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[MonkeyHead]

You should look at how here in Wales we adopted a language policy. Welsh was dying in the 60's and 70's, spoken only really in the extreme rural North West or when the anthem was sung. It took until the 90's for a policy to truly form, where it would be compulsory to GCSE level in school, and laws put in place to protect the languages use in pretty much and and all contexts. Welsh language use has grown from around 40% of the population competent to well over 70% in 30 years, and now not being able to speak the language actually counts against people in terms of employment options in many public sector positions nationwide, and in pretty much any job outside of the South Wales industrial/M4 belt. All official government and public sector materials have to be bilingual (which is rather inefficient) and schools are expected to have a bilingualism policy even if not teaching in the Welsh language. The road signs are legendary. S4C is a welsh language only TV channel that has some popularity, and deals with issues within Wales that the other boradcasters ignore. Now the language is looked upon as a key part of our national heritage and idnetity (along with rugby - lol), even if it does cause friction between the mainly Welsh speaking north and mainly English speaking south. A key difference may be that the languge is historically relevant to the whole nation as opposed to a particular region or social class - if anything historically the language identified the welsh as different from the invading Romans, Normans or English.

[Owlbread]

I think that last part is the crux of it.

A key difference may be that the languge is historically relevant to the whole nation as opposed to a particular region or social class - if anything historically the language identified the welsh as different from the invading Romans, Normans or English.

In Scotland we've already got our accents and dialects to fill that role, along with our tartan and music. It certainly filled that role for Highland people at one time but now they've basically lost their identity completely due to English and Lowland immigration and the (deliberate) erosion of their culture through various restrictive and barbaric laws and cultivated social stigma. We have a lot of hurdles to pass that the Welsh didn't necessarily; for instance, even if English is spoken predominantly in the South that doesn't mean that Welsh isn't originally native to that area within living memory, besides somewhere like Pembrokeshire.

[Scoops Novel]

I find it interesting that relatively reasonable Scots such as i hope you are Owlbread are so gungho about independence. Not just enthusiasm, either. Would you say you're an outlier?

[Owlbread]

I find it interesting that relatively reasonable Scots such as i hope you are Owlbread are so gungho about independence. Not just enthusiasm, either. Would you say you're an outlier?

At times perhaps I am, but I'm sure if you spoke to the bulk of independence supporters you'd find likeminded people. Very few of us are "rabid" in the way that Unionists describe. The most you'll get is seeing a guy called AlbaGuBrath or something on a comments section for a newspaper article saying something like "The Westmonster parasite is sucking us dry. Vote yes! Saor Alba 2014!", even then that's not too bad. I've never seen Braveheart in my life and don't intend to, even if it is a good movie.

[Scoops Novel]

Yes, but the way you talk about it is the difference between fervor and idealism.

I feel like there should be a "just" in there, so I'll throw it in.

[MonkeyHead]

UKIP MEP at it again.

[kingfisher1112]

UKIP MEP at it again.

I read the headline and laughed. Then I realised he was right.

[MonkeyHead]

UKIP MEP at it again.

I read the headline and laughed. Then I realised he was right.

There are many ways to express the same sentiments without being a racist. This guy has a track record of racist or bigoted remarks.

[kingfisher1112]

UKIP MEP at it again.

I read the headline and laughed. Then I realised he was right.

There are many ways to express the same sentiments without being a racist. This guy has a track record of racist or bigoted remarks.

But you're a racist if you oppose immigration, affirmative action, and all that jazz. May as well go all the way.

[Sheb]

No you're not, it depends of why you oppose immigration and affirmative action.

As for what he says... Well, aid still does help, although there is of course lots of issues with graft when you try to work through rotten government. The conundrum is: do you work through the weak government and see your money evaporate, or do you work outside the weak government and undermine it some more?

[MonkeyHead]

UKIP MEP at it again.

I read the headline and laughed. Then I realised he was right.

There are many ways to express the same sentiments without being a racist. This guy has a track record of racist or bigoted remarks.

But you're a racist if you oppose immigration, affirmative action, and all that jazz. May as well go all the way.

Read what I typed. I am pretty certain that I expressed my distate for how he said his opinion, not the opinion itself. You are not a racist for opposing aid, open immigration "and all that jazz". I happen to agree with the fact that sending billions in aid overseas while cutting public sector spending is illogical. Its the terms he uses that I find out of order for a politician. You are a racist if you refer to all nations getting aid as "bongo-bongo land" and are known to have given Nazi salutes to German politicians, like this guy has. He also managed to offend women by saying that emplyers should overlook them just in case they need maternity leave.

[10ebbor10]

Besides, it's not certain if development aid actually helps. In fact, if you look at statistics, you'll see that countries that received the most aid tend to be worse of than others who didn't. Oftimes, the aid fails to solve the problems, and only succeeds in keeping a corrupt system aloft.

[Sheb]

There is a great book about this, which I totally can't remember at the moment.

But anyway, I think seeing aid as a way to develop a country is bad. You don't develop a country by giving it money. However, aid does have a good record of doing stuff like saving people by improving access to AIDS medicine, this kind of stuff. And this is very worthwhile.

[10ebbor10]

Yup, have to make a difference between humanitarian aid, and development aid. The first works, the latter ...

[Sheb]

Some aid do help, but we have so many rules preventing developing countries from developing (basically the Washington consensus). It's no surprise the biggest story in development of those last 20 years is from one of the few country big enough not to care about those rules.