I HAVE just read an article by Xander Richards in yesterday’s copy of this very open and enlightened newspaper (Former editor of The Sun in sickening attack on FM amid royal trip row, December 8).
Apparently Kelvin MacKenzie, a former columnist and editor of The Sun paper (I would hesitate to call it an NEWS paper), decided to deride our First Minister because she had the temerity to speak out on behalf of the people Scotland when William and Kate decided against the Scottish Government’s request not to travel from England to Scotland.
READ MORE: Kelvin MacKenzie told to 'grow up' after offensive Nicola Sturgeon comments
He referred to the SNP as the ‘”snidey nasty part”. Let’s face it, the English media have elevated snideness to an art form. In fact, this is the same Kevin who reported that Hillsborough fans had “picked the pockets of the dead” and “urinated on the police”. Neither of these claims was true. Not that Kevin let that get in the way of a good story. I am sure that did a lot of good to his paper’s circulation.
He claims to be their most successful editor. That was before they let him go.
I am sure his comments up here are all good for the SNP’s progress in the polls.
Ian Rankine
Milngavie
RECENTLY you have given considerable space – goodness knows why – to intemperate, insulting views expressed by disgraced former editor of The Sun newspaper Kelvin MacKenzie.
I was reminded that some years ago he was quoted as having said he was strongly in favour of Scottish independence, because he couldn’t wait to get the Scots off his payroll. Isn’t he in for a shock when we become independent and he discovers the truth – that for all these years he’s been on our payroll.
Peter Swain
Dunbar
WHILE agreeing with nearly all that Paddy Farrington wrote in Saturday’s letters section, I would just mention that at least two of Scotland’s most eminent historians have made real contributions to scholarly and public understanding of slavery. Professor Simon Newman spent a number of years at the University of Glasgow and, in addition to major books about slavery – including forthcoming work about enslaved people brought to Scotland and England in the 18th century – along with Dr Stephen Mullen he was the leading figure in studying that university’s connections with slavery.
READ MORE: Scotland's slavery role must be laid bare before we can build better future
The 2018 report Slavery, Abolition and the University of Glasgow does a lot of what Mr Farrington’s letter is asking, at least for one institution. Also, the current holder of the prestigious William Robertson Chair in History at the University of Edinburgh is Professor Diana Paton, a leading authority on slavery in the Caribbean. When this pandemic finally relents, I would encourage people to watch out for her rescheduled inaugural lecture.
Bruce Baker
Paxton
REGARDING the comments regarding the use of the Scots and Gaelic languages in the recent letters, I thoroughly support their use on every occasion possible.
They are part and parcel of who we are as a people and should be promoted unreservedly in our schools, colleges and our media.
READ MORE: Columns written in Scots and Gaelic are much missed
In 21st-century Scotland we need a national anthem appropriate to a modern, outward-looking nation. Flower of Scotland certainly is not that. An anthem of one verse but sung in first Scots, then Gaelic and then English would do wonders for the usage of our indigenous tongues. I am sure there are many out there who could come up with the words and the music.
Experts have said people who are bilingual do better in education.
Give our children a real advantage, make them trilingual and in the process cement our mother tongues into our destiny.
David Smart
Brechin
LOVED the letters urging The National to bring back the Gaelic and Scots columns. I miss seeing them. As someone who learnt a bit of Gaelic in the past (and a bit of Welsh decades ago), it does help to keep the languages alive. My request would go a bit further, to include an English translation of the article alongside, the reason being that it helps people to pick up a language more quickly. You can see how languages structure the same ideas differently and I believe it is a definite asset in building up knowledge of a language.
Learning beginners’ Welsh language was compulsory when I was at secondary school in Wales. It was a pain (and my Scottish mother really objected!!) but it has been one of the main ways that Welsh has been kept alive. My own children learned NO Gaelic at all at primary or secondary, although a Gaelic medium class and pre-school class have now been established at Whitehills Primary in Forfar – still a separate class from the rest of the school but it is a start – and aims to have children fluent in Gaelic by Primary 7.
A very interesting programme on BBC iPlayer is Rebel Tongue by Alistair Heather, about the suppression of the Scots language. Watch this if anyone tells you languages like Gaelic and Scots are “just dying out”. They have been actively suppressed.
If Gaelic and Scots are neglected now, it becomes self-fulfilling that the languages die out because no one speaks them because they were not taught.
Julia Pannell
Friockheim, Tayside
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