The Dilemma that is Peter Hain

Whatever Peter Hain, the Welsh Secretary, says or does is compromised for the simple reason that he supports Gordon Brown's promotion of "Britishness" and fears the breakup of the Union. Nevertheless, he is committed to the process of devolution as he was one of the architects of devolution. As I see it the natural consequence of devolution is the breakup of the Union, beginning with Scotland's bid for self-determination which is already being replicated in Wales.
Should Plaid take Hain's comments lying down or should they respond and challenge the logic and legitimacy of them? I would say the latter. The manner in which they do so is something that deserves consideration, in my view, as Plaid will be judged on its ability to reveal and rebut the inconsistencies of the opposition, and maintain its own unequivocal profile.
The fact is that Labour is divided on greater steps to devolution. The One Wales Agreement was ratified by the majority of Labour party delegates. Therefore Labour must make its position clear and speak with one voice. Plaid has a right to demand consistency from Labour, otherwise it throws the terms of the agreement into question in my view and threatens to bring the agreement into disrepute.

What Can Labour Do for Wales?

From the Western Mail

Plaid urges Hain to halt loss of 1,000 tax jobs

Oct 30 2007 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

WELSH Secretary Peter Hain was urged yesterday to use his double role in Government to step in and save threatened Welsh jobs.
Mr Hain is Secretary of State for Work and Pensions as well as Wales, and Plaid Cymru say he could stop the loss of 1,000 posts in HM Revenue and Customs.
The cuts are part of a UK-wide efficiency drive, and with many of the jobs going in Objective One areas – where £1bn of EU cash is being spent to boost the economy – they have prompted claims of a lack of joined-up thinking.
Since becoming Welsh Secretary in 2002 Mr Hain has jointly held a series of other Cabinet roles. He has always shrugged off the “two jobs” tag, arguing that his dual portfolios can bring benefits to Wales.
But Plaid’s leader at Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd, said yesterday, “The Government crow that they are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on Objective One to bring jobs to the economically deprived West Wales and the Valleys, but at the same time they are destroying some of the best job opportunities in the area.”
There have already been cuts in Department of Work and Pensions offices and proposals for regionalised pay in the Court Service, he said, which together would make it “impossible” for the poorest parts of Wales to close the wealth gap with the rest of the UK.
“Mr Hain can bring pressure to bear on the Ministry of Justice and the Treasury, but he himself can make the decision on the DWP cuts,” said Mr Llwyd.
The Plaid MP has written to Mr Hain to ask for a meeting on the cuts and how he can “use his two roles to save public sector jobs”.
“I’m inviting him to show us how he can make a difference,” said Mr Llwyd.
He said he did not believe – as fellow Plaid MP Adam Price has argued – that the time had come for the Wales Office to be scrapped entirely.
A spokesman for the Wales Office said, “Peter Hain has always been and remains an energetic secretary of State for Wales. He is the man who delivered the historic Government of Wales Act, devolving more power to Wales, and consistently speaks up for Welsh interests in the Cabinet. *Nobody can question his commitment to Wales."
“The decision on the HMRC job cuts is a matter for the Treasury. Both the Secretary of State and the Wales Office Minister have met with Treasury ministers in a bid to safeguard as many Welsh jobs as possible. Those meetings are continuing over the next few weeks.”
Mr Hain also defended the Government’s child poverty targets yesterday, admitting they were “stiff” but would still be met.
The Government is committed to halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020.
Lisa Harker, who carried out an independent review into the targets in 2006, said the Government was falling behind, and the Conservatives said the number of children living in poverty was actually rising.
“People will say ‘well children are not living in the absolute poverty they were in generations past’ but, compared with others and their peers in playground or the classroom, they are and that is the target we have set ourselves,” said Mr Hain. “It is a stiff one, but we are determined to halve it by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.
Yesterday he announced a new Child Poverty Unit, a joint initiative from the DWP and Pensions and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Mr Hain said, “600,000 children in this country are no longer living in poverty because of measures introduced over the last 10 years – such as tax credits and the national minimum wage – and a record 29.1m people in work.
“I know that work is the best route out of poverty and worklessness deprives too many children of a fair chance in life.”
Save the Children’s UK child poverty campaigns manager, Phillipa Hunt, said, “We are calling for an investment of £4bn to ensure the Government halves child poverty by 2010. Next year’s Budget will be its first big test for this new Government unit.””
Tory spokesman Chris Grayling said, “The truth is the number of children living in poverty is going up, not down, and ministers are failing to get to grips with the issues that underlie child poverty, like the escalation of family breakdown.”

*Really? No one can question his commitment to Labour.
Wales made Labour - when will Labour make Wales?

What Has Labour Done for Wales?

Do You Mean What I Think You Mean?

It is interesting how, when a prominent party member, AM. or MP. comes out with a potentially controversial statement, other members of his/her party rush in with an attempt at damage limitation. So when a Stephen Crabb or a Peter Hain or a Don Touhig utter something that may be misread or misconstrued in the eyes of their political colleagues or adversaries, a Glyn Davies or a Paul Flynn downplay the remarks and sanitise them to make them acceptable to reasonable public opinion. It makes one wonder whether to take them at their word or question their motives in saying what they did.
Has anyone noticed? Comments welcomed!

The Hain Drain

Peter Hain is back-pedalling on the process of devolution leading to the formation of a Welsh Parliament. He is saying that a referendum should not be held before 2011 and threatens a veto on it. He is an convinced opponent of the path towards independence for Wales. He should retract his comments, and not contradict the terms of the One Wales Agreement.

In Scotland Labour's stranglehold on the nation is at an end. The back of Labour Unionism is broken for ever and the country forges ahead in the light of a new and dynamic political awareness. Wales will not be far behind, despite Peter Hain and the moghuls of fake devolution and unionist hegemony.

Tracing Your Welsh Roots

There is a great deal of interest these days in tracing one's ancestral roots. As I have commented previously, and to allay scare-mongering tactics, anybody who wishes to identify with Wales and who is willing to give his/her wholehearted allegiance to the nation may do so, and be considered to be a citizen of Wales, whether or not they were born in the country or have any ancestral roots here. Wales is a multi-ethnic country, as so many European nations are today, yet it retains its distinctive culture. Newly arrived immigrants do not automatically consider themselves to be British, but often Welsh, and a fair number of them adopt Welsh ways and learn the language. By doing this they will enrich the nation and infuse vitality into the communities of which they are a part.
Here is an excerpt from the Welsh League of Arizona Newsletter :

A web site for those interested in their roots from Wales
www.genpage.com/walesdnaproject.html
This is a dna trace for information on your family tree
There is also a Wales-West dna group just starting up which some may be interested in.
Arnold James
Vancouver
Washington usa
dena_james@netzero.com

A Strident Scottish Champion of Independence

First Minister Alex Salmond has urged his party to use their record in government to help make the case for full Scottish independence

He told the SNP conference: "Winning the argument for independence and delivering good government in Scotland are two sides of the same coin.
"The better we govern, the stronger the case."
His speech to the first confernence in the party's history as a party of government was greeted with a standing ovation before he began, and a longer four-minute ovation when he finished.
The mood of the 700 delegates who watched in the main conference hall, and hundreds more who watched from an overflow hall was celebratory but self-controlled, with applause but no rapture, cheers but no whooping. The tone of Mr Salmond's speech was likewise celebratory within bounds, and otherwise serious and businesslike.
The speech contained two policy announcements - a pledge to complete the missing link of the M8 Glasgow-Edinburgh motorway, and a promise to scrap a quarter of Scotland's 200 quangoes.
The M8 is mostly motorway but is dual carriageway for a stretch through Lanarkshire and Mr Salmond said this was "not acceptable in the 21st century", adding: "I can therefore tell this conference there will finally be a complete end-to-end motorway between two of our great cities."
Of the quango cull he said the minority SNP administration came to power in a Scotland "dominated by a lobbying culture, a country almost frightened to know itself, always nervously glancing over its shoulder to Westminster".
One result of that was a crowded public sector with 200 national bodies created by legislation."It is our intention in the course of this parliament to reduce the number of quangoes and government agencies in Scotland by a quarter - smaller, fitter and better government for Scotland, more money for people's priorities.

A Feisty Resolute Campaigner for Independence

Nicola Sturgeon (born on 19 July 1970 in Irvine, North Ayrshire) is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Member (MSP) of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Govan.

Sturgeon became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, becoming the SNP's spokeswoman on justice, and later on education and health. In 2004, she announced that she would be a candidate for the leadership of the SNP following the resignation of John Swinney. However she later withdrew from the contest in favour of Alex Salmond, and stood as Deputy Leader. Both were subsequently elected, and Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, until Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament in the 2007 election.

The SNP won the highest amount of seats in the Scottish Parliament following the 2007 election, and Salmond was subsequently appointed First Minister of Scotland. He appointed Sturgeon to be his Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.

Today Alex Salmond will deliver his speech at the SNP National Conference

Published in Today's Western Mail

Sir/ Referring to the comments in the 'Western Mail' by Stephen Crabb MP, these views reinforce the fact that the Conservative Party, just like the Labour Party, is divided on the issue of devolution and progress towards a Parliament for Wales. I suggest that Wales is steaming ahead towards its parliamentary destiny, and Mr Crabb aligns himself beside the Labour and Conservative MPs at Westminster who are holding back the tide in their belief that Wales is essentially the same place as England, which it never was, being substantially different socially, psychologically and culturally. On one side we have Nick Bourne and Glyn Davies in the progressive camp, while Stephen Crabb, David Davies and David Jones belong to the group of Welsh MPs famously termed "Yesterday's Men" who cannot accept the fact that Wales is following the path of Scotland, and indeed Ireland, in moving in the direction of self-government as nations within the European Community. The upshot of this is that the Union will become an irrelevance and subsequently defunct. The age of "Britishness" belongs to the past and we no longer rule the waves. The European Union now determines and influences our laws and policies.

(alanindyfed)

The Appointment of Sir Emyr

It seems strange to me that Don Touhig has commented in the way that he has on the appointment of Sir Emyr Jones Parry to head the All-Wales Convention, as stipulated in the programme laid out in the One Wales Agreement. I suspect that Don Touhig is attempting to create controversy where there is none. By choosing a person who is nearer to Welsh political life the appointment would possibly stir up controversy and division which could be exploited by opponents of the direction in which devolution is heading. This is why Don Touhig is upset with the appointment as it cannot easily be opposed or questioned as Sir Emyr Jones Parry's impartiality and nonpartisan background favour neither one group or another and he is seen to be unquestionably unbiased and above reproach.

National Interests v. Party Political Interests

It does not require to be spelled out - it should be apparent to all and sundry, that for the British political parties their own political self-interest comes before their concerns for the people of Wales and their allegiance to their country. Make no mistake, Wales is their country, and the manner in which the Welsh people have been hoodwinked into believing that they are British, or that there is such a thing as a "British nation" is appalling. We have constantly to remind ourselves that there cannot be a British nation if there already exist the nations of Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. These entities are not regions of England or regions of Britain - they are nations in their own right. Thankfully there are many in Wales who now accept this to be the case, and they refer to their country as the "Welsh nation". This has come about partly through the growth of a national consciousness over the years of the past century, and the efforts of Plaid Cymru and other nationalists led by immortals such as Saunders Lewis and Gwynfor Evans, whose bronze statue will one day stand before the gates of a Welsh Parliament House.
The British political parties, which inherently do not hold the rights and interests of the Welsh people at heart, but place the interests of their party uppermost in order to grab power and exercise it in what they consider to be for the sake of their own ideological policies, ride roughshod over the needs and opinions of the electorate and squander public money or mismanage funds in behemoth projects which often end up as white elephants. We can think of a number of examples - the Millenium Dome being one that comes to mind, along with prestige projects such as the Olympic Games - used as a cover to rehabilitate a large area of East London. There is a lack of true democracy which is not apparent to many, who have grown up with the ideal of democracy and have missed the reality, which is that there is little real democracy at the grass-roots. Policies and decisions are foisted on a reluctant people who can do little to influence events, so that before they know it the housing estate is built or the trees chopped down in the name of "progress".
As we have constantly reiterated there is only one Party of Wales. The British parties are in disarray and speak with two voices, one favouring further devolution, another adamantly opposed. The Labour Party falls into two camps, the Conservative Party also. The Lib Dems flounder without stable leadership and appear to be rudderless and indecisive. Without the means to make a difference in the quality of their lives the people of the Welsh communities can only look to their own national politicians, those who represent Wales and not Britain, to guide them towards their destiny.

Letter from America

One day of the war in Iraq costs $720 million. How would you spend it?

• New elementary schools?
• Elementary school teachers?
• Headstart places for children?
• Free lunches for children?
• Four-year university scholarships?
• Healthcare for the uninsured?
• Healthcare for children?
• Homes for low-income families?
• Renewable energy?

Click on each one of the above items to find out how much could be provided for the cost of one day of the war in Iraq.

Western Mail Support for a Referendum

A good start to the referendum campaign

Oct 24 2007 Western Mail comment

WE WELCOME the appointment of Sir Emyr Parry Jones to chair the All Wales Convention in the run-up to what we hope will be a successful referendum campaign to give Wales a proper parliament. He has impeccable credentials and is of the highest calibre.
We hope that whatever Sir Emyr and his convention colleagues come up with, it will be listened to by the Assembly Government more assiduously than they listened to that other distinguished former UN Ambassador, Lord Richard.
Three years ago the Richard Commission produced a detailed and well crafted report after the most extensive investigation ever undertaken into the governance of Wales. Unfortunately, its recommendations were ignored, largely because of an internal split in the Labour Party.
As a consequence, we have a devolution settlement even university professors find difficult to understand – a recipe not merely for lawyers to make juicy fees, but for constitutional clashes between the governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay.
It is no wonder many people find it difficult to put their finger on where political power lies when the National Assembly has to go cap in hand to Westminster for the power to legislate in particular areas. It is too early to say how this recently introduced system will work in practice, but there have already been worrying hints of disagreements behind the scenes about some of the Assembly’s requests.

What Wales needs is a proper parliament that is fully accountable to its citizens for devolved public services and the legal frameworks within which they operate. But before we can achieve that, there is a referendum to be won.

How Sir Emyr’s convention will operate we do not yet know. The terms of reference will be drawn up by a group of Labour and Plaid Cymru MPs. There does appear to be some substance in the doubts expressed by Professor Richard Wyn Jones and Tomorrow’s Wales, the pro-devolution campaign chaired by Archbishop Barry Morgan. The convention will be consulting civil society, it appears, although we are not sure about what. Presumably the only question will be whether the bodies concerned favour the proposition that the Assembly should get primary lawmaking powers.
In most cases, we imagine the organisations will repeat the submissions they made to the Richard Commission several years ago.
Once that revisiting process is concluded, we can safely predict a majority will favour primary lawmaking powers for the Assembly.
The other element of Sir Emyr’s work will involve monitoring public opinion so the administration can be sure a referendum could be won. A call to Professor Wyn Jones and his researchers should settle that.

The Cornish Language - Kernewek

Cornish is showing an example.

The Cornish language language is going against the general trend of minority languages. They are dying quickly according to a recent article in 'Le Monde.' There are currently around six thousand languages in the world but most of them are expected to die before long... THAT'S IF everying stated by Colette Grinevald of the University of Lyon-II is true. She says that around 100 languages will be lost in Europe according to an atlas publishe'd by UNESCO and amongst them will be Breton. The majority will be lost in Australia and in North and South America. She mentions the 300 languages that were spoken in America (i.e. the modern U.S.A.) before the European settlers arrived. There will only be about five at the end of the century.
Why? - She mentions the use of major languages for business in a globalized world, also the role of the state. A single language is considered good for national unity.
Is it true? - It's not certain because attitudes have changed and many people are resisting the death of their languages. They're ready to use the net and new technology in their battle. They are demonstrating a great desire to speak them. That's to say that our language could be just one of those that survive and others might well look to us if they're going to do something to save them.

I noticed that more Cornish flags are being flown around the Duchy and that place-names are being signposted in both languages in Kerrier. Attempts to revive the Cornish language are being frustrated and it faces an uphill struggle. Nevertheless books are being published in Cornish and it is being introduced in some schools.

Kernewek yw yeth keltek Kernow. Bretonek yw y gar nessa, hag yma an dhiw yeth na, gans Kembrek, ow kul an bagas brythonek a'n kordh keltek.

Kernewek, Kernowek, Kernuack
Kewsys yn:	Kernow
Kernewegoryon:	3 500
Klasyans genynnek:	Eyndo-Europek Keltek Brythonek
Rannyethow	Kernewek Unys (Amendys), Kernewek Kemmyn, Kernuack Nowedga
Savla:	Taves ranndiryel yn Kernow
Kodennow
ISO 639-1	kw
ISO 639-2	cor
SIL	CRN

Yma Kernewek ow kevrenna 80% a'y erva selvenek gans Bretonek, 75% gans Kembrek, ha 35% gans an yethow goedhelek, Iwerdhonek ha Gwydhelek an Alban. Yma Kembrek ow kevrenna 70% a'y erva selvenek gans Bretonek.

Avel yeth ranndiryel a Bow Kernow, yma Kernewek dhe les dh'unn gre soedhogel, hag yma Konsel Kernow (gwelewgh Politegieth Kernewek) ow ri arghans rag hwarvedhyansow y'n yeth dasserghyes.

Cernyw a Chymru am Byth

The Lowender Peran Celtic Festival was a great success. More later, but meanwhile you are invited to view the pictures down the column on the right. It took place in Perranporth, Kernow.

News from the Cornish Celtic Cousins

BRINGING THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL WITHIN THE LAW

The Stannaries are claimed as the property of the Duke of Cornwall by charters. The first of 1337 was published in 1978 as Statutes in Force, Constitutional law. The second and third Duchy of Cornwall charters of 1337 and 1338 give the Duke the powers of: “The King’s Writ and Summons of Exchequer” throughout Cornwall. These powers of the Duke of Cornwall represent the powers of government retained as a result of the English conquest of Cornwall, c.1000 AD. By the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858, the foreshore of Cornwall was awarded to the Duke as “part of the soil and territorial possessions of the Duchy of Cornwall”. We note that territorial possessions can not be private possessions. Research reveals that the public spirited Crown Estate (www.thecrownestate.co.uk) provides cultural support and housing for the public everywhere in the U.K. except Cornwall. The Duchy of Cornwall is the analogous body in Cornwall but, in a departure from its historical role, now claims to be a private estate with exemption from the Freedom of Information Act 2000, clearly, a stratagem designed to deter investigation into Duchy history and Cornish history.

Lord Coke, in “The Princes Case” 1606, ruled that the transfer of property could not be exercised by charter alone. Whereupon, he contended that only the three Duchy of Cornwall Charters were to be classified as Acts of Parliament. There is no entry in the Parliamentary records between 1330 and 1340 to substantiate this exceptional claim. It is possible that the claim of the Imperial Parliament to ‘sovereignty’ is asserted in order to legitimise English bias as a right to any claim to the property of the subject made by the Crown. The present powers of the Duke of Cornwall in respect of control over Acts of Parliament are to be found in the standing Orders of the Westminster Parliament No. 7.178. The powers of the Duke of Cornwall to “control or intervene” in the judicial process are to be found in the Crown Proceedings Act 1947, section 40 (2g). Even so, the unrepealed Royal Mines Act 1688 specifically states that no tin mine shall be a royal mine. This Act has been ignored by successive Dukes of Cornwall in Cornwall. In Cornwall, the Duke is Lord Paramount, and is entitled to claim intestate estates and bona vacantia to accrue mineral rights without reference to Stannary law. Stannary law was, however, the basis upon which the Duchy Charters originally laid claim to the ownership of the minerals of Cornwall.

Lord Coke, in his ‘Case of the Stannaries’1606, does concede: “base mines (includes tin) belong to the subject but the tin in Cornwall belongs to the King although now a reason cannot easily be rendered”. The tax (coinage) imposed by the Duchy on Cornish tin production was at twice the rate applicable to that of Devon which comprised only 5% of total UK tin production. Lord Coke’s 4th Inst. 33 reveals the English custom of a double tax on foreign produce and G.R.Lewis in ‘The Stannaries’ ascribes the difference to the fact that the Cornish were Celts and the people of Devon, Anglo-Saxon, part of the ruling English national majority. Before 1832, English law permitted the Duke of Cornwall to create 44 constituencies in Cornwall for his ‘Prince’s Party’ at a time when Scotland had only 45 M.P.s.

Clearly, these otherwise unjustifiable manipulations of the law were acceptable to English people then, just as currently, the absence from English law of the world wide constitutionally enforceable right to equality before the law is accepted to protect the Duchy of Cornwall from an effective legal challenge. The Duke of Cornwall acquired a fortune from Cornish tin, and thus, English people were, and are still, absolved from sharing the responsibility of paying, through taxation, for their enjoyment of the privilege of having an heir to the throne.

Do you agree that the Duke and Duchy of Cornwall should be made subject to equality before the law and that English people should begin, after over six centuries, to pay for the maintenance of the heir to the throne? In addition, do you accept that Cornish people have the right to recover ownership of their mineral resources from the Duchy of Cornwall and to re-instate their traditional Stannary Parliament under the provisions of international law?

info@cornishstannaryparliament.co.uk

www.cornishstannaryparliament.org

Oll an gwella

Philip Hosking

Sign Adam's Petition!

From: Spirit Level Film
To: spiritlevelfilm@gmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, 17 October, 2007 1:34:39 PM
Subject: Ministry of Truth - Downing Street Petition sign today

Today's the day!
Adam Price's Bill, Elected Representatives Prohibition of Deception, is being tabled in the House of Commons this afternoon.

You can support the bill by signing the Downing Street petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/2accountabilty/

You can also ask your MP if he or she will support the Bill by entering your postcode at www.ministry-of-truth.net and e-mailing them directly (it's very simple to do).

You can see if your MP's signed up by visiting the MP scoreboard on our website - http://www.ministry-of-truth.net/mpscoreboard.php

So far 19 MPs have confirmed their support -
But yet no love from the Tories...
Write to them and ask why. It takes just a couple of mouseclicks to change politics...

SPREAD THE GOOD WORD
http://www.ministry-of-truth.net/

Martin McGuinness Vs Jeremy Paxman

Anonymous said...

Paxman came over as being an absolute pillock........I used to think he was good.

15 October 2007 10:33

What Devolution has done for Wales

To put it succinctly :
before devolution independence was a dream...
after devolution independence was a distinct possibility!

Lowender Peran - Celtic Festival - Kernow

Lowender Peran

29th Festival of the Celts in Kernow

17th - 21st Oct 2007 Perranporth

Celebrating Cornwall's distinctive heritage of traditional music, dance, songs, story telling and our links with Brittany, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales.

Due to the current postal strike we suggest you contact the Festival office on
01872 553413 to make sure your ticket application has been received.

Headlining this year:

DOCHAS with special guest Eamon Doorley from Danu on bouzouki, Thursday 18th October

Concerts with Giveway and Mabon on the Saturday and Sunday

NEWS!

Skinner’s Ale will be Official Festival Beer this year, and are kindly donating 15p from every pint of Skinners sold to Lowender Peran. There will also be a new dedicated Skinners Bar in the Dining Room.

www.hobgoblin.com

www.skinnersbrewery.com

Click here for the 2007 programme

Festival Office: Park Hoskyn House, Penhallow, Truro, Kernow TR4 9NB Tel (0)1872 553413 Email peggy@lowenderperan.co.uk

This is the Way Forward for Cymru too - so Sit Back and be Entertained. It's Alba our Celtic Neighbour

Alex Salmond on the Celtic Lion economy

Alex Salmond vs Jeremy Paxman

Anonymous said...

Paxman came over as being an absolute pillock........I used to think he was good.

15 October 2007 10:33

Anonymous said...

...and I would like to add.....shouldn't Paxman at least try not to show is contempt for Alex Salmon.....He is after all the first minister of Scotland! If I were a Scot, I would be peeved by it. Paxman really showed he is clueless....putting the words...."nasty English" into SNP mouths. I wonder if Paxman too is a close friend of high ranking Labour politicians like his Scottish co-presenter Kirsty Wark?(sp?)

16 October 2007 10:58

Five Words Which Belie the Nation of Cymru

I publish the following to highlight the final five words of the statement issued by the Conservative Party. The final five words deny all that has been aforesaid.

Ten years ago the people of Wales narrowly voted for devolution. Since then, with devolution in practice in Wales more people believe devolution is necessary and the National Assembly has become an established part of the political landscape.

Welsh Conservatives have accepted the result of the referendum and are committed to making devolution work Our task now is to use devolution imaginatively to make a strong Wales in a strong Britain. Successive Conservative leaders have supported greater autonomy for the Welsh Conservative Party. We now have our own Management Board, our own candidate selection committees and policies that are home grown here in Wales. Our minority Party debate this week in the Chamber was on the Welsh language.

Welsh Conservatives will continue to establish our own Welsh identity whilst remaining committed to the Union.

Global Warming - Is the Evidence Misleading?

Everybody is talking about climate change and urging that drastic steps must be taken to reverse the process. Is it not that climate change is a natural phenomenon and the planet Earth has gone through periods in the past when the climate was a great deal warmer than it is now, in the age of the dinosaurs for example? There is certainly a need for the present inhabitants of Earth to conserve the natural environment instead of raping and plundering the earth's resources as is being done today, to stop cutting down vast tracts of forest and denuding the earth of trees. The results of this are seen in landslides, soil erosion and increased CO2, as well as depriving living creatures of their natural habitat.
The emission of carbon gases into the atmosphere has a possible minimal effect on global warming and it is more likely that natural occurrences are responsible for the global rise in temperature and not specifically the fact of human pollution. Nature in any case will always redress the balance as there are checks and balances in place to ensure the continued survival of the planet. This is not to say that we should cease our efforts to enlighten the public on the desire to cut down on the use of fossil fuels but we need to keep things in proportion. Man is the guardian of the planet and its natural environment which is provided for the benefit and sustenance of all life. By destroying and abusing this environment human beings are causing further mayhem and are storing up problems for future generations.
Al Gore has highlighted the problems we are facing in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", but as is shown below we must ensure that there is fair and intelligent debate:

The inaccuracies are:

* The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government’s expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.
* The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.
* The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government’s expert had to accept that it was “not possible” to attribute one-off events to global warming.
* The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government’s expert had to accept that this was not the case.
* The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study: in fact four polar bears drowned and this was because of a particularly violent storm.
* The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream throwing Europe into an ice age: the Claimant’s evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.
* The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.
* The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.
* The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.
* The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.
* The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

For the Sain Tathan Campaigners

Simon & Garfunkel -

Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

Note : this posting reflects my own personal views on the proposed Military Academy at "St. Athan's"

Alan in Dyfed

Waiting for Godo

It is quite clear to anyone but the politically blind that Gordon Brown cancelled his plans for an imminent snap election when faced by the mounting pro-Tory polls and the prospect of a close run or even a defeat. The marginal seats would have turned blue for sure, and in Wales may have turned a Plaid shade of green. His dithering cost him his potential electoral success and has damaged his reputation as a decisive leader. The opposition parties are no doubt relieved that the election was called off but at the same time they are doubtlessly curious as to what the outcome might have been. We will now have to wait another two years to find out. Now Mr Brown has assumed the raiment of a self-styled visionary who sees a proud Britain forging ahead on the world's stage. But looking back on the past ten years we recall a different story, one which produced cut-backs, curtailment of services, closures, unemployment, greater taxation, mismanagement of funds and resources and the debacle in Iraq.

"Waiting for Godot" was a play by Samuel Beckett produced in 1953

A Vision of Greatness!

Gordon "Great Britain" Brown has a new word - it is "vision" . He has a new vision for Britain and will spell it out : v-i-s-i-o-n, and no doubt he will repeat it 71 times as he did at the Labour Conference with the word "British". His next coup might be to combine these two potent words : "British" and "vision", and then we will have an exciting new prospect - the British vision. What this British vision will produce is open to speculation, but let us hope that it will attend to the ailing constitution and ring the death knell on cultural and social inequality among the nations of the British Isles. One thing he will not succeed in...... and that is brainwashing the electorate with his much vaunted lexicology.

Following the Great Leader

The Grand Old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
When they were up they were up
And when they were down they were down.
And when they were only halfway up
They were neither up nor down.

Very confusing. Owain Glyndwr would never have done that.

Back to Place-names, another Campaign

And incidentally, when are Welsh place-names going to be corrected? Why is St Tathan's still called St Athan's? Why is the name Lantwit Major still retained? When will dignity and respect be delivered to the people of Wales, or must they endure facetious renderings of their honoured place-names in perpetuity?

Back to the Campaigns, and Another

I picked up another campaign posted on BritNat WATCH blog to keep everyone fired up for the real issues in Welsh politics.

Stop the St Athan Military Academy

Next Meeting at Temple of Peace / Y Deml Heddwch
2pm Saturday October 6th Cathays Park / Parc Cathays
Cardiff / Caerdydd CF10 3AP

The campaign against the mega military training academy at St Athan for Cynefin y Werin
www.cynefinywerin.org.uk For more information see also
http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/
http://www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/

St Athan Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4156619706

6:47 PM

Saint Tathan would have turned in his grave if he knew what is going on there.

Here is what I would consider as thoughtful and refreshingly valid comment :

heddwch has left a new comment on your post "Back to the Campaigns, and Another":

Wales should not be part of NATO. We have an aspiration to be nuclear free and NATO is a US run nuclear military alliance.

Yes Wales should have a non violent army, expert in conflict solution and prevention.

No country and certainly not Wales should be involved in the devising 'better' and more sophisticated ways of killing people. Sain Tathen is propsed as an educational facility for teaching young people methods of 'remote killing'.

Wales is not imperialistic and has a long tradition of peace making and building - work done by Henry Richard helped to bring about the League of Nations (although of course we know the UN needs reforming to take it from the grips of the US and other would be superpowers) and strove in the 1830s for international arbitration not violent solutions to conflict, George M Ll Davies is famous for his pacifism and work in Northern Ireland, David Davies gave us the Temple of Peace as a space where a way forward without wars could end...the Greenham Women left from Cardiff to set up camp at the nuclear weapons base...

Besides, in this instance the Sain Tathan development would be a 'little England' set up in Wales, it is not to train a 'Welsh Army/navy/Airforce, it is to train British military forces - as well as private security frims, and the armies of any regime in the world as long as they have the ready cash to pay. As someone pointed out at the campaign October 6th meeting (promoted here)the project would actually lock Wales in to the British Generation for at least 2 more generations (it's a public private finance initiative between the Westminster government and a consortium of companies including Raytheon - one of the biggest multinational arms companies that makes parts for Trident nuclear warheads, cluster bombs and tomahawk missiles amongst other dirty hardware).

The state of the environment will not support war, in fact it will make wars more likely. How about a Cymru which becomes a leading light in non-violent conflict resolution? A Cymru which is way up front in researching and developing low carbon not oil-based means of generating energy, or even a Cymru which has a centre of training and excellence in emergency rescue?

The Monarchy and the Constitution

According to the blog Tartan Hero the nationalists of Catalunya in Spain are calling for the abolition of the Spanish monarchy. As in Britain constitutional power rests with the government and not with the monarchy. Canada, Australia and New Zealand share Britain's monarchy and the majority of people see no good reason to change that. The nationalists' quarrel here in the U.K. lies not with the monarchy but with the government and the British constitution as established in England. The government therefore should undertake a complete evaluation of the constitution in the light of its contemporary relevance.

One Election Delivered, Another Aborted

Just as a new candidate was selected to represent Plaid Cymru for the Llanelli seat in the forthcoming General Election for the British parliament the forthcoming election was called off. Faced with a possible Conservative victory in England, and a strong Nationalist vote in Scotland and Wales, Gordon Brown hastily called off the election which he had almost spun to the polling booths. However it was Gordon Brown who spun off in a tangent and headed in a different direction and deprived the resurgent opposition in the form of Tories and Nats from savouring a potential political feast. It just goes to show that expediency comes before integrity as far as Labour is concerned and, as usual, it is the interests of the party which matter most and come before the interests of the people. The prospect of another two years of New Labour is not one which people in Wales are overly enthusiastic about, and the SNP in Scotland is no doubt bewailing the loss of an opportunity to display its strength. Mr Brown has shown a lack of political judgment and has done himself considerable harm by his unwanted vacillation.

Let Them All Come and Support Wales

Plaid Cymru has been the target of some well-intentioned and seductive approaches by Nick Bourne and Glyn Davies of the "Welsh" Conservative Party as they see that Plaid supporters are apparently split between the left and the right, and they are hoping that those on the right would be happy to vote Conservative in a possible General Election. In my opinion, what they fail to realise is that Plaid, though founded on socialist principles, is not the party of political ideology per se. It is the Party of Wales and it represents the Welsh people as a whole, whatever political views they may adhere to. Other major parties essentially represent the Anglo-centric politics of Westminster and do not have a claim to be recognised as a party of Wales. Only when they sever the umbilical cord with London will they serve the interests of the people of Wales in the context of Wales and not in the context of Britain. Let them all come and join the Party of Wales.

Why this Blog is Welsh, and not British

The British government pays lip service to a separate Welsh and Scottish identity.
It is trying to keep the lid on devolution. Those in power at Westminster now realise where devolution is heading, i.e. to the break up of the union. So they promote what they call "Britishness" to bolster a sense of mutual identity.
They don't want the union to break up. Their arguments are not economic - they are emotional.
Their emotional identity with Britain comes from the past, from conditioning (programming) from early education derived from skewed history and stories of imperial glory and conquest.
Wales, yes Wales, was one of the earlier conquests. Nationalists recognise that and aim to put things right. Like any former British dependency Wales as a nation seeks independence. Wales is not Britain, though technically incorporated (1536) into England. One cannot be both Welsh and British (I used 'British' in the sense of Greater English).
Great Britain is Greater England, comprising former colonies (i.e. Wales/Scotland/Cornwall). Britain was an attempt at uniting these nations along with England into a powerful state ruled by a centralised government which was predominantly English. It became the seat of the English establishment along with the Church of England. It attempted to dominate and extirpate its subject cultures and language. The Queen is still "Defender of the Faith" (Christian Protestant variety). Within Westminster was the Stone of Scone stolen from the Scottish kings. It represented subjection to the English king. Pomp and ceremony are employed to instil an emotional bond to the idea of Britishness. Read the words of the 3 verses of the British Anthem. It says it all.
These facts are not in dispute. Look at the Irish experience with colonial rule, a litany of conquest, neglect, exploitation. It is now time to show the world that British does not equal English. The English have commandeered the word "British" and have made it their own, and then convinced the world that it is theirs. That is why British=English. To all Welshmen and women I say one does not have to be a member of Plaid to be a nationalist. One simply has to be Welsh.

This Blog is WELSH, not BRITISH

WILL HE,WON'T HE, WILL HE,
WON'T HE.......
WON'T HE JOIN THE DANCE?

Are we all living with Alice in Wonderland?

NO, HE DIDN'T JOIN THE DANCE
and we are still living in Wonderland

Election Prospects Receding

With the opinions polls showing the gap between the political parties is closing apace the prospects of Gordon Brown announcing a snap election are receding. Possibly the afore-mentioned scenario whereby Alex Salmond stands against Gordon Brown in his Scottish seat is daunting in the extreme. Watch this space!

A Quite Amusing Scenario

There is a rumour going around that in the event of a General Election Alex Salmond, chief minister for Scotland and a very popular leader of the SNP, may contest Gordon Brown's seat in his constituency in Kirkcaldey and Cowdenbeath. We can then envisage a scenario in which the Labour Party wins the election for the Parliament at Westminster and the Prime Minister loses his Scottish seat.

Does Blogging Make a Difference?

A great deal of creative energy is spent on the political blogs which proliferate in the Blogosphere. It is interesting to speculate on the extent to which blogging makes a difference. To examine this question we need to be aware as to who are readers are, and the backgrounds from whence they come. Several of our most loyal readers are fellow bloggers who like to keep in touch with events and the current trend of political thought and discourse. It is a useful discipline for concentrating our own thoughts and focus our minds and a means to contribute our comments to the various blogs, and this interactivity is enlivening. The predominance of comments posted by the ubiquitous “anonymous” however largely obscures the contributor and guarantees that nobody can be held responsible for comments which are in any way obnoxious or unwanted.

The presence of the internet ensures that our blogs are read in distant lands as well as closer to home, providing a contact with home for the expatriates who live and work in other parts of the world. The blogger obviously keeps a blog in order to express his views to a cyber-public, but to what extent do these views filter down to the general populace and influence their thinking, or steer the course of political thought and give momentum to the course of events? This is the question we may ask ourselves but there is no easy answer. We can only hope that our efforts will not be in vain, and that our blogging furthers the various causes to which we adhere and makes a real difference to the lives of the people of Wales and beyond.

How can we influence events and make a difference? It is a question every nationalist (Plaid or other) should bear in mind, in the interests of Wales and the Welsh people.

An Election Announcement Could be Imminent

Various dates have been circulating with regard to an announcement from Gordon Brown calling for a snap election. Possible days for announcing the election are tomorrow, Thursday, or next Monday or Tuesday. It is our view that there will be a snap election this autumn and a possible date is now November 1st. In any case all preparations for this eventuality are in hand.

It seems that Lenin Cymru at Welsh Ramblings holds similar views to my own. Here is his recent blog posting.

A general election is inevitable, but so is a constitutional showdown

I've recently lost complete interest in politics, that's not because I don't care about the important issues - I do. It's just having lived for a fair number of years, I've become a cynic.

Take Tony Blair, everyone believed a new bright dawn was beckoning as he swept into power when he was elected in 97. Then, what did he do? He made Thatcher proud by favouring big business over the worker, and was responsible for the most unethical foreign policy ever.

My conclusion? Whoever you vote for in a Westminster election, you always get the Tories, the establishment, whatever you want to call them. Cameron, the next Blair, Brown the next Thatcher. It makes me sick.

It now looks almost inevitable that an election will be called in the next week or so. Maybe I'll be proved wrong, but as Labour parade their new recruits from the Tories, like Quentin Davies, I just wonder what they stand for anymore. I fear they stand for power rather than principle. That's why Westminster politics doesn't interest me anymore.

One debate that has interested a bit over the past few days is the constitutional wrangling over these LCOs. Apparently, Labour MPs are trying to hold up what they couldn't at their own party special conference, the One Wales (or whatever you want to call it) government programme. These legislative bids are backed by 100% of Assembly Members that's a mandate of just over 40% of the electorate, higher than the mandate of most Westminster governments. Yet, those London politicians are trying to hold up the plan to ban plastic bags and suspend the right to buy. Are these bids 'loony'? Hardly, yet still those unionist MPs tell Wales that we can't go are own way... That alone is enough to lose all faith in democracy.

Posted by Lenin Cymru

Do these politicians work for or against the people? Are they concerned more with power than with principle and real care for the community?
Let us know your views.....

Ieuan Wyn Tackles the Transport Issues

Moves to slash north-south travel times

Now Plaid is a part of government the Party of Wales is making a difference, first by attending to the farming issues, under the direction of Elin Jones - and now the transport issues and the north-south links, the responsibility of Ieuan Wyn Jones. The South Wales Echo tells the story.

Oct 2 2007

by Ben Glaze, South Wales Echo

TRAVEL times between South and North Wales could be slashed under a Government plan set to be announced today. Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones was expected to unveil a four-year programme of improvements to road and rail links spanning the length of the country.The notorious A470 backbone of Wales, which runs coast to coast from Cardiff Bay to Llandudno, is likely to be widened in parts of Mid and North Wales.It has already been improved in the south but the road’s poor quality north of the Brecon Beacons – where it often resembles a country lane – slows average journey times to about four hours.And Mr Jones, who is also Deputy First Minister, was also expected to reveal proposals for shaving 30 minutes off rail journey times by cutting the number of smaller stations stopped at by some trains in more rural areas.The Echo understands there are also plans to create a first-class section on the Arriva Trains Wales service from Cardiff to Holyhead.Business expert Brian Morgan, professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, said transport improvements linking north and south were long overdue. He said: “Investment on the A470 is absolutely vital and the sort of bold investment we need to knit the nation together." Note that what is desperately required is to "knit the nation together". From an economic as well as a social standpoint Wales has to be united in its infrastructure as well as its political consciousness.