From the island of St Kilda 40 miles west of the Hebrides, to Edinburgh’s splendid Georgian New Town, Scotland is a nation rich in cultural heritage, some of which is Unesco-protected. As well as the country’s globally renowned castles and monuments, Scotland has an enormous resource of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

Living heritage is protected through the Unesco 2003 Convention for the Protection and Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The convention has virtually global coverage, with 181 nations signed up. However, the UK is one of the very few countries that has not.

These issues are made more acute by the marginalisation and historic exclusion of Gaelic, Doric and Scots languages and culture. The fact that Scotland is unable to sign up to this Unesco convention when it would be beneficial to do so, highlights the political issues at play.