Bigotry, the BBC, Language Campaigners

On 24.03.201426.03.2014 By JacIn Colonisation of Wales, Cymrophobia, Welsh Language44 Comments

I had intended writing something similar to this post a while back, when I heard that Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) was launching a new campaign. For those who’ve missed it; the ‘campaign’ has started, but seems to consist of nothing more than small groups chaining themselves to the gates of out-of-the-way government buildings where the chainees are ignored, by the media and just about everyone else. As campaigns go, this exercise in futility is going nowhere.

Having originally decided that CyI and the non-campaign wasn’t worth the effort of a post, I have changed my mind over the past few days for reasons alluded to in the title. The bigotry is that exhibited by the sad git working in some Cardiff shop, who said on Facebook, “I love wales and it’s beauty, but the welsh language gets right on my fucking nerves. Two girls in the shop at the moment speaking to each other in welsh. I’ve had to turn bobby womack up to 8”. As the piece in Daily Wales, and the comments it attracted show, there were attempts to explain or laugh off the outburst. One comment even tried to justify the bigotry by claiming that Welsh is not a “mellifluous” language. In which case, neither is German, or Russian, or countless other languages. While on the other hand, French is very ‘mellifluous’, but that never stops those who share Shop Boy’s anglo-insular views from detesting Johnny Frog and everything about him and his culture.

So, we start with a clear and indefensible case of bigotry, which should have been followed by apologies all round, apologies accepted, end of story. But, no; for this morning, the radio station misrepresenting itself as BBC Wales put out a phone-in programme asking why so many people are upset by the sound of the Welsh language. (Available here.) Note that the ground of the debate has now shifted significantly. In less than forty-eight hours it has become an established fact that the sound of the Welsh language is irritating; and this elevates Shop Boy to the status of martyr, standing up to tyranny on behalf of the silent majority!

Proving yet again that whatever independence the BBC once had is long gone. What’s more worrying is that the Beeb isn’t even being run by Tory central office, it’s being run by the intelligence services. Alex Salmond has a lot to answer for. Keep it up, Eck!

I wasn’t able to hear the whole show but one woman I did hear made cogent points about expenditure on the Welsh language. Which I think is where language campaigners have got it very badly wrong. It boils down to psychology. Put yourself in the position of someone who does not speak Welsh, is not hostile towards the language, but one day – maybe low on funds – has a revelatory moment when he receives his bilingual council tax demand or electricity bill, and says to himself, ‘How much am I paying to have my bill translated and printed into a language I don’t understand?’ At that point he switches from ambivalence towards the Welsh language to hostility. And there are hundreds of thousands like him. And it’s all so unnecessary.

It happens because CyI has, for decades, pursued the strategy of recognition and visibility. In essence, this demands – in addition to pointless tokenism – that the Welsh language must have equal legal status with English, and must be seen and heard, everywhere in Wales on a par with English. Which is fine . . . up to a point. That point being that Gwynedd is not Gwent, Maenchlochog is not Manorbier. While the most virulent bigot living in Gwynedd cannot reasonably object to expenditure on a language he hears spoken all around him, no one should be surprised when an otherwise proudly Welsh anglophone in Abergavenny questions similar spending in his area. Without I hope sounding like an Adferwr I think we have to accept these differences.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg’s refusal to accept them has had two consequences. First, comprehensive bilingualism, across the country, in every aspect of life, does not establish a bilingual country – it just pisses off too many people unnecessarily, few of them bigots. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, by quixotically pursuing this policy of national bilingualism Cymdeithas has left Y Fro Gymraeg undefended, and seriously damaged the language’s chances of survival.

For where was Cymdeithas yr Iaith a few years ago when Tesco opened its new store in Porthmadog and shipped in an English workforce of over 100? And what of the other retail chains and businesses doing the same thing in Gwynedd and other Welsh-speaking areas? Are we to believe that this doesn’t affect people’s ability to use their mother tongue in their everyday lives? That this doesn’t deprive Welsh speakers of jobs in their own communities? How can anyone argue that the survival of the language is better ensured by demanding ‘Talu Yma’ signs in Cardiff stores, or insisting that the proceedings of Merthyr council’s sub-committee on rat infestation are published bilingually? This begins to sound less like a strategy to save one of Europe’s oldest languages and more like job creation for those CyIG members and former members with translation businesses.

And don’t answer me with the old nonsense about ‘dividing’ Wales along language lines. Wales was already divided, and enforced bilingualism across the board is only exacerbating the problem. Worse, by turning people against the language you risk turning them against all things Welsh and losing them entirely. (Plaid Cymru being a good example.) To the point where a cynic – no, not me – could argue that Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg has, over the past thirty-odd years, failed miserably at what it claimed to be doing, yet has successfully queered the pitch for many others.

What is needed is a strategy to, firstly, defend what remains of Y Fro Gymraeg. Then take the fight outside of the heartland to those who want it. For example, by getting involved in any struggle for Welsh language education; or any fight against the overdevelopment of a community where the language is still relevant. Finally, reach out beyond these areas and groups to those who identify with Wales and are proud to be Welsh, make them see the language, not as a threat, or a waste of their money, but as a vital and desirable part of our shared heritage.

From now on, campaigners for the language need to be more realistic in their ambitions, they need to understand contemporary Wales better (perhaps by moving outside their own circles a bit more), and they need to be a lot more hard edged in their approach. Forget the idiots on radio phone-ins, they are not the real enemy, they are just ammunition for the enemy. The real enemy is those you hope to persuade with the reasonableness of your demands, the virtue of your case. Those who smile and sound sympathetic but are not the reasonable and fair-minded people you want (and they want you) to believe they are.

That is because every survey ever conducted has shown that Welsh speakers are more likely to want greater devolution and independence than English speakers. That being so, only a simpleton would believe that the UK government (or its civil servants who run Wales) will allow – let alone welcome – an increase in the numbers and percentages of Welsh speakers; or think that an anti-Welsh Labour Party down Cardiff docks – knowing that Welsh speakers are less likely to vote Labour – harbours anything but ill-will towards the language and those who speak it.

Understand that the UK Government, the ‘Welsh’ Labour Party, and many, many others have a vested interest in seeing the Welsh language dead. With a nice headstone erected . . . in Welsh, of course. (Translation available from the nice English lady at the desk, her with the CADW badge.)

Cambrian News, Supplement

On 21.11.201328.11.2013 By JacIn Cymrophobia, Media4 Comments

If you scroll down a bit on this blog you’ll find my earlier post about my local weekly rag, the Cambrian News, Media Lies and Propaganda. It dealt with assorted correspondence on the issue of council tax on holiday homes. In particular, the contributions of two English writers, both of whom raised the spectre of an arson campaign, with one suggesting that any increase in council tax would be “racist”.

I also recounted the curious tale of a letter published in the Cambrian News some years ago, a phoney letter comparing youngsters at the National Eisteddfod to the Hitler Youth! I made the point that this letter might have been published in the knowledge that it was phoney, or it could even have been written in the office of the CN.

Finally, I appended a copy of my latest letter to the CN. Without mentioning the ‘Hitler Youth’ episode, I drew attention to the fact that one of the English letters bore the inadequate address ‘Shropshire’, while the other writer was allowed to give the address of a caravan site where he has a mobile home. Which prompted me to ask in my letter: “Does he really live there? If not, why didn’t the Cambrian News publish his real address?”

I concluded my letter with, “Nor must the atmosphere for these debates must be polluted by desperate claims of racism, and slanderous allegations of arson. One way of helping ensure this would be for the Cambrian News to insist that no letter will be published unless it arrives accompanied by the home address and home telephone number of the writer.”

My letter, as published in today’s issue, along with other letters on the same subject, can be found on the right (click to enlarge). I believe the writer Ceri Jones belongs to a local farming family in Cwm Maethlon (alternatively known as ‘Happy Valley’), which runs up into the hills behind Aberdyfi. Andrew Currie is a Green – English, obviously – who lives just up the road from me and has a lot to say for himself. Far too much.

Now if you compare the letter I submitted for publication with what actually appeared in today’s issue, you will note that the CN chose to make a number of changes. Specifically, the reference to accepting a letter with the caravan site address, and also the final paragraph in which I suggested that before publishing any letter the editor should assure herself of its authenticity by insisting on the writer’s full home address and telephone number.

So why were these references to establishing the authenticity of letters submitted for publication edited out? The answer came with a letter published just below those shown above; it came from a Mrs Bowron of Aberdovey (sic), who complained that a letter published the previous week, bearing her name and address, was not in fact written by her!

What a predicament for the Cambrian News! After the fuss I made with the blog and the phone call they had little alternative but to publish my letter; but after their cock-up with ‘Mrs Bowron’s’ letter they were left with no alternative but to publish the letter from the real Mrs Bowron . . . and their apology! Which in turn meant the editor had little option but to redact from my letter criticisms of the CN being, er, careless(?), in establishing the genuineness of letters submitted.

Talk of serendipity! You couldn’t make it up. Priceless!

UPDATE 28.11.13: As might be expected, I was moved to reply to Andrew Currie’s letter (see above). My reply was not published in today’s edition. In fact, there were no letters at all on the subject in today’s Cambrian News, so I assume the editor has decided to end the debate. Even so, here is my response to Andrew Currie. Click to enlarge.

A Jack Take on the Welsh Cricket Debate

On 25.10.201328.10.2013 By JacIn Assembly, Colonialism, Cymrophobia8 Comments

When I was a boy (yes, a long time ago now) summer meant cricket. We’d play in the park until the park keepers threw us out (remember ‘parkies’?) then it would be any patch of waste ground or even the street. We’d play all day until we were stopped not so much by bad light as total darkness. And it was the same with kids everywhere. Not only that, we’d follow the fortunes of Glamorgan County Cricket Club and, if they were playing in Swansea, we’d try to sneak in to St. Helen’s to watch. Innocents that we were, we even supported the England test team. (Ah!)

But things have changed, I can’t recall the last time I saw kids playing an impromptu game of cricket. Glamorgan is now Cardiff City Cricket Club, and cricket more generally has become a minority sport, kept alive only by ever more garish and desperate attempts to make it ‘interesting’. Necessary, because, with its instant gratifications, modern life has given most people under the age of 50 the attention span of a goldfish; so for these, sitting through a three-day county game or a five-day test, watching men all dressed in white, is akin to being forced to read War and Peace in Russian. So it has to be gaudy colours, shorter and shorter games, more and more sixes, and all the distractionary razzmatazz the organisers can muster to get the goldfish interested. Subtle, it ain’t. Which is not to deny that the game is still big (and thoroughly corrupt) in India and Pakistan, but it’s losing popularity in many former strongholds, such as the West Indies, as those Caribbean islands pass from England’s to America’s sphere of cultural influence.

Some of you will have guessed that I’m dragging you down Memory Lane and various other byways because on Wednesday the Assembly debated whether to support the creation of a national cricket team for Wales, a subject I have dealt with previously. The filmed record of the debate can be found here. There were a number of interesting contributions, not least that from Mohammad Asghar, a man who can recognise a sticky wicket better than most. ‘Oscar’, as he is known to his colleagues in the Conservative Party (and his former colleagues in Plaid Cymru and Labour), was fully supportive of the idea, informing other AMs that he himself had played the game at the highest level before leaving Pakistan. Less surprising was the negativity from other quarters.

Let’s start with Peter Black, the Liberal Democrat and regional member for South West Wales. In his spare time he’s a councillor in Swansea. Black is an Englishman who washed up in my home town – like so many of those on the council today – as a student, in the late 1970s. I first came across the name on visits home in the 1980s, when the Liberals were into ‘pavement politics’ – remember that? What it boiled down to was not a lot different to the pestering behaviour of religious sects and chuggers. Anyway, Black’s take on the subject is summed up in the quote on the right, but it merits a few words from me.

He talks of St. Helen’s in the 1960s, which he’s perfectly entitled to do, but of course at this time, he was just out of nappies and living on the Wirral. Whereas I remember St. Helen’s in the ’60s – I was there, son, winter and summer. Talking of St. Helen’s, maybe Black should remind himself how many games Glamorgan play there nowadays. Not many, is it? Here we have a man, elected by the people of Swansea as a councillor and an AM, defending the interests of a body that has treated Swansea abominably due to the fact that he is a self-serving politico who doesn’t really give a shit about the city. Worse, his attitude towards a Wales cricket team is coloured by his own nationality, a truth he tries to disguise by getting his retaliation in first and condemning the proposal’s backers as nationalists. Of course they are, Come December, I’ll be singing rebel songs with ‘Oscar’ at Cilmeri, him resplendent as usual in his FWA uniform.

The other contribution that caught my jaundiced eye came from another Swansea politician, Mike ‘Mr. Bean’ Hedges. Of whom I have spoken in the recent past. Squeaked he (or possibly Teddy), “There is a Welsh team which plays in the Minor Counties League”. On that logic, if we didn’t already have a national rugby team, but ‘Wales’ played in the English County Championship, Bean would be quite satisfied! He then goes on to defend the benefits accruing to Cardiff City Cricket Club and the city of Cardiff”! But, again, this is a politician supposedly representing Swansea. TELL US, BEAN, WHAT BENEFIT DOES THE CITY YOU REPRESENT SEE FROM THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT? I’ll help. The answer is sod all, and that’s been the case since Glamorgan County Cricket Club morphed into Cardiff City Cricket Club and abandoned St. Helen’s – so why are you defending it? Because . . . Bean-Hedges belongs to the Wales haters of the Labour Party who cannot tolerate anything that differentiates Wales from England, however beneficial to Wales. Jonathan Edwards MP summed it up perfectly in this tweet.

So what have we learnt from this debate? In some respects, it had little to do with cricket. It was the usual suspects on both sides lining up on another issue and exposing ‘the package’. Though those proposing and supporting the creation of a national cricket team belong, by and large, to the ‘positive’ or ‘ambitious’ element of Wales’ population. While those opposing the initiative are drawn from the ‘be happy with your lot’ and ‘Wales can’t do this, that . . .’ element. Though, interestingly, a third element emerged – and not just ‘Oscar’ – of people no one would describe as ‘nationalist’ but who could nevertheless see the benefits to Wales, and her international profile, from having a national cricket team playing in international competitions. On a more parochial level, I was, as you may have guessed, disgusted with the ignorance, or the short memories, of some of those representing Swansea. What has my beloved city done to deserve assholes like this?

Finally, as if to prove what I’m saying about ‘the package’, as an illustration of how one can predict reactions to an issue like this from an individual’s known views on related matters, here’s a little contribution to a WalesOnline debate back in May, something I found when Googling. It’s our old friend ‘Cliffoch ap Cliffoch’ or, as we now know him, Chris Clifford, being true to form in expressing his hatred and / or contempt for anything distinctively or differently Welsh. Though I like the ‘score’!

P.S. More info here from the Welsh Cricket Team blog.

Packages, Codes and Interpretations

On 17.09.201318.09.2013 By JacIn Cymrophobia21 Comments

As I’m going away for a few days I didn’t want to leave an old story on my front page, so here’s a little something to tide you over until I return.

You may recall that a few times recently, such as in the recent post, Cymrophobia and the Many Identities of Jacques Protic, I’ve referred to ‘the package’, and explained it by inviting readers to ask themselves: ‘How many people do I know who are rabidly hostile to the Welsh language but favour greater devolution?’ the answer is of course few, if any. For an individual’s views over a range of seemingly disparate topics will inevitably be consistent when those topics are in reality linked.

Over the years this has been brought home to me in a number of ways. One I recall was the ‘Bring Back Pembrokeshire’ group. On the face of it those involved in this group were likeable old rustics cruelly deprived of their birthright by callous and unthinking bureaucrats. Then came another round of local government reorganisation in 1996 and they got their wish. But it didn’t end there . . .

For the truth is that the BBP crew, concentrated south of the Landsker, were uncomfortable in Dyfed for a specific, but unspoken, reason. Having to share the county with those buggers in the north was bad enough, but being lumped in with Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion was just too much to bear. Dyfed was just, well, too Welsh. I was reminded of this a couple of years ago when I first saw the county flag.

A luminary of the Bring Back Pembrokeshire campaign was Councillor Peter Stock. That victory won, in 1997 Cllr. Stock turned his attentions to leading Pembrokeshire’s Just Say No campaign. As you might have guessed, Stock was also involved in devising the Pembrokeshire flag. Now I’m sure that Cllr. Stock and his gang would argue that this was all motivated by nothing more sinister than love for their native sod. Possibly, but another interpretation has to be that what we see here is a consistent rejection of things that are Welsh, or ‘too Welsh‘.

The attitudes of Peter Stock’s gang in Pembrokeshire comprise a ‘package’ exhibiting itself consistently over decades. Revealing its true nature through seemingly disparate issues that are in reality – and, especially for them – linked. This is due to their mindset being fixed, to the point where their responses can be predicted. Those who wanted to break up Dyfed because it was too Welsh were guaranteed to be opposed to devolution.

While Pembrokeshire provides this excellent example of a ‘package’, I’m now going to move on and consider the ‘codes’ mentioned in the title. These can sometimes appear reasonable and even of some merit, until they are ‘decoded’. Further consideration exposes the fact that very often what is being argued is nothing but a defence of England’s interests. Much of what remains can be dismissed as insulting twattery. Let’s look at a few examples.

Starting with a post I wrote earlier this month, The Trouble With Devolution . . . , prompted by a stupid remark made by Governor-General, David Jones. Ostensibly addressing the prospect of devolving responsibility for stamp duty to the ‘Welsh’ Government Jones argued that we should consider the “implications” of such a move on the UK. In other words, on England. More specifically, English Tory voters with holiday homes in Wales. In fairness, Jones was pretty honest about his priority, others are less so.

A story regularly regurgitated by our media is that of rising house prices and large numbers of English moving to our rural and coastal areas, without making the connection. This is then presented as something to be welcomed on the grounds that a) rising property values is a sign of increasing prosperity, and b) we Welsh should be flattered that so many English want to move to our country. A double insult, completely overlooking the fact that fewer and fewer of our people – trapped in a low wage economy – can afford these properties.

Staying with housing, here’s another gem: ‘If we weren’t building (big, expensive) houses in the countryside young Welsh people would have nowhere to live.’ This one was much favoured by Dai Lloyd Evans, former hetman of Ceredigion council. Insulting nonsense with a dollop of personal greed thrown in when uttered by profiteering landowners like Dai Lloyd Evans.

‘Better off together’. This posits the view that we Celts are better off being ruled and robbed by England than by being independent. The statement itself is such obvious bollocks that it constitutes an insult to the intelligence of anyone to whom it is addressed. The real exposure comes when the person uttering this nonsense is simultaneously agitating for UK withdrawal from the European Union.

‘Water is a natural resource, it would be immoral to charge for it’. Overlooking the obvious fact that oil, gold and countless other valuable commodities traded globally are also ‘natural resources’. Twattery spouted solely to defend England’s interests.

‘I’m not opposed to the Welsh language’ . . . just the ‘compulsory’ teaching of the language, or the ‘expense’ of bilingual forms and signs, etc. Translation: ‘I hate the Welsh language and I wish it was dead, but obviously I can’t say that publicly’.

‘I’m a good / proud / patriotic Welsh person’. As a rule of thumb, anything that follows such a preface can usually be dismissed as a load of anti-Welsh bigotry.

When arguing for Welsh firms to be given contracts in Wales and Welsh workers jobs, to have this vehemently condemned as ‘Racism‘. This response clearly prioritises the interests of England and the English, while also traducing the term ‘racism’. Doubly ironic when heard from the likes of those who oppose ‘them immigrants coming ‘ere an’ takin’ our jobs’.

‘Wales is too small and poor to survive on her own’. Of course she is. So is Switzerland, and Finland, Norway and many other small countries. (Once the Jocks realise this they’ll definitely vote No.) When you hear crap like this you have ask yourself, ‘Does the person saying this believe it? If so, then you are confronted with an idiot. If not, then a liar. Either way, ignore them and move on.

I’m sure those reading this can think of many more ‘codes’ that I haven’t mentioned. One would obviously be the suggestion that devolution is doomed to fail and independence would be a disaster because we Welsh are somehow less intelligent than other peoples. Obviously this cannot be stated openly, so what’s the most imaginative way you’ve heard it phrased?

P.S. As I don’t have a laptop, tablet, iPad, or fancy mobile phone, I may be late in allowing or answering comments. Must find one of them buildings with books . . . what are they called? Or one o’ they fancy caffs.

Still Hunting ‘mapexx’. (Well, I am.)

On 13.09.201307.10.2013 By JacIn Cymrophobia, Welsh Labour7 Comments

Following my earlier post on ‘mappex’ I received an e-mail from a trade union official acting on behalf of Councillor Gez Kirby . . . who is also a trade union official, with the same trade union. The e-mail came, ostensibly, from a Darren Williams, who is Acting Wales Secretary for the Public and Commercial Services Union. For the same outfit he also serves as National Officer for the South West. (Pembrokeshire?)

To recap: In February 2009 someone using the name ‘mapexx’ went on a BBC Wales message board making the comment shown here. (Click to enlarge.) Now of course, ‘mapexx’ could be a complete fantasist, making it all up in order give some credibility to his / her obvious contempt for the Welsh language. But there must also be a possibility, perhaps a strong possibility, that ‘mapexx’ was, as he / she says, a census enumerator, and even did follow-up interviews. If so, then ‘mapexx’ has broken the contract of his / her employment and may have committed a criminal offence. Consequently, we have every right to expect that the Office for National Statistics, and indeed the Public and Commercial Services Union (representing the staff at the ONS), would want to find out the truth, and to identify ‘mapexx’. But following my complaint to the ONS in March 2009 I had a brush-off letter and heard nothing more.

What I said in my post of September 2nd was, ” . . . there are enough grounds to suspect that Councillor Gez Kirby, an employee of the Office for National Statistics, abused his position to post comments on a BBC blog, under a spurious name, claiming to be using confidential information gained through his employment.” (“Grounds to suspect”, Mr Williams.) I would welcome having those suspicions dispelled. But that can only be done by identifying ‘mapexx’ and establishing that it is not Gez Kirby. Darren Williams’ e-mail to me, plus my reply, can be found here.

UPDATE 25.09.13: After writing the above and the earlier piece on the mysterious ‘mapexx’ I also wrote to the Office for National Statistics. Yesterday I received a reply. You can read both the e-mail from the ONS – Room 101! – and my reply below. Quite honestly, I think that what the ONS is saying is a load of old bollocks. Here’s why:

An organisation with the resources and reputation of the ONS should – if it so desires – have no problem in getting the information from the BBC, or anywhere else, needed to identify ‘mapexx’.
An organisation like the ONS, dealing with sensitive information entrusted to it, should be duty-bound to hunt down someone like ‘mapexx’.
Yet here we are, over four years on, and the ONS admits it has made no progress. Perhaps because identifying and prosecuting ‘mapexx’ would result in embarrassing publicity. (The same disincentive applies to the Public and Commercial Services Union.)

mapexx Room 101

UPDATE 07.10.2013: I have now received another e-mail from Ms Byard at the Office for National Statistics in Newport. This, together with my reply, can be found below. If anyone has problems then this correspondence can be accessed here in PDF format.

ONS 2 2013 Byard

‘Cliffoch’ Unmasked!

On 11.09.201311.09.2013 By JacIn British Nationalism, Cymrophobia16 Comments

Regular readers of Welsh blogs, Tweeters and others, will be familiar with the name ‘Cliffoch ap Cliffoch‘, one of the many anti-Welsh trolls to be found in those spheres. Though of course, to believe him, he’s not anti-Welsh at all. When it comes to the Welsh language he’s just against the teaching of it, and the displaying of it . . . in fact his attitude seems to be that Welsh should – like homosexuality in the 1950s – be restricted to consenting adults in private. He is, predictably, also opposed to devolution and many other things, but insists that he loves Wales. It’s just . . . well, he doesn’t like anything that makes Wales different to England. Even if it benefits Wales. When he’s pinned down, the truth is that his ‘Wales’ must be no different to England in any important respect. Well, maybe a rugby team.

‘Cliffoch’ came on mighty strong to my post yesterday on my Tumblr blog. This was a harmless enough report on the squashing of the Severn Barrage project. I can only assume that he was animated by the reference I made to ‘Howell Morgan’, who had posted a comment to the WalesOnline version of the story. There, and in various tweets, he called me a coward, a cretin and a few other things my Mam would never have called me. I admitted I am no hero, but still confirmed that my name is Royston Jones and asked Cliffoch to give us his real name. He declined. (All this can be found on the Tumblr blog.) So I decided to make enquiries myself. The first stop was obviously the IP address, which gave me a German or German-Swiss provider and located ‘Cliffoch’ in Switzerland. Next, overnight, ‘Colwyn’ was able to provide two links. The first (left) to a geneology site and the second (below) to a petition to the Assembly asking for Welsh speakers to have their tongues cut out . . . sorry, sorry, I’ve mis-read that, the petition is against the compulsory teaching of Welsh. (I.e. any teaching of Welsh.) It now seems likely beyond peradventure that ‘Cliffoch ap Cliffoch’ is Christopher Stephen Clifford, born – or “originally born” (as he puts it) – in Neath, working in Zurich, but with a home base in the Aberavon constituency.

What I find remarkable is that here we have a man who claims to have a Welsh-speaking mother, to have spent a lot of time when young with a grandmother who spoke more Welsh than English, who claims to have bilingual children, who has lived for years in a country with four official languages, and yet is so intolerant of another language – his maternal language – in Wales. Either this man is a liar, or his head is seriously screwed up. Or could his time in multilingual Switzerland have made him into what he is today? Another absurdity is that ‘Cliffoch’ is forever spouting how the Welsh language deters investors. Yet he lives in one of the most prosperous countries on earth, where people speak German, French, Italian and Romansch, with yet more languages spoken by the many immigrant groups. Multilingualism doesn’t seem to have done Switzerland any harm, yet we dumb Taffs are expected to believe that teaching Welsh will impoverish Wales! As if the Labour Party hasn’t already done that!

STATEMENT: I have spent a lot of time recently on a bunch of scumbags I’d rather have nothing to do with. It is demeaning, distasteful and distracting, and I don’t intend to do any more of it. There are far bigger fish to fry in Wales, organisations and individuals doing far more damage than the individual ranter. So in future I shall be focusing on more important issues than swivel-eyed Brit bigots. People who hide behind regularly changing pseudonyms that makes tracking them down akin to chasing one’s tail. Worse, perhaps, treating them seriously gives them a respect they don’t deserve, but of course it’s what they crave, so don’t engage with them, just let them talk to each other. When you are unfortunate enough to encounter one of them, just wipe the shit from your shoe and move on.

Identifying ‘mapexx’.

On 02.09.201309.10.2013 By JacIn Cymrophobia, Labour Party21 Comments

A few years ago I used to enjoy visiting the excellent BBC blog of Betsan Powys until it was overrun by Unionist bigots. To the point where Ms Powys couldn’t write about the illegal trade in ivory, or EU plum quotas, without these loonies blaming it all on the Welsh language, or devolution. No matter what the subject, their only response was to spout the same robotic messages of hate towards all things Welsh. Among these bigots was one signing as ‘mapexx’. Some of mapexx’ contributions can be found on this page from the blog, scroll down to comments 8, 18, 24, 27, 35, 44, 45, 54.

Pay particular attention to number 35. Here, presumably providing evidence for his / her anti-Welsh language views, mapexx says: “Before you say I am wrong, keep one thing in mind, I WAS a Census enumerator in the 2001 census, and am already signed to be one again in the next census. I was also engaged to do a follow up series of interviews with many across the south east Wales area. I found very very little, in the way of fluency to any level, beyond a few simple words.” (A fuller extract can be found right. Click to enlarge.) The only conclusion to be drawn is that mapexx was an enumerator in the 2001 census, and was to be one again in 2011. Whatever he or she might have been, it was also clear from these and countless other comments that mappex belonged to the rabidly anti-Welsh wing of the Labour Party, all dressed up as opposition to devolution, ‘extremism’, and unspeakable things being forced down the throats of innocents.

Now after reading this very indiscreet and worrying comment I wrote to the Office for National Statistics. For quite obviously enumerators are sworn to a code of secrecy. Regretably I can’t find my letter to the ONS, but I do have a copy of the reply. It can be found here. Soon after the exchange of letters with the ONS mapexx stopped making his / her odious contributions and disappeared. I may even have tipped off mapexx that I was going to write to the ONS. I can’t recall. Maybe someone can find such a comment. Certainly, another regular contributor to the blog drew attention to the indiscretion. Finally, note that the ONS says it has not yet started recruiting enumerators for 2011. Yet mappex already knows he / she will be working on the next census. How can that be? (A suggestion will be found below.) Anyway, time passed, and I almost forgot about mapexx.

Then, today, a letter appeared in the Wasting Mule, and it was as if the gates of memory swung ajar. (That’s poetic, that is.) The letter can be seen left. (Click to enlarge.) It is from Labour councillor Gez Kirby of Caerffili. Let me explain that at the same time mapexx flourished and gained notoriety Kirby was also appearing on blogs and elsewhere saying . . . well . . . very much the same things as mapexx. Kirby and mapexx were almost kindred spirits. Both didactic and pedantic, ‘I’m smarter than you’ types. Coming out with the sort of comments you get from a clever boy who’s been to university and believes this allows him to talk down to people. Or am I being unfair on Kirby? Does the man in the photo look the kind of cocky bastard I’m describing?

The letter in today’s Mule prompted me to visit Caerfilli council’s website and, in particular, Kirby’s information. Where I found, in his Declaration of Member’s Interests, the interesting fact that he works for the Office for National Statistics. (Click here and scroll down.) Following a lead on the council website I did some more Googling and came up with this. Which tells us that Kirby is an ONS representative for the Public and Commercial Services Union. (See panel below left.) Incidentally, something else I learnt from the Caerffili website is that Kirby was elected to the council last year with just 18.74% of the vote, making him the least popular – by some distance – of the three successful Labour candidates in Pontllanfraith ward.

A little more digging told me that Kirby had also belonged (in 2004) to the Population and Migration Theme Working Group of National Statistics. Though these minutes suggest that Kirby was not a great success, for they begin with him apologising for incomplete minutes of the previous meeting! This group seems to deal with population movements, such as the influx we are experiencing into Wales. I can’t help wondering if an anti-Welsh bigot like Kirby isn’t ideally suited for this group, especially if it does more than merely study and report. I’d appreciate more information on this group.

I am not for one minute – heaven forfend! – suggesting that Councillor Gez KIrby is mapexx. In fact we can prove it. All we need to do is find another reasonably articulate, anti-Welsh bigot, based in the south east, who likes to spout his odious views on blogs and in newspapers, is a staunch supporter of Israel, and has strong connections with the Office for National Statistics. There must be hundreds satisfying those criteria . . . Well, dozens, surely? Some? Any?

And even though I’m sure there is no connection between the real-life anti-Welsh bigot, Gez Kirby, and the anti-Welsh troll, mapexx, I would still expect the Office for National Statistics to investigate the possibility – remote though it may be – that someone working for them used a widely-read blog to disseminate confidential information gained carrying out his duties for the ONS. (Of course, the more likely possibility is that mapexx lied about the findings in order to give his / her bigotry some credibility. So which is worse from an ONS perspective?) And if I was Kirby’s employer I’d wonder how much work he does for the ONS . . . when he’s not doing union work, council work, tweeting, networking on Facebook and Linkedin, and posting God knows how many comments in God knows how many names, to God knows how many blogs. (No wonder he can’t get the minutes ready.) Hang on! he works for a government department, I am his employer!

I would also expect the Public and Commercial Services Union to make enquiries, so as to establish beyond any shadow of doubt that their representive, councillor Gez Kirby, is / was not mapexx.

Normally I would also be asking the Caerffili Labour Party to do something, but I feel that shower has more than enough problems to worry about at the moment. I’m not a complete bastard!

Ok, all joking aside, and to leave no one in any doubt as to what I am saying. I believe that there are enough grounds to suspect that Councillor Gez Kirby, an employee of the Office for National Statistics, abused his position to post comments on a BBC blog, under a spurious name, claiming to be using confidential information gained through his employment. That being so, his employer and others, such as Caerffilli council, have no alternative but to establish – through the BBC, internet servers and other channels – whether Councillor Gez Kirby was ‘mapexx’. If so, then disciplinary action must be taken.

Cymrophobia 2: The ‘Reverse Midas’

On 21.08.201311.09.2014 By JacIn Colonialism, Cymrophobia23 Comments

As I mentioned in the previous post, Jacques Protic has been involved in a number of business ventures. Nothing strange about that. What is strange is that these excursions into the world of commerce all seem to have ended in failure. From my research, and information received from contributors (and thank you all), I believe I am now in a position to list these ventures, in chronological order.

Before that, let’s look into the man’s background. He is a UK citizen born in 1945. There is a question over where he was born. According to ‘Brychan’ Protic speaks perfect English with a “twang of Wirral” and poor Serbian with a somewhat old-fashioned, perhaps even posh, accent. One possibility must be that his parents were Serb nationalists who left Jugoslavia towards the end of WWII. Because once it became clear that post-war Jugoslavia was to be communist or socialist, many Orthodox, royalist Serbs packed their bags, especially if they could in any way be linked with those Chetniks accused of collaborating with the Italian and German occupiers; worse perhaps was that many Chetniks had even fought against Tito’s Partisans. Though that said, if Protic did attend Belgrade High School, as he claims, would a son of Chetnik sympathisers be allowed back into Jugoslavia in, presumably, the early 1960s? Background information would be nice but it’s the Jacques Protic of Menai Bridge that we’re really interested in.

Incidentally, the term Chetnik was revived during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s; used by their enemies to describe any Serb in uniform or, more specifically, Serb irregular units. Nowadays the term seems confined to the extreme Right in Serbia and other areas. (See picture.) The distinctive Serbian cap is called a ‘sajkaca’.

While there have been many business ventures, it’s only fair to point out that during most of the period covered by these dips into the world of capitalism Protic had the sense to hang on to his ‘day job’. This was as UK agent for the German company Weiss Technik, makers of laboratory and medical equipment, from June 1990 to December 2006. Weiss Technik has a factory in Ebbw Vale, “England”.

I can’t help noticing that apart from a vague reference to ‘Belgrade High School’ and his diploma from Salford University, there is no information on Protic prior to 1990, which of course coincides with the beginning of the break-up of Jugoslavia and the subsequent fighting. Almost as if he had lain asleep and then, in 1990, when he was 45 years of age, someone pressed a button and he sprang into life. What was he doing before 1990? I can understand the Balkan wars energising someone of his background, but there’s no obvious connection between his business ventures and what was happening back home. So is it just coincidence? Whatever the reasons for his foray into entrepreneurialism, here is the list of the companies of which he has been a director, with the date of formation and the date when each company ceased to exist. I cannot promise that the list is complete.

Environmental Engineering Systems Ltd 16 October, 1991 – Final Dissolution 31 March, 1998. Protic served as Director throughout the life of the company and also Company Secretary from 01 October, 1993 to 24 May, 2007. Trading address in Manchester.
Ees Ultracare Ltd 04 June, 1992 – Final Dissolution 26 November, 1996. Protic served as Director and “Technologist”. No address found. Ees = Environmental Engineering Systems?
Q Medical Science Ltd 25 January, 1996 – Final Dissolution 21 December 2004. Protic served as Director. Registered address and trading address at PKF in Manchester.
Q-Med Plasma Technolgy Ltd 15 March 1996 – Dormant. Name changed 20 July, 1999 from EES International Ltd. Protic is Director. Based in Kingston Upon Thames.
Q Plasma Technologies Ltd / Q Plasma Technologies (Holdings) Ltd 09 November 2001 (both) – 17 January 2006 (both). Protic served as Managing Director of both. Based in Liverpool. What does the ‘Q’ stand for?
Solid Solution Ltd 08 July, 2002 – Final Dissolution 15 November 2011. Protic served as Company Secretary from 18 December, 2006 to 24 May, 2007. Registered address and trading address in Liverpool.
Ebsol Ltd 08 January, 2008 – Final Dissolution and Striking Off 15 March, 2011. Bit of a mystery this one. Based in same address (more likely, ‘letter-box’) in Kingston Upon Thames as Q-Med Plasma Technology, but also with a ghostly presence in Llangefni. Change of name 22 April, 2008 from Ebuild Services Ltd. No accounts were ever filed. The only other person involved with this company, Gareth Iwan Whalley, now works for the DVLA in Swansea.

So, what have we got here? The companies Protic has been involved with (with two exceptions) seem to be in the same line of business as his employer, Weiss Technik; that is, laboratory and medical equipment. The first exception is Solid Solutions Ltd, which dealt in fruit and vegetable juice(!); and Ebsol which, as the name might suggest, was doing something with solar panels, but with no great success.

The most interesting of his ventures was Q Plasma Technolgies, registered at John Moores University in Liverpool. It seems to have been formed to promote an invention that was submitted by Jacques Protic for a US Patent, using a specialist law firm based just outside Washington DC. This would not have been cheap, but fortunately funding was obtained in the form of debentures from HSBC and, more importantly, I’m told, a grant, or loan, from the Merseyside Special Investment Fund. This is EU funding much like the funding large parts of Wales receives. But, true to form, this venture also went belly-up. Proving yet again that Jacques Protic has the ‘Reverse Midas’.

Given that the companies Protic started up were capitalising on technological expertise and other things – such as potential customers – that he might have gained as the UK agent for Weiss Tecknik, was this strictly kosher? And why, given his contacts on the continent, did he apply for a US patent with Q Plasma Technologies rather than an EU patent? Then again, a more innocent interpretation might be that this was his field after all . . . even though he has no academic qualifications.

When he applied for the US patent Jacques Protic’s address was Bryn Du, Llanbedrgoch, an old long house, just inland from Benllech and Red Wharf Bay. A beautiful detached property with 1.5 acres of land attached, selling for over £300,000. (Shown left.) He now lives in Menai Bridge in what looks like a council property. If he owned Bryn Du, then there’s a possibility it was put up as collateral with Q Plasma Technolgies or one of his other companies, and he forfeited it. If so, then this, coupled with the loss of Serbia’s mini-empire might have tipped him over the edge to become what we see today.

By whatever route he reached his present state, I conclude that Jacques Protic is a broken reed, still capable of making ugly noises when a Welsh breeze catches him, but a man of little consequence; an irritant, but nothing more. After what I’ve unearthed I’m almost feeling sorry for him. Almost.

Cymrophobia and the Many Identities of Jacques Protic

On 14.08.201323.06.2015 By JacIn Cymrophobia, English Nationalism87 Comments

There are many people who, quite frankly, hate us for being Welsh. We hear it regularly from smart-arse stand-ups and oh-so-clever calumnists. They can say and write things about us that would get them prosecuted if ‘Black’, ‘Jewish’, ‘Irish’, ‘Pakistani’ or any other group was substituted for ‘Welsh’. Most are thankfully outside of Wales, but there are some living among us.

This latter group doesn’t like Wales being in any way ‘different’ to England. They are not prepared to tolerate a separate, Welsh national identity, and the thought of any of us speaking a language other than English makes some of them apoplectic. (Especially when reminded, or informed, that Welsh was spoken in England long before English.) The people I’m describing won’t really be satisfied until every last vestige of a separate Welsh identity has disappeared.

Though I will concede that antipathy towards Welsh identity and traditions is something of which we ourselves have sometimes been guilty. Our own aristocracy and gentry couldn’t drop the ap and the ab quick enough once they were sure Harri Tudur was secure on the throne of the newly-minted Englandandwales. A few centuries later the rise of socialism, and especially the growth of the English-Irish Labour Party, saw Welshness again rejected, this time because it was ‘holding us back’. (From what exactly, was never adequately explained.)

Today, the anti-Welshness we experience is different because it cannot be explained by self-interest or warped political dogma; and it’s much less likely to come from within the Welsh nation itself. Which makes what we are experiencing today pure, naked racism.

To some extent it stems from what political analysts describe as a ‘growing sense of English identity’. Which need not be a bad thing when preached by, say, Billy Bragg; but Bragg’s interpretation of Englishness hardly resonates outside of folk clubs. Whereas what I’m thinking of – even without invoking the BNP or EDL – is rather intolerant and xenophobic. Expressed in its attitudes to ‘Europe’, immigration, ‘ungrateful’ Jocks and other villains . . . with foreign aid and further grievances being unearthed by politicians and media on an almost daily basis. In this scenario we Welsh are nothing but a bunch of sponging indigenous primitives to be ridiculed and despised. A bit like Aborigines, but with the saving grace that, being white, we can be anglicised and assimilated.

But of course none of this can be said openly (outside of the Daily Mail) which makes it very difficult for those who hate us for just being Welsh to express their true feelings. Nor do we provide a ‘hook’ on which they can hang their prejudices. For we have never attacked other nations. We have not in recent times waged guerilla warfare against England. We certainly don’t covet any far-off islands. We don’t commit more crimes than other groups. We are not religious zealots. And the smell of cawl being carried on the breeze shouldn’t offend anyone. Nor is there any reason to envy us, as the English envy the Germans for being richer, or the French for being more sophisticated. All of which gives a certain irony when standing up for what you are results in being called “an intolerant Welsh bastard” by Ukip supporters who fled Birmingham because they refused to live among other races and cultures.

Being unable to admit their ugly sentiments those I’m discussing must couch their hatred in what they hope sounds more rational language. They tell us they are opposed to further devolution, because it’s ‘too expensive’ . . . never because it gives power to a people they despise. Or they argue – on purely educational grounds, you understand – against the teaching of the Welsh language, or Welsh history, in our schools. Another favourite is the ‘waste of money’ on bilingualism – ‘cos we all speaks English, innit’. In fact anything distinctively Welsh is condemned as ‘divisive’ . . . whereas flying a flag that ignores Wales is, bizarrely, ‘inclusive’! And ninety-nine times out of a hundred it comes in the ‘package’. What’s the ‘package’? Well, just ask yourself, ‘How many people do I know who are rabidly hostile to the Welsh language but support greater devolution?’

Lest you think I’m exaggerating, or focusing too much on the realignment of identification taking place among the English, I shall broaden the scope of this opus to prove that Cymrophobia is a condition that can afflict individuals with roots far away, in lands of which we know little; belonging to nations with whom our fathers had no quarrel. Such a man is Jacques Protic. (Click to enlarge.)

Many of you may be unfamiliar with the name, but if you follow Welsh political blogs then you will have read his comments under a host of pseudonyms, ‘Jon Jones’, ‘Mo Patel’, etc. Once one is exposed another emerges. He also comments as Jacques Protic. The giveaway is that they often appear on the same post ‘supporting’ each other. On Twitter, Protic can – or could until recently – be found hiding behind a number of handles including: @gogwatch, @GLASNOSTORGUK, @cymnot, @Plaidodo (also used as an e-mail address), and @momopatel1960. This ‘Mo Patel’ Twitter account has now closed, but I’m told it started off using my gravatar with the eyes scratched out and the mouth taped over! There are almost certainly other identities. Though strangely, for a high-powered, international businessman, I can’t find a Twitter account in his own name.

(Protic thinks he’s been a clever boy recently by ‘naming’ me. Ooooo! Sorry, Jacques, but just about everybody knows I’m Royston Jones, originally from Swansea, now living near Tywyn.)

Protic is also, allegedly, the man behind the now defunct Gogwatch website and it is further suggested that he ran the Glasnost blog. Given his obsessive hatred for the teaching of Welsh (read this), there are many who believe that Protic was also BiLingo. Although not naming Protic this blog establishes the link between BiLingo and Gogwatch. BiLingo caused a great deal of hurt to good people, dedicated teachers, through having its lies repeated by English newspapers.

These Twitter accounts, blogs, and handles claim to speak for “the silent majority”, giving the impression of an army of concerned parents ready to rise up to fight the oppressor forcing the Welsh language down the throats of their darling offspring. And yet . . . where are they? Do we ever see them protesting outside council offices or schools? Is there an organisation claiming to represent them (other than Gogwatch, Glasnost, BiLingo)? I don’t deny there may be a minority that would prefer their children weren’t reminded they are in Wales, but they’re not bothered enough to make a fuss about it. That is left to a tiny number of obsessives like Protic, a man so eaten up with hatred, and so detached from reality, that he may believe his countless pseudonyms are real people – maybe his fabled ‘majority’!

Not only does Protic sometimes write in his own name, he has even stood for election. In May this year he offered himself to the electors of the Aethwy ward on Ynys Mon as an Independent candidate . . . he gained 3% of the vote. (Click to enlarge.) Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into a single election, but given that his views on the Welsh language and associated issues would have been the only reason the voters would have heard of him, his share of the vote gives a fair indication of how much support his views really have, at least in that corner of the island. It indicates the yawning gulf between his imagined ‘majority’ and the cruel truth.

Protic and his kind are obviously objectionable, but shouldn’t be a problem to any proud and confident nation. But we Welsh are not a proud and confident nation. Which explains why there are many in Wales afraid to confront him and his odious kind. Arguing that we should ‘reach out’, ‘reason with them’, ‘engage them in dialogue’. Being reasonable with people who are only going to laugh at us and interpret our reasonableness as weakness is the mistake we’ve been making for the past few centuries, and look where it’s got us – a country poorer than Bulgaria, an Assembly run by English civil servants, and our people a minority in large areas of Wales . . . If we aren’t very careful we are going to be so damn ‘reasonable’ that we shall cease to exist.

Finally, and I was hoping to avoid this, but it has to be said – Protic is a Serb. Now many of you will know that over the years I have defended the Serbs against their many detractors, but I was never blind to the atrocities committed – by all sides – in the Balkan wars. So, tell us, Jacques; would a Croat, or an Albanian, or a Bosnian Muslim, have the freedom, in Serb-controlled territory, to mouth hatred of Serbs in the way that you spew out your hatred for us Welsh?

P.S. If I have wrongly attributed to Jacques Protic a website, blog, Twitter account, ‘handle’ or anything else, I will retract without hesitation if the person to whom it does belong can satisfactorily identify himself / herself.

Carmarthenshire Council: Litigious, Vindictive, Dysfunctional, Secretive, Dictatorial, And Now, Anti-Welsh.

On 30.07.201301.09.2014 By JacIn Colonisation of Wales, Cymrophobia8 Comments

A lot has been written about Carmarthenshire council in recent years. Little of it complimentary. I have more than once referred to the Labour-Independent coalition running the council as a ‘Nazi-Soviet pact’. Though in fairness to both, the council is actually controlled and run by one of its employees, the chief executive, Mark James. This despot has a penchant for litigation, so I’d better be careful what I say . . .

Another regular complaint has been over the way the council has been cosying up to an evangelical church – the Towy Community Church – lavishing upon this crew funding, property and, most worryingly of all, responsibility for delivering certain services . . . to the vulnerable, the desperate . . . that’s right! – those most likely to succumb to proselytising. Just the way Green Pastures and so many other religious ‘charities’ operate. The Towy Community Church also keeps bad company, being linked with Mercy Ministries, who believe in demonic possession and other ‘evils’ that would have been familiar to the Inquisition or the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts. One reason suggested for this odd linkage is the fact that Mark James himself belongs to yet another happy clappy, hunt-the-demons assembly, Living Word Church, and he often pops in for services at the TCC.

What is it with the Labour Party, the secular and ‘progressive’ party that I grew up with, the Labour Party that promised us the sunlit uplands of rationality and progress, that it now associates with ranters wanting to drag us back to the Middle Ages? Anyway, moving on to the reason for this post.

Discover Carmarthenshire, the tourism arm of the council, recently put out a “video” (video!) advertising Llanelli to potential visitors. Then, “As part of the department’s research, the draft was sent to a family member of one of the members of staff, who works as a civil servant in Sheffield. She shared it with 10 of her colleagues”, reported the Evening Post today. The response from the Yorkshire audience was that the young boy doing the voiceover was “too Welsh”. Oh dear! So Discover Carmarthenshire found someone else, less Welsh, to do the voiceover.

Before considering the issues involved here it might be worth stating that as the story circulated on social media and in other ways the Evening Post seemed to hurriedly re-write it, with the council adding that the reason the boy was difficult to understand was because he had lost his front teeth . . . in which case, why use him in the first place? As the day went on the Evening Post also slipped in a quote from Plaid Cymru. At 3pm the Evening Post online version stopped taking comments. At this point it might be worth reminding ourselves that the editor of the Evening Post is now Jonat han Roberts, former editor of what became Carmarthenshire Council’s out-house rag, the Carmarthen Journal.

Our first thought has to be for the boy involved. One minute the lad gets his moment of glory, the next he’s told, ‘Piss off, you’re too Welsh’. Or how was it explained to him? And what effect will it have on him, and his self-confidence? Here’s a young Welsh boy, in his own country, his own town, and he’s being told that it doesn’t pay to sound – or to be? – Welsh.

Someone in England doesn’t like the sound of a Welsh boy’s voice, so a Welsh local authority cravenly surrenders to that bigotry. If it was a Welsh person who took that decision then they should be ashamed of themselves. If, as seems likely, it was an English person, then what right have you to pass judgement on how we speak? Whose country is this? But whoever made the decision, it was an insult to all of us who speak with Welsh accents. Most especially, to the people of Llanelli.

Some time ago Llanelli town councillors discussed the possibility of the town breaking away from the county, it may now be time to re-visit that option. This insult should be used by all political parties claiming to represent Llanelli to force the ‘Welsh’ Government into ringing down the curtain on the insulting farce that is Carmarthenshire County Council.

Choices, Choices

On 28.01.201322.01.2014 By JacIn Colonialism, Cymrophobia16 Comments

I notice that a new response is being employed against those of us who can, loosely, be termed, the more patriotic element within the nation. This response boils down to quoting President Clinton – “It’s the economy, stupid!”. Which tries to suggest that those wanting to preserve and strengthen Welsh identity are ignorant of economic realities. More misleadingly, it even suggests: ‘You can either have a vibrant Welsh identity, more people speaking Welsh, etc . . . in an economic backwater, or you can have a prosperous Wales with the inevitable corollary of it becoming less Welsh – but you can’t have a Wales that is both prosperous and Welsh’.

The thing about this argument is that while those using it today quote a recent President of the USA we Welsh have been hearing this ‘anglicise yourselves to progress’ argument for centuries. As far back as 1283, or the Laws in Wales Acts (1535, 1542). A more recent example would be the Blue Books of 1847. These, produced by the Commission of Enquiry into the State of Education in Wales, concluded that we Welsh had no hope of joining the human race until the Welsh language was killed off. A few decades later Wales saw the British Labour Party hijack and emasculate the indigenous movements for workers’ rights and social justice on the march to the sunlit uplands. Because for the posturing ‘revolutionaries’ of Labour the future was not only bright and proletarian, it was also utterly English. To the point where ‘hanging on’ to the language or anything else distinctively Welsh was either pitied as being a waste of time or else frowned upon as a sign of reaction, perhaps coded support for the murdered Romanovs!

Yet here we are in 2013 and we’re hearing almost the same insulting argument about the incompatibility of Welshness and prosperity! Why? In my opinion, it boils down to attitudes – to the Union, and to the relationship between Wales and England. What I mean here is that the stronger one’s support for the Union then, almost inevitably, the higher will be one’s regard for England and things English. The other side of this coin is a tendency to undervalue things Welsh. Even though this is denied, or disguised, behind the ‘Union of equals’ rationale. A more extreme position states that all things Welsh, including people, are inherently inferior to their English equivalents or counterparts.

Countering this we have the nationalist position that regards prosperity as being perfectly compatible with Welsh identity. I mean, do Finns have to forsake their cultural heritage and become Swedish in order for Finland to prosper! When we use an example like that we can see how absurd the ‘anglicise to prosper’ position becomes. It stands exposed, either as outright bigotry, or else a defence of England’s exploitation of Wales within an unequal Union. For if we did live in a political and economic union of equals, then our rural areas would now have healthy economies, rather than suffering economic decline and loss of population disguised only by English colonisation; the workforces of our declining urban areas would have enjoyed retraining in the industries of the twenty-first century rather than being ignored, or sacrificed to Labour’s cronies in the Third Sector.

Of course, the nationalist vision for Wales can only be fully realised in an independent Wales, which makes it easy to dismiss as ‘romantic’ or ‘unrealistic’. (Though there is a certain irony to be enjoyed in hearing this criticism from ‘socialists’ who have been promising us ‘jam tomorrow’ for over a century.) And yet, the more I think about this, the more I realise there is an obvious intermediate position for nationalists; one that both addresses the ‘bread and butter issues’ beloved of our critics, while also defending Welsh identity, without which independence is impossible. And this approach has the advantage of not even relying on an economic upturn to improve the situation of our people.

This position seeks to do the best for Welsh people within the present constitutional and economic parameters. And on the very issue our detractors say we ignore – the economy. Let us demand that Welsh natural resources be used in the Welsh national interest – no matter what disadvantageous agreements were made by Peter Hain and others. Let us insist on a charge being levied for all energy produced in Wales for England, demand a percentage of the massive docking fees paid at Milford Haven and other Welsh ports, insist on supermarkets sourcing Welsh produce, ensure that contracts within Wales go to Welsh firms, levy a tourist tax . . . And let us help individuals by insisting that Welsh people have first claim on all jobs in Wales, irrespective of deals struck between English employers and English trade unions. If Cwmscwt needs a new postman then the Royal Mail will recruit a local, rather than transferring in Joe Bloggs from Brummagem. Welsh people must also enjoy priority in the allocation of social housing, with no obligation on any provider to meet an external demand. In private housing, build only what we need.

Serve Welsh interests and we help maintain Welsh identity. Do this and we do more to ensure independence at some future date than any amount of faffing about down Cardiff docks can ever achieve. In fact, defending and strengthening Welsh identity through argument, protest, even confrontation, must be the priority from now on. Partly because Welsh national identity is the only thing that gives meaning to ‘Wales’, and partly because it’s the only game in town, seeing as electoral politics is a dead-end in the one-party State that is Wales.

The opposition ranged against us may appear united and strong, but that could be nothing more than an impression. Consider this. How many times have we heard it said that nothing can be done about English colonisation because to do so would contravene EU law on the free movement of labour and goods? I’ve lost count. It was used by Edwina Hart, Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science in response to my petition to the Assembly asking for Welsh jobs to go to Welsh people. She wrote, to the Petitions Committee, “The free movement of workers within the European Union, and internationally, is a non-devolved matter”. (See full letter here.)

I’ve been giving this statement, and the general argument on which it is premised, some thought. The first doubt to enter my head was, ‘Surely, this legislation relates to the free movement of workers between EU Member States, not within them?’ The kind of thing that is now vexing English xenophobes as they look for ways to avert the impending ‘invasion’ of Vlachs and Bulgars. Note also that Edwina Hart refers to “workers”. She was of course answering my petition, but the same ‘EU legislation’ is used to justify, or excuse, the movement of non-workers, indigents and retired people, from England to Wales. So could it be that the EU has no legislation in place at all relating to movement of people within a Member State? If so, then this whole ‘EU’ argument could be what we lawyers call ‘a load of old bollocks’.

But let’s not upset ourselves any more with thoughts of politicians, bureaucrats and other shysters, whether at EU, UK or Welsh level. None of them are worth it; and wasting time and hope on non-existent political solutions has done enough damage already. In the absence of a nationalist party the priority must be the defence of Welsh national identity by other means. Make our people more prosperous by demanding those things that are ours by right. Succeed in this and not only will we achieve improvements for our people in the here and now, but we shall also be laying the foundations for an independent Wales.

The alternatives? Well, if you’re really, really optimistic you could wait until the 2020 Assembly elections and hope that Plaid Cymru forms a coalition with Labour. By which time there will be even less of Wales left to save. Certainly the real Wales. The Wales of the Welsh. The choice is yours.

BiLingo Victorious?

On 16.01.201314.09.2014 By JacIn Cymrophobia13 Comments

It has been announced that the Children’s Commissioner for Wales will not be investigating the claims made by anonymous, anti-Welsh language website BiLingo. (While the website seems to be still open the Twitter account has closed.) There could have been no other decision. The real mystery is why the Commissioner ever took the slanderous and unfounded allegations seriously.

And yet, despite failing to persuade the Commissioner to get involved ‘BiLingo’ was a huge success. For the Children’s Commissioner wasn’t the real target at all, it was major English newspapers like the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, both of which accepted the allegations and even embellished them! Which meant that BiLingo’s unfounded allegations reached millions of people. Just think about that. Add all the other anti-Welsh propaganda in the English media in recent months, including gems like Roger Lewis’ ‘Welsh Taliban‘ piece in the Daily Mail (though the term itself was quickly dropped from MailOnline) and appreciate what we’re up against.

In the run-up to the Scottish referendum in the autumn of 2014 we can expect more racist bullshit such as we’ve been subjected to in recent months. It might even get worse. My reason for saying that is as follows.

In the run-up to the referendum the eyes of the world will, increasingly, be on this island. With memories of the Irish Troubles still fresh, people from Trondheim to Tierra del Fuego will wonder why many Scots now want to break away from England. That the Scottish referendum is happening at all will reflect badly on England’s reputation and prestige around the world. Also, foreign journalists will simplify the debate into a Scots versus English thing; and the Scots have a head-start in the popularity battle: Great people – gave the world golf and whisky . . . red hair and kilts . . . Wully off The Simpsons . . . bagpipes . . . Scotty from Star Trek . . . Braveheart . . . never oppressed other countries . . . Making Scots instantly recognisable and popular; the English less so, for all sorts of reasons: attitudes to the EU, imperial legacy, even Hollywood casting so many English villains nowadays.

This being so, the last thing England needs in the autumn of 2014 is a third troublesome province. Because if that happened, governments and journalists around the world would really go to town. (Just imagine how it would rankle with London if the Chinese government accused England of treating its ‘minorities’ badly!) So we Welsh must be cowed into submission and silence. And it will be easy. As we saw before Christmas with BiLingo, and the attacks in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, we have no media to question and expose such slanders; certainly not to take on a London daily! Our political class is nothing more than a desperate collection of drunks, dilettantes and deadbeats. There is no extra-parliamentary opposition. So to all intents and purposes, we Welsh are defenceless. And silent. Which means we shall be ignored.

A great pity, because as I say, there will be journalists in Britain from all over the world looking for stories. They will soon realise there are three countries, and three administrations; which will, inevitably, lead them to ask about Wales. What answers will they get? If we leave it to the Welsh Management, or the Wales Office, or BBC West Anglia, they’ll get some cheesy, touristy image telling them that everything is just hunky-dory. So do we stay silent . . . or do we capitalise on this media attention to publicise the wreck that is Wales? Exposing the poverty, the deprivation, the colonisation, and all the other ills. I say it’s an opportunity too good to miss. Start preparing!

Jac o' the North

Category: Cymrophobia