Highland clearances?

Question

Is this still going on?

The highland clearances were when landlords in Scotland replaced all the people with sheep. It was not long before Scottish people in the Highlands introduced a new occupation. "Sheep stealing"

Answer 1

I dunno what you mean really. I live in the highlands and I have seen, no changes. I think the major problem you have is that many of the young people want to go to university, so they move to the big towns and cities - get a taste of the busy life and then don't come back.

The sooner the university of the highlands and islands is up and running it should stall the amount of young people who go to Glasgow and Aberdeen for their education and try and stop the decline in population.

Secondly, rural scotland is suffering like other parts of the UK from cheap imports abroad. This has resulted in a decline of people buying produce in the highlands. I don't know how to stop this - it is evolution.

But the clan system is dead, instead Scotland profits from the many Americans who think they are related to Rob Roy - so there is an upside. But in reality the highland clearances were completed by the 1880's, as Scotland became more industrialised.

Answer 2

Not with the cruelty and brutality of the 18th/19th centuries but there seems little motivation in the talking shop which is the Scottish Parliament to really get down to the reconstruction of the Highlands. Of course I know there are all kinds of schemes being aired or proposed but this has been going on from long before the birth of the Scottish Parliament and so far doesn't amount to much,I'm afraid the Glens are fated to be silent forever..