On A Show Boat To Brittany

Linda Fabiani, Scotland's culture minister, has pledged almost £300,000 to support the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in Brittany, Europe's largest celebration of Celtic traditions that she and other ministers are to attend. It's all part of a drive to boost Scotland's political and trade links with other Celtic nations. The investment - equivalent to half the entire Scottish Executive budget for Tartan Week in the United States - follows the decision by organisers in Brittany to make Scotland the theme of this year's event.

It follows moves by Alex Salmond towards a council of devolved administrations - widely viewed as a bid to shift political power away from London towards Celtic nations, including Ireland and Wales.

Now whether this is money well spent or not is debatable and without knowing exactly what it's supposed to be spent on it's hard to say. However, the idea that a Celtic festival in Brittany will help the Farce minister achieve his goals is doubtful. The fact is that linking the Celtic nations together is unlikely to do anything tangible. It will not create a Celtic tiger economy in Scotland, it will achieve little politically as the goals of the nations are all very different - not least because of the Plaid Cymru, and Labour coalition in Wales and it's a totally baseless arrangement. There never was in history a Celtic nation and if there was any such thing as an alliance or understanding between the Celtic tribes it was too long ago to have any significance in the modern world.

The whole thing is showboating.