As soon as the above self-portrait popped up I knew what this was all about.
Macleod is a constant critic of the SNP and has accused them, in 2017, of having a ‘divisive lynch-mob’ among the membership
Macleod shares Neil Oliver’s position on the clearances ie that much was voluntary and beneficial to the communities it affected. In a bitter blog review of the work of Dr James Hunter he questions a key point:
“The forcible displacement of much of northern Scotland’s population”. The appropriate word should be ‘some’ rather than ‘much’, which makes a big difference.
I’m no expert on this but I’m going with the History PhD rather than Oliver’s BA (3rd Class) in Archaeology or Macleod’s eff all?
As for his research suggesting:
and preceded by this:
We are asked to believe that his research is still useful on short-term lets.
As for second-home owners having to pay more council tax, as far as I can see, he does not return to offer any evidence at all on the effects of that and has simply bundled it in with research that was, for all its likely faults (I have no time), only about some, not all, short-term lets.
The increases in Council Tax for second home owners began in April this year. We’ll need a year or two before we can see if that reduces second-home ownership and enables more locals to get a house in the place in which they were born and work in.
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
clearances = ethnic cleansing
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It encompassed Southern Scotland as well, ships leaving Carsthorn on the Solway for Canada
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So they didn’t happen on a large scale in Sutherland either? Just “some”, I suppose they all “volunteered?
From The Scottish History Society….
Patrick Sellar (1780-1851)
Patrick Sellar is perhaps the individual most closely associated with the Highland clearances; as one of the most successful evictors and sheep farmers, accused but acquitted of culpable homicide, he is also one of the most vilified characters in Scottish history. Sellar first came to prominence when he was employed by the Countess of Sutherland to coordinate large-scale clearances in Sutherland, which he undertook with gusto – not least because he would later rent the cleared lands himself for large-scale commercial sheep farming. He was, however, a difficult character, and came into conflict with both the Sutherland people and his employers, not least the Countess and her commissioner, James Loch. He ran into serious trouble in 1816 when accusations were made against him of culpable homicide and he was tried, but eventually acquitted, at Inverness. After the trial, Sellar settled into the life of a successful and wealthy sheep farming tenant on the Sutherland estate, a vocation he apparently excelled at. Although he escaped legal sanctions, Sellar (and his descendents) never escaped recurrent public vilification, and his reputation in current times has not improved.
So no-one was evicted, everyone “just wanted a better life in say Canada and the Americas, makes you feel good that the lords and ladies and countesses etc. were so kind to all of their Scottish “peasants” doesn’t it?
JB
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Or what about The Battle of the Braes on Skye in 1882 pitted 50 Glaswegian policemen against crofters armed with stones. The Duke of Sutherland’s factor called Highlanders “brutes …shut out from any general stream of knowledge.”
Or even……..in 1724 in Galloway, where radical Covenanting traditions had endured, Cottars mounted a year-long guerrilla war, breaking down the new sheep-dykes, but this remains little known outside historical circles.
So from the Highlands to the Lowlands I think it’s a safe bet to say that the people of Scotland were forcibly removed from their land, any one who says different should probably be classified as “a Clearances Denier”……..Better Together? The Union is Working for Scotland? Where would we be if Engerland hadn’t “bailed” us out and nurtured and supported us for all these years? Starmer ,Sarwar, Murray, Baillie and BritishLabour only have their “fellow citizens” best interests at heart definitely not lining their own pockets from the wealth of Scotland, I thinkI will stick with voting for SNP!!!
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forgot to sign the last one JB…..sorry!!!
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Also happening in Wales.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/second-home-owners-pay-double-27962670
“A year ago, the Welsh Government introduced a range of tools for local authorities to tackle the influx of second homes. These measures included permitting councils to increase council tax premiums, as well as permitting changes to the criteria for self-catering accommodation being liable for business rates instead of council tax. In the neighbouring county of Gwynedd, for example, Cyngor Gwynedd has been charging a 150% council tax premium on around 23,000 second home owners since April of this year.”
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” …retired information professional ” = unionist propagandist !
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These idiotic people who try to change history who try to change what is already in accepted historic records should not be given widespread space in the media but it tells you more about the Herald than this weirdo that he is allowed to disrespect Scotlands people doesn’t it there are people living in Scotland who know their ancestors and the dreadful treatment meted out to them during the clearances who will be angered and hurt that this fool is allowed to disrespect their ancestors suffering.
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