Letter: Fighting talk

While sharing Andrew Mac-Lean's surprise and dismay at the government's decision to terminate the Gaelic learning resource TAIC - an incredible decision by an SNP government that has been notably supportive of both Gaelic and Scots - Scottish academics are by no means "cringing behind their desks" on the issue of supporting Scotland's indigenous languages.

Besides the extensive research work conducted by academics in the fields of Scots and Gaelic, in some cases under the auspices of the Forum for Research in the Languages of Scotland and Ulster or the Language Committee of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies, members of Scottish university departments and school teaching staffs have been, and still are, active participants in the cross-party groups for Scots and Gaelic and in the ministerial working group on Scots (the latter of which will be presenting its report to the government in the next month).

Many academics have made vigorous and dedicated efforts to promote the use, as well as the study, of our native languages in schools and worked to expand their place as fields of study in tertiary education, both in Scotland and internationally.

DERRICK McCLURE

Rosehill Terrace

Aberdeen