Talk:Stornoway

message: Stornoway has become the butt of jokes throughout Scotland and indeed the UK for the lack of amenities and facilities available for locals and tourists on Sundays, Indeed only one filling station currently opens on a Sunday (along with the Stornoway Airport). The refusal to trade and indeed travel by ferry off the Island from Stornoway on Sunday had been put down to the oppressive hold the local church has over the businessmen and indeed the Western Isles Council. In terms of Scottish and indeed British tradition this particular example of backward idealism only survives in the Western Isles, where the Sabbath remains to be considered Holy.
Despite only 10% of the population actually going to church on a regular basis, there seems to be a lucrative niche for any business that is willing to take advantage of the demands from the silent majority and trade on a Sunday. Undeniably recent Sunday ferry sailings from North Uist to Harris and the opening of Stornoway Airport on Sundays is a step forward for the island. In reality, it is only a matter of time before the majority of viable businesses are trading on a Sunday. The argument for this becomes somewhat stronger considering almost all Licensed Premises in the town have permission to sell alcohol on the Sabbath, yet it is considered taboo to enquire about buying a Sunday newspaper.
--Mgdm 13:15, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Controversial Sundays 

message: There is nothing untrue, and it is completeley neutral from a Wikipedia member from Stornoway. I indeed personally studied this particular topic for my Sociology degree in Glasgow. I will not re-post the article if you can tell me what you beleive as not being neutral.
It was the phrasing like "oppressive hold", "backward idealism" etc that could be considered offensive, which is what I was trying to avoid. For what it's worth, I live in Stornoway and I would quite like ferries on Sunday, but I don't want to stir up the argument on here. What you wrote is mostly factually correct but some of it seemed more like opinion than actual fact. That's all.
--Mgdm 19:36, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Neutrality 

message: Even the title "Controversial Sundays" is far from neutral. Rather than imposing your political (even local political) views on anyone reading about Stornoway, a more reasonable approach would be a single line sentence to say that in Stornoway Sundays are still observed as days of rest; however, many people would like more amenities to be available. Then link that single sentence to a new page describing the phenomenon. This could then be used for both Stornoway and Lewis articles. I'm not going to bother making this change myself for now as you all seem to just be ping-ponging the (very poorly written) piece between existing and not existing. If people could agree on this, or accept it, I'd be happy to draft the needed changes some time soonish (within the next 2 weeks) and make it far, far less biased.
If this was on a separate page, then normal Wikipedians would no longer feel intimidated to edit the main Stornoway page in case of getting caught up in such an argument.
If you have any statistics such as "99% of all cucumber eaters in Lewis want Sunday ferries", please provide the source of those statistics. Otherwise, they should not be included.
Sounds fine to me. I had intended to do something similar but not got round to it yet. --Mgdm 09:07, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There is nothing wrong or remotely POV with stating that the status of the Sunday/Sabbath is "controversial" in Stornoway/Lewis - this is exactly the case as is amply demonstrated by the constant warring and debates that go on within the local papers, councils etc and protests against various sunday openings or services. If somebody feels to strongly against the inclusion of the word "controversial" it should be very, very easy to find numerous online examples which show the description as valid. siarach 18:11, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

text: Sounds reasonable to me. siarach 19:43, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Neutrality 

message: I've split the page into sections and added some more content - thoughts?  It may need copy-editing, and any Gaelic bits are likely to be misspelt.  The history section is very thin, so please expand it, or we could contact the Stornoway Historical Society to see if they would like to write or have already something suitable?  Andrewrpalmer 16:07, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the idea of contacting the stornoway comunn eachrdraidh or historical society or whatever they have is an excellent one. siarach 13:03, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll drop them an email this week and ask them Andrewrpalmer 13:29, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sections, more content 

message: In his 2002 book "Islam Today", Akbar S. Ahmed's discusses the Muslim community in Stornoway who are Pakastani in origin but are well integrated.  Ahmed, who has taught at Harvard and Cambridge said he took a trip up to Stornoway to find out for himself.  One Muslim whom he met there said, "We are real Scots but also Muslims." (p181)  He says they do not violate the Sunday codes.  In his 1986 study, "Pakistan Society: Islam, Ethnicity and Leadership in South Asia", Ahmed learned that a Pakastani traveller first arrived in Stornoway in the 1930's -they are Arian from the Punjab in Pakistan.  They both work for and employ Scottish natives.  Ahmed is a great and sensative writer -I recommend his book "Islam Today".  
  
I will post this on the main page unless something comes up.  -Teetotaler 1/7/07
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.68.22.207 (talk) 06:37, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Muslims in Stornoway 

message: I have added a section to the talk page for WikiProject Scottish Isles here. If you have any input, please raise it there as this is an issue for several articles, not just this one. MRM (talk) 12:30, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Famous People - who qualifies? 

message: I have cut down hugely on the Sabbath section, instead leaving a link to a main article on Religion in the Outer Hebrides.
Nonetheless, this leaves the new Religion (instead of Sabbath) section requiring expansion. I was thinking of mentioning denominations with a significant presence or any important historical information - but I lack the knowledge to fill this in in depth.
The main reason for this is that the text we had was rather namby-pamby and the result of placating certain users intent on POV pushing on this article, where it really had no place. However, the peculiarities of the Sabbath in Stornoway are worth mentioning.
The main article is as below:
The text of the Stornoway article has been kept verbatim for others to edit.MRM (talk) 07:16, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd be a lot happier with a "main" article that was not so full of clean up tags and which had a proper section heading for the islands south of Harris but in general I think this is the right approach. Michael Pacione (2005) "The Geography of Religious Affiliation in Scotland" is potentially helpful, although the treatment of the Highlands and Islands is weak. Failing that W.H. Murray and Keay probably have something. Ben MacDui 14:45, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  I know it's very messy at the moment but wanted to leave it like that for a while before tidying to avoid those who insisted on it being in Stornoway and Lewis in very negative ways pushing their own agenda trying to reinsert it. Now it's in its own place, it can be properly tidied. I agree it needs much more about the Southern Isles and it needs a huge tidy - but I'm much happier with the Stornoway/Lewis articles not being messed up with this stuff.MRM (talk) 15:09, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Religion 

message: This seems a massively unreal suggestion. Channel tunnel cost £9 billion several decades ago. Did anyone worth listening to really think that the economics of this could stack up?  Refs are cited but the only one that works (the Independent) doesn't say who came up either the suggestion. I suggest removing this. FDent (talk) 19:13, 20 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  undersea tunnel  

message: I'm not sure that Stornoway is the third largest town in the Highlands. Nairn has a population of 9,773 for the town alone, and 12,000 for the wider area.
89.241.78.247 (talk) 11:13, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: You are right, I think. That claim is dubious, not least because there is no clear definition of what exactly the term "Highlands" covers. Elgin, or Kirkwall, for example could be included in some definitions of the Highlands – Elgin is more populous than Stornoway and Kirkwall may be too. I will remove the statement for now, though it could be re-added if someone finds a clearer definition with a reliable source. --Deskford (talk) 11:42, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  3rd largest town in the Highlands? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: These external links were removed from the page today. I have posted them here, as they may be useful for editors. AlasdairW (talk) 21:18, 10 August 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links removed