The Gaelic clans of Galloway

Just uploaded ongoing research into the Gaelic clans of Galloway to the Academia website.

It is in two parts - a summary of the findings and the raw details.

Read it here.

Dumfries university campaign Part 2.

Students seek councillor help for course campaign
Jun 8 2011 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

COUNCILLORS are being urged to step into the row surrounding the scrapping of a university course.

Student campaigners have written to every elected member in the region seeking help in their fight to save the liberal arts course at Glasgow University’s Dumfries campus.
The university’s ruling committee will be advised to scrap the course when they meet on June 22, due to its small uptake. Proposals are in place to replace it with courses in primary education and the environment.
These are seen as more practical than the liberal arts course, which teaches philosophy, literature, history and humanities.
But a student campaign believes it would be a “short sighted” decision.
In a letter to councillors, many of whom backed a Standard-led campaign to save the Dumfries campus when it almost closed in 2007, the student action group state: “While we welcome the setting up of new courses such as the MA in primary education and the MA in environmental stewardship, and understand that teaching cannot stand still, it is difficult to understand how the growth of courses will be successful if the liberal arts MA, which incorporates humanities – courses that have been central to Glasgow University since its foundation in 1451 – and which is certainly essential to the success of the Crichton, is to be reduced to playing a minor role.
“The entire basis of the proposal is also flawed, since it has been stated by management that it is based on the failure of the Liberal Arts to recruit sufficient numbers of students, when actually this course is recruiting very good numbers of students.

“The university has confirmed in writing that this move is not based on financial projections, only on apparently low numbers of first choice applicants, which does not fit with the new strategy of the university.

“However, all but one of the other courses at Dumfries currently have to accept applicants whose first choice was not Dumfries, and the liberal arts course just happens to be the most successful at recruiting through clearing.

“To expect a rural campus to attract the same level of applicants as a large city-based one seems to be massively short-sighted, and to withdraw any course which falls under this category without allowing time to implement promotional strategies which could ease this situation is to doom the campus to failure.”

Current students would be allowed to finish should the cut go ahead.

The Mob play secret gig in Hoxton 4 June 2011

Or how the Mob almost made the cover of the Daily Mail....

How did this gig come about so suddenly and with no notice to the public? Well, Mark and Leah were contacted by Allison of The Kills two weeks ago. Allison was organising fellow Kill member Jamie Hince’s stag party before he is wed to the Croydon super model Kate Moss. Allison inquired whether Jamie’s favourite ever band and main inspiration in his teenage years could perform at a (then unspecified) venue in London. Mark asked the other band members and it was agreed to perform in London at a free party organised by Allison.


Allison got busy organising a suitable venue whilst Leah, Tess, Steve Corr, Mick Lugworm and Penguin sought out suitable guests to invite. The band had 150 guests to invite and the logistics should have been a nightmare. Happily though almost all the people invited were old Mob followers who jumped at the opportunity to see this band perform for the first time in London since late on in 1983.

All the invited guests were asked to respect the one demand placed on them for entrance to the gig. The guests were asked to remain silent on any blogs, facebook comments and so forth about this gig, after all it was meant to be a surprise for the happy groom to be, and no one wanted to spoil the surprise!

For recording of gig and rest of this story go to Kill Your Pet Puppy

Glasgow University threat to Humanities in Dumfries

BBC Dumfries/ South Scotland have a report as well.


1 June 2011 Last updated at 10:05
Dumfries University of Glasgow degree battle stepped up
Members of a student action group are stepping up their campaign to save the Liberal Arts degree at the University of Glasgow Crichton Campus in Dumfries.
The humanities course could be axed later this month in favour of environmental management studies.
Student representatives claimed the loss of the Liberal Arts degree would be a blow to Dumfries and Galloway.
However, the university said it was "carefully matching courses to local needs and national trends".
The move to cut the Liberal Arts degree is part of wider cost-reduction plans.
A final decision will be made by the university's court later this month.
Katy Ewing, a mature student on the Dumfries campus, said the course had been a vital educational lifeline for her.
"For me personally, I have a family, I am a mature student - I could not have gone away and studied at degree level anyway," she said.
"This was an amazing opportunity for me to study.
"It has changed my life, it has been really important to me personally."
She said one of the best parts of the degree was its flexibility.
"The humanities subjects are so core and the Liberal Arts degree is so transferable it's not like doing a vocational degree where you are locked into your path," she said.
"You are very employable after doing this degree."
Students have voiced concerns that lecturers could be lost and that people would have to leave the region if they wanted to pursue studies in the discipline.
More than 600 people have already signed a petition by the action group to save the Liberal Arts degree course.
A decision on its fate will be made at a meeting in three weeks' time.
A spokesperson for the University of Glasgow said: "Following an exhaustive and extensive consultation with all stakeholders, the university court will consider the recommendations in the report of the Liberal Arts consultation panel at its meeting on 22 June.
"The proposed changes at Dumfries Campus are in response to changing patterns of recruitment and the importance of carefully matching courses to local needs and national trends."