22/01/2008
Slump... did we just have a boom?
News that Wales (and most of the Western world it seems) is heading for a slump has prompted the odd wag to ask "what, was that a boom"?
Wales for the past 10 years of Brown-inspired "boom" has seen a growth in minimum-wage jobs, soaring credit debt and a collapse in manufacturing industry. The only boom has been the artificial house prices, partly fuelled by localised booms in areas around Cardiff, the Swansea marina and the Chester overspill in Flintshire and Wrexham. Other factors are the college-related boom around Aberystwyth, which can be linked into the buy-to-let mania that has further fuelled house price inflation. Rural Wales has generally been hit by incomers moving from wealthier parts of England, pricing local people out of the housing market entirely.
All this has left Wales further behind in terms of wealth within the UK. There are 47,000 people in the UK earning £350,000 or more - only 500 or so live in Wales. If you earn £35,000 or more in Wales, you are among the wealthiest 10% of the population.
Persistent levels of low pay are at the root of many of our problems - poverty is linked to ill-health, poor housing and low levels of academic achievement. Low incomes limit people's abilities in so many ways it means the wealthier minority have a persistent advantage and that advantage is increasing.
Tackling low pay levels - the average full-time wage in Wales is just £19,100 - would tackle debt, welfare dependency and be far more productive than trying to address the symptoms rather than the causes of many of society's problems. There's a lack of affordable childcare - not because child minders or nurseries pay their staff a good rate but because people aren't paid a decent wage in the first place. It's affordable if you're middle class and able to earn £30,000 or more.
Why isn't low pay on the political agenda? Perhaps because too many of the politicians, senior civil servants, policy advisors, poverty professionals, council leaders, senior council officers, lobbyists and trade union leaders are part of that elite 10% earning more than £35,000.
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05/10/2007
Stop the School for Slaughter
It's been labelled the School for Slaughter by its opponents. Its proponents call it the biggest ever investment in Wales.
Now a campaign to fight the establishment of a new military training centre in St Athan is gathering pace.
In January 2007, the London government announced the success of the St Athan and Metrix bid to establish a new military training academy.
In Wales, the first Minister Rhodri Morgan and the economic minister Andrew Davies sprayed champagne outside the Senedd in celebration. The local media gave the impression was that this was just about the best thing that had ever happened to Wales: £14 billion worth of contract and around 5,000 jobs.
But how will this military academy contribute to the Assembly's proud goal of achieving sustainable development? What exactly is Wales committing itself to when it signs up for the St Athan deal?
• A future based on militarism
• A commitment to military privatisation
• A welcome mat for the world’s largest missile manufacturer
What will be the impact of the academy on local quality of life – on traffic congestion, for example, and housing affordability? What will be the impact on Welsh education, and the social and political values that are taught to Welsh children and youth?
For those who are committed to a nuclear-free Wales, they should be aware that the Royal Navy’s Maritime Engineering School, which contains the Nuclear Systems Group, is projected to move from HMS Sultan to St Athan by 2017. The Nuclear Systems Group trains the Naval Officers responsible for operating the nuclear submarines that are the heart and soul of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.
A fuller analysis of the issues is now available on the Cynefin y Werin website, , from where much of this article was shamelessly filched.
2,000 bilingual pamphlets have also just been printed to highlight the case against the military academy - to get a copy contact here.
Promoters of the St Athan Defence Training Academy claim the Academy is good for Wales because of the jobs it will create. When the Academy was announced in January 2007, the South Wales Echo described it as a “massive jobs bonanza.” Welsh politicians and media have claimed that the Academy will create as many as 5,550 on and off-site jobs, and that these will be “highly skilled jobs” in fields such as “mobile communications, IT, engineering, logistics, even photography.” Such claims, however, do not stand up to close scrutiny.
In reality, most of the jobs will come from re-locating trainers from other military bases that are being closed in England. There will be jobs for local people - minimum wage work in catering and security.
The PCS union, which represents the trainers, is fiercely opposed to this centralisation of services because it will be a massive Private Finance Initiative scheme that effectively privatised military training and threatens many jobs.
A recent mobilisation of campaigners saw 30 peaceniks gather outside the base and further action is being planned.
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Employment - but what kind?
It appears Wales is leading the way in terms of job creation.
As part of the launch of a further £1.8 billion in EU grant aid for the West and Valleys, Danuta Hübner, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, has congratulated the Welsh Assembly Government.
She said, “The Welsh Convergence ERDF programme 2007-2013 is even more ambitious than the 2000-2006 ERDF programme with 70 per cent of investment being earmarked for jobs and sustainable growth. This strategy is already working in Wales – parts of North Wales now have the highest employment rates in the entire EU."
Which begs the question - if we're creating all these jobs, why are we still one of the poorest parts of the EU?
That much is clear from the fact that much of Wales qualifies for the EU grant aid because it is below 75% of the average EU GDP.
Two answers spring to mind - one is that much of the job creation is low-paid and unskilled. The real boom in jobs in North Wales is among minimum wage workers, many of them migrant workers. The only boom has been for gangmasters, low-wage bosses and landlords who pack Poles into houses like sardines in a tin.
Second is that much of the EU aid is hoovered up by large institutions, consultants and government bodies with the resources to apply for these grants and the means to match fund them. Few community groups have such resources and most communities have little to show for the massive Objective One funding that was allegedly pumped into the area from 2000-6.
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04/10/2007
West Lothian and the Tryweryn Question
We're frequently reminded of the "West Lothian Question", the situation whereby Welsh and Scottish MPs are allowed to vote on issues relevant to West Bromwich but not West Lothian (as Tam Dalyell so succinctly put it back in 1979).
It's a question that's never been properly answered during the devolution debate and growing powers for the Assembly make it even more absurd that Welsh MPs can vote on health and education matters, for example, that affect English constituencies but don't impact on their own voters.
This is often cited by English nationalists, usually in opposition to devolution. But there is less publicity given to what could be termed "the Tryweryn question".
Back in pre-devolution days, Liverpool Corporation's desire for water (mainly to supply industries that are now long gone) led it to Tryweryn, near Bala. An Act of Parliament was needed to permit the damming of the valley and the drowning of a Welsh community, Capel Celyn.
35 of the 36 Welsh MPs voted against the move but it was passed with the help of English MPs who knew nothing about the community they were voting to destroy.
Not surprisingly, the symbolic nature of the drowning of Capel Celyn in the 1960s still resonates among nationally minded people in Wales.
The manifest injustice then should not be perpetuated now. Welsh MPs should not vote on issues solely for England. There is therefore a clear case for a reduction of Welsh MPs in Westminster because the bulk of decision making on day-to-day matters in Wales takes place in Cardiff.
The savings made by reducing the numbers of MPs should be put towards increasing the numbers of AMs who can therefore scrutinise and hold the Assembly government to account more fully.
We have half-and-half a democracy at the moment, with neither half functioning properly.
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28/09/2007
Labour unionist to the core
David Cornock's insight into the Labour Party's soul searching after its May election setback is interesting:
Eluned Morgan said Labour had to face up to the fact that in some areas "people simply don't like what we are doing".
She added: "We should not be tiptoeing around the nationalists despite being in coalition with them."
Former Secretary of State Paul Murphy told the meeting Labour should resist the possibility of "an obsession with identity in Wales".
(Assembly) Leader of the House Carwyn Jones said Labour should proclaim its unionist beliefs more - a move welcomed by one devosceptic MP.
Former first secretary Alun Michael said the Assembly should be increased to include 80 members, two per constituency, with no regional list AMs. He also suggested a Northern Ireland-style power-sharing deal in which all parties would share responsibility for making devolution work.
Eluned Morgan's point about tiptoeing is something Plaid Cymru should bear in mind, as it tiptoes round the new coalition partner for fear of causing it to collapse. Let's get one thing straight - One Wales is an agreed set of objectives with 2/3rds of the AMs backing it. Criticising Labour on anything outside that is fine and, indeed, should be a priority as Gordon Brown sets about making his bizarre Britishness a key aspect of any forthcoming election.
Labour, as Carwyn "the devolutionist" Jones, reveals is Unionist to its core and is therefore the enemy of anyone seeking self-determination for Wales (as are the other big two London parties).
Having said that, Alun Michael's point about increasing the number of AMs is interesting and would be a vast improvement on the unworkable list AM set-up, which has created second-class AMs with few of the constituency ties or workloads of the First Past The Post AMs.
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04/07/2007
the red-green agreement
The UK media's news blackout about the historic Labour-Plaid agreement prompts this posting.
Firstly, some background:
On May 3, Labour achieved its worst percentage result in Wales since 1918 (33%) but managed to hang on to 26 seats out of the 60 Assembly seats.
Plaid gained three AMs to go to 15, Tories 12 (+1), Lib Dems were static on 6 and Trish Law retained her seat as an independent People's Voice representative. Forward Wales AM John Marek lost his seat in Wrexham to Labour.
Prior to the election Labour had made much of the threat of "vote Plaid, get Tory" - i.e. that Plaid would do a deal with the Tories and Lib Dems in the event of a hung Senedd.
This appeared to be happening when the leaders of the three parties agreed a so-called Rainbow alliance. The agreement was essentially Plaid's policies with some Lib Dem add ons with the Tories content just to be back in some kind of power at a national level for the first time in 10 years. Four left-wing Plaid AMs - all women - stood up against this deal, saying Plaid's left philosophy was at odds with Tory philosophy.
At the same time, the Lib Dems national executive managed to tie on a vote to approve the deal and, on that basis, they rejected the Rainbow deal.
Labour moved quickly and formed a minority government. The Rainbow momentum was lost.
Then a curious thing happened. Adam Price, Plaid's leading strategist and MP for Carmarthen East, posted a message on his blog advocating an alliance between the two left-wing parties in the Assembly. Plaid and Labour.
Before people start choking at the idea of Labour as a left-wing party, it's as well to recall that Welsh Labour has remained essentially Old Labour - rejecting private finance initiatives in health and education, maintaining comprehensive education and keeping business at bay and introducing modest reforms such as free prescriptions for all (something taken up by the SSP) and free bus passes for all Welsh pensioners.
Plaid had run the campaign on a social democratic platform of reforms (what it could deliver within the Assembly's limitations) coupled with demands for greater powers for the Assembly.
So the idea made sense but seemed to have missed the boat. Then Edwina Hart, a Labour minister, came out publicly and supported the idea of a red-green coalition.
Suddenly momentum grew and One Wales, an agreement that combined most of Plaid's policies with firm commitments to halt all privatisation and PFI in the NHS and keeping council housing in the control of local authorities, was born. The agreement also commits Labour to a referendum on a Scottish-style Parliament and to campaign for a 'yes' vote.
Only a red-green alliance can deliver on the constitutional issue because a 2/3rds majority is needed in the Assembly to trigger a referendum. Plaid and Labour between them have 41 members out of 60. The Rainbow couldn't meet that criteria.
Plaid was - and remains - split between those wanting red-green and those who see the chance to ditch Labour, which has ruled Wales ruthlessly for 80 years, and impose a Plaid-led coalition with Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid's leader) as First Minister.
But the four left-wing women AMs were joined by others and voted through the red-green deal.
Labour meanwhile has started to tear itself apart, with a clear split emerging between the AMs (generally in favour) and the MPs (generally against) - of course, a Parliament in Wales would mean reducing MPs in London.
What next?
On Friday, a special Labour conference will vote on the agreement. On Saturday, Plaid's National Council - a democratic body made up of party delegates - will vote on the same agreement. If it goes through both meetings, as expected, then a Labour-Plaid government will be in power.
Adam Price's blog makes it clear that this is not only a historic agreement but that it is intended to drive a wedge into Labour - to divide the pro-devolutionists from the unionists in the party. From the tone of various MPs and AMs today, it looks like it's working.
For comrades outside Wales, I'd urge you to take a look at the One Wales agreement - take a look on Ted Jones's blog for the full version. You may be surprised.
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02/03/2007
God bless the Prince of Wales!
If Prince Charles didn't exist then republicans would have to invent him.
He's probably done more damage to the monarchy in the past 20 years than any of its opponents and his latest gaffe continues in this fine tradition.
The Western Mail reports that he has launched a legal clampdown on the use of the Three Feathers symbol:
“Letters have been sent by Buckingham Palace to several Welsh companies demanding they stop selling items bearing the insignia, regarded by many as representing Wales itself, and not merely its Prince, immediately.
Sent from the Lord Chamberlain's Office, copying in Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall's offices, the letters spell out that the emblem 'usually known as the Prince of Wales Feathers' is 'the personal property of the Prince of Wales, and as such is protected from misuse by law'."
There are thousands of products, from mugs and rugby shirts to business logos and stationery, that use the symbol. All, apparently, without the authority of his majesty.
Ernest Brooks, who runs his own jewellers in Ammanford, was among those who got a letter and he wasn't impressed at being told to remove the Prince of Wales Three Feathers badge from a range of jewellery:
"Prince Charles has inherited the symbol. It's more than 600 years old and he's allowed to use it by the people of Wales, not the other way around."
Except that Carlo thinks he has a divine right to rule, has a servant to squeeze his toothpaste out with a silver tool and is totally ignorant about Wales and the world.
Dai Lloyd, the Plaid AM, comments that this will backfire even among the minority of the Welsh population who still hold the monarchy in some respect.
Still, this is a good thing. Hopefully all those awful three feathers rings and logos will now be replaced by something more appropriate - how can anyone wear the three feathers with the "Ich Dien" (I Serve in German) with any pride?
Ich Dien? Twll dy din, Carlo.
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03/02/2007
St Athan - is it good for Wales?
It's taken some time for me to focus on the St Athan "jobs bonanza". Perhaps it was Andrew Davies's rant that did it, so I did a bit of digging. And it's very interesting what you can find in MoD Press Releases.
The 4,000 jobs being created by the MoD's new training base in St Athan will not be for locals:
"Some 3,400 military and 3,000 civilian instructors and support personnel...are potentially affected by the DTR Programme."
This means that 6,400 jobs are going in more than nine bases in England to try to squeeze into 4,000 jobs in Wales. Most will be skilled trainers who move to St Athan, leaving the usual security and cleaning minimum wage jobs for the locals.
This, apparently, will boost house prices. Is this a plus?
The transition will start in late 2008 and is expected to last five years.
So let's count those jobs in 2013 and remind ourselves of the politicians' promises. They might sound something like this BBC report from 2003:
"The Defence Aviation Repair Agency (Dara) has confirmed it will go ahead with a £77m hi-tech maintenance centre - securing 3,300 jobs. Project Red Dragon, which secures the jobs at RAF St Athan, will be built on a 100-acre site at the base in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.
The long-awaited government approval comes after months of uncertainty over the future of the site.
It is expected to act as a springboard for plans for an aviation centre of excellence at RAF St Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan said this could potentially create a further 4,000 jobs."
The jobs, of course, were as hyped as these but never materialised.
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02/02/2007
Whatever became of Rhys Ifans?
Among the troublemakers running riot in Clwyd (just the name of that long-abolished county gives you a warm glow) in the 1980s was a spiky youngster called Rhys Ifans. Here he is after painting slogans for Cymdeithas yr Iaith and getting picked up by the fuzz, which is always painful.
Wonder what became of him?
(Shamelessly nicked from Flickr)
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29/01/2007
Prisons full - unless you're for peace
The prisons crisis has thrown up some interesting anomalies.
Lindis Percy, a 64-year-old peace campaigner, has been sent to prison for non-payment of a fine imposed after she protested outside a US signal intelligence station in Yorkshire. She was given a seven-day sentence in a County Durham jail, despite appearing in court with a broken arm in plaster.
Meanwhile Derek Williams, a convicted child pornographer who admitted downloading 180 indecent images of youngsters onto his computer, was released by Judge John Rogers in Mold because the prisons are full. He fully expected to get a prison sentence and the crime warranted one. He's back home in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
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28/01/2007
Glyn's world
Tory AM Glyn Davies is in a class of his own when it comes to blogging.
Not for him the petty point-scoring of compulsive blogger Peter Black. No, Glyn's world is full of confusion:
"I feel a bit like one of those Secord World War soldiers who emerges from the Borneo jungle after 40 years to find that the world had changed."
He's just been forced to take down a post showing two Scotsmen in kilts with one displaying more than just his haggis. Apparently he was advised to do so by some "adviser", who's probably bald from tearing out his hair at Glyn's quixotic pronouncements.
If it's possible to like a Tory, you'll like Glyn. Hours of entertainment from someone who clearly detests most of his own party and is looking vainly to Cymricise it.
(hat tip to Wales Votes)
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20/01/2007
Time for a Welsh Independence First?
Pressure is mounting for an explicit campaign for Welsh independence, with this blog just the latest voice.
In Scotland the pro-independence movement - which includes the SNP, SSP and Greens as well as non-aligned members and groups - is coordinated via Independence First.
A similar organisation in Wales would face the obvious problem that, Plaid Cymru apart, no elected politicians would get involved. Are there other organisations and individuals who would be interested in an Independence First-style movement?
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17/01/2007
The cost of dependence
The ever-entertaining Blamerbell Briefs questions the economic benefits of independence. It's a game Labour likes to play, in order to scare people into remaining part of the Union.
But can someone list the economic benefits of dependence, i.e. remaining part of a crumbling UK? Phil Williams produced detailed statistics about this - is it beyond the whit of someone in Plaid to update those figures?
One plus, Labour would argue, would be the jobs created by having UK institutions located in Wales, e.g. the DVLA and Royal Mint. The truth is that these make up only a small fraction of civil service jobs and the high-paying, high-end public posts are almost all in London. Many Welsh civil servants are on tax credits due to poor wages.
Similarly the massive amounts spent on research and development by the state very rarely comes to Wales - 2.5% at the last count.
And let's not get too carried away with the St Athan jobs... how many thousands of military-related jobs have been lost in Wales in the past 10 years?
I remain sceptical until the jobs are actually created - remember LG and the fabled 6,000 jobs promised for Newport? They never materialised.
On today's Politics Show, Carwyn Jones was very evasive when asked whether it was true £100m of public money had been spent by the Assembly on luring these jobs to Wales. He claimed it was commercially confidential, which of course is bollocks because this is a grant from one government department to another. Unfortunately, the interviewer Adrian Masters merely answered "fair enough" and allowed Jones to bask in the wonderful news.
The idea that public money should be spent without the public or journalists being able to examine the facts suggests that the Assembly government has a long way to go in terms of transparency.
Oh, this started as a question about dependency and ended with a rant about accountability. But you get the picture.
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16/01/2007
Alun Davies's blog RIP
It is with some sadness that I have to report the death of Alun Davies's blog. Alun's blog was only with us for a few short months and signed off cheerfully on December 20. Four weeks later and the poor little blog shows no sign of life. Perhaps it was an over-indulgent Christmas - witness his exuberant foodie comments - or perhaps he's too busy canvassing.
Or perhaps it was just that Alun couldn't sustain the ridiculous lie that anyone in the Labour Party is fighting for socialism.
If anyone sees Alun's blog wandering the back streets of Aberystwyth in search of a meaningful cause, please do the decent thing and rescue it.
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Please sir, can we have some more?
Labour is playing every desperate card in the pack to try to turn the pro-independence tide in Scotland (and to a lesser degree in Wales).
First Rhodri Morgan tries to bat away the threat of independence in the coming elections, then Peter Hain steps in with a bizarre argument that Dr Who would not have happened in Cardiff if not for the Union. Scary thought, eh?
Now Trevor Phillips, a tame Labour establishment man who's done well from the Race Relations Industry and his connections, steps in with an accusation that Welsh and Scottish independence somehow threatens race relations in the UK.
The tactic, as with previous Labour propaganda offensives trying to paint any advocate of the Welsh language into a "racist", is to throw so much mud that it sticks.
There are two possible responses - one is to duck down and hope the mud doesn't hit you. The other is to come out fighting with a shield and plenty of ammunition.
The duck-down philosophy was tried over the Simon Glyn affair and failed dismally. It's now time to come out fighting...
The likes of Trevor Phillips obviously don't talk to ethnic minorities in Wales and Scotland. If they did they would be told by ethnic minorities living in Wales and Scotland that they don't feel threatened by independence. On the contrary, they support it! Witness Asians for Independence in Scotland and Moslems for Plaid recently launched in Swansea. Independence from the imperial heartland has a positive ring for peoples from across the world who remember their own anti-colonial struggles and sympathise with Wales as "the last colony". Phillips, of course, also stepped into the row over alleged anti-English racism during the last World Cup.
Peter Hain's claims that Wales gets and extra £1,000 per head of public spending is a lie. Even the Tories have sussed that lie, revealing just two weeks ago that Labour spending on the NHS in Wales is 10% lower per head than in England, despite Welsh towns topping the long-term sickness and disability lists as well as having an older and poorer population.
In schools and housing, the level of public spending is significantly higher in England than in Wales. Pensions and other benefits are universal, so where is this extra £1,000 per head per year being spent? And isn't £1,000 a handy round figure with which to beat the oncoming pro-independence tide.
Expect much more of this claptrap in the coming four months before Labour is swept out of power in Wales and Scotland. It's going to be very messy.
Why?
Because in 1997, when Labour proposed the devolution bill, I don't believe Blair in his wildest nightmares thought his party would lose power in its two Celtic heartlands. Labour has relied on these two countries for its majority in all but two General Elections and believed devolution would buy off the growing sense of national identity.
The shock that these cheeky bastards, like Oliver Twist, could come to the table and demand more power has been too much for them. More, you say?! More?!
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14/01/2007
My kingdom for a horse(face)
I like Paul Flynn, the independent-minded Labour MP for Newport West. With no little wit and wisdom, he's stood against the anti-Welsh bias in his own party and championed causes as diverse as cannabis and against bull bars on 4x4 cars.
His republicanism also marks him out as being among the more honest of our representatives, but I can't agree with his choice of a replacement for the Queen - Princess Anne.
Having argued the case succinctly against privilege and inherited power, he goes and spoils it all by opting for a president who just happens to come from the very same family as the bloody Queen!
Anne is famous for being a show jumper, mysteriously supporting Scotland in the rugby (do the Royals have teams dished out to them over breakfast - "here you are old girl, the Jocks for you I'm afraid") and her most famous public statement was "naff off" to the assembled media.
Mmm, have you really thought this one through Flynnie? Or have you finally inhaled on one of those jazz cigarettes you affect to dislike?
We need a republic and we need a clean break from the hereditary rubbish that's gone before it.
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02/01/2007
A vision of the future for Rhondda. Not
Stephen Moss writes in The Guardian about the Burberry factory closure and the battle to save 300 manufacturing jobs.
He concludes with a profoundly depressing but skewed metropolitan view of the Valleys:
There is still a strong sense of community in the Rhondda, but it is atavistic - the cement that held them together, the shared identity founded in heavy industry, no longer exists. In a generation's time, the Valleys will be like the Peak District is now - full of retirees, second homes, tourists and micro-industries, with gastro-pubs in place of the rowdy drinkers' dens that currently exist. That is not to lament the change - I find the sight of unemployed men sitting in pubs drinking pints of lager from 11am to 11pm dismal - but you can't help feeling sympathy for those in the line of fire.
You can't help feeling that this is the kind of Valleys Moss and other metropolitans onlookers would favour rather than the staunchly working-class culture that has emerged from the Valleys. Somewhere nice to nip down the M4 to - within touching distance of the Beacons and Cardiff, newly glamourised by Dr Who.
He's right that the industry - specifically coal mining - that brought so many into the Rhondda has gone but it also presupposes to a poverty of ambition and imagination on the part of Rhondda people. Does he really think that drinking lager all day is the only response to job losses?
To be honest, keeping 300 minimum wage jobs (£169 for a 39-hour week) is not the long-term way forward for the Valleys and it shows how desperate the place has become that the campaign has been so passionate. At this rate, the Valleys will have more in common with West and North Wales now that it is becoming popular with tourists and holiday home owners.
There are other options - if those tasked with shaping our country's future got their arses into gear. Rhodri Morgan talks about a high-tech economy but the Rhondda is seeing precious little of that. There is a desperate need for a new energy-based manufacturing industry that produces turbines, solar panels and spends serious money researching the latest sustainable technologies.
More tourists, holiday homes and retirees would see the whole of Wales turning into a nightmarish care home, empty of youth, working people and drive.
We need to save the Burberry jobs but don't kid ourselves that this is the long-term future for Valleys generations of the future.
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Anglophobia and paranoia
"The sooner that England gets shot of those greedy whining celtic parasites the better,and as for us English being a mongrel people,well we mongrels came and took the land and made it our own and the fuckwitted inbred celts were too weak and stupid to stop us.Im proud to not be a celt." - Action Against Anglophobia
My thanks to Blamerbell Briefs for drawing attention to the Action Against Anglophobia messageboard.
The Anglophobia that these narrow-minded racists and bigots complain about amounts to "Make a Scotsman happy, kill Jimmy Hill" - which is really only offensive if you're the chinny wonder. It's hardly in the same league as the wonderfully thoughtful "fuck all the welsh with a crowbar!" comment on the AAA site, which at least had the merit of correct spelling and not too much drool on the keyboard.
This may be the extreme fringe of anti-Celtic paranoia on the part of our English neighbours but the chattering classes are also veering in this direction. It seems the sheer cheek of the Celtic upstarts in running their own (toothless) Assemblies and Parliaments - and then demanding more, the ungrateful sods - has unleashed the worst kind of patriotic demons among some English people.
When asked to point out any Welsh anti-English comments, there was nothing. Apparently, anti-Englishness is "ingrained in our culture" so there's no need for specific websites and the like. Ah, that'll be the anti-Englishness that has magnanimously accepted so many English people to Wales - many of whom have, in turn, embraced Welshness in its many forms. The ones that haven't, of course, are a different matter.
What's most interesting is this paranoia, whether it's telling "the Jocks" that England doesn't want the Union anymore (now the oil's running out), or that Scottish MPs shouldn't get a vote on English issues (while English MPs presumably should be allowed to vote on whether Trident goes to Faslane again) and that we get too much in the way of subsidy (which is another patronising way of saying we're dependent on England for all the wonderful public services we enjoy).
Devolution has only been with us for seven years. In that time, small but significant steps have been taken that seem to show that Wales, Scotland and England are moving further apart. Happily, Leo Abse is being proved right that devolution is the slippery slope to independence - hopefully, like a good slide, it'll be a fun ride!
This year's elections will see increased votes for Plaid Cymru and the SNP as Labour loses its grip as the ruling pro-Unionist party in Wales and Scotland. The increased vote is not borne of Anglophobia but a desire to run our own affairs in a more progressive way (people are rejecting Labour and Tory despite the UK media frenzy surrounding Cameron).
It seems the Celtophobia that is at the core of Action Against Anglophobia is just borne of racism and a bizarre sense of oppression.
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29/12/2006
Eight years
Official figures confirm the yawning gulf between rich and poor in Wales, with men in Blaenau Gwent dying an average eight years before their counterparts in Chelsea and Kensington.
It took a Liberal Democrat (for once not sitting on the fence) to sum up the difference: "This is the class divide at its most stark."
And Wales' chief medical officer, Dr Tony Jewell, said the gap between those with the best health and those with the worst is widening.
The gap between rich and poor, the haves and have-nots, is even more evident in people's life expectancy - a boy born in Chelsea and Kensington can expect to live to the age of 82.2 years, compared with just 74.2 in Blaenau Gwent.
Ten years of Labour has seen inequalities rising between rich and poor, seven years of devolution have done nothing to reverse that trend.
A New Year's revolution to abolish inequality seems appropriate.
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
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27/12/2006
SEREN awards 2006
Awards for politicians usually mean bungs in brown paper envelopes. Well we don't want any of that around here, thank you. Pure as the driven snow.
Oh no, our awards are drawn up strictly on merit and will only be influenced by wit and wisdom (and a bottle of Jamiesons):
Cheekiest politicians of 2006 - Lembit Opik. Let's face it, if he didn't exist you'd have to make him up (and judging by his name, somebody did make that up). Anyone who puts up with Siân Lloyd for eight years deserves an award of some kind but he's opted for a new challenge - relationship with one of the Cheeky Girls. When not hang gliding underwater or single-handedly dealing with visa applications for young Romanian talent (ahem), Lembit can be found displaying his musical talents with a mouth organ. Please feel free to insert own gag here (and there's plenty who'd want a gag on Lembit).
Dog lover of 2006 - Glyn Davies (Tory AM) for describing how he once wooed a young Montgomery girl by kicking her dog firmly under the chin. I think it's called tough love in deepest Powys. Glyn deals with disgruntled voters in the same way.
Saddest politician of 2006, part 1 - Peter Black (Lib Dem AM) for admitting to delivering leaflets on Christmas Eve ("I was feeling rather virtuous yesterday so I decided to go and deliver a few leaflets"). Christmas Eve?! A time when families gather and men wander aimlessly and often drunkenly in search of a last-minute prezzie for a loved one. What was he thinking? Given that 99% would have gone straight in the bin, it's clear Peter Black doesn't qualify as the Greenest politician of 2006.
Dog lover of 2006, part 2 - Peter Black (Tory AM) We might never have known about Black's fruitless leafletting had he not blo-moaned (having a winge on a blog - new word) about being bitten by a dog on the back of the leg and ended up in casualty. No, mustn't laugh. Luckily he saw the funny side, I'm sure. Er, no, he phoned the police to give the dog's owner a warning.
Stealthiest politician of 2006, part 1 - Martyn Jones (Labour MP) has to wear dicky bows to get himself noticed due to the lack of a personality, but he was back to his stealthy best over the Hafod quarry protest. Despite being MP for 20 years, Jones has managed to keep his head down for much of that time. So when he was pressed by constituents to come down to the daily picket line he protested "but I've already been". Puzzled protesters don't remember seeing him but that's not the same as saying he hasn't been there, is it?
Most pointless feud of 2006 - Dafydd Elis-Thomas v John Marek The Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer in the Assembly have been at loggerheads all year, refusing to talk to each other and even touching on true farce in the Senedd with Marek's "Are you asking me to sit down?" routine. C'mon guys, it really does amount to custard creams versus hobnobs at the House Committee, doesn't it?
Mathematician of 2006, part 1 - Dafydd Wigley (Plaid Cymru AM) is making a comeback in the North Wales regional list elections. His mathematical calculations on how he can win are a reminder of why you should concentrate in school so that you don't get bamboozled in later life.
Humourless tw*t of 2006, part 1 -Chris Bryant (Lab MP) said he was amused by a spoof diary of his that appeared in the Guardian during the Labour Party conference. It was full of New Labour flannel and fluff, but nothing as damaging as - say - a self-shot photo of him appearing in his grollies on a gay website. Within days of being "amused", Bryant decided he was in fact quite upset and claimed £10,000 in hurt feelings for this light-hearted piece. Amazingly, the humourless git got it.
Party of 2006, part 1 - People's VoiceAlthough the party at which Plaid MPs Elfyn Llwyd and Hywel Williams went to with the Bishop of Southwark sounds a good 'un, the undoubted party of 2006 was People's Voice. On a shoestring budget and even smaller set of policies, it has captured a slice of that huge discontent with Labour in its traditional heartland. Building on the legacy of Peter Law, it now has an AM and an MP elected against the Labour machine at its most ruthless. After a decade, whole swathes of Wales are still not signed up to New Labour.
Dark horse of 2007 - Alun Davies will be the only Labour list member in next year's Assembly if his party does as badly as expected in Mid and West Wales. He'll follow in the not-very-inspiring footsteps of Alun Michael (who jumped ship) and Delyth Evans (who retired after a couple of years). Davies, a former Plaid Cymru candidate, has metamorphosed from a rather unlikeable nationalist grub into a totally unlikeable Labour hack and his blog manages to combine pomposity, bad spelling and a love of English cricket in equal parts. Surely he's not trying a bit too hard to convince his Labour brethren that he's renounced his nationalist past?
More to come - please feel free to make your own nominations in the comments box.
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19/12/2006
Redwood's rallying cry for England
The Vulcan is back, albeit looking more like a Dr Who extra these days...
John Redwood was once Tory Secretary of State for Wales. He famously mimed the words to the Cheeky Girls' latest hit (shurely shome mishtake?) at a Tory party conference, while everyone else was singing the Welsh national anthem. More seriously he also returned £100m to the Treasury in London because he couldn't spend it all in Wales.
Now he has decided to say something about the need for an English Parliament because, in his words: "I do strongly believe that England should be treated fairly within the Union."
His novel solution to this "inequality" is:
"the return of the English Parliament to Westminster. Everything which is an English matter, including health, education, local Government, planning and law and order, should be considered only by English Members of the Westminster Parliament meeting as the English Parliament. This would give England the same devolved powers as enjoyed in Scotland, create a stronger sense of English identity around the traditional Parliament of England, and avoid any extra costs and hassles associated with devolution in Scotland and Wales."
Mmm, so does that mean the Welsh, Scottish and Norn Iron MPs get shut out of this cosy lock-in? Well, only for part of the week.
"My view is that all of us elected to the Westminster Parliament for English constituencies should perform a dual role. We should work with colleagues from Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland on Union matters for part of the week, and for the rest of the week, the Westminster Parliament itself should be the English Parliament, where we, English representatives, settle all the matters that are devolved Scotland ourselves at Westminster, without the help or interference of our colleagues from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The English Parliament at Westminster would therefore create a much more fair and balanced United Kingdom.
The Tories are getting quite frothy at the mouth over English "independence", especially with the prospect of unsettling Gordon Brown (who represents a Scottish seat) at the next election. A bit of push from the English right and some pull from the Welsh and Scottish left could produce some very interesting results in coming elections.
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14/12/2006
Paper profits
Isn't corporate speak wonderful? Trinity Mirror newspaper group is going to hold on to its Welsh regional titles while offloading less profitable papers in the English Midlands and London.
The official line is that this will allow it to focus on its UK titles and "key" regional titles in Scotland, the North of England and Wales, which include the Welsh Daily Post, Western Mail and South Wales Echo. The company's board has decided that in order to "maximise shareholder value for the medium to long term" it should "rationalise" its portfolio of titles.
In normal speak this means "we make vast profits from these papers - 65% return on the Western Mail for example - and so we're going to continue to screw the workers for the medium to long term."
The thought of re-investing the profits in providing a better product (e.g. by employing more journalists) doesn't occur to the profit-obsessed capitalist class.
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12/12/2006
"So conform to it or don't come here"
"So conform to it or don't come here" - Tony Blair
Blair called for six "practical and symbolic measures" to help people establish what these shared values were, which included ensuring all new immigrants and all visiting religious preachers spoke English and understood British values and history.
The growing intolerance towards immigrants to the UK continues to enjoy governmental support. Blair's latest message - a crude "conform or fuck off" - will delight the hate mongers of the BNP and Daily Mail.
It is also emboldening right-wing journalists to produce the kind of propaganda masquerading as news on tonight's Newsnight (an attack on translation services for minorities).
You don't have to Welsh to appreciate the irony of Blair's word. When Gwynedd councillor Simon Glyn called for English migrants to Welsh-speaking communities to learn Welsh, a language at the brink of a precipice as a living community language, it was the Labour Party who lined up to label him a racist. The English language continues to be the "lingua franca" (now there's an irony, having to turn to Latin) of the global village and hardly seems to be under threat from Poles, Pakistanis or Portuguese migrants.
That "racist" storm lasted two years and helped Labour claw its way back from an electoral abyss in Wales in 1999. A more sustained, cynical campaign is hard to imagine with the "Welsh Mirror" reflecting every spin cycle of the New Labour machine. It launched immediately after the catastrophic elections in 1999 when Plaid took the Rhondda and other Valleys heartlands from Labour, as well as almost pipping them in the popular vote in the Euro-elections. When the results rolled in for the 2003 elections (and the heartland seats re-gained), the "Welsh Mirror" was quietly put to bed. Job done.
The call from Simon Glyn remains valid. So too are the ongoing calls for local people to be able to afford housing in their own communities rather than be at the mercy of a housing market skewed by the buying power of London and the south-east of England. A low-wage economy coupled with high housing costs is crippling many Welsh communities, both Welsh and English speaking.
To learn the language of a community you choose to live in is a matter of respect - something alien to too many of those moving to live in Welsh-speaking communities (as well as the Costas it has to be said).
Tony Blair isn't asking for respect with his diktat. The most powerful politician in the UK is issuing ultimatums to those who choose to make the UK their home. I wonder how he'd feel if the Spanish Prime Minister started making the same demands on the 700,000 Brits living there?
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03/12/2006
Army targets deprived schools
Not content with targetting Iraqis, Afghans and other people who didn't invite them to their countries, the British Army is now targetting poorer Welsh schools in a desperate attempt to boost recruitment.
Documents obtained by Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood AM under the Freedom of Information Act show that the more deprived a school is, according to the government's own definition of deprivation, the more recruitment visits children will receive from the army.
Figures from the Headquarters of the Army Recruitment Division for 2005-6 show that the most deprived schools are visited almost fifty per cent more often than the less deprived. There are also stark regional variations: school children in Swansea were visited more than 10 times on average between January 2005 and May 2006, while those in the more affluent Vale of Glamorgan had none at all.
Leanne Wood AM, who wants the Education Minister to ban army recruitment in schools, commented: "The army is clearly targeting the most deprived areas in Wales because numbers of soldiers are down - 14,000 left in 2005. I believe that young people in Wales should not be subjected to armed forces propaganda. Pupils should make up their own minds with all the facts to hand. Joining the army could, after all, mean taking in part in a war illegally entered into which has so far claimed the lives of 126 British soldiers.
"I want the Education Minister to stop the army recruitment in schools."
The news follows latest figures which show a rise in army recruitment from Wales, which is on course to hit 1,000 recruits by April 2007, compared to the annual average 900 from Wales. Wales supplies a higher number of recruits in proportion to population, with around 5% of the UK's 16 to 24-year-olds, but providing nearly 9% of recruits from that age group.
Leanne Wood added: "I have had complaints from school pupils who believe it is wrong for the army to recruit in schools. They have pointed out to me that if an army recruitment event is organised in school time and on school premises, the impression is given that it is endorsed by the school. Schools should not endorse a career in the military by allowing them to recruit there."
• The British Army has had to step up recruitment tactics among schoolchildren with the "Dragon's Teeth" recruitment fairs across Wales, to which pupils are bussed in by schools.
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01/12/2006
More holidays please!
Fed up with the half-hearted holiday that is St David's Day? Want more than a bit of stale bara brith and cold cawl? Want to make it a proper holiday that shakes off the cobwebs of winter on March 1st?
An online petition has been launched here to get a public holiday declared on St David's Day. Signing up takes 30 seconds so go and do it now.
St Patrick's Day is known throughout the world and St Andrew's Day is soon to follow after the Scottish Parliament recently backed the move to make it a public holiday. St David's Day could be a chance to celebrate all things Welsh and have a well-deserved holiday too... the UK has fewer public holidays than any part of the EU.
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15/11/2006
Annie Powell RIP
You couldn't ignore Pontypridd firebrand Annie Powell, who sadly died of cancer on Monday. She was uncompromising in her politics but a delight to be with.
I first met her 25 years ago and, as so often, she held court in a pub. The fag ash was always on the verge of falling as she made a point or intervened with an "excuse me, love". Sometimes her wig was askew but she was always ready with a word of encouragement or a sharp quip.
She joined the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement after a bitter fallout with the SWP - "the Brits" as she called them. As true then as it is today.
Her involvement in the infamous Merthyr Rising riots of 1981 is legendary and both she and her husband Malcolm were arrested (and subsequently released without charge) in police sweeps on political activists in the early 80s.
She had been a nurse before an accident led to her early retirement. Her husband, Malcolm, was always at her side - it was a real partnership. He died earlier this year and in her final weeks Annie made it clear she wanted to join him.
But those who visited her said the same old twinkling eyes would greet them. Although frail and under sedation at times, she was able to reminisce about the hectic days of the WSRM and later Cymru Goch.
Twenty-five years later she was still true to the cause of a socialist republic.
The funeral is likely to be held in Pontypridd late next week.
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18/10/2006
Aberfan - a scandal not a disaster
Forty years on we remember one of the most devastating mining accidents to hit Wales. No miner was killed but on 21 October, 1966 a slagheap slid into the village of Aberfan and killed 144 people, mainly children in the local school.
For decades, millions of cubic metres of excavated waste from the Merthyr Vale Colliery had been piled up on the side of Merthyr Mountain, directly above the town. The huge tips sat on a layer of highly porous sandstone that contained many underground springs.
Early on the morning of 21 October, after several days of heavy rain, there was a subsidence of about 3-6 metres on the upper flank of the tip. At 9:15am, more than 150,000 cubic metres of water-saturated debris broke away and flowed downhill at high speed. It was sunny on the mountain but still foggy in the village, with visibility only about fifty metres. The tipping gang working on the mountain saw the landslide start, but were unable to raise the alarm. The front part of the mass moved as a series of viscous surges down the slope at high speed. 120,000 cubic metres of coal waste were deposited on the lower slopes of the mountain but over 40,000 cubic metres smashed into the village in a wave some 7-9 metres deep.
The slide first destroyed a farm cottage in its path, killing all the occupants, then surged on down the mountainside, engulfing twenty houses and the Pantglas Junior School. The black avalanche occurred only minutes after the children had gone into to class after singing All Things Bright and Beautiful at assembly. The tragic irony of the timing of the disaster was that Friday 21 October was the last day before the half-term break; if the landslide had occurred on the following day, or even a few minutes earlier, it's likely that the death toll would have been considerably lower. Nobody in the village saw anything, but everyone could hear the roar of the approaching landslide; some at the school thought it was a jet about to crash and one teacher ordered his class to hide under their desks.
Gaynor Minett, an eight-year-old at the school, later recalled: "It was a tremendous rumbling sound and all the school went dead. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone just froze in their seats. I just managed to get up and I reached the end of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, until I could see the black out of the window. I can't remember any more but I woke up to find that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of my eyes."
After the landslide there was total silence. George Williams, who was trapped in the wreckage, remembered: "In that silence you couldn't hear a bird or a child".
After the landslide stopped, frantic parents ran to the scene and began digging through the rubble, some clawing at the debris with their bare hands, trying to rescue the buried children. Hundreds of people drove to Aberfan to try and help with the rescue, but their efforts were futile. Water and mud rushing down the slope, and the crowd of untrained rescuers, severely hampered the work of the trained rescue teams. No survivors were found after 11am on the day of the disaster; by the next day some 2000 volunteers were working at the scene, some having dug continually for more than 24 hours, but it was nearly a week before all the bodies were recovered.
The final death toll was 144; 116 of the dead were children between the ages of 7 and 10 - almost half of the children at the school -- as well five of their teachers.
Incredibly, when news of the disaster reached him, the chair of the National Coal Board, Lord Robens, did not go immediately to Aberfan, but instead went ahead with his installation as Chancellor of the University of Surrey. NCB officers covered up for him, lying to the Secretary of State for Wales and claiming that Lord Robens was personally directing relief work. When he eventually reached Aberfan, Robens attributed the disaster to 'natural unknown springs' beneath the tip, a statement which the locals knew to be false -- the NCB had in fact been tipping on top of springs that were clearly marked on maps of the neighbourhood, and where villagers had played as children.
The Wilson Labour government immediately appointed the Davies Tribunal of Inquiry. Its damning report, tabled in August 1967, blasted the actions and attitude of the colliery staff and the NCB:
"The Aberfan disaster is a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by many men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, of failure to heed clear warnings, and of total lack of direction from above ... Blame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board ... The legal liability of the National Coal Board to pay compensation for the personal injuries (fatal or otherwise) and damage to property is incontestable and uncontested ...".
The Tribunal found that repeated warnings about the dangerous condition of the tip had been ignored, and that colliery engineers at all levels had concentrated only on conditions underground. In one of its most memorable phrases, the Report described their reaction to the Inquiry's questions as "like moles being asked about the habits of birds". The tips had never been surveyed, and right up to the time of the landslide they were continuously being added to in a chaotic and unplanned manner. The authorities' callous disregard of the unstable geological conditions and its failure to act after previous smaller slides were major factor that contributed to the catastrophe.
That callous attitude continued after the disaster. It seems incredible that the Inquiry's findings and the actions of the NCB did not cause a major public scandal, but it is now apparent that government agencies, senior bureaucrats and politicians all conspired to brush the entire incident under the carpet. Incredibly, nobody in the NCB was ever prosecuted, dismissed or demoted, and no corporate sanctions or fines were ever imposed.
Adding insult to injury, the NCB paid the bereaved families a mere £500 compensation paid for each child killed -an amount which they described, with breathtaking affrontery, as "a generous offer". It was in fact little more than the compensation paid out to farmers for the animals that were killed. The final insult came in August 1968 when the Government forced the Trustees of the Aberfan Disaster Fund to "donate" a contribution of £150,000 from the money collected for the victims, which was put towards to the cost of removing the remaining NCB tips from above Aberfan.
Aberfan wasn't just a disaster, it was a scandal.
• There will be a minute's silence prior to all Principality Welsh Premier League games played on Saturday to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster.
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05/10/2006
Assembly government plays politics on the railways
The Welsh Assembly Government stands condemned for its rail priorities, after it rejected funding for two key North Wales scheems
Welsh Enterprise Minister Andrew Davies launched the track-work at Ebbw Vale last week to mark the beginning of laying the tracks for the restored Ebbw Vale line which, it is hoped, will be open to passengers in 2007. It is hoped that this will "boost one of Wales' most deprived areas".
The cost of the work of re-opening this line is £30 million, of which the Welsh Assembly Government is providing £20m. It has also invested £17m re-opening the Vale of Glamorgan Line to passengers.
However, when it comes to the deprived area of Blaenau Ffestiniog, the WAG has failed to make a comparable investment in the Conwy Valley Line which would certainly boost the economy of the region, create upward of 90 sustainable jobs and could make the region much more accessible by providing a more frequent passenger service.
In 2005, the WAG commissioned consultants Atkins to report on the Conwy Valley Line - it calculated that the upgrade would cost £26m. This was well below the known environmental benefit of £47m. The WAG's Transport Wales rejected this estimate and, with virtually no explanation, more than doubled the figure, bringing it to £65m.
Later that year, Network Rail (which owns the track and presumably knows what is involved in its enhancement) provided an estimate of £17m for a slightly less ambitious enhancement. Did the WAG welcome this opportunity to proceed with the planned upgrade. No. It commissioned a further report - and gave the authors of the report the brief of re-assessing the environmental benefit downwards to £27.4m.
In Wrexham, 40 jobs could be created through the start of a new direct rail service to London, providing five trains a day from Wrexham. This means upgrading technical services at Wrexham station at a cost of some £900,000. The service itself would require no subsidy, so it appears to be a win-win situation. The new operators wanted a £500,000 contribution from the WAG to help with this upgrade but it was refused, so the 40 promised jobs are now in the balance.
It seems £20m can be found for Ebbw Vale (a former 'safe' Labour constituency that they're desperate to win back in May 2007) and £17m can be found to prop up a slender Labour majority in the Vale of Gamorgan. But there's nothing available in the safe Plaid Cymru seat of Meirionnydd and they appear to have given up hope of winning back Wrexham.
Children are always warned not to play on the tracks - maybe politicians should take the same advice.
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15/09/2006
Hospital closures protest
Protests against the closure of Llandudno hospital will take place today outside Conwy Local Health Board. It's part of a massive re-think in NHS services across North Wales that will effectively leave us with three "super hospitals" at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Wrexham Maelor. These, in turn, will each have specialisations, e.g. cancer, neonatal.
There is a certain rationale here, with economies of scale and centres of excellence being created at the top-end of hospital care. But the bean counters fail to realise that community-based care is equally important as it's the elderly that mainly make up the hospital population. They often languish in hospitals miles from home (and friends and families) because there are no local facilities available.
There are other pressures on North Wales hospitals - Llandudno hospital would never still be open if it was based on the local needs alone. It serves a huge tourist population, who place an added burden on a stretched service.
These reviews are taking place throughout Wales, with protests in Powys and Pembroke recently. Clinical needs and community needs don't have to be mutually exclusive but it seems as if nobody's listening to the community needs.
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05/09/2006
Taffy is a fighter...
Wales supplies 9% of the British Army's 16-24 year olds - almost double our relative population. It's a harsh reminder that risking death and resistance in Iraq or Afghanistan are preferable to the daily grind of low-wage, temporary jobs in our deprived communities.
This is our blood sacrifice as the last colony for the bastard British empire.
The final words of Alun Rees's classic poem sum it all up:
TAFFY IS A WELSHMAN
Taffy is a Welshman,
Taffy is no thief.
Someone came to Taffy's house
and stole a leg of beef.
Taffy made no protest,
for he doesn't like a row,
so the someone called on him again
and stole the bloody cow.
They stole his coal and iron,
they stole his pastures, too.
They even stole his language
and flushed it down the loo.
Taffy is a Welshman,
Taffy is a fool.
Taffy voted no, no, no
when they offered him home rule.
Six days a week upon his knees
Taffy dug for coal.
On the seventh he was kneeling, too,
praying for his soul.
And now the mines are closing down
and chapel's had its day,
Taffy still lives upon his knees,
for he knows no other way.
Now sometimes Taffy's brother
will start a row or so,
but you can bank on Taffy:
he doesn't want to know.
For when they hanged Penderyn
he had nothing much to say,
and when Saunders Lewis went to jail
he looked the other way.
Taffy is a Welshman
who likes to be oppressed.
He was proud to tug his forelock
to a Crawshay or a Guest.
They give him tinsel royals,
so he has a pint of beer,
and sings God Bless the Prince of Wales
as he joins the mob to cheer.
Now Taffy is a fighter
when he hears the bugle call.
Name any war since Agincourt:
Taffy's seen them all.
He's fought in France and Germany
and many another land;
he's fought by sea and fought by air
and fought on desert sand.
He's fought for many a foreign flag
in many a foreign part,
for Taffy is a Welshman,
proud of his fighting heart.
He's fought the wide world over,
he's given blood and bone.
He's fought for every bloody cause
except his bloody own.
by Alun Rees
(taken from Yesterday's Tomorrow, a great collection of his best political work, available from Red Poets for £3.99)
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25/08/2006
Don't fancy yours much...
This is just one of the many stunningly good photos taken of Cardiff life by Polish photographer Maciej Dakowicz, who's lived in the city for four years. Go to http://www.pbase.com/maciekda to see much more - and they're available to buy too.
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30/07/2006
52% back independence for Wales
Hidden away on p6 of today's Wales on Sunday is an astounding poll result - 52% support for independence. Labour's Peter Hain declares he's "sceptical", which is an odd reaction.
Admittedly the poll is small (420 people were contacted in all parts of Wales) but the result is so much higher than previous poll results that it suggests that the negative feelings towards the Assembly are manifesting themselves in a positive way. Rather than wanting a return to the status quo, the majority want to go further than Labour and allow the people of Wales to decide their own future.
That will take some digesting, especially for the likes of Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, who is unsure how to react judging from his quote in the paper.
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14/06/2006
No offence to fly the flag
The hundreds of English flags outside homes and on cars across Wales is a concern. In the vast majority of cases, these are people who live in Wales and who have chosen to identify with England. In most cases, I suspect, it's because it's the land of their birth. They will claim they don't intend to cause offence.
Welsh fans - let's face it - are pretty split on who to support. Half will be in the ABE camp - Anyone But England - while the other half will back England.
But it's a nonsense to pretend that flying flags will cause racial tensions. The thing that causes tension between Welsh and English is the fact that there are English people who don't realise they're living in another country. A bit of respect and humility is all that's required.
Perhaps the only good thing to come from the furore that has surrounded the flags is the fact that they're English flags, not Union Jacks. A decade ago, Welsh fans could have hidden behind the "we're all British" excuse and flown a Union Jack. Now they have to decide whether their loyalties lie with Wales or England. Not such an easy choice now.
Certainly Wrexham has seen a marked absence of English flags at this tournament. I'd say the number of Trinidad flags have matched the English flags on cars. Tomorrow sees the mighty Soca Warriors take on England and a giant Trinidad and Tobago flag will be hanging outside our house to cheer on Dennis Lawrence and his team.
No offence intended of course...
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15/05/2006
The importance of being bilingual...
It's taken me this long to realise I can attach files to the blog. Doh!
importance_of_being_bilingu.2.mpg
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01/05/2006
Independence First - for a democratic Wales
Scotland's political scene continues to develop. Crucially, from a pro-independence perspective, there are three parties represented in the Scottish Parliament committed to independence.
The SNP is the largest but is also joined by the SSP and the Scottish Greens. All three are currently in negotiation over a convention-style campaign for independence after the next elections in a year's time.
Kevin Williamson, a key socialist republican thinker in the SSP, has led the argument for an "Independence First" approach for his party. Pro-British elements in the party may dissent but the logic is faultless - for more go to http://rebelinkcolumns.blogspot.com. There is a sense that independence is going to be a key issue in the May 2007 Scottish election.
This raises questions about whether something similar is possible in Wales. The short answer is "no" because there is only one party talking about independence in Wales and that's Plaid. If there was a credible green or socialist party arguing the same thing, then there would be room for discussion, but the sad fact is that there isn't.
This is due to two reasons - the British left groups in Wales have never embraced national liberation as a key component of socialism and remain isolated among the student and ex-student ghettoes rather than throughout Wales as a whole.
In addition, the flawed electoral system for the Assembly militates against minority parties far more severely than the system in Scotland - PR in Scotland has given both the Greens and SSP a platform, credibility and income to demonstrate that they are more than just fringe parties.
However, there is a need for pro-independence forces in Wales - Plaid and other republicans - to make the issue of independence a key factor in the next Assembly elections. Why? Because Welsh politics is meaningless while it remains trapped within the constraints imposed by the British state.
Let's take one example:
Assembly minister Edwina Hart's pleas to the Treasury to relax borrowing on councils to improve its housing stock go unheeded because it would interfere with Gordon Brown's public expenditure plans. So 160,000 homes - one in eight of the entire housing stock of Wales - are up for grabs because of Neo Labour's conservative view that everything public is bad, everything private is good.
There is a compelling case for a comprehensive house-building programme throughout Wales to create more cohesive communities and enable young people to buy homes. The housing boom has caused massive inequalities as the haves have invested money in more housing and the have-nots have been left behind, paying exhorbitant rents or struggling with loans they cannot pay.
That's an argument that could be made in an independent Welsh Parliament. It's pointless to argue it in the Assembly because there are no powers to truly make a difference. Is that really a democracy or just a talking shop?
Ask people whether they want politicians and a political system that can make a difference and they'll vote for it - if you give them a chance.
14:35 Posted in Cymru Fach | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
He who pays the piper...
The Institute of Welsh Affairs is a think-tank as self-important as its title suggests. Its latest report on council housing in Wales attempts to justify the absurd policy of giving away the remaining 160,000 council homes in Wales to housing associations.
Stock transfer, as it's become known, argues that these houses are effectively in negative equity given the amount of repairs needed to reach a notional Welsh Housing Quality Standard set by the Welsh Assembly Government. Labour's insistence that councils reach this standard by 2012 without extra funding or the ability to borrow money in the same way as housing associations has forced many to reluctantly consider stock transfer.
Arguments about local accountability and the lack of a level playing field for councils in raising finance and writing off debt are ignored by the IWA.
Little wonder, when considers that the report was commissioned and financed by the Welsh Assembly Government, which has something of a vested interest in this back-door privatisation, and the Principality Building Society.
Peter Griffiths, chief executive of Principality Building Society, said: "This is a valuable piece of work which offers constructive suggestions to move the housing agenda on in Wales."
What he neglected to mention was that the Principality also has an interest in the only existing stock transfer in Wales - Bridgend Council transferred its housing stock to Valleys to Coast housing association. The Principality is a major investor in Valleys to Coast.
• For more information on the radical alternative to stock transfer - investment in public housing, a level-playing field for councils and affordable housing for all - go to www.walesagainststocktransfer.org.uk
14:10 Posted in Cymru Fach | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
10/04/2006
A lesson in "empty" classrooms
Listening to the debate about "surplus places" in classrooms across Wales makes you wonder whether the world has turned upside down.
Private schools make great play of their small class sizes - typically one teacher to every 12 pupils compared to 1:19 in the state sector. Yet the news that there are fewer pupils in the state sector is greeted with howls of anguish and consultations on which schools to close.
Any teacher, pupil or parent will tell you that 20 kids are easier to teach than 30, so everybody benefits from the improved ratio. The cost of maintaining the school doesn't change, there's less absenteeism of staff due to stress and educational attainment improves.
But the penpushers who only see pupils in terms of a number to be crunched are in despair. As school budgets are allocated according to pupil numbers, schools face cuts. But why not simply increase the money given per head to ensure a better quality of education for all?
Far too simple. Far better to close down less popular schools and sell them off for housing developments. This short-sighted view will balance councils' books for one year but does nothing to improve long-term educational needs.
15:40 Posted in Cymru Fach | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
21/03/2006
Education in annihilation
BAe Systems is Europe's biggest arms company and it's growing all the time. Glascoed near Usk is home to a former Royal Ordnance factory taken over by BAe Systems in 1987. The main activity of the 400 employees at `Land Systems Munitions & Ordnance Glascoed' is the filling, packing, & supplying of finished munitions including tank shells, mortar shells, small arms ammunition, missile and torpedo warheads, (including Hellfire missiles), depth charges and warheads.
Other sites produce parts of weapons that are then shipped to Glascoed to be filled with explosives and fuses. The company supplies an estimated £100m of ammunition to the Ministry of Defence each year through their exclusive ammunition contract the vast majority of which would pass through Glascoed. Though BAe gets more income from the US Defence Department than from the British MoD, BAe also boasts that it supplies munitions and small arms to more than 50 other countries although it is reluctant to say which ones.
Last November BAe opened up a new education centre for primary school children at the Glascoed site which will, according to Managing Director Steve Rowbotham, be "a unique learning experience to bring the subject of World War Two to life".
The hypocrisy is obvious - a producer of weapons of mass destruction that maim and kill thousands of men, women and children throughout the world for profit inviting children to their death factory to show them a war exhibition!
We are informed that learning about war means that the children can try on gas masks and "learn about about what life was like". We doubt if they will be:
• shown the carnage, slaughter and real effects of war, about how armament companies profit from war by selling weapons to anyone who wants them regardless of the consequences;
• told that BAe Systems build and supply armaments like cluster bombs and, in the past, depleted uranium shells (widely believed to be the cause of `Gulf War Syndrome');
• told about making a fat profit from humans being killed and ripped apart in the most horrific ways.
We wonder if Career Wales, Newport City Council and Don Touhig MP (Minister for defence & veterans), who fully support the educational centre, could get together with BAe Systems to open up a similar facility in Iraq to teach the children there about the benefits of being the victims of war?
Or maybe, part of the "war experience" for the children of the 250 schools in the catchment area of this facility would be to take them on a school trip to Iraq? To see how children their age get to feel BAe's engineering up close. No doubt, Steve Rowbotham and Don Touhig could explain how a career as an engineer at BAe systems making weapons of mass destruction will "pull out all the stops to challenge outdated perceptions of engineering being all grim and grimy"!
Companies like BAe are very keen to put money into education, it is here they find the next wave of people to build and innovate new & more efficient ways of committing murder. Through its Education Programme of school visits, special child friendly website & new educational facilities, BAe is targeting school children, some as young as nine with its "Schools Challenge" which asks schools to get children to design `vehicles of the future'.
Perhaps the "Schools challenge design an emergency vehicle project", will come up with an ambu