Douglas MacQueen's blog

News from Mannin Branch of the Celtic League:

The International Relations Officer of Mec Vannin, Allen Moore, has slammed the Spanish reaction to Nicola Sturgeons attempt to maintain Scottish membership of the EU as ‘predictably negative’.

It seems the Spanish Government are prepared to sacrifice any ability to rescue some element of the UK EU exit for the sake of their own narrow self interest.

Even though the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the vote in Scotland taken separately was a majority in favour to remain.  Now Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister has embarked on a bid to keep Scotland within the European Union and in doing so has secured a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Nicola Sturgeon had already confirmed talks with European Parliament President Martin Schulz as well as Liberal group leader Guy Verhofstadt.

News from the Celtic League:

This morning Nicola Sturgeon was laying out her response to the Brexit result and indicating that Scotland will very likely seek to hold a further independence referendum albeit the pace will be measured(link);

http://www.bbc.co.uk/…/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-366210…

However it is clear that as well as SNP and other independence supporters others were being motivated by the LEAVE decision.

It has been quite a week for a cat from Leverburgh (Scottish Gaelic: An Tòb). The cat managed to stowaway on a yacht which had stopped at his island home in Harris (Scottish Gaelic: Na Hearadh) in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. He then travelled nearly 200 nautical miles all the way to Oban.

NEWS FROM THE MANNIN BRANCH CELTIC LEAGUE

News from the Celtic League:

‘Despite all there electronic prowess the snoops at GCHQ have never been able to explain what happened to one of their former colleagues i.e. ‘the spy in the sports bag’ Gareth Williams’

Latest leaks from the whistleblower Edwin Snowden confirm the hitherto unknown links between GCHQ and the ‘plod’ (Police) in the devolved administrations (link):

Portsoy Scottish Traditional Boat Festival will be held on 25 and 26 June 2016. Portsoy (Scottish Gaelic: Port Saoidh) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Festival promises a weekend that celebrates Scotland's rich cultural heritage. Events around Portsoy harbour and town include historic craft, rowing, sailing, crafts, music, song and dance and traditional Scottish food and drink. 

The line-up for this years Edinburgh International Book Festival has been revealed. The Edinburgh International Book Festival is held in the last three weeks of August every year in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann). It is described as the largest festival of its kind in the world and coincides with the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 - August 5, 1962) was an American actress and model. She died at the age of 36 at her home in Los Angeles on August 5, 1962. Although the death was ruled a probable suicide, a number of conspiracy theories have been suggested in the decades since her death. Had she lived she would now have reached her 90th birthday. However, she continues to be considered a major American popular culture icon and remarkably her stardom has not only survived but escalated since her death. 

News from the Celtic Legue:

I highlighted our concerns expressed via the General Secretary to the EU about the activities of so called super trawlers that fish globally but have been particularly active in a stretch of waters spanning North Scotland – the West of Ireland – to West Africa.

Some countries are tackling this type of predatory attack on their resources. Large countries like Australia and small comparatively poor countries like Palau whose attempts to tackle aggressive illegal fishing by Chinese fleets I highlighted recently (links below).

In a show of solidarity with their Celtic cousins in Cornwall both the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) supported an Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament against cuts to funding for the Cornish Language. The move comes as a response to an announcement from the UK Department for Communities and Local Government that Cornwall will no longer receive £150,000 a year to promote and support their ancient Celtic language.