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Arts and Culture

By Jo Cargill

“Oran Mor, let’s be having you.” And they did. From the minute they came on stage the Three Blind Wolves had us.

Even the noisy gaggle at the bar ssshhhed each other when frontman Ross Clark stopped playing his guitar and stepped out from the mic with aching a capella ‘I am the one you left behind. Pick me up before you leave’. Every word sang with gut wrenching sincerity.

  Scotland’s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop today affirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment that the values and principles of public service broadcasting would be upheld in an independent Scotland.
 
In a key-note speech at the Salford Media Festival, Ms Hyslop told broadcasting professionals and academics that in an independent Scotland the Scottish Government would establish a new public service broadcaster based on the staff and assets of BBC Scotland, while ensuring that viewers and listeners continue to enjoy the channels and programmes they currently receive.

  By Angela Haggerty
 
SKY’s former head of programming and CEO of Channel 5, David Elstein, has warned that an “imbalance” in Scottish coverage from the BBC could become an issue in next year’s independence referendum and called for Scotland to have its own channel.
 
In a recent blog post on OpenDemocracy.net, the TV executive said it was “impossible” to discuss broadcasting in the UK without the BBC being at the heart of the debate and said it was time for a dedicated Scottish channel.

  By G.A.Ponsonby
 
Why are Scots happy with second best; what is it about Scottish people that renders them apparently ambivalent about the land and who owns it, or rather who doesn’t?
 
How has a lack of social housing affected the psyche of the working class Scots over the centuries and what is the link between poor health and undemocratic feudal law?

  Scotland and France will forge greater education links, encouraging more teacher and pupil exchanges as well as sharing ideas and best practice after First Minister Alex Salmond signed a statement of intent with the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
 
The agreement will see the two countries draw up an action plan for the two education systems to share ideas in curriculum and education reform, languages and intercultural learning, ICT support for learning, inspection and the teaching of science and mathematics.

  By G.A.Ponsonby

BBC chiefs have been criticised after it emerged the amount of hours dedicated to news and current affairs in Scotland has been reduced to its lowest level for ten years.

The revelation was contained in a BBC Management Review report which reveals that the corporation has cut its news and current affairs output in Scotland to the lowest point since 2002/03 with 478 hours transmitted over the 12-month period.

   By Kirsten Lawson

I am Scottish, from Edinburgh, and I can speak French, Italian and German.  But I cannot speak my own language. 

My grandmother spoke Scots, and Standard Scottish English, and she would often come out with words or expressions that I wouldn’t understand.

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