5,000 signatures reached
To: The Academy Awards organisers
Take Scotland out of the Oscars goodie bag
According to news reports, plots of Scottish land and titles like Laird, Lord and Lady Glencoe will be amongst the merchandise given to Oscar nominees in luxury goodie bags. I want those fake titles and plots of Scottish land removed from the Academy Award gift packs. Failing that, I'd like nominees to leave the goodie bags on their seats.
Why is this important?
Firstly, the offer of meaningful titles is false, as land reform campaigner Andy Wightman has outlined. Secondly, it's a wounding insult for all Scots to see parts of our land traded like trinkets. For centuries, Scots have had almost no chance to own our own land thanks to clearances, absentee owners, and sky-high land prices. Actually not much has changed. It's why the Highlands are so full of empty glens - not people. Scotland is one of the last places in Europe where land can be bought and sold on a whim with no questions asked. As a result a tiny number of people own the land - fewer today than in 1872. This storm in a Goodie Bag reminds Scots why land reform is urgent and necessary - to turn the ownership of our beautiful country into the shared responsibility of Scots, not a trinket to be traded by strangers.
