You have to weaken such a beast before you slay it. Cymru cymraeg labour need to be told that in the fulness of time they will be regarded as traitors and that future generations of their famalies will be regarded as shit.

Ok, so 1.5 million protesters descended on London, but the Iraq war went on anyway. Here’s why. The Iraq war was too important, strategically and economically, for it to be knocked off course by protesters who were there for one day, and gone the next. That anti-war rally was not a show of strength, it was a show of weakness. What other forms did opposition to the war take? I can’t think of many,

So you have A (power) determined on a certain course, B (opposition) hoping to thwart that course of action. When A knows it only has to withstand a one-day rally, opposition in the Commons and the liberal media, then it knows it’s won. If, on the other hand, B could offer more imaginative and sustained opposition, then things could be different.

For the context of this debate. Let’s say that A is represented by Tesco, importing English staff to Gwynedd stores. We could write to the company; to our politicians and local media . . . and get nowhere. Organise a couple of dozen people to go to 2 or 3 Tesco stores armed with smoke bombs and flares. Result: stores evacuated, lost profits, bad publicity, ridicule on social media . . . all of which might lead to Tesco recruiting Welsh staff.

Be imaginative. Keep the enemy guessing.

Plaid can be written off. The sooner we do it, the sooner we can make a fresh start.

The question is, what do we do about it? Especially as so many of those who profess concern (for the language) dance around the issue, while many politcos and others seem to be suggesting that the decline is somehow the fault of the Welsh!

What this debate needs more than anything is a massive injection of honesty.

On the one hand, I can see the attractions of that strategy. But on the other hand . . . a more popular Labour Party! And where are the leaders of this ‘Welsh’ Labour Party?

Unfortunately, for twenty years or so, we have relied exclusively on the ballot box. It got us devolution, and the increase in powers . . . both of which are now meaningless due to a number of factors.

First, a Labour Party running the Assembly that will not govern Wales in the interests of the Welsh.

Second, the subversion of that Assembly – with the connivance of AMs – by English civil servants; taking orders from London and, to all intents and purposes, running Wales.

Third, the loss of local democratic accountibility to the cabinet system and powerful chief executives who – surprise! surprise! – all seem to be English.

Fourth, the decline in the Welsh media to the point where the serious issues are ignored. Genuine discussion replaced by trivialisation and twattery, bread and circuses and the ‘The Wales Report’.

Fifth, the increasing contempt most people have for politicians and their system. In fact, it goes beyond politics to take in the police, the media, big business and banking, organised religion, etc.

Many today have turned their backs on the things their parents and grandparents viewed with respect, even reverence. We are in a very ‘fluid’ time. But it offers great opportunities for anyone who can offer people, even just some people, something to believe in.

If it’s going to be done through electoral politics then it had better offer something very, very different.

As one of those who did not fill in the form, I’m surprised I didn’t think of that. Good point.

Open defiance,what went wrong? We put our faith in Plaid. In coalition they were doomed to fail with a system that left them with both hands tied behind their backs. In Assembly coalition and in councils they control they end up defending the system that we want them to free us from.
Plaid = Vichy Cymraeg

Of the 1031 souls in Arthog, only 303 were born in Wales (that’s a mere 29.4%!!!). Guess what the figure of Welsh speakers is? 28.3%.

Moving down to Aberdovey, 65% are foreign born and 30.3% speak Welsh. Tywyn, then, has a Welshman or two more: a mere 56.1% born elsewhere and 37.5% Welsh speaking.

Nine more communities in Gwynedd have Welsh born minorities: Llanfair (58.5% are foreigners), Llangelynin (58.2%), Corris (53.1%), Dyffryn Ardudwy (52.9%), Llanfihangel-y-Pennant (52.2%), Barmouth (51.3%), Harlech (51.3%), Llanbedrog (51.3%) and Betws Garmon (50.6%).

Across the Dyfi Estuary in Ceredigion, white flight has created a minority Welsh born population in the following communities: Borth (59.6% are immigrants), Pontarfynach (58.5%), Nantcwnlle (55.0%), Ysbyty Ystwyth (55.0%), Llanbadarn Fawr (54.9%), Ysgubor-y-coed (54.2%), Faenor (54.1%), Llanfair Clydogau (54.1%), Aberystwyth (53.5%), Blaenrheidol (51.1%) and Llangrannog (50.5%), although I admit that many in Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn Fawr will leave after their university experience.

And in Carmarthenshire, the conquest is well nigh complete in Llanycrwys (53.6%), Llanfihangel Rhos-y-Corn (52.1%), Llansadwrn (51.1%) and Llanfair-ar-y-bryn (51.0%).