PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I’M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR
♦
INTRODUCTION 
As you may be aware, Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru AM for Rhondda, and former party leader, has been criticised by the Assembly’s Standards Commissioner, Sir Roderick Evans QC, for calling me an “arsehole” in a tweet back in January.
Here’s the WalesOnline report of the decision, and here it is on BBC Wales. I supplied a statement to WalesOnline/Western Mail some of which appeared online but the print version was all Leanne Wood with me unable to get a word in.
UPDATE 21.09.2019: Arseholegate rumbles on. In this piece in today’s Llais y Sais Ruth Mosalski claims I am “no stranger to courting controversy”. A convoluted way of calling me controversial. But nothing I say, of itself, can be controversial; it becomes controversial when I am attacked by those I’m writing about here. So if they ignored me – as they claim they want to – then there’d be no controversy.
Note that the headline in the online (WalesOnline) version reads: ‘The quandary facing AMs as they’re asked to reprimand Leanne Wood for calling Jac o’the North an arsehole’. But the print version carries the headline: ‘The Quandary facing AMs over Leanne Wood’s Twitter outburst’.
The facts are that following the tragic death of Steffan Lewis, the Plaid Regional AM for South Wales East, I made a comment on Twitter about his successor, Delyth Jewell. You can see it here, together with Leanne Wood’s response and my answer to Leanne Wood.
Why did I say that? Partly because, according to Ms Jewell’s stated interests, she is concerned with ‘women’s right’, which were already well represented in the Assembly, and ‘international development’, for which the Assembly has no remit.
Further, Ms Jewell had a background in the third sector, and as I put it in my post, Delyth Jewell AM: a clarification, ” . . . the Welsh Assembly, and Wales, needs another representative of the third sector like the Uighurs need more concentration camps.” (A reference to China’s oppression of its Uighur minority.)
Let me finish with Delyth Jewell by saying that since she took up her seat I have, on occasions, been pleasantly surprised by her commitment to Wales and the cause of independence. The same can never be said for Leanne Wood, to whom we now turn.
But before we do, I’m sure you won’t mind me finding space for another tweet from the same thread; this contribution by Marc Phillips, Plaid Cymru treasurer, erstwhile candidate, former party chair, and consort to Helen Mary Jones, the AM for Mid and West Wales.
“Neanderthal prick” is a curious insult, and rather dates him. For it is now agreed by archaeologists, ethnographers and others that we were always wrong to portray Neanderthals as grunting, primitive inferiors to modern humans. They were equally intelligent and culturally developed.
Which allowed the two to interbreed, certainly in Eurasia. Which in turn means that almost everyone reading this has some Neanderthal ancestry. Are we all ‘pricks’? Should we care? Who is Mr Helen Mary Jones anyway?
◊
THE COMPLAINT AND THE RESPONSE
Let me make it clear from the outset that I did not make the complaint, nor did I encourage the person who made the complaint. I became aware of the complaint later in the process.
Here is Sir Roderick Evans’ report to the Assembly containing correspondence between him and Ms Wood, but I’m afraid much of it has been redacted, presumably by Sir Roderick’s staff. I’m going to go through the correspondence and pick out what I consider to be important.
Let’s start with the letter of complaint, which can be found on page 7. Reading it now, I note that it also mentions Marc Phillips, though I’m not clear whether he was also being complained about. Perhaps not, because he’s not an AM. All in all, a clear explanation of what the writer was complaining about.
Now I want to turn to a few of the things Leanne Wood said in her defence.
Let us turn to page 12, where I am described as, “a persistent, pernicious influence on Welsh politics”. I found this interesting because so many of my critics, a number of them allies of Leanne Wood, tell me things like, “Nobody reads your bullshit, Jac”, or “Nobody cares what you think”, while another favourite is, “You’re a nobody”, yet they keep coming back, time after time, to tell me this . . . after reading something I’ve written!
At the risk of sounding immodest, I suggest the important word in the quote from Ms Wood might be ‘influence’.
The next paragraph refers to an article of mine that has been redacted. But speaking of it Ms Wood writes: “A prime example came during his feverish campaign to “expose” a so-called conspiracy between Plaid Cymru under my leadership and the lobbying firm Deryn (there was no such conspiracy) to oust Neil McEvoy from the party. I believe I have a strong case of defamation against Mr Jones for the blog posts he wrote on this subject.”
Again Leanne Wood gives herself away, this time by mentioning Neil McEvoy, and my support for him. She then tries to deny collusion between her and her close supporters on the one hand and Deryn Consulting on the other to marginalise Neil McEvoy, if not to destroy his political career.
To avoid any doubt, I repeat, there has most definitely been collusion, and it was no one-off meeting.
On to page 15 and the final paragraph of Leanne Wood’s letter of 31 January to Sir Roderick Evans. In which she writes: “I don’t regret using the only type of language that someone like Jones understands.”
Just 14 words, but what a huge sentence that is! It seems to be a good example of something I wrote back in June 2016. Where, in EU Referendum: Why I Want OUT!, I said, ” . . . many on the Left seem to believe they are both intellectually and morally superior to their opponents”.
Though what does she mean with, “someone like Jones”? Do I belong to a sub-species? Am I some kind of untermensch? Forget anything I’m accused of saying, this is the language of intolerant extremism, whether it comes from the left or the right.
With “someone like Jones” I am being ‘othered’. And we all know where that can lead.
◊
CLIQUE AND CLAQUE
From her subsequent statements, it appears that Leanne Wood is refusing to accept the decision against her. Which is worrying, for the principle involved goes well beyond whether she was justified in calling me an ‘arsehole’. And for this reason.
If we allow Leanne Wood, or her collaborators and followers, free rein to decide who or what is misogynistic, or racist, or homophobic, or transphobic, or whatever, then they will abuse that freedom to their advantage; in order to silence critics and stifle political debate.
It follows that if this extreme minority – a small percentage of Plaid Cymru members and an even smaller percentage of the population at large – is allowed to dictate the terms of political discourse then democracy is in peril.
This is why there must be an impartial authority to judge on such matters.
For when a democratic system becomes intimidated by a zealous minority promoting extreme agendas and pursuing personal vendettas it ends in tragedies such as the death of Carl Sargeant, and the ongoing persecution of Neil McEvoy.
It was significant that among the first to leap to Leanne Wood’s defence were Labour politicians and Cathy Owens of Deryn Consulting. As I predicted.
In pursuit of their objectives these cliques use insults and smears that get taken up and chanted by inhabitants of a world where there is no room for doubt. Where everything is black and white, right and wrong. Agree with them or face their wrath.
There are some in Leanne Wood’s claque of such total certitude, seeking a transcendental level of wokeness, that they have more in common with suicide bombers than with normal political activists.
This is why I challenge them at every opportunity. Someone has to.
◊
FAULT LINES
I suppose on one level #arseholegate – as it has been dubbed by the interesting new ‘site Bubble.Wales – is a local skirmish in a global culture war, along predictable fault lines.
In this wider conflict the left has been getting hammered. There was the victory of Donald Trump; then the Brexit vote; the EU election victories, first for Ukip (2014) and then the Brexit Party (2019); plus populist/nationalist leaders and governments being elected all over the place, from Hungary to Brasil to India . . . and now, to cap it all – BoJo, and with Brexit fast approaching!
These defeats are partly explained by a shift away from the left by the (mainly) white working class in Europe, the USA and elsewhere. This is important, because for centuries middle class liberals and leftists have argued that they speak for those unable to speak for themselves.
This patronising myth is now exploded, leaving some of our erstwhile elite feeling distinctly uncharitable towards ungrateful proles. For those who were considered to be dumb and inarticulate have now found their voices, and they’re not singing the Internationale or the Red Flag.
This leaves the left scrabbling around to recruit, even invent, oppressed minorities. ‘What’s that, Mrs Jones – you’ve got ingrowing toenails! Join us and we’ll defend you against the ingrowingtoenailphobes. That Jac o’ the North is one of ’em. Bastard!’
I have to say this, and I hope I don’t upset anyone with what needs to be put bluntly. When it comes to sex, as long as it doesn’t involve children, animals, coercion or inflatable dolls of Marge Simpson, I really don’t care what consenting adults get up to in private. (Just don’t make a cause or a career out of it.)
I felt the need to say that because a disproportionate number of my nastiest critics seem to be . . . well . . . let’s say, of non-heterosexual orientations. Attracted to Plaid Cymru by Leanne Wood they now feel bitter that she’s been deposed, and some seem to hold me responsible! So I am a ‘misogynist’, a ‘homophobe’, a ‘transphobe’, etc., etc., etc.
But I am none of those things. And that includes misogynist, despite what Leanne Wood would like people to think. Ask any woman who knows me. And valid criticism of a politician who just happens to be a woman is never misogyny.
To suggest otherwise is censorship. And usually comes from those who move in closed circles, divorced from the concerns of the general population. This too is dangerous.
But it explains why the most virulent attacks on me come from within the Cardiff Bay Bubble, and from those in other parts of Wales stupid enough to still believe that Corruption Bay is a force for good in Welsh life.
♦ end ♦
You are wasting your life writing about yourself. It’s very tedious.
Dear Jac,
One can never reason nor find a common ground to mediate when the mindset and toxicity levels are at such a high level. A lot of people are glad but not surprised that this person has been corrected, albeit reluctantly.
Deryn consulting has been brought into disrepute by showing their preferred opinion and unwavering unbiased support. This is flawed and wrong. This needs investigating as it causes concern.
Your opinion is based on fact, their responses are shrouded in an attempt to blame you, for opening a can of worms, and again, Deryn are on the defence, on the attack.
Maybe, one day, we will find out who actually calls the shots in the Assembly, the elected representatives or the shadowy figures hiding behind Deryn.
Regards.
A bit off point but, Gavin Woodhouse. How prophetic. Or is the word pathetic.
Given the performance of recent months, the various agencies dealing with crime and financial conduct should hang their heads in shame. Our Jac, with aid from various “sources”, nailed Woodhouse several weeks ago beating major MSM platforms hands down with his insight and predicting accurately that this was a house built on sand. He will not be given credit because the insipid inane bastards that occupy positions of power can’t bring themselves to acknowledge, even thank, a man who can work a damn sight more effectively than any of them and their drippy underlings. They are all cnuts and some of them no doubt benefit from an occasional slice of the proceeds of deviant behaviours.
Hard to understand why Saville Roberts and the SNP are back slapping each other when the forces they’re thanking now would be the ones who will stop their own independence. I read this blog because many of the views chime with mine not because I am a nationalist so it must be soul destroying for you to see Plaid Cymru obsessing over ”progressive” issues ahead of Welsh sovereingnty, indeed Plaid and the SNP should be keeping their heads down let Britain get out the EU then go for real Independence rather than be region of the EU state which is coming.
I wouldn’t vote for Welsh independence but if 52% of Wales voted for it then I would expect it to happen warts and all.
If “52% of Wales” voted for independence it would be cue for another round, possibly decades, of procrastination and navel-gazing while the “leadership” discussed whether the time was right, are there sufficient safeguards for all those disadvantaged minorities and other ishoo-generated groups that have sprung up through the fantasies of those layabouts down the Bay.
They are shit scared of anything that is so radical and revolutionary, worried that their well remunerated roles and future prospects of nonexec/consultancy roles in corporate and 3rd sectors will go up in a puff of smoke.
You will need 55, maybe 60%, in favour to get these slobs off the pot as another fear will then come to play on their minds.
In truth 51% should be enough but the reason I look at this blog is because like Jac I detest Labour and the bleeding heart liberals who want to throw other peoples money at pet issues.
Plaid is now indistinguishable from the London metropolitan elite, politics has changed in the last 3 years its pushed people like me on the right who want an independent Britain closer to people like Jac who want an independent Wales. I could live with an independent Wales but it would be run by the shower in the Assembly so in my opinion a right wing Tory government in England shaping policy in Wales is favourable to that mob down the bay.
Just checking – any news of an apology from Santes Leanne yet, or did she choke on the words as she tried to spit them out ?
I sit here patiently waiting.
Way off topic but all relevant in its own way is today’s finding that dear old Boris done wrong, again. He may think his cause is just but his regime is built on a convoluted foundation of unwritten constitution, custom and practice. Brexit by Oct 31st now depends largely on a fed up EU giving UK its marching orders, and that won’t happen. Much glee among righteous opponents but their diversity of sectional interests is unlikely to yield any stable alternative.
Time for the Union to split up. Then the real fun will start. Plaid will retreat into a small sect of deep but passing interests with a new ishoo every week to keep it stimulating for those with attention deficit problems. AngloBrit supremacists will form militias to go out and hunt down Remainers and any other kind of dissenting voice. People currently in “power” or in office just don’t realise what they may be unleashing.
It’s what I’ve prayed for since I voted Brexit in June 2016. Everything is falling into place.
But as you say, it’s a shambles. I listened to the decision being read out today and was amazed to hear the Bill of Rights and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 invoked. But they have to be put into context. James II/VII (son of Charles II) was kicked out and replaced by his daughter Mary and her hubby King Billy. All done to ensure that England never became Catholic again. I understand how precedent informs law but if we’re going back that far we should realise that what’s being quoted was framed in a different world for reasons that most people today couldn’t begin to comprehend.
My belief is that to have disregarded the Court of Sessions’ decision would have had political, constitutional, economic and strategic implications way beyond BoJo telling porkies. PMs come and go like fucking buses, but once Scotland’s gone, she gone for good.
Had the learned Judges rejected the judgment of the Inner House, then several convenient fictions would have started to unravel.
In any event,1688 is a fairly recent authority compared with some of those pleaded from time to time in the Courts. And I think you’ll find that both Judges and Counsel are fully aware of the changes in circumstances since 1611. Such changes form an important element of forensic discourse.
It is my understanding that you are probably right again Jac.
If the Supreme Court had overruled the Court of Session it may have made the Act of Union null and void leaving Scotland independent.
Johnson and Farage are prepared to appeal to a purely English nationalism of the ‘Fuck the Jocks! ‘Sponging Welsh’ variety and risk the Union. (Perhaps believing that it can all be settled by a show of strength.) The Deep State contains wiser heads who see the danger. The Supreme Court most certainly represents the Deep State.
Had the SC overruled the judgment of the Court of Session, this would have made explicit the deliberate ambiguity in the Union. Scots Law would have been cast as a local franchise of English Law, after the manner of the Bylaws of the Borough of Hogglestock. It is to be doubted whether the Scots Courts would have readily acceded to this.
This comment actually comes from ‘Dyn Gwyrdd’, who’s having trouble posting it.
I think it very odd that Plaid Cymru are holding their October 2019 Conference in Swansea. Why very odd? Well Swansea gave Plaid Cymru the ‘heave ho’ eviction by voting out their five County Councillors under Darren Price’s abysmal Group Leadership several years ago. Plaid Cymru is totally dead in Swansea because they formed a PLC Coalition with Labour under David Phillips and with the Conservatives under Rene Kinzett. Price & Phillips & Kinzett are all yesterday’s men in Abertawe. This 2019 conference should be held in Neath Port Talbot County Borough where Plaid are growing with so many sincere good hard working County and Community Councillors. Swansea gave Plaid the “Bye Bye” message, although in the Senedd they are the “Bi BI Party”. What does “BiBI” mean? It is ‘Bi’ for all trendy causes and ‘BI’ for Bubble Inhabitants !
Plaid’s consolation in NPT is that Welsh Labour are doing worse at the ballot box. Make that much, much worse.
The real success there seems to be with Independent councillors who have comfortably taken Pelenna, Resolven and Gwynfi in the last 3 by-elections. Yes, they’ve held Bryncoch South and got Blaengwrach since the last County Borough elections but they still have a mountain to climb. And that’s before you factor in the electoral effect of partnerships with the Lib Dems and the next episode of the “McEvoy” saga due to be played out at the conference shortly.
I can’t wait for that conference. I have my disguise and fake pass ready.
You won’t need it. One of SKY’s comedy channels have got global rights for the whole shoot A – Z, Alpha to Omega. They reckon the NHS will have to gear up for the big rush of people springing their fuckin’ ribs with laughter, but SKY will pick up the bill cos they reckon it’s worth it. Better than watching football and rugby all the time ( so they say) !
Better make sure that Teifi has a muzzle on that day then. I’d dress as a clown if I were you – there’ll be hundreds of them there so you’ll blend in just fine.
That Plaid conference in Swansea could turn out to be the best bit of entertainment in the city for a good while. Watching indignant self important jerks dissing all comers and competing for having the most pressing ishoo will be a nice distraction for a couple of days. After that it will become boring but will go away insofar as they will all, or mostly, fuck off home somewhere else !
As I’ve been saying for a while, next month’s conference is make or break for Plaid Cymru, and I can’t see any result that won’t damage the party. If LW and her gang hold onto power then a lot of moderates and traditionalists will just walk. If she and her clique are deposed, then it could be them walking. And how does Neil McEvoy fit into all this? The LW cohort has said that if he’s readmitted then they’ll go off and form a Welsh socialist party. If he he’s kept out, where will he and his many supporters go?
Like I say, I cannot see any outcome that doesn’t damage Plaid Cymru. And the wounds will all be self-inflicted. (But that won’t stop them looking for somebody else to blame.)
You are quite right about Neanderthals and I get quite upset at the suggestion that a human subspecies, from which most of us are descended and who managed to survive pretty well in Europe and Asia for a quarter of a million years, is in any way intellectually substandard.
Especially a dodgy insult for Celts to use as all Neanderthal DNA analysed so far shows they had “white” skins, blue or green eyes and red hair. As every person of European or Asian origin is of Neanderthal descent, with 2-5% of their genetic code in most of humanity, its not only an out dated insult but an own goal. The myth that they “died out” because they were so ugly and stupid is not validated by science, Even Mr Phillips will be part Neanderthal.
Best not ask which part, eh?
Ooo, Stan, you are awful!
No, he’s just a whipping boy and fetcher for the party Dom, no neanderthal would put up with that !
Looks like we’re both safely in the Neanderthal gene camp then Siân! God bless red hair and blue or green eyes I say!!
In fact the details and unique makeup of red haired people seems to highlight their direct connection to the Neanderthals.
Sooooo proud – aren’t you too?
Thing is Sian, these middle class, better than you types use such terms to demean other humans. As if those who disagree with them are Untermensch. It’s a posh form of racism. I was wondering if Jac had black skin or Jewish heritage Plaid Cymru officials would use such terms.
Fair play Delyth is doing a pretty good job so far… she’s way more talented than Leanne and Bethan!
In fairness, that’s the impression I get. But the point remains that she comes from the same narrow third sector-Spad background that is so dominant in Welsh political and public life.
Off topic, despite the interests of Areshole-gate, can I ask: does anyone know what is happening to Coleg Harlech?
It seems that some of the artwork has been removed from the building & is now being offered for sale by dealers;
https://tinyurl.com/y2zt82uc
Surely, this is listed building & surely the murals are part of the building. I am very surprised that these iconic paintings, commissioned for the Coleg, have been removed and put up for sale.
This is very disturbing – but pretty much par for the course in this country. The public patrimony is regarded, and treated, as a source of revenue streams for those who in a certain other realm would be called the friends of the friends, or the men of honour.
I remember these vividly. Thinking of them going under the hammer makes me want to weep.
Arising from this sorry episode is a very important, not to say fundamental, question: how on Earth did we reach this point? There have been deep thought and selfless passion in this country. There have been courage and debate and energy. Yet here we are, some of us quite entranced because a pseudo-judicial sledgehammer is being swung at the nut of one AM’s intellectual and rhetorical inadequacies.
In my opinion we’ve reached this point partly because our use of social media, particularly apps like Twitter and Facebook, is now virtually out of control. The kind of comments you see posted about individuals are definitely defamatory on many occasions. And if they were said to someone in the bar of a public house might result in ABH at the least. But who would risk legal recompense unless you were subbed by a protective body such as a trades union or employer? The organisations that run those sites should better police them but they won’t or can’t. So you get knobheads (I’m not subject to a Code of Conduct like AMs so I can say that with impunity) making unsolicited and deeply hurtful, personal comments about Jac, for example, with no check. Yet these could have serious repercussions for him or his family – see Jac’s response elsewhere on this thread. They are not pulled up by the site operators, they are not seemingly sanctioned by any political party they are a member of (rather, the opposite – they become standard bearers, FFS), their employer (if they work) seemingly doesn’t give a fuck. And neither do they because their standards are set so low.
It applies right across the media though, a general dumbing down. How often have you seen sites such as Wales Online allowing public comment on live court cases or comments about a particularly distressing event such as a suicide? It’s all gone crazy. Mad.
Mel We got to this point because A.M’s ( or more likely their Westminster masters) wrote a body of rules never expecting anyone to pay much attention to them. Bit like Cameron offering a referendum but not expecting anyone to give him a bleeding nose.
These folk – A.M’s, M.P’s, senior civil servants, big corporate senior directors at al – all have rules to work to, but invariably they wander around outside those boundaries with impunity stepping on anyone that stands in their way. Well not around here they don’t any more.
Dafis has put his finger on an important point. This will require some considered thought.
Far too many people exercising power in the public life of this country have no coherent concept of authority. They own no imperative but their own ambitions, no goals but their own whims, and no limits at all to their powers. They have little interest in the professional requirements of their supposed duties, and even less practical grasp. Consequently, even if they were to read the relevant codes or regulations, they would simply fail to understand them. The notion that anything or anybody might exercise restraint on them is, literally, non-sense.
They bully and exploit their subordinates, who in their turn blunder through the working day with little or no regard for the public whom they are supposed to be serving. They collect telephone-number salaries as remuneration for exhibiting the intellectual calibre of a clogged water pistol and the sense of duty of a drunken gnat
analysis spot on.
I might also note that to proclaim somebody a fundament is hardly the height of political oratory. Leanne’s constituents have the right to expect rather better than this.
For those who agree with Leanne, her description of Jac as a fundament is fair comment. For those who do not agree, it will be mere vulgar abuse. In any event, I cannot see how it could ever be a matter for parliamentary censure. This is even less a disciplinary issue than Leanne’s solecism of referring to a Mrs. Mountbatten as Mrs. Windsor.
Fair enough, Mel. Whether or not you agree Jac is an arsehole depends on where your affiliations lie. I’ve met the bloke personally on a number of occasions and reckon I’m pretty good at judging someone’s character. In my opinion, he’s not an arsehole, at least in the sense meant by Saint Leanne. A thorn in the flesh of the woke and those zealots (thanks Jac) for whom any diverging opinion is tantamount to fascism, certainly. For the record neither is he a homophobe, transphobe or misogynist, again in my opinion unless you sit in a camp of the one-eyed, deluded and affected who inhabit a dark corner of Twitterland.
If you read the judgment of the Standards Commissioner you should clearly see that Leanne’s tweet was quite properly a matter for censure under the existing rules. Now you (and I) might think that’s ridiculously Draconian but them’ s the rules. If AMs don’t agree with them then change them. But at present, the Saint has become a Sinner. Guilty, m’lud.
The “watergate” scandal and subsequent cover up led to Nixon’s downfall. I wonder what the impact of “arseholegate” will be !
I see, Stan, that we shall have to agree to differ. Were these proceedings taking place in a properly-conducted Court, I am advised that Leanne would have good grounds for an appeal. But let us leave the matter there. We have far more important – and interesting – matters requiring our attention.
By the way, please spare us that toe-curling solecism ‘M’Lud’. It is not accepted as normal forensic phraseology.
The issue never really was what Leanne Wood called me. The issue is the encouragement she and others give to people to call me a fascist, a racist, a homophobe, a transphobe. How do I know that I and my family are not being watched at this moment by some unhinged leftie who believes the bullshit he’s read about me?
People on the left are in no position to point at politicians of the right for encouraging violence, including the murder of Jo Cox MP, when they are doing something very, very similar. But now we encounter the double standards I keep referring to – because when they do it, it’s OK.
And by the way, Mel, don’t get pedantic, ‘M’Lud’ is perfectly acceptable.
In the theatre, yes.
This IS theatre. Far better than Chubby Brown in the Grand.
Chubby Brown!!
And on my blog.
Jac has modified his argument, such as it is.
If he is wise then he will report his concerns and the grounds for them to the appropriate authorities, and make this publicly known; he will also modify the wording of this particular intervention, as it is potentially defamatory.
And if not, not.
Explain.
My apologies – only just spotted this.
Vid. sup.
Mel, what you seem to forget is that she’s an elected politician, a servant of the people (lest it’s forgotten).
Jac is a Blogger, a seasoned political commentator and a fine patriot of the truest and most sincere kind. If our country had more like him, then our situation would be totally different. Believe me when I say that there are more like him around than people realise. The vociferous and poisonous progressive liberal socialist little band within Plaid sometimes give the impression that they represent Plaid and by extension our country. Sadly they don’t, and there’s fewer of them around than is generally realised.
As an ordinary citizen Jac is not curtailed by the restraints and decorum that is expected from our politicians. If LW wants to get down and dirty in the gutter and dog it out with genuine nationalists on social media, she’s more than welcome to do that – as long as she hangs up her hat and gets out of the elected political circles first. This is what highlights the amateurish nature of some of our ‘servants’. As a past leader of Plaid, her responsibilities regarding coarse and vulgar bully tactics against the likes of Jac are even heavier. Her problem is that he hits a few raw nerves with his comments – some people can’t take that.
Jac has not been vulgar or insulting towards her, all he’s done is present some basic truths as he sees those truths, and truth hurts. She should be capable of responding in a manner that befits her role, which she’s paid to do. Bad show of the worst kind – and we wonder why people have turned their backs on the establishment’s politicians?
Sir David Roderick Evans is a former judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He has a responsible and impartial role to play at Y Senedd. His decisions should be respected – he’s not a Twitterer making a personal comment on the Twittersphere. However we now hear that certain members at Y Senedd are reluctant to vote on his decision – it appears that the Brexit habits are being picked up by our third rate politicians here in Wales. That’s why we desperately need something totally new and different. Gwlad Gwlad promises to provide that.
I worked with Leanne when we were both members of Plaid’s National Executive committee, she comes over as a very nice and sincere person. I’ve been associated with Jac for many decades. One is a progressive socialist (bordering on being a Marxist first and a nationalist second). The other is a nationalist through and through, and utterly committed to the cause as a true patriot. That’s why I resigned as a vice president of Plaid in 2002. In my honest opinion they were well on the way to going off the track then, and things have deteriorated badly since then.
Some people seem to advocate the anarchy of “anything goes” but come the day when that anarchy prevails they will be among the first to bleat about the absence of rules. Fact is they don’t like the rules but can’t be bothered, or can’t see how, to change said rules.
As Gee suggested, if these people want to trade abuse then set aside the official status, the fat cat salary and goody bag and join the fray as equals. Trouble with Bubble inhabitants and their cronies is that it’s all about them and fuck the rest of the common herd.
Non sequitur, Big Gee. Or rather, non sequuntur.
If AMs speaking outside the Siambr have become subject to a legally-enforceable speech code, we need to know what legislation introduced this, and when.
Leanne has brought opprobrium on herself. That is enough.
Oh bugger off and stop defending the indefensible with waffle. You’re on the verge of making a spectacle of yourself.
Not sure about a spectacle but in danger of making a fundament of him/herself with all that pedantic Latin stuff. Got to be honest though, I had to look it up.
If Leanne is a Marxist, then Ex-Lax is chocolate, the Daily Borisgraph is s journal of record, Angel Delight actually delights angels, and I am the Marquis of Carabass.
Enlighten us.
Clue: it is not necessary to address me as ‘Your Grace’.
Plenty of squealing out on the assorted websites and Twitterscape from muppets who think Leanne has unrestrained rights to use her limited vocabulary as she sees fit. Odd to see arch Tory David Davies among her apologists. Maybe he’s just trying to stir things up a bit. Hardly one of Leanne’s stereotypical fans !
Classic tale of the utter disconnect between those in what passes for Welsh political life and the real lives of the rest of us. Ms Wood should heed the First Law of Holes- if you’re in one, stop digging.
I put the problem down to career politicians who have never been out in the real world to earn a living. Long gone are the days when Labour politicians were trades unionists or academics , Tories were industrialists or financiers, Liberals and Plaid enthusiasts for change and all had a few lawyers. Nowadays they are all identikit bores who left college to be researchers then special advisers until a seat was provided for them. None of them have any perspective of the outside world at all.
The antics of Leanne and her associates mean that Plaid is now history. More and more people are coming to realise that Ein Gwlad represents the future in Wales.
My issue with Leanne and her host is that if they were socialists of the kind we see elsewhere, such as Catalonia, or the Basque Country, (and Sinn Fein is also socialist), they’d be saying to our rulers: ‘YOUR system is letting down OUR people. We want better jobs for our people, better housing, better education, better health service, better infrastructure . . . and ultimately, independence’.
And because they were focusing on the issues that matter to real people they’d get the short term dividend of popular support which could be built on to persuade people of the benefits of independence, of living in a new country run by people who prioritised the needs of that country and its people. But no, Plaid Cymru would rather pursue unicorns.
So it’s identity politics, sexual identification, and whatever ishoo is currently in vogue with readers of the Guardian.
It is to be hoped that Miss Wood will accept that she was wrong, take her telling off, move on, and focus her attention on the (Welsh working-class) constituents whose interests she was elected to safeguard and promote.
But that’s the disconnect, she and her friends believe that hard-working people in Wales are worried about the lack of transgender toilets and similar issues. And if not, then they should be!
Excellent post, Jac.
I am intrigued by the fact that despite a recent anti-Jac campaign on Twitter to ignore what you write and not engage, these clowns seemingly can’t help themselves. They clearly read everything you write as if they were your most ardent fans and this post will be no exception. They hang on your every word, then become almost orgiastic in their collected criticism as they chant your name on Twitter every night. It might have escaped some of the shoutier ones (don’t empty vessels always make the most noise) but let’s be honest here – who would EVER have heard, for example, of that obnoxious, foul-mouthed dog lover from Maesteg if he hadn’t defamed you and become a Plaid poster boy in the process? They should be buying you a crate of Malbec for raising them from the obscurity of their boring echo chambers and sixth form debating, and nights out with the bow-wow. If you look at the Twitter/Facebook posts of many of your critics you would be amazed how many of them seem to have no other life than social media and moaning about imagined homophobes, sexists, misogynists, racists and fucking transphobes (well not literally, obviously). You have given them a reason to be.
Oh, and a big up for that anonymous person who made the complaint. A well reasoned submission, entirely appropriate and a bloody good decision by the Commissioner as far as I’m concerned.
Good result all round.
You’re on form tonight, Stan!