There was plenty of activity on The Herald comments this afternoon with the petition to rename Fort William and Neil Mackay's column attracting significant debate
Hundreds of people have suggested Fort William, should instead be known as it’s Gaelic counterpart – An Gearasdan (The Garrison) – in direct response to a Twitter row that re-ignited a long-running for and against argument about Scotland’s bilingual road signs.
“Stop wasting money on this Garlic nonsense. It belongs to about 1% of Scots only.”
Mick McCaw, heraldscotland.com
“Gaelic belongs to all Scottish people and those that choose to settle in Scotland and make it their home. It's in Scotland's culture and geographic make-up (as with Scots, Doric, others and variants) and an understanding (however small) should enrich your appreciation of our country's heritage. Visitors seem to appreciate it”
Jack Hood, heraldscotland.com
Fort William Gaelic signs Twitter row prompts An Gearasdan name change call https://t.co/lqvleAl2JK
— caroline wilson (@WilsonC75HT) September 8, 2020
“Gaelic is a dead language which should be left for hobbyists. What is the point in Gaelic signs which only a tiny percentage of the population can read? There are so many problems in the world, caused by people failing to fully understand others points, and the government wants to add another layer of misunderstanding. I would be surprised if there are many left whose first language is Gaelic. Get rid of the signs and leave Fort William as Fort William.”
David McPherson, heraldscotland.com
“There's no problem with promoting Gaelic, the problem is with insisting that everything has a Gaelic name or translation attached. New ambulances have one side in Gaelic and the other in English. Large road signs are a problem as it distracts drivers looking for the name of the place they're going to. Remember, Scotland is supposed to be promoting tourism”
Michael Kent, heraldscotland.com
“A quite funny story. I much prefer An Gearasdan I'm sure tourists would as well.”
Jo MacDiarmid, heraldscotland.com
“It's high time that we got rid of the colonial names such as Fort William, Fort George and Fort Augustus which hint so strongly of occupation by a foreign army sent to pacify the natives, and which continually remind us of the genocide of the Highland people committed by the British Army, many of whose units were headquartered at these forts, after Culloden. "The Garrison" is also redolent of that era and is therefore not in my opinion an acceptable name either. “
Alasdair McKenzie, heraldscotland.com
Mackay column
Neil Mackay's column stating that both Ruth Davidson and Boris Johnson are two sides fo the same coin provoked much debate online.
"Johnson, as the saying goes today, is ‘thirsty’. Thirsty for nothing but the emptiness of power he’s unfit to wield. While Ruth Davidson is a baroness who plays the phoney ‘woman of the people’"
Neil Mackey, Twitter
“It really is time now the whole membership of the second chamber was reformed and replaced with a 100 or a 300 member Senate.”
Nigel Boddy, heraldscotland.com
IT’S not just that I disagree with the Tories on most issues under the sun – I’m happy with healthy political disagreement if I respect the people I’m disagreeing with – it’s the rank, two-faced, double-dealing, phoniness and hypocrisy which I can’t stand https://t.co/uce7uPzkZv
— NeilMackay (@NeilMackay) September 8, 2020
“Ruth 'I'm a Lady' Davidson is selling herself cheaply by accepting a seat in the House of Lords where she will achieve what exactly? I pity Davidson who I suggest will gain nothing but dishonour and disrespect from her acceptance of a place in the out of date disreputable House of Lords.”
Andrew McMillan, heraldscotland.com
“Look, Baroness Davidson doesn't want to be described as 'Baroness Davidson' because Baroness Davidson feels that being described as 'Baroness Davidson' will damage her (ie Baroness Davidson) in the eyes of the electorate”
Gerald Cannon, heraldscotland.com
“"Thirsty for nothing but the emptiness of power he's unfit to wield." Brilliant.”
Michael Lloyd, heraldscotland.com
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