17 May 2026: The use of English in the Eurovision Song Contest: The Eurovision Song Contest provides a good indicator of the status of English as a European lingua franca. The latest edition of Eurovision took place last night although with fewer participants than usual after five countries boycotted the competition in protest against Israel’s continued inclusion. Most Eurovision winners sing in English and, until recently, most finalists’ songs were in English. Then, five years ago, the number of finalists singing in English began falling sharply until last year just seven songs in the final were in English. The reasons for this apparent increase in linguistic nationalism are unclear but perhaps the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to renewed pride in, and protectiveness of, European national cultures and languages well beyond Ukraine itself. In any case, this year saw a marked reversal of the recent trend with 13 of the 25 countries in the final singing solely or mostly in English including the winner, Bulgaria. Interestingly, the title of Bulgaria’s song, ‘Bangaranga’, is a term common in Multicultural London English (meaning a commotion or riot). Perhaps, as the Ukraine war fades from public consciousness, overshadowed by more recent conflicts, the status of English as the language of the shared international musical culture of Europop is being reasserted.
30 April 2026: my latest blog is published today; it discusses language policy in Wales; Wales has frequently been a pioneer in language policy, in education, broadcasting, the law and other areas; the Welsh government has set a target of increasing the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050 although the most recent Census, in 2021, showed a small decline rather than an increase in the number of Welsh speakers over the preceding years; nevertheless, the maintenance of the Welsh language in Wales has been a remarkable achievement; read my blog here
17 April 2026: Manifesto commitments to Gaelic and Scots II: I have been examining the commitments to the Scots and Gaelic languages in the manifestos of the major parties contesting the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May. The SNP manifesto, published yesterday, displays a complete lack of ambition. There is a promise of ‘support’ for the further expansion of Gaelic medium education (GME), from the Gaelic Capital Fund and by encouraging more GME teachers. Continued support of e-Sgoil, an online Gaelic teaching and learning resource, is also pledged. Otherwise, all the SNP has to say is that ‘We are proud that we have passed the Scottish Languages Act to support Gaelic and Scots and we will ensure that its provisions are taken forward’. The Liberal Democrat manifesto, published this morning, is similarly underwhelming. It makes no mention of Scots and only two of Gaelic: more financial support for people training to be Gaelic teachers and ‘empowering’ – without saying how – ‘Gaelic-speaking communities to make decisions about how to best sustain their language and culture’.
15 April 2026: Manifesto commitments to Gaelic and Scots I: I have been scrutinising the main political parties’ manifestos for the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May for what they say about the Gaelic and Scots languages. Four manifestos have now been published. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is no mention in the Reform manifesto of Gaelic or Scots and just one in the Conservative manifesto, a complaint about Scottish Enterprise having to produce a Gaelic Language Plan being an ‘unnecessary reporting requirement’. Rather more surprisingly, there is also only one mention in the Labour manifesto which was published on Monday: ‘If we want to reverse depopulation and protect Gaelic as a living language, we need to sustain rural livelihoods’. This passage comes in a section on the Highlands and Islands and does at least recognise this as the heartland of Gaelic and the importance of a healthy economy to the maintenance of the language. In contrast, the manifesto of the Scottish Green Party (SGP), published yesterday, contains a number of commitments to Gaelic and Scots: the importance of increasing the number of Gaelic speaking teachers for the provision of Gaelic medium education; support of Gaelic speaking communities through the development of Areas of Linguistic Significance; ensuring that Scots has equal status in law to Gaelic; support of the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig College on Skye as the national centre for Gaelic language, education, and culture; and development of a national Gaelic and Scots youth development strategy. It is perhaps churlish to suggest that the SGP, which has at least taken support of Scotland’s two indigenous languages seriously, could have gone further still but that discussion is for another day.
31 December 2025: my final blog of the year is published today, on the last day of the year; a large number of community languages are spoken in Scotland; however, apart from Gaelic and BSL, only Urdu and Cantonese are widely taught in Scottish schools; much more responsive to the wishes of minority language communities to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage are complementary schools, organised by communities themselves, and, to a lesser extent, adult education classes; read my blog here
27 October 2025: my latest blog, on modern languages in Scottish schools and universities, is published today; there has been a sharp fall in the number of students studying languages in Scottish schools, particularly French and German, partly offset by an increase in the number studying Spanish. The numbers studying other languages are often very small. The number of students studying modern languages has also fallen at Scottish universities but, surprisingly, in Spanish as well as in French and German. Brexit has been a factor but, in many ways, it has simply reinforced trends that have been at work for a long time; read my blog here