Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides by Lesley Riddoch sampler

More documents

Recommendations

Info

iddoch on the outer hebrides 8 encouraged its neighbours. Thus, West Harris followed North Harris in 2010 and – amongst other things – built the beautiful Talla na Mara community centre and restaurant (with unbeatable views) complete with units for small local businesses like Flavour chocolate, about which I must try to remember Tha gu leòr cho math ri cuilm (enough is as good as a feast). Anyway, the ball is now so firmly in the court of Hebridean community ownership, that private landowners (like the Galloway family in Carloway) got on the right side of history by opening up buyout negotiations themselves, whilst others like Fred Taylor on Scalpay, actually gifted his land to islanders. Even though progress was much slower on Pairc and has faltered on Great Bernera, that’s a massive change in 15 short years. Many of the housing, employment and population problems we encountered during the 2006 cycle trip were the product of centuries-long under-investment, land-exclusion and neglect. These ‘stuck’ problems can finally be tackled now – though unravelling the past isn’t easy. Building affordable homes and reversing population decline is a slow business with careful planning and consultation needed to ensure homes are built where present and future jobs might be. And often that’s not the old centres of population. Meanwhile, other factors have muddied the water. The Covid pandemic sparked a wave of speculative interest in holiday homes on the pristine Outer Isles thanks to their isolation and natural social distancing. House prices have shot up, young locals have been priced out and the islands are suffering the effects of over-tourism, with ferries so solidly booked locals can’t reach hospital appointments or plan holidays. Single track roads are quaint with a small volume of traffic, but nightmarish with hesitant motorhomes or cyclists who won’t pull over occasionally all summer. Life on the super highway is somewhat easier – most islands now have fibre-optic broadband. But the population is still in decline – 29,600 in 1991 and 26,500 in 2020 – a 10 per cent fall in the Western Isles against a 7 per cent rise across Scotland. The islands’ population is also ageing faster than the Scottish average. The Scottish Government has allocated funds for a £50,000 ‘island bond’ to encourage families to remain or relocate to the islands (though that won’t help locals outbid property millionaires ‘fae sooth’). Meanwhile, women are being encouraged to stand for election in May 2022 after the Western Isles Council returned only male councillors in 2017. The number of Gaelic speakers on the islands is still in decline. More than half the population (14,066) spoke Gaelic in 2019 but that’s down by a third on 1991. Language learning app Duolingo signed up half a million people to learn Scots Gaelic in 2020, but it’ll take more than that to save the Hebridean Mither Tongue. Can the string of community land buyouts help stabilise local populations and promote Gaelic? Who knows? But there are high hopes – at last. So Gun cuideam. (No pressure.)
Foreword Lesley <strong>Riddoch</strong>, as her company name proudly boasts, is a feisty woman. This is underlined by her cycle through the Outer Hebrides in summer 2006. By way of contrast, I first cycled round my own native Barra on Easter Sunday 2015, with just one repeat trip. I have known Lesley for many years since we both met on the Island of Eigg sometime last century. Lesley shares with me the feeling that islands are probably the best place a person can live – but in Gaelic, there is a proverb, Is math an sgàthan sùil caraid. In English, ‘A friend’s eye makes a great mirror.’ I know that Lesley <strong>Riddoch</strong> is just such a friend to the Hebrides, and sensibly, she is not an uncritical friend. She will, as she’s demonstrated on radio many times, hold up a mirror that reveals warts as well as beauty. Her observations, comments and analysis have rearranged my mental furniture. Her book is ultimately an act of social consultancy – I don’t agree with everything and she’d be shocked if I did. She is not a Gaelic speaker but has an awareness of the language’s importance. Which is a great asset amongst English-speaking social commentators. Because we are at a crossroads in the islands linguistically. We have to face up to the fact that we are living in the last area of the Gaelic language on Earth. Only a minority of children reach school speaking Gaelic but happily many more attend Gaelic medium education today, as the advantages of bilingualism are more widely recognised. We must be positive and nurture all that’s good about our islands to avoid becoming ‘dead end’ Gaelic speakers, where the vernacular and perspectives of 50 island generations stall on our tongues. Look at the Faroe Islands – perhaps the most successful island group in the world with a 10 per cent population growth in the last decade, islands linked by tunnels, and world leading broadband speeds. Despite this though, many Faroese see the resurrection of their own language as the most important driver of progress. Crofting is also changing. Crofts earn very little but change hands for shocking sums of money – out of reach for most young locals. Change is needed, and I’d suggest that one person should not have more than one crofting tenancy (with perhaps several grazing rights) to democratise access to land. House building grants should also be divorced from the croft and become a general rural housing grant. In 2022 you can finally access the world from a croft. I’m as well wired to current events in Barra as I am in my Westminster office thanks to BT Broadband. The pandemic has changed work practices and led to increased demand for island and rural life. That’s a good problem to have, but only if there’s room for all – not just the highest bidders. I’m grateful that someone I admired long before I met her has (again) asked me to write the foreword to her book. One thing I can be certain of – Lesley <strong>Riddoch</strong> will always argue a position with the best interests of the islands at heart. That won’t stop respectful disagreement. But at least the debate will be feisty. Angus Brendan MacNeil, MP Na h-Eileanan an Iar 9
Page 1: Well-informed, well-observed, provo
Page 5 and 6: RIDDOCH on the Outer Hebrides LESLE
Page 7 and 8: Contents Preface to the 2022 Editio
Page 9: Preface to 2022 Edition It’s 15 y
Page 13 and 14: tuppence worth My father, Lord Geor
Page 16: committed to publishing well writte

Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides by Lesley Riddoch sampler

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?