Another Kick at the Ball?
As the arts is an area where the SNP record is highly contentious, it’s interesting to hear Alan Cummings view on the Holyrood election, he picks out support for the National Theatre (and its runaway success Black Watch), the campaign to get BBC Alba on Freeview, and the success in bringing the V& A to Dundee, plus plans for the Scottish Digital Network as standout achievements for arts & culture. Watch his message here..
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The SNP can sometimes have a type of philistinism about it that goes back partly to John MacCormick. I don’t know whether this is some kind of fear of cultural nationalism, but it is ironic given that the SNP simply wouldn’t have existed without the Scottish Renaissance of writers, artists and musicians.
John and Neil MacCormick, ironically were relatives of John MacCormick of Mull who was a noted Gaidhlig writer, and produced the first full-length novel in the language.
While i’m not an SNP member or necessarily even a voter, it should be remembered that Mike Russell founded, or at least helped found, the Celtic Film and TV Festival. He has also learned Gaelic to fair degree of fluency. Credit where its due.
I’ve always thought that many artists were in favour of independence, even if not party political. The likes of Mogwai, Oi Polloi, Christopher Brookmyre and Iain Banks come to mind. There’s probably lots more though.