quite visible and this morning I took this shot of the affected arm after my shower:
- the longer scorch at the top is a little sore, as the wound is beginning to scab, but it doesn't seem to be infected in any way - in any case a dab of Savlon has been applied just to be sure. I'm sure in a week or so it'll just be a painful memory.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Interesting visits to my little blog
Occasionally I notice a particularly interesting visit to my little blog and such an event occurred just about 15-20 minutes ago and I thought I'd say "Hi!" to whomever it was who was kind enough to land here, just in case I have a return visit.
The Google query concerned was "carol barclay kinghorn" and when I checked, my relevant blog article comes at the top of the Google search results, amazingly ahead of two BBC news reports at around the same time; as the link in my blog article was to a similar BBC article I had read and which prompted my article, I think it illustrates just how discerning Google is to 'recommend' me so highly.
However, the really interesting thing about this search so far as I am concerned is that it emanates from a "Halifax & Bank of Scotland" server, seemingly in Halifax - the lady concerned was at the time employed as an Assistant Manager by HBOS at its Gyle Shopping Centre branch in Edinburgh. I wrote my article in March 2009, so I am wondering if she is now at liberty once more or perhaps in discussion with her [now presumably former] employers.
The Google query concerned was "carol barclay kinghorn" and when I checked, my relevant blog article comes at the top of the Google search results, amazingly ahead of two BBC news reports at around the same time; as the link in my blog article was to a similar BBC article I had read and which prompted my article, I think it illustrates just how discerning Google is to 'recommend' me so highly.
However, the really interesting thing about this search so far as I am concerned is that it emanates from a "Halifax & Bank of Scotland" server, seemingly in Halifax - the lady concerned was at the time employed as an Assistant Manager by HBOS at its Gyle Shopping Centre branch in Edinburgh. I wrote my article in March 2009, so I am wondering if she is now at liberty once more or perhaps in discussion with her [now presumably former] employers.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
The pitfalls of "anonymous blogging"
(Please see UPDATE at end)
One of the things this blog is not, and never has been, is "anonymous" - there really is a person called "Bill Cameron" and I have been blogging here for in excess of nine years. Enough people in the "real world" (assuming you don't actually buy into the notion that we are all living in some kind of Matrix make-believe world) know both me and this blog for its genuineness to have been established long ago.
What has prompted this now? Well, it seems there has been for some months a blog purportedly written by a lesbian in Syria, a country currently enduring considerable social turmoil, which was revealed a few days ago to have been a completely fictitious creation of an American heterosexual male currently studying for a Masters Degree at, of all places, Edinburgh University. Another false blog profile was apparently created, a male US military person again writing as a lesbian, to 'authenticate' the original fraud.
Many people write 'anonymously' for one reason or another. Often-times, in my opinion, such blogs are written by Walter Mitty types who have no obvious real need to write anonymously, but seem to feel that it adds an air of 'mystery' or 'exoticism' to their scribblings. So far as I am concerned I find such 'coyness' merely tedious - and boring. I could cite dozens of blogs in the UK and US which fall into this cateogry (but won't, or at least not directly) - some do write interestingly, but most are really not worth the time and effort of anyone else to read them. Perhaps they do save some money on therapists for the writers.
The first I heard of the 'Syrian lesbian blog' in question was a couple of days ago in a gay news ['mainstream' in the online gay community] website, based in the UK although the first link I saw to it was in a blog article today, but unfortunately the blog in question has now been restricted only to invited viewers, so I am unable to comment directly on any of the actual articles in the 'offending' blog; I use the word 'offending' ironically. Equally ironically, the linked blog is itself written 'anonymously' - no doubt the person behind it is a person who exists in a physical reality, apparently in Dundee (a city in Scotland), but I have absolutely no means of evaluating this in any way that might be called 'evidence'; the email address provided in the linked blogger profile is decidedly obscure. I have no particular reason to doubt the claim within the blog that the writer is indeed a 'lady of a certain age' living in Dundee, but nor is there any credible 'evidence' to substantiate this, so I have always read 'her' blog with a certain degree of scepticism. There have been certain incidents in the past which have since made me wonder whether my classification of the writer as 'histrionic' (a sort of 'Winifred Mitty' if you like, a female version of the afore-linked 'Walter Mitty') is not so very far off the mark.
I make absolutely no apology for the scepticism with which I view all 'anonymous' blogs; the writers of such blogs may protest their genuineness as much as they want, but I reserve the right to continue to regard them with some suspicion. Even some of those where I have come to know the real identity of the writers seem to me to have suspect motives for continuing to write their blogs anonymously.
More pernicious undoubtedly are those blogs which set themselves up with a completley false 'persona' which purports to be that of a real person - such seems to be the case with this latest "Syrian lesbian" blog imposter; perhaps the original motive of Tom MacMaster for starting this blog was honourable, but it was at best naïve and at worst deeply destructive and dangerous for those within Syria who have apparently been duped into believing in the genuineness of his blog.
The only safe stance on the internet is to be on guard at all times. It has become all too common in recent years for 'phishers' to purport to send emails from genuine companies or oganisations in the hope of gleaning from innocent users of the genuine websites their usernames and passwords, later to be used by the 'phishers' for nefarious purposes. So although my little blog is completely genuine, as could be attested by various friends, acquaintances and family members in the 'real world', most readers of it do not know me personally, so the only completely safe policy for them is to maintain a healthy scepticism.
One of the other links that Subrosa provides is to a Guardian article written by someone called Kira Cochrane, a more contrived load of pseudo-feminist claptrap than which I have not read in a very long time, richly deserving a complete fisking, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do a complete job as I have a life to live. However a couple of examples:
- well, although as I mentioned above I have not been in a position to read the actual exchanges in question, it seems to me that it would be a prerequisite to 'carry off' the deception that the two purportedly lesbian protagonists would have possibly 'flirted' with each other, although frankly any semi-sentient human being might just have smelled a rat - just how 'genuine' and believable were these exchanges? Moreover, unless at least some of the articles in the blog were in Arabic I would have been extremely sceptical as to the blog's genuineness - it is perfectly true that a number of blogs written by Arabs (male and female, gay and straight) exist or have existed with most articles written in English, this was specially true in the run-up to and following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (there was indeed one very well-known blog written by a gay Iraqi man who subsequently became a columnist in the Guardian for a while), but most had at least some content in the Arabic language, either in the articles themselves or in the comments. If the whole thing was in completely perfect idiomatic English, and none of the comment I have read indicates otherwise, then that alone would have been a warning indicator to me.
- am I the only one who thinks this is just so much iname 'gibberish'? It reads like invented pyschobabble to me!
Alomost the only part of this tendentious twaddle that seems to have any validity whasoever is the final paragraph which reads:
- although the bit about internet life being 'full of virtuality' is the kind of trite, pseudo-profound insight that is in reality just the meaningless rubbish that typifies far too much mainstream media writing about the internet. The whole internet IS VIRTUAL - Doh!
There are/were bloggers writing in western countries who have perhaps been justified in maintaining anonymity, either because they were writing about sensitive matters that might have personal ramifications for them from those who know them in real life, or because of their employment if their blogs touched on matters relating to their place of work; indeed a number of such bloggers have been dismissed or forced out of their employment when their identities were revealed.
Finally, I don't pretend to know what it is to be lesbian or to be a lesbian writer from a country where repression and intimidation is the norm. On the other hand I am a gay man who has lived for many years in a number of extremely repressive societies in the Middle East and elswehere, so I think I do have an inkling of some of the pressures involved and certainly a lot more than some of the male and female bloggers and journalists who have been pontificating about this over the past few days, most of whom are neither lesbian nor gay, nor do they have the experience of living under a repressive reigime.
To whose who say "Don't believe all you read on the internet", I can only respond that I may enjoy reading many things on the internet, but I never, ever forget to be sceptical of all I read there - and for you, dear reader, that means this article, too (unless you happen to know me personally, that is).
UPDATE: (Thursday 16JUN2011 08.50 BST) Here's a more wide-ranging analyis and discussion in Slate on the phenomenon of people adopting false personas for their writing exploits - click here; the Google-cache link to the blatantly false apology from the operator of the LezGetReal bulletin board is well worth clicking on, too, from there.
One of the things this blog is not, and never has been, is "anonymous" - there really is a person called "Bill Cameron" and I have been blogging here for in excess of nine years. Enough people in the "real world" (assuming you don't actually buy into the notion that we are all living in some kind of Matrix make-believe world) know both me and this blog for its genuineness to have been established long ago.
What has prompted this now? Well, it seems there has been for some months a blog purportedly written by a lesbian in Syria, a country currently enduring considerable social turmoil, which was revealed a few days ago to have been a completely fictitious creation of an American heterosexual male currently studying for a Masters Degree at, of all places, Edinburgh University. Another false blog profile was apparently created, a male US military person again writing as a lesbian, to 'authenticate' the original fraud.
Many people write 'anonymously' for one reason or another. Often-times, in my opinion, such blogs are written by Walter Mitty types who have no obvious real need to write anonymously, but seem to feel that it adds an air of 'mystery' or 'exoticism' to their scribblings. So far as I am concerned I find such 'coyness' merely tedious - and boring. I could cite dozens of blogs in the UK and US which fall into this cateogry (but won't, or at least not directly) - some do write interestingly, but most are really not worth the time and effort of anyone else to read them. Perhaps they do save some money on therapists for the writers.
The first I heard of the 'Syrian lesbian blog' in question was a couple of days ago in a gay news ['mainstream' in the online gay community] website, based in the UK although the first link I saw to it was in a blog article today, but unfortunately the blog in question has now been restricted only to invited viewers, so I am unable to comment directly on any of the actual articles in the 'offending' blog; I use the word 'offending' ironically. Equally ironically, the linked blog is itself written 'anonymously' - no doubt the person behind it is a person who exists in a physical reality, apparently in Dundee (a city in Scotland), but I have absolutely no means of evaluating this in any way that might be called 'evidence'; the email address provided in the linked blogger profile is decidedly obscure. I have no particular reason to doubt the claim within the blog that the writer is indeed a 'lady of a certain age' living in Dundee, but nor is there any credible 'evidence' to substantiate this, so I have always read 'her' blog with a certain degree of scepticism. There have been certain incidents in the past which have since made me wonder whether my classification of the writer as 'histrionic' (a sort of 'Winifred Mitty' if you like, a female version of the afore-linked 'Walter Mitty') is not so very far off the mark.
I make absolutely no apology for the scepticism with which I view all 'anonymous' blogs; the writers of such blogs may protest their genuineness as much as they want, but I reserve the right to continue to regard them with some suspicion. Even some of those where I have come to know the real identity of the writers seem to me to have suspect motives for continuing to write their blogs anonymously.
More pernicious undoubtedly are those blogs which set themselves up with a completley false 'persona' which purports to be that of a real person - such seems to be the case with this latest "Syrian lesbian" blog imposter; perhaps the original motive of Tom MacMaster for starting this blog was honourable, but it was at best naïve and at worst deeply destructive and dangerous for those within Syria who have apparently been duped into believing in the genuineness of his blog.
The only safe stance on the internet is to be on guard at all times. It has become all too common in recent years for 'phishers' to purport to send emails from genuine companies or oganisations in the hope of gleaning from innocent users of the genuine websites their usernames and passwords, later to be used by the 'phishers' for nefarious purposes. So although my little blog is completely genuine, as could be attested by various friends, acquaintances and family members in the 'real world', most readers of it do not know me personally, so the only completely safe policy for them is to maintain a healthy scepticism.
One of the other links that Subrosa provides is to a Guardian article written by someone called Kira Cochrane, a more contrived load of pseudo-feminist claptrap than which I have not read in a very long time, richly deserving a complete fisking, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do a complete job as I have a life to live. However a couple of examples:
In the case of MacMaster and Graber, sexual gratification doesn't seem to have been the prime motive, although there are certainly signs that the two men may have got some erotic thrill from pretending to be lesbians – "Amina" apparently often flirted with "Paula". |
- well, although as I mentioned above I have not been in a position to read the actual exchanges in question, it seems to me that it would be a prerequisite to 'carry off' the deception that the two purportedly lesbian protagonists would have possibly 'flirted' with each other, although frankly any semi-sentient human being might just have smelled a rat - just how 'genuine' and believable were these exchanges? Moreover, unless at least some of the articles in the blog were in Arabic I would have been extremely sceptical as to the blog's genuineness - it is perfectly true that a number of blogs written by Arabs (male and female, gay and straight) exist or have existed with most articles written in English, this was specially true in the run-up to and following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (there was indeed one very well-known blog written by a gay Iraqi man who subsequently became a columnist in the Guardian for a while), but most had at least some content in the Arabic language, either in the articles themselves or in the comments. If the whole thing was in completely perfect idiomatic English, and none of the comment I have read indicates otherwise, then that alone would have been a warning indicator to me.
In fact, as the psychotherapist and feminist writer Susie Orbach says, they seem to have been using these lesbian personas as a "double inversion – exploiting the 'illegitimacy' of the person they were impersonating to give themselves legitimacy". |
- am I the only one who thinks this is just so much iname 'gibberish'? It reads like invented pyschobabble to me!
Alomost the only part of this tendentious twaddle that seems to have any validity whasoever is the final paragraph which reads:
While there are worries that this will undermine the lesbian blogosphere – creating a question mark over all who write about gay issues online – Campbell suspects it won't do too much lasting damage. "Internet life is full of hoaxes," she says, "it's full of virtuality. Lesbian bloggers who are embedded and authentic will continue, and all these others will fall away." |
- although the bit about internet life being 'full of virtuality' is the kind of trite, pseudo-profound insight that is in reality just the meaningless rubbish that typifies far too much mainstream media writing about the internet. The whole internet IS VIRTUAL - Doh!
There are/were bloggers writing in western countries who have perhaps been justified in maintaining anonymity, either because they were writing about sensitive matters that might have personal ramifications for them from those who know them in real life, or because of their employment if their blogs touched on matters relating to their place of work; indeed a number of such bloggers have been dismissed or forced out of their employment when their identities were revealed.
Finally, I don't pretend to know what it is to be lesbian or to be a lesbian writer from a country where repression and intimidation is the norm. On the other hand I am a gay man who has lived for many years in a number of extremely repressive societies in the Middle East and elswehere, so I think I do have an inkling of some of the pressures involved and certainly a lot more than some of the male and female bloggers and journalists who have been pontificating about this over the past few days, most of whom are neither lesbian nor gay, nor do they have the experience of living under a repressive reigime.
To whose who say "Don't believe all you read on the internet", I can only respond that I may enjoy reading many things on the internet, but I never, ever forget to be sceptical of all I read there - and for you, dear reader, that means this article, too (unless you happen to know me personally, that is).
UPDATE: (Thursday 16JUN2011 08.50 BST) Here's a more wide-ranging analyis and discussion in Slate on the phenomenon of people adopting false personas for their writing exploits - click here; the Google-cache link to the blatantly false apology from the operator of the LezGetReal bulletin board is well worth clicking on, too, from there.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Brian Souter Knighthood - sign the petition opposing this
Brian Souter, a co-founder of major transport company 'Stagecoach', has just been granted a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011. However, as the man who provided a million pounds of his own money for a campaign opposing the repeal of the anti-LGBT 'Section 28' (Clause 2a in Scotland), I feel this is a deeply flawed award and should be withdrawn as it is deeply insulting to the LGBT community, who suffered increased violence in the wake of the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to keep this odious piece of legislation. The legislation was finally repealed in Scotland in June 2000 and in the rest of the UK in November 2003 - the full history of this legislation is here.
In the event that you feel as I do, I wanted to draw your attention to an important petition that I recently signed to "Withdraw Brian Souter's Knighthood" - I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes just a few seconds of your time. If you wish to visit and sign the petition, please click here to go there now.
I urge you to consider signing this petition.
In the event that you feel as I do, I wanted to draw your attention to an important petition that I recently signed to "Withdraw Brian Souter's Knighthood" - I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes just a few seconds of your time. If you wish to visit and sign the petition, please click here to go there now.
I urge you to consider signing this petition.
Monday, 13 June 2011
My Kindle in its new 'skin'
I had tried to order this, without success, from the Gelaskins US website a few months ago, but now Gelaskins are available through the Amazon UK website I ordered "The Great Wave" skin of a painting by Katsushika Hokusai (probably one of the most famous Japanese paintings) a few days ago and it arrived today. It looks quite good I think.
Front
Back
Apart from reading books on my Kindle, I download the Telegraph newspaper daily (GBP9.99 a month) and the Spectator magazine weekly (GBP2.99 a month) - pretty good value, I think - even without all the pictures and cartoons.
Apart from reading books on my Kindle, I download the Telegraph newspaper daily (GBP9.99 a month) and the Spectator magazine weekly (GBP2.99 a month) - pretty good value, I think - even without all the pictures and cartoons.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Criticise Gaelic broadcasting and the "Gaelic Mafia" rears its ugly head!
My last article was about the recently-launched BBC Alba, a development which I regard as fundamentally positive - because it provides a suitable widely-available channel for those who wish to view it to watch programmes in the Gaelic language, but at the same time should relieve other channels (for example BBC2) of the need to broadcast in that language, in my opinion, except in exceptional cases.
Whilst I accept that some may hold different views on this matter, I object very strongly to comments from two of the three persons who chose to comment upon what I write that if I didn't like Gaelic-language broadcasts on BBC2, even now that BBC Alba is widely-available, I should move to England; the 3rd commenter in particular over-stepped what I consider acceptable limits in writing:
- of course this goes way beyond what I wrote. I like a lot of television in Scotland, but even if I didn't to basically be told to move elsewhere just to accommodate the wishes of a pretty small minority of the population (estimates are that there are 50-100,000 speakers of Gaelic in Scotland, in other words between 1 and 2 per cent of the population), speaks volumes about the attitudes of at least some of those who use Gaelic, although I hope and believe not many share these kinds of absolutist 'take it or leave it' views. I have just as much right to live in Scotland (just of course has any other citizen of the UK, whichever part of it they consider 'home'), and to state my views plainly and unequivocally, just as they do. But this is my blog and I will not be told in comments in it that I need to move from my homeland just to accommodate their small-minded prejudices. If they want to express such views, then they should start their own blogs or other means of publication to promulgate them, but I do not propose to allow my blog to be used to promulgate such small-minded and nasty views. Naturally I exclude from these remarks the comment made by the first commenter - he and I differ radically in how we see Scotland's [political] future, but his comments here and his writings in his own blog have always been expressed in a civilised manner, even when as on this particular issue our views do diverge quite a lot.
NB/ I am not permitting comments on this article (this is only the second time in over nine years I have taken this action - the only other time I have felt the need to close comments on an article here was also caused by unpleasantness in comments by Gaelic-speakers discussing the usage of Gaelic on road-signs in Scotland and who seemed unable to discuss the matter rationally without resort to abuse).
Whilst I accept that some may hold different views on this matter, I object very strongly to comments from two of the three persons who chose to comment upon what I write that if I didn't like Gaelic-language broadcasts on BBC2, even now that BBC Alba is widely-available, I should move to England; the 3rd commenter in particular over-stepped what I consider acceptable limits in writing:
If you don't like Scottish telly, in Gaelic or English, then move to England. |
- of course this goes way beyond what I wrote. I like a lot of television in Scotland, but even if I didn't to basically be told to move elsewhere just to accommodate the wishes of a pretty small minority of the population (estimates are that there are 50-100,000 speakers of Gaelic in Scotland, in other words between 1 and 2 per cent of the population), speaks volumes about the attitudes of at least some of those who use Gaelic, although I hope and believe not many share these kinds of absolutist 'take it or leave it' views. I have just as much right to live in Scotland (just of course has any other citizen of the UK, whichever part of it they consider 'home'), and to state my views plainly and unequivocally, just as they do. But this is my blog and I will not be told in comments in it that I need to move from my homeland just to accommodate their small-minded prejudices. If they want to express such views, then they should start their own blogs or other means of publication to promulgate them, but I do not propose to allow my blog to be used to promulgate such small-minded and nasty views. Naturally I exclude from these remarks the comment made by the first commenter - he and I differ radically in how we see Scotland's [political] future, but his comments here and his writings in his own blog have always been expressed in a civilised manner, even when as on this particular issue our views do diverge quite a lot.
NB/ I am not permitting comments on this article (this is only the second time in over nine years I have taken this action - the only other time I have felt the need to close comments on an article here was also caused by unpleasantness in comments by Gaelic-speakers discussing the usage of Gaelic on road-signs in Scotland and who seemed unable to discuss the matter rationally without resort to abuse).
Friday, 10 June 2011
BBC Alba, Gaelic-language programming and BBC2 Scotland
This is a mostly-good-news observational article, with some less good news thrown in just to 'keep it real'.
First the good news; from 8th June the Gaelic-language channel TeleG (which broadcast only for a couple of hours a day and was, I understand, an offering from ITV) has been replaced on digital television channel 8 in Scotland by the BBC offering - BBC Alba - broadcasting mainly in Gaelic for 7 hours a day (8 hours a day at weekends) during late-afternoon until midnight.
As all parts of Scotland now receive digital television only (the analogue transmitters having been switched off some months ago), it is now possible for everyone in Scotland and who still wishes to watch terrestrial (as distinct from satellite) broadcasts to see all the Freeview digital offerings, so BBC Alba is now a truly 'national service'. I have no personal interest whatsoever in Gaelic-language broadcasting, but it is certainly a 'good thing' for those who do wish to do so to be able to watch programming in that language, wherever in Scotland they happen to be.
One of the things that has 'bugged' me for years was the two-hours of Gaelic-language broadcasting on BBC2 every Thursday evening, during the peak early-evening schedules, when there were usually much more interesting (to me) programmes airing in England, but which I could not watch in Scotland (although ironically I could in the past few years whilst at my Spanish home). The move of BBC Alba to the Freeview platform seems, happily, to have ended this lamentable state of affairs - next week's Radio Times magazine shows that Thursday-evening BBC2 programming is now Gaelic-free. Hurrah!
However, nothing in the BBC is ever that simple, of course, specially where the Kremlin-on-the-Clyde (the BBC Scotland HQ in Glasgow) is concerned! A close study of the BBC2 schedule for next week shows that a 1-hour Gaelic-language broadcast has been sneaked into the schedule at 7pm on Monday evening; the alternative in England seems to be an episode of James May's Toy Stories - the Great Train Race, which is possibly a repeat, although I'm not sure about that. However, it still does not explain why, or excuse, a 'Gaelic Music Sessions' programmes being slipped into the schedule on a Monday at peak viewing time.
In fact the 7pm slot on BBC2 next week on several days seems to be devoted to local Scottish programming of one kind or another, although only on Tuesday does it seem to be in Gaelic. I have no particular objection to this, except that for example on Tuesday I'd far rather have the opportunity of watching "This World: The Invasion of Lampedusa" (the Italian island which has had an influx of illegal immigrants crossing from Libya and beyond in recent months) to something called 'The Adventure Show' about sporting events based in Scotland this week it seems. Wednesday and Thurday seem to be mercifully free of 'parochial' programming, although it creeps back in on Friday - but at least it's only on Monday that it's in Gaelic, still too much now that BBC Alba is available.
I do have a 'bee in my bonnet' about this issue, don't I? So sue me!
NB/ In view of the unpleasant nature of some of the comments here, I regret to advise that further comments on this article are not permitted.
First the good news; from 8th June the Gaelic-language channel TeleG (which broadcast only for a couple of hours a day and was, I understand, an offering from ITV) has been replaced on digital television channel 8 in Scotland by the BBC offering - BBC Alba - broadcasting mainly in Gaelic for 7 hours a day (8 hours a day at weekends) during late-afternoon until midnight.
As all parts of Scotland now receive digital television only (the analogue transmitters having been switched off some months ago), it is now possible for everyone in Scotland and who still wishes to watch terrestrial (as distinct from satellite) broadcasts to see all the Freeview digital offerings, so BBC Alba is now a truly 'national service'. I have no personal interest whatsoever in Gaelic-language broadcasting, but it is certainly a 'good thing' for those who do wish to do so to be able to watch programming in that language, wherever in Scotland they happen to be.
One of the things that has 'bugged' me for years was the two-hours of Gaelic-language broadcasting on BBC2 every Thursday evening, during the peak early-evening schedules, when there were usually much more interesting (to me) programmes airing in England, but which I could not watch in Scotland (although ironically I could in the past few years whilst at my Spanish home). The move of BBC Alba to the Freeview platform seems, happily, to have ended this lamentable state of affairs - next week's Radio Times magazine shows that Thursday-evening BBC2 programming is now Gaelic-free. Hurrah!
However, nothing in the BBC is ever that simple, of course, specially where the Kremlin-on-the-Clyde (the BBC Scotland HQ in Glasgow) is concerned! A close study of the BBC2 schedule for next week shows that a 1-hour Gaelic-language broadcast has been sneaked into the schedule at 7pm on Monday evening; the alternative in England seems to be an episode of James May's Toy Stories - the Great Train Race, which is possibly a repeat, although I'm not sure about that. However, it still does not explain why, or excuse, a 'Gaelic Music Sessions' programmes being slipped into the schedule on a Monday at peak viewing time.
In fact the 7pm slot on BBC2 next week on several days seems to be devoted to local Scottish programming of one kind or another, although only on Tuesday does it seem to be in Gaelic. I have no particular objection to this, except that for example on Tuesday I'd far rather have the opportunity of watching "This World: The Invasion of Lampedusa" (the Italian island which has had an influx of illegal immigrants crossing from Libya and beyond in recent months) to something called 'The Adventure Show' about sporting events based in Scotland this week it seems. Wednesday and Thurday seem to be mercifully free of 'parochial' programming, although it creeps back in on Friday - but at least it's only on Monday that it's in Gaelic, still too much now that BBC Alba is available.
I do have a 'bee in my bonnet' about this issue, don't I? So sue me!
NB/ In view of the unpleasant nature of some of the comments here, I regret to advise that further comments on this article are not permitted.
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