What True Scots cannot miss

[piratelassie]

Program on tonight STV. 10 o'clock about the highland clearances.Do you think this subject should get more coverage..?

[Kevin Milkins]

Program on tonight STV. 10 o'clock about the highland clearances.Do you think this subject should get more coverage..?

Yes, I would like to know more.

I have been here 3 years and have read a little about it ,but would like to see a programme on it

[butterfly]

Same here kev.Would be interesting.

[sandyr]

Web site for Highland Clearances etal...badbeafamilies.com
We are across the World......

[Fran]

I will be watching. My late great aunt and uncle in Skerray , Bettyhill, were interviewd in a programme as they suffered through the highland clearances. Unfortunately it was all in gaelic so I didn';t understand it!!!!

[horseman]

piratelassie-no-it's been done before-many times,over an done with-history
Move on lassie, this is old old old ground-far too many awful events in Scotlands past that are now recorded in history an I think should be left there, an thou' never forgotten-at least put to rest.-R I P

[GetWithTheTimes]

IMO nothing needs more coverage if people use their brains and actively seek out information they can learn anything, it doesnt need to be on the tv so people know about it and in fact alot of the stuff on tv is garbage anyway so why not search online or read books???

i rarely watch tv media is just another way of fooling the nations as most believe anything they watch on the tv as pure fact, some idiots actually believe the actors in soaps are who they act in the soaps!!!

[davie]

IMO nothing needs more coverage if people use their brains and actively seek out information they can learn anything, it doesnt need to be on the tv so people know about it and in fact alot of the stuff on tv is garbage anyway so why not search online or read books???

i rarely watch tv media is just another way of fooling the nations as most believe anything they watch on the tv as pure fact, some idiots actually believe the actors in soaps are who they act in the soaps!!!

I must agree with most of what you say - especially about Scottish/Highland history. The few TV programmes I have watched on these subjects have been laughable in their presentation and content.
Hopefully this one might get to the crux of ther matter (somewhere between Donald MacLeod and Harriet Beecher Stowe) but I somehow doubt it.

[GetWithTheTimes]

I must agree with most of what you say - especially about Scottish/Highland history. The few TV programmes I have watched on these subjects have been laughable in their presentation and content.
Hopefully this one might get to the crux of ther matter (somewhere between Donald MacLeod and Harriet Beecher Stowe) but I somehow doubt it.

why thanks for your agreement

i feel people just dont take the initiative to learn about what they want to learn about, i can go online or to the library and find a load of info on any subject i feel worthy of learning about so how some people seem to rely on the fact that they should be represented better on tv proposterous as you will find most intelligent knowledgable people havent watched tv to learn what they know

i appologise in advance for my spelling i am so you could say bladdered hahahaha one few too many tins hahahah

[Valerie Campbell]

The Clearances have been exhausted on TV. Ok, individual stories are fascinating but there's a new train of thought re the Clearances and the romantic view is changing. Some Highlanders wanted to leave to make a better life for themselves because crofting is blinking hard labour, and although the Highland folk were tough, they wanted more out of life. They had aspirations which is why they moved on. Of course the sheep and cattle played a part, we know that, especially in Sutherland, but it wasn't the only reason by any stretch of the imagination. If my husband's family hadn't left Latheron in the 19th century, they would have starved but instead they moved to Glasgow and made a comfortable life for themselves.

[cuddlepop]

I know it says its a new,but I'm sure I watched this not so long ago on a Sunday or early tea time slot through the week,either that or they made two similar programes

It was well worth watching.

[Aaldtimer]

The programme was a much edited mish-mash of excerpts from the original series, very dumbed-down in my opinion from the original, which wasn't really "in depth" in the first place!
Glorious scenery though, if a bit repetetive in parts.

[JAWS]

Most of the Clearances were as a result of the actions of the Clan Chiefs who demanded rents be paid in cash to fund their lifestyles when they went South. The only problem with that was that the Clan System was basically cashless, rent being paid either by handing over a certain proportion of beasts or crops or by giving labour. When the Chiefs decided they could make money by selling the Clan Lands to finance their lifestyles the clansfolk were removed to make it easier to find buyers.

A good book to read is The Highland Clearances by John Prebble. He gives a fairly straight forward and reasonably detailed, if less romantic, account of the Clearances which is also quite readable.

If you want a description of Highland life prior to the Clearances try a Journey to the Hebrides by Dr Samuel Johnson. Despite his supposed dislike of Scots he gives a very sympathetic description of the hardships of the people and has a lot of admiration for those Clan Chiefs who had not headed south and were still acting in the best interests of their Clans. He also gives a fairly good description of how the system, when it was properly operating, worked.
He had absolutely no respect for those Chiefs who had abandoned their responsibilities, had headed south, and were ripping off their Clansmen to finance their highlife in London.
Be warned though, he writes in the manner of his time, the 1700s, so there are times when reading it is hard work and sometimes you have to take a hard look at the wording to get the correct meaning.