I can understand some of the points he raised when the Inverness councillor Kenneth McLeod criticised the Mod. He said that the festival had no point any more, and that instead the focus should be on a new Celtic festival, which would be in Inverness every year.
He maintains that the Mod is not interesting enough, that too much of it is simply people singing the same songs and that the real Mod does not begin until evening in the pubs and bars.
He is talking about a new Celtic festival to be set up inste
ad of the mod, something for all the Celtic nations, and he believes that the mod is at the end of its journey.
He's right in a way, and he's wrong. Totally wrong.
There is no doubt at all that some of the criticism is justified. Many things are wrong with the Mod, who of us is not fed up with these long English speeches before the results of the competitions come out? Which of us has not shaken his head about how few have appeared at some of the competitions? And he is right that the tea leaves and the meetings at night and the real heart of the Mod. That's where the real fun starts.
But it is no answer to get rid of the Mod. If the people of Inverness want to have something new, then that would be great. If they think it fit to have a new Celtic festival, there is nothing wrong with Inverness doing something by themselves. If it becomes obvious that this new festival is so good that it is much better than the Mod, then people will go to it, and the Mod itself will fade away. It is only natural.
If people are unhappy with the Mod, then they should try to change it. If they are still unhappy, they can stay at home. They can do something themselves. Leave the rest of us to get pleasure from the festival. Young and old enjoy the Mod. The old ladies love it. It encourages young children to take interest in the language and the music of their ancestors.
I can never understand why this opinion comes from some, that something which is going on in the Gaelic language has to be scrapped if any new thing is to be established.
I would also question just how Gaelic and how Highland, this new festival would be. We are speaking about "hope that there would be a place for Gaelic" in this new undertaking.
However, a "hope there would be some place for Gaelic" is simply not good enough. Even "a place for Gaelic" is actually not good enough at a Celtic festival in the capital city of the Highlands.
I would also be worried about what exactly they would mean by the word Celtic. There are many kinds of music which can be heard these days at festivals which call themselves Celtic, and they don't have very much connection with anything that I understand as being Celtic or Highland.
I would like to see something new, but as something new in addition to what there is already. I'm not sweeping away something we have already.
There's nothing wrong with reforming things at the Mod. There are few changes which would be useful, the likes of:
No more long speeches in anything but Gaelic.
More awards for new categories. What about a competition for YouTube pieces in Gaelic?
The area which gets the Mod to have cut-price Gaelic lessons running for at least a year before the festival and a year afterwards.
A rule that it would have to return to the Western Isles at least every four years.
I'm sure there are another thousand ideas for the Mod, many which will be much better than my ideas.
But there is something else which bothers me about this new idea.
Is this person speaking about the same Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, as the one which banned bilingual signs in the greater part of the town? And even where the language of the Gael gets a place, that it is in tiny little writing which cannot be read?
They should set their own house in order.
