A waste of money??

[amsterdammer]

Another waste of money, with the news that the BBC. is to spend �11 million on a new Gaelic TV channel, despite the fact that only 58,000 Scots speak the language.
Is it not time to stop pandering to Scots & Welsh minorities & keep everything in English, the International language?

[soozmac]

for some reason, BBC2 Scotland seems to have a lot of Gaelic programmes on at the moment, always from around 6pm onwards. Who on earth thought that this was a good move, when such a small percentage of the population speaks the language? I'm all for keeping old languages alive, but this is ridiculous!

[Everhelpful]

And when was Licence payers money ever a problem with the BBC? I could go on all day about the amounts wasted by the BBC on ludicrous schemes and programmes. �18million for Jonathan Ross for a start.!! Please don't get me going about Graham Norton.!!.........................................................................

[Gromit]

It is afterall the The British Broadcasting Corporation not the English Broadcasting Corporation.

The British Isles has quite a few people for whom Gaelic is their mother tongue, so they should get some kind of service for them from the BBC. Old British languages should be encouraged and not forgotten. Language carries cultural, traditional and historical identity for a people and we should not idly stand by and see that swept aside.


BBC PRESS RELEASE

DAILY MAIL VERSIONl

[weeal]

Im sure the gaelic/welsh speaking public pay the same for their TV licence as everyone else, so why shouldnt they have some programmes??
Its like saying there shouldnt be 'live bowling' cos not everyone watches it.

[weeal]

lol @ raggy roman

[david1702198]

here here raggy roman!!!! the english seem to think that its not right that everybody PANDERS TO THEM !!! well see who they blame for all the problems once the rest of the uk goes independent and leaves england behind to deal with its own s h i t e !!!!!

[Booldawg]

tbh if Gaelic is their mother tongue then its through choice; theres a fair chance they're fluent in English as well- why waste money? Its not like they cant understand or enjoy English spoken programmes too.

[ludwig]

11 million isn't much of their budget - just over half a Jonathon Ross. It seems like the kind of thing the BBC should be doing rather than trying to compete for ratings with the commercial channels by dishing up endless crappy gameshows and repeats of only fools and horses.

[monkeyeyes]

I had cause to telephone the DVLA and was surprised to be offered the option of hearing all the messages in Welsh.........now I know that the DVLA is based is Swansea, but cannot quite see why this option is available.............

[WoWo]

I don't have a problem with the channel.

However the argument from some people here seems to be that because people who speak Gaelic pay a license fee that entitles them to have a channel dedicated to them? I like Archery, which is never on TV, does that mean there should be a BBC Archery channel?

I'd also go as far to say that there are likely to be a very large number of people in this country currently paying the license fee who's mother tounge is not English, in many cases many more than 58,000 speakers does that mean we should give them all their own channel?

[kempie]

monkeyeyes - in response to your post:

"...the DVLA... offered the option of hearing all the messages in Welsh.........now I know that the DVLA is based is Swansea, but cannot quite see why this option is available............."

Because it is the law.

The Welsh Language Act 1993 places a duty on the public sector in Wales to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis, when providing services to the public.

[Gromit]

From Answerbank Gaelic site...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?vs_UuuEL4pys

RUNRIG

[amsterdammer]

There are 46,000 Dutch nationals residents in the UK
I FINK we should have our own Channel also.
After all when I am in the Netherlands I can watch BBC 1 &2.

[Gromit]

You come on here moaning about wasting the License fee money, and you lot in Holland don't even pay for a license.
}:-P

[amsterdammer]

GROMIT
For your information, I pay for a license here in the UK! the fact that I dont have to in the Netherlands is immaterial.

[madworld]

The last time I checked The Netherlands was not part of BRITAIN so therefore is not covered by the BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION.....

WoWo......Are you thick??? It's not about channels. It's about languages.

[ronnieB]

Minter still moaning about the scots and welsh sorry, I meant amsterdammer.

[alijangra]

As a native gaelic speaker, obviously I am pleased that this is going ahead. It makes me sad that so many youngsters that have fluent gaelic speaking parents do not make an effort to carry on this beautiful language. Im hoping this will maybe encourage them. There has been a definite gaelic revival in recent years and I really believe it should be invested in, it would be tragic for this language to die off due to apathy.
The gaelic programmes on BBC2 are not on every night, just a couple of times per week. Is that really too much to ask??