I love a lot of the news satire that you can find in various nooks and crannies of the electronic interweb.
DeadBrain, The Onion and the Daily Fortnight are well-known, but there’s plenty examples of spoof and satire closer to home: Scottish contributions include The Daily Mash and the Jaggy Thistle.
A few sites have even come from the Highlands – the long-abandoned but still-online Amadan is a great laugh, although the humour (or Hugh Mor) is somewhat impenetrable to anyone without an understanding of the Gàidhealtachd. More recent examples I’ve enjoyed reading are A Gurn From Nairn, Inversnecky and Newsbleat.
Newsbleat is particularly amusing, with its 10th March article making me laugh out loud:
Never mind Inverness’ Asda saga; Nairn looks set to get a Sainsbury’s.
Is the sunniest town in Scotland, the Brighton of the North, ready for the upper crust of supermarkets?
Sainsbury’s slogan is ‘Try something new today’.
‘New’? In Nairn?
This is the town where shops still shut for lunch, even on Saturdays, and have half-days on Wednesdays. The local newspaper is still black and white. And refreshments are provided in tea rooms, yes, tea rooms – get that Starbucks latte outta my sight.
So Sainsbury‘s, if you’re wondering what the secret of success in Nairn retailing is…
Stock one of everything, wear brown overalls, display death notices in the window and give the customer what they really want rather than what you’re trying to shift. Then, if you’re lucky, you might stand a chance against the mighty Tradeway, Fraser’s electricals and the Watson fruit and veg mafia
Brilliant. I don’t really know a great deal about Nairn – known to be the fastest town in Scotland – but that description should resonate with the experiences of shopping in just about any small town or rural area.
Maybe these sites are a sign of the continued economic and cultural renaissance of the Highlands, but it’s certainly about time we laughed at ourselves a bit more.
Think that must have something to do with a lot of the Nairn’s greenbelt about to be developed.
Cawdor’s even put some land into the development plot.
That’s the last I heard before moving away, though you can download the local plan yourself from the Council’s website.
Next thing you know, it’ll be like Mexico City!