I’M IN SEMI-RETIREMENT AND THIS BLOG IS WINDING DOWN. I INTEND CALLING IT A DAY SOON AFTER THIS YEAR’S SENEDD ELECTIONS. POSTINGS WILL NOW BE LESS FREQUENT AND I WILL NOT UNDERTAKE ANY MAJOR NEW INVESTIGATIONS. DIOLCH YN FAWR.
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Over the years I’ve read a lot of political nonsense and outright bullshit in the Western Mail, much of it emanating from the Labour Party. But all records were broken on Friday, February 26, 2021 when Llais y Sais gave us a sneak preview of a speech to be delivered by First Minister Mark Drakeford.
To help you fully appreciate the levels of dishonesty contained in the speech I shall produce the offending article and then walk you through it paragraph by numbered paragraph.
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Let’s start with the headline and the opening paragraphs. Home rule within the UK is impossible, for without a written constitution it could, like devolution, be undone at any time. (Come to that, how does ‘home rule’ differ from devolution?)
And even with a written constitution, an unequal Union such as the UK allows the dominant partner to do what it damn well likes. As England has for centuries.
No, let’s be honest, home rule is an unworkable nonsense. The truth is that Labour in Wales is alarmed by the possibilities unveiled by the Internal Market Act, which allows London to ignore the devolution settlement almost entirely.
Home rule would have offered no defence against the Internal Market Act.
Though Labour’s hostility to this Act was not prompted by thoughts of what’s best for Wales but by the fear that Boris Johnson and his mates might start threatening Labour’s hegemony in Wales, and the crony networks the party has built up over the past 22 years.
I hate to say it, but Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, was not far off the mark when he said that the ‘Welsh Government’ was simply worrying about its own little status.
Now let’s go through the rest of the article, focusing on the more interesting paragraphs.
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PARAGRAPH 4: “Internationalist not nationalist. Outward facing, not inward looking”, says Drakeford. Now this could either be a call to arms and a commitment to global humanity or a pathetic justification for having done nothing for Wales for the 22 years of devolution.
Because we’re dealing with ‘Welsh’ Labour, it is of course the latter.
Wales is the poorest country in Europe. Not so long ago I would have said ‘Western Europe’, but now the countries of the former Soviet bloc have caught us up and in many cases overtaken us.
Little Estonia – which the Russians swore would starve if it went independent – is now “one of the most tech-savvy societies in the world”. Here in Wales there are still communities without a decent internet connection.
The truth is that ‘Welsh’ Labour and its so-called ‘Welsh Government’ should be doing a lot more looking inward; then they might appreciate this country’s problems, its real needs, and address them before riding off on Quixotic crusades to save the planet.
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PARAGRAPHS 5 & 6: These continue in the same toe-curling vein, with the predictable use of, “progressive” (‘pass my revolver, wife!’), and even “destiny”!
Though, chwarae teg, I did agree with, “Yes to a Wales that takes ownership of its own destiny” . . . but home rule ain’t gonna deliver that.
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PARAGRAPH 7: Drakeford believes the coming Senedd election is a contest unlike any other. Indeed it is, and it could be his last. Go for it, Neil!
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PARAGRAPH 8: This is where we learn that Labour has a new strapline – ‘Moving Wales Forward’. God! I wish I’d thought of that!
Can’t you just hear kids shouting it as they whizz by on their bikes! Young women having it tattooed on their intimate parts! Football and rugby crowds – when they’re allowed back, of course – chanting it on the terraces!
What a response to all those who want to move us back. Though Nationalists like me also want to move forward, to independence; and even the anti-Welsh mob want to move forward, by consigning devolution to the dustbin of failed political initiatives. (Where it belongs.)
When you think about it, the only ones who want to stand still, maintain the status quo, are the devolutionists, and where are they to be found? Er, in the Labour Party.
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PARAGRAPHS 9 – 12: Here it’s appeals to, ” . . . our tenacity . . . our institutions and sense of social solidarity . . . characteristics that will shape . . . generations to come”. Then it’s, “from the coal field (sic) to the rugby field . . . work together . . . shared experience . . .”.
The kind of vacuous rambling that would shame a be-medalled Latin American caudillo.
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PARAGRAPHS 13 – 16: I was obviously unfair in suggesting that 22 years of devolution under ‘Welsh’ Labour has been a disaster – for we are a “world leader in recycling”!
That will be a great consolation to those queuing at food banks, and those being forced out of the communities in which they were born and raised, and where they’d hoped to die.
Twice we see the “National Forest” mentioned. Does this mean that the ‘Welsh Government’ has a plan to develop a forestry industry in Wales, generating wealth, creating jobs, and sustaining communities?
Don’t be silly, Jac, it’s, “for people to further enjoy Wales’ natural beauty”. In other words – more fucking tourism! But worse, this project could also be seen as meeting the demands of Monbiot and his disciples, those who want to dispossess our farmers and take over their land.
The war on farmers becomes clear again with, “tackling agricultural pollution”, presumably into our waterways. Yet most of the pollution in our rivers has nothing to do with agriculture.
Of course this truth does not serve the ‘Welsh Government’s anti-farming agenda. Consequently, it will never be admitted by Natural Resources Wales, or Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs. And certainly not by Lesley’s civil servant lover Gary Haggaty.
But I suppose what pissed me off most in this section was the reference to “investment in new green jobs”. This is not new, we’ve been hearing it for over twenty years. But how many jobs has ‘green energy’ created?
Think of the massive Pen y Cymoedd wind farm, one of the largest in Europe. Does it employ any local people? Certainly, no jobs were provided at earlier stages because the towers, motors, and blades were made in Germany and Denmark.
The only real benefits the local community sees is the £1.8m doled out every year as a Community Fund by the owner of the wind farm, Swedish company Vattenfall. Which only makes me wonder how much of a killing Vattenfall is making.
This Community Fund is just crumbs from our own table.
Despite Labour claiming for two decades or more that renewables would create jobs, and be a great boost to the Welsh economy, the reality is that the ‘Welsh Government’ has simply allowed Wales to be exploited, with no benefits at all for us.
It’s no longer coal mines, slate quarries, or dams and reservoirs, it’s wind and solar farms, and wave energy. But Wales continues to be exploited by strangers.
Therefore only a fool would believe Labour’s promise to deliver in the future what it has already been promising to deliver for so long. ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’.
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PARAGRAPHS 17 – 22: Here, gentle reader, we reach new heights of hifalutin vacuity before plumbing the depths of cringe-inducing attempts at eloquence.
Though it started encouragingly, because when I read “generations who come after us” I thought at first it was a reference to Burke’s Contract, but no.
This is followed by. “We are so lucky in our country, to have all the natural resources we need to put Wales at the forefront of the global energy revolution which the world will need: wind, water and wave”.
And here, Drakeford is absolutely right – we do have all these resources! But we don’t own any of them. They don’t generate wealth or jobs for us. For as I say, that’s because ‘Welsh’ Labour encourages strangers to exploit our homeland as if it was some 19th century African ‘possession’.
Then comes the empty promise of jobs, again. Before we are exhorted to, ” . . . make our contribution to securing the future of our beautiful but fragile planet”.
(Cue violins and rustling Kleenex.)
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CONCLUSION
This sententious drivel exposes where Labour has gone wrong and how it has failed Wales.
Saving the planet – as if we could! – has done nothing for us. The promised jobs never materialised. Even if they had materialised we would have been working for foreign companies because Labour does not want successful Welsh companies, with Welsh businessmen regularly exposing the bruvvers’ idiocies.
No, Labour wants the quiet life of foreign companies uninterested in Welsh politics and a third sector of Labour cronies forever finding problems for Labour to fund while blaming someone else.
But nothing exposes the reality of Wales today, and Labour’s shortcomings, more than the fact that nowhere in Drakeford’s waffle does he say, ‘Vote for us on our record’.
All he can offer is pie in the sky, recycled promises on green jobs, and more saving the planet. Nowhere does he talk of what really matters to most Welsh people: health, education, jobs (that might actually materialise), and housing they can afford.
Labour has pandered to certain alien lobbies at the expense of the Welsh people for too long, and this cannot go on. Labour must be removed from power in May.
And remember! a vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote to keep Labour in power.
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That Unherd article you mentioned in the tweet earlier today is certainly well worth a read. A reversion to common sense, at last ? Well maybe not yet but now people are beginning to ask these questions and make observations which will make a wokey’s life very lacking in content. In among the comments I found this which kind of sums up my stance :
“The majority of people in the UK work to live, they may or may not enjoy what they do but they certainly don’t think they have a career, they have a job – they don’t even want a career, just a decent job. Labour forgets this just as much as the Democrats. As such BLM, gender identity and 99% of what else the chattering classes go on about is totally irrelevant to them and they don’t even listen to it.”
The plain truth hiding in plain sight. People like Price, Wood and all those other dreamers don’t even want to wake up and confront these realities. They are too fixated on their own fantasy world of imaginary disadvantage and crises.
Why do they keep pushing federalism? The whole “Being seen to be doing something to preserve the union” bit most likely. Given that the union itself, together with Brexit, have been THE major talking points for the past decade in British politics, and all they can do is repeat this same old ‘solution’, at what point does their clinging to the union become purely ideological? Surely eventually “More powers, more powers” for the ‘Celtic Fringe’ becomes asymptotic to independence?
Those tweets from Patrick Clarke highlight how the fate of Fishguard and Holyhead could well be sealed unless some dimwitted Minister ( P.M?) and senior public servants get off their collective pots and do something other than piss and fart all day long. These places are considered to be out on the fringes and of no real value to the cnuts and assorted deviants that inhabit places like the City and its institutions. They will be sacrificed without so much as second thought despite anything silly fuckin’ Ginny and her kind waffle on about.
ex Apprentice winner Alana migrated into Ceredigion, I think, or her parents did before she was born. Anyway she’s set about learning Welsh, making a go of it, and started tweeting in Welsh. Apparently this had some sort of negative response out there in the Twit sphere where all sorts of scum and other low life lurk as they don’t like dealing with people face to face. Good for her I say. She sets an example which most incomers and many native Welshies would do well to imitate, especially those of the “I’m as good as any other Welshie” persusasion who do nothing for Wales, its language, its culture or any aspect of existing in this Anglophonic cesspit that is promoted daily by media government and other influencers.
Homelessness in Wales – was a problem, began to ease so what did they do ? ship more homeless in from other parts of the UK to ensure that their tax preparation little number was perpetuated. Same with drug users and habitual petty, and not so petty, crims, all “relocated” to a “caring” H.A or charity in Wales. Skimming the funds but not cracking the problems.
Well Sunny, do elaborate, or is that link just a means of promoting a service which you deliver to the subjects of that comment ?.
PROPEL – an Official item on the Web :-
Neil McEvoy MS
@neiljmcevoy
·Jan 26
Meeting the Free Dai Morris campaign at 8pm to discuss the latest developments.
Jac – at least Drakeford’s new forward look omitted nuclear energy.
Has he dropped the NWEAB bullshit: North Wales, the economy of the future: Smart, Resilient, Connected, where economic growth is powered by innovation in high value economic sectors
With UK Government endorsing their nuclear bid, they got matched funds from WG, but still way short of the £335M bid. The 16 Projects of 2019 dwindled to “14 exciting and transformational projects” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-46482907.
At last week’s Business Conf presentation, they were still ready to throw £20M into the Small Modular Reactor at Trawsfyndydd – apparently the remnant of the Nuclear Industry Sector Deal “such as the £70m commercially lead Equipment Qualification Centre for the nuclear industry which should be based in the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone”.
The NWEAB (North Wales Economic Ambition Board !) omitted aerospace, it’s surely time nuclear went the same way.
Instead of the failed strategy of bureaucrats bunging public funds at grand-sounding projects chosen via cronies and industry lobbies, let’s get on with obvious winners like marine algae/seaweed farming which Bangor Uni is too slowly getting into – years behind Ireland and Scotland https://businesswales.gov.wales/innovation/bangor-university-seaweed-cultivation.
I suppose what I was saying was that no matter what form of generation we talk about, no matter what industry, it will – like ‘renewable energy’ – be exploitative, with few benefits accruing to us.
Though for me, this goes beyond electricity generation and innovative new industries. The maxim for everything happening in Wales should be: ‘If the host communities are not the major beneficiaries then we can do without it.’
Spot on – if ownership is remote, like the multinational energy corporates, then it makes no sense to invite the buggers in. No matter what the technology or what it produces if all it achieves is the enrichment of a distant ownership class then it does the local communities a disservice. Indeed it would be an overt transfer of wealth out of local workers and markets into fat cat coffers.
Incidentally I like how the penny seems to be dropping within France that ordinary folk living out in the sticks have little or nothing in common with the city slicker metropolitan elites, who are as much of a curse in France as they are here in the UK. Macron will now need to address how this bout of realism chimes with the lofty ideals of France’s EU membership. Maybe the old frogs ain’t so bad after all.
The Labour Party champion food banks for Welsh people and then go on to build 60m chimney stack near your house, being built to process waste food imported from England to generate electricity.
http://www.aberdareonline.co.uk/news/rhondda-cynon-taff/90-meter-high-chimney-stack-cynon-valley-all-down-planning-committee-4-march
Add that to the turbines on the mountain and then export all electric produced to England. Then they stick the cost of these renewables on the standing charge of the bills that come through your letter box.
Pay for it by applying for a zero hour contract.
Zip wire cleaners.
It’s what Welsh Labour does for Hirwaun.
An interesting analysis but largely a waste of time. All Drakeford is doing is parroting Starmer’s policy on federalism. Devolution was an attempt by the London based parties to head off devolution. Federalism is another step towards the break-up of the UK, it’s just a delaying tactic, it may even work in our favour.
The problem the independence movement has in Wales that not enough things at government level are uniquely Welsh, this makes establishing a distinct Welsh identity quite difficult.
If you compare the devolution settlement given to Wales, it was far behind the rights given to Scotland and NI; and is even further behind Crown Dependencies such as the the Channel Isles and Overseas Territories like Gibraltar.
It is also a long way behind the old ‘dominion status’ given to a lot of the former colonies before they departed.
It may well turn out that independence comes to Wales, not with a blaze of glory and trumpets sounding, but a progressive disentanglement from the tentacles of the Westminster establishment.
Like it or loath it the only two institutions we have that can exert pressure on behalf of Wales are the Senedd and Plaid Cymru. Nobody considers either Gwlad or Propel as a serious influence on Welsh politics. Your approach of throwing the baby out with the bathwater will get us nowhere.
Wales could well do with another party dedicated to independence, but both the above new parties committed the childish error of thinking that the route to success was splitting the Plaid vote. Attacking Plaid, instead of seeking votes elsewhere, achieves nothing. Getting elected on a Plaid ticket and then telling people you’re a different party just makes you look like a hypocrite.
Both Gwlad and Propel are destined to remain on the sidelines, nursing the chips on their shoulders and desperately seeking publicity by latching on to every lost cause and making a fuss about it. Meanwhile the rest of us, who live in the real world, move on.
I think the answer to independence lies in asking the English what they think about it. You may be surprised. The ambivalence to the future of Northern Ireland amongst the English electorate during the Brexit debacle was quite informative. The Covid crisis has also pushed awareness of the UK as four nations rather than a homogenous state. The Labour Party’s pursuit of federalism keeps the pot boiling and may (hopefully) have unintended consequences for the unionist cause.
It may well be English nationalism, fuelled by Brexit, Covid and the death throes of the Labour Party, that breaks the union.
If you rely on others to deliver your liberty, then it will be a liberty on their terms. Given the way many Anglos view parts of Wales – holiday home, playground, leisure park, green spaces – you are unlikely to be allowed to deny them free access to any of those colonial perks if you passively expect them to “design” your freedom for you.
You repeat the same false argument about Gwlad and Propel poaching votes from Plaid Cymru. False because Plaid Cymru doesn’t have many votes to spare. Although I’m not an active member of Gwlad I know enough to know that, in the main, the party is targeting the kind of people who would not vote for Plaid. There are a number of categories.
For example, there are the Labour voters in the Valleys for whom Plaid is as much the ‘enemy’ as the Tories. Then there are those of a conservative bent attracted to the idea of independence but repelled by Plaid’s lurch to the left and its welcome for anti-Semites and others. I won’t deny that Gwlad will take some of Plaid’s ‘traditional’ voters who’ve only stuck with Plaid because there was nowhere else to go. Finally, let’s remember that 54.7% of those eligible to vote in 2016 did not vote. Who are they? What do they believe? Whatever the answers, those votes – a majority of the electorate! – are up for grabs.
Obviously, I can’t speak for Propel, but I know that Neil McEvoy has a big personal following in Cardiff West, and could unseat Mark Drakeford. Propel also has supporters across Wales.
… and both those parties, although embryonic, have enough savvy to know that chasing into the huge uncommitted and inactive demographic could be a damn sight more productive than debating ishoos with barking mad Plaidos. There are still people within Plaid who shudder at the way the party has drifted (or been dragged) into the zany zone of unrealistic priorities. Get some of those saner types shifting out as well and there could be a few electoral surprises in store.
Kinmel Hall in Rhyl
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/feb/28/pleas-to-save-historic-versailles-of-wales-before-it-falls-into-ruin
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/majesty-mansion-linked-beckhams-captured-19914999
A tenner says the owners will go for conversion to flats for well-healed white-flighters. Compulsory purchase sounds like the only solution in Wales’ interests. I’d even let Cadw take it over.
At age of 76 and with children/grandchildren over the border and seemingly doing well I am content,and I do not expect seperation from UK in my lifetime.I voted against devolution not in administrative matters,but POLITICAL control,and a corrupt media.Looking around my area there seems to be considerable wealth and opportunity,however within 20 miles there is considerable poverty/sickness,however exactly the same as in Cornwall.Clearly there are huge problems in the valleys,and in particular the ‘social’ housing estates and it needs creative thinking to solve/mitigate such inequality.We have 22 LA’s/8 or 10 health boards (Quango’s),hundreds of HA’s/homeless charities/etc etc and with salaries for CE’s that are mouthwatering,so there is adequate public investment,however swallowed by by jobsworths!!.There is a change coming,particularly after end of this current Scottish ‘drama’,and federalism seems to be currently in fashion,however that will present great threat to Wales,as an ENGLISH only administration could be led by Farage and I can see the rallying cry English taxes for English purposes and end to Barnett formula which subsides our public sector.It is’nt all bad as virus ‘jabs’ for the oldies,including myself have taken place,whilst in Ireland near relatives over 80 and quite ill are still waiting,and that replicated in EU!!
I said to my dad the other day, it’d be nice to visit a small, mountainous country that is thriving despite far larger neighbours. I was of course talking about Switzerland. What is inherently poisoned, stupid or ineffectual about this land or its people that we can’t join the leagues of the world’s small nations and thrive ourselves?
It could be explained somewhat if we were demonstrably doing well in this union, even as identity and language are eroded and the like, because most people care about their financial security first and foremost. But it’s glaringly obvious that we’re being buttfucked by it. For instance, do people not take the 10 minute train journey between Shotton and Chester and think to themselves, “Hm, that last place looked a bit run down, but this place is gorgeous with its racecourse, affluence and olde worlde-meets-noveau riche vibe. What gives?”.
Turning to Drakeford’s little sermon I find nothing in there that surprises me any more. Labour have had 20 + years to fine tune the art of doing next to nothing and even taking us backwards.
As has been commented and analysed so many times before by Jac, there’s an entire industry built on poverty in Wales funded mainly with government money. That’s the Third Sector, a mish mash of Housing Associations and other so called charities all sucking up cash, paying decent to over the odds salaries to senior executives while failing abysmally to crack the problems they purport to address.
Homelessness in Wales – was a problem, began to ease so what did they do ? ship more homeless in from other parts of the UK to ensure that their cosy little number was perpetuated. Same with drug users and habitual petty, and not so petty, crims, all “relocated” to a “caring” H.A or charity in Wales. Skimming the funds but not cracking the problems.
Then the wind farms fiasco – a response to climate change/global warming that has inflicted immense pain and costs on communities downstream from these monstrosities. Green evangelists have a monopoly of credibility in the Labour Bay set and any alternative thought is taboo.
Those are about the only growth industries we have, along with the tourism sector ( which I can’t comment upon as I develop a nasty foam around my mouth!) but they are corrosive and toxic in their effects on those communities where this shit is allowed to happen. Labour and Plaid condone it as part of their “Caring and welcoming” posture. It’s misdirection of funds on a grand scale, all driven by political bias.
I’m not with your anti-renewable rhetoric, but it most certainly needs too be run by Welsh companies for the benefit of Wales.
Cannot disagree with the performance of Welsh Labour, Wales is run for the benefit of the union by a unionist party but I just cannot see how abolishing the Senedd will carve out a path to independence. You may have wrote on his previously, if so, I would be grateful if you would provide a link but failing that can you explain how Independence would be achieved by going back to direct rule.
I understand your visceral dislike of Welsh Labour, Plaid but why not fight for Gwlad or even Propel to change the Senedd.
This is my major problem, we, the people of Wales would prefer to vote for Labour than any other party, is it a case of better the devil you know. To me those who want to abolish put their political ideals before their country. Is it a case of let’s sacrifice the voice of Wales in favour of our own political views. I would happily vote for centre left/centre right, even a Welsh Trump or Obama if it meant getting Independence.
We will not be better off by abolishing the Senedd unless your aim is to make us so downtrodden so desperate that we will unite and then throw off the yolk of union. If so Jac I think you need to be careful what you wish for, desperate people will do desperate things.
My position is quite simple. Devolution is a complete failure, and would have been little better with other parties running the show. Ergo there is no case for continuing with devolution. Which leaves two options – independence or assimilation into England. (I have been saying this for years, and now others are waking up to the prospect.)
I believe that influenced by Scotland having departed the Union and BoJo and his gang continuing to enrich their mates up in London, there would be a majority for independence. If there wasn’t, then we deserve our fate.
The big issue would be who was allowed to vote. Because there is no way that the future of this nation should be decided by holiday home owners, the harvested voters of wrinklies in care homes, and the kind of bigots who have been exposed in the past few weeks at Iceland and the ‘Welsh’ NHS. But if these were allowed to vote on Welsh independence then a 35-40% vote for independence should be regarded as enough.
As for Gwlad and Propel, I am a founder-member of Gwlad and in regular contact with Neil McEvoy and others at Propel.
Here’s something I wrote recently on the subject of abolishing the Senedd.
In lieu of a like button, diolch yn fawr iawn for the response and link. I understand where you’re coming from now, also agree on who should decide our future.
You say “Go for it” to Propel and its Leader. I’ve seriously gone off that lot. They are using their energy to try to free a twice convicted murderer from Prison. without any new evidence, trying more than the real issues of trying to let Wales out of its colonial and poverty confines. They are even putting up a Police and Crime Commissioner Candidate in South Wales on the same platform as above, a serious issue of which they know nothing. I say to them “Stick to picking up litter in Cardiff’s side streets and don’t interfere in issues outside of your petty cabbage patch in the so called capital city!”.
Ioan, you’re getting a bit fixated with the Dai Morris case. Slow down.
Tell me why Propel and its leadership (NM & Co) are fixated with releasing a twice convicted murderer without new evidence!. Can they, and their Police Commissioner Candidate GJ, go public and say why?
They are not ‘fixated’. It’s just one issue among many. Think about it, Neil McEvoy is standing in Cardiff West against Drakeford, few people there care about what happened in Clydach over 20 years ago.
As for the PCC election, that has more to do with the police harassing McEvoy over delivering election leaflets than anything to do with Dai Morris.
Ease off, Ioan. You are too close to the Clydach murders case and you’re interpolating it into scenarios where it doesn’t really figure.
EXACTLY – why is Neil McEvoy propelling PROPEL into a case in Clydach Swansea Valley that he knows nothing about – yes NOTHING ! Does he dream that such an issue will help him and his Party beat Drakeford. PROPEL even held a ZOOM meeting to discuss joining the Free Dai Morris campaign.
It should be remembered that Home Office guidance to all police forces in England and Wales states that the issue of political leafleting under Covid lockdown should be avoided. The issue has been evident in other forces, most notably the LibDems in Lancashire and the jaunts of Nigel Farage in Kent.
Coppers in uniform should stay clear of politics.
However, only SWP has ignored this advice, and I believe that MvEvoy was specifically targeted because Alun Michael and the Labour Party had a hand in it. I’d love to know why, and who, issued the instruction to the divisional inspector in Cardiff to give McEvoy a tug.
Hassan.
I think there’s something more to the missing hours of Mohamud Hassan and it does not relate to what happened in custody which evidently did not contribute to his death. More likely to the involvement of undercover officers combating county lines and where Hassan did and went to, after release and prior to arriving back in Roath. Maybe SWP would be better directed to crossing Ts and dotting Is than chasing politicians around Cardiff.
The Clydach murder case IS of interest to people throughout Wales. The best narrative of the case can be found here. The key to cracking this case will be who illegally changed the HOLMES.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845510/Who-REALLY-murdered-married-WPC-s-lesbian-lover.html
Unfortunately, we don’t have decent investigative journalism native to Wales, but this is the best native examination of the case.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nrl2/bbc-wales-investigates-the-clydach-murders-beyond-reasonable-doubt
I don’t think Dai Morris did it. I also think that twin bothers, Sergeant Stephen Lewis and Inspector Stuart Lewis need to be re-visited. There is also an issue of public trust in South Wales Police, and the removal of Alun Michael as PCC would be a start.
McEvoy’s party is not a party its a one man band. I am seriously fed up of his scattergun approach to campaigining. He mouths off at everything. Everything. Non stop twitter onslaughts. He shouts so much, nobody wants to listen any more. he is also making out he is being persecuted by everybody. No wonder, he is getting on everybodys nerves and making an fool of himself. I gave him a chance to prove himself after the Deryn business, which needed to be highlighted, but when i saw him speak i Llanelli, he was embarrassing, totally wrapped up in promoting himself. Gwlad have no hope, They do not have any skills in PR or marketing. I agree with a lot of what the say. God knows PC are obsessed with fringe issues, Not the important questions facing us.
Thing is, if the national movement in Wales has got a gaping hole in mid-field, not winning the ball, you need to fill it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRXvw4PeEYg%5Bremovetoplay%5D
If McEvoy is doing a Robbie Savage, those that don’t like it have to provide an alternative. I can’t see one yet.
Nice analogy that, Brychan. Although I doubt whether McEvoy has the finesse of Savage ( laff!) . In today’s politics the vast majority of active politicians ( oxymoron) are of the dull grey variety all feeding on ishoos which don’t really matter to us the common herd. McEvoy on the other hand goes looking for the things that are pissing off real people, often people with no clout, no real voice but building up a head of steaming anger as befits those who are genuinely left behind or left out of the fashionable loop.
Now the poseurs and comfortable people will be most put out by the temerity of the likes of McEvoy but he and his kind in WNP/Propel and Gwlad are the only ones with the mindset to provide assertive representation at Y Senedd. If none of these people get elected we might as well accept the inevitability of assimilation and destruction of identity.
Not to forget the jobs created a few years previously in/by/on behalf of Carmarthenshire County Council at a recycling plant “world leader in recycling” for applicants whose ability to speak Polish was considered an advantage. a really much needed fillip for the indigenous job seekers.
Where was that?
I suspect that there have been a number of “ventures” based on the recycling bullshit spread by Government and its agents/consultants with dollops of grants and other inducements. Websites and literature portray a highly controlled, scientific approach to segregation of materials and the “recovery of value”. Reality is often a case of dirt, pollution and disgusting working conditions for the direct labour involved. And yes much of that direct labour was sourced east of the old Iron Curtain ! Bit like hailing child prostitution as a much needed addition to the growing diversity of leisure industries. Welsh Labour’s mantra of course is “never mind the reality, just enjoy the illusions”.
Recycling sounds fine, and the message is easy to spread – you brainwash kids in school and they take the message to their parents and grandparents. But as you point out, the reality can be vastly different. But as with so much in modern Wales, the message, the flim-flam, is more important that the realities.
I always remind myself that Tony Soprano and other Italian-American ‘businessmen’ are often found in the waste / recycling business. Why is that?
When you got bodies and other potential evidence to get rid of at regular intervals it helps to have easy access to bits of kit like crushers, balers, melters and incinerators. All to keep things neat and tidy
Always handy.