"Politics follows culture"
I think what we actually need is more grassroots stuff. That’s where the action happens. Having a few well‑paid people in some sort of national centre in Glasgow might not help the culture thrive. What I was talking about earlier is tiny pockets of funding.
"Bòrd na Gàidhlig does it – relatively small amounts of money, that kind of a couple of hundred thousand every three years to loads of small projects, which allow communities to empower themselves, because that’s where the language lives and that’s where it’ll live or die.
“For traditional music and traditional languages, it’s got to be at the grassroots. I’d love to see the government finding ways for money to get right down to the folk speaking it, playing it, sharing the stories, nurturing the next generation. If a national body’s the way to go, fine – but I’m not convinced.”