BBC and the Broadcasting Fund

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in a BBC panel discussion which was held this morning; we did our best to give them an overview of everything Ulster-Scots from daily vocabulary and historic language literature, to general history and cultural stuff. There were about 40 programme makers in the audience, and they spent much of their time asking us questions - so I asked them a few in return. One of these was "How many of you were reared in rural Ulster - now, reared, not moved out to the country when you made enough money". Only 4 or 5 raised their hands. That lack of natural home-grown cultural understanding within the media, and indeed within the decision makers of Northern Ireland, is a huge part of the future challenge for Ulster-Scots. Projects which are being funded, and managed, by people who don't really "get it" are particularly risky and vulnerable. I threw in a few slightly mischievous comments as well, it'll be interesting to see if these surface elsewhere in coming weeks.