Sunday's opinion page pieces covered cultural snobbery around the quest to save the Gaelic language, and raised concerns about the prospect of a nationalised rail service in Scotland. Here is The Herald’s pick of those editorials.
The Sunday Times
Columnist Gillian Bowditch said that cultural snobbery will be the death of Gaelic and that the country must welcome entrepreneurs who aim to promote the heritage of the Highlands.
It comes after polyglot Charles Wilson who moved to the Outer Hebrides after completing a PhD in Gaelic, set up a café and cultural hub in Stornoway called An Taigh Cèilidh, where every interaction would start in Gaelic.
But she said that native speakers are less than enthused with Wilson's initiative and are said to be "railing" against his attempts to establish a "faux" Gaelic community.
"If an enthusiast who has dedicated years of study to the language, who has committed to moving to the Western Isles and who is willing to sink his resources into a centre for Gaelic, is considered an arriviste who cannot be trusted, then Gaelic really will die out," she warned.
"Nobody wants to live in Brigadoon but there is plenty of room for entrepreneurs to promote the heritage of the Highlands. It's a dearth of this kind of enterprise that has led to Scotland's tourism centres being flooded with cheap tartan tat from China.
"Besides, who wouldn't want to play Gaelic Scrabble or Gaelic Monopoly after a few drams? No need to send entrepreneurship straight to Gael. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two thousand groats. There is room for Crichton Smith and Adam Smith on the islands."
Mail on Sunday
Former Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson questioned the Scottish Government's decision to take over the running of ScotRail as an "operator of last resort".
"As far as transportation goes, Nicola Sturgeon's team can't get the basics right in ferry procurement (never mind operations), and the First Minister's last big, blue-sky thinking national infrastructure idea - creating a state-owned energy company - has just been abandoned despite half a million pounds being wasted on consultancy fees," she wrote.
"For his part, the Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson, has roundly criticised what's gone before - calling the franchise system 'not fit for purpose'. But in terms of how Government ownership is going to differ, or how passengers will see any improvements at all come March, rail users are in the dark.
"As Scotland gets back to work after the pandemic, we have a Government which is about to take control of our trains with no public plan to make things better and no stated aims of reforming structure or leadership.
"We have a near £1 billion taxpayer subsidy, a cut to services coming and pay disputes with vast swathes of the workforce. With the SNP's woeful track record of public ownership, maybe rail users should brace themselves."
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