For the first time in quite a while I’m putting out a Miscellany, an assortment of unrelated stories. There’s one from Wales and then we’re off to the USA, Ireland and the Eastern Front.
This is longer than recent posts but it’s four separate pieces with a wee monologue to end. So it should be easy enough to manage.
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ASPIRING TO INSPIRE
Let’s start with someone who tried to cash in on the culturally destructive tourism afflicting Eryri by offering ‘adventure’, in the form of ‘bonding’ weekends for the staff of companies like Shyster and Scumbag (UK) Ltd of Rickmansworth.
Working backwards, this story takes life with a report that came out last week about fund-raising hikers left stranded near Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania. The trip had been organised by Aspire Adventures Ltd, which left the 26 hikers stranded in Africa after they’d paid the company as much as £3,500 each.
Aspire Adventure and Expeds Ltd is now filing for liquidation. Though the company was only formed last April.
The mountain man involved is Jason Rawles. Let’s go to a site called Tales to Inspire, and this piece from November 2021. (Here in pdf format.) The article is presumably written by Rawles, but the foreword, the passage in bold print, this I assume has been added by the site publishers.
What follows is an intriguing story about a kid from the slums . . . of St Albans. Doesn’t have the same menacing ring as the Gorbals, but there you go. The article, and the style, suggests someone with . . . well, I suppose the mot juste would have to be ‘imagination’.
What I find interesting is that although the Aspire company we’ve just looked at wasn’t formed until last year, Rawles was using the name back in 2021. So what’s his business background?
It’s clear that he’s unlucky when it comes to money. Here’s a report from October 2020 telling us that Rawles lost £250,000 overnight! (When his mattress caught fire?)
This earlier piece from September 2015 mentions a company called JR Mountaineering. But I can’t find any such company. Nor can I find a record of mountaineering / outdoor companies using the ‘Aspire’ name other than what looks to be an entirely unconnected outfit in the Peak District.
The only other company I can find is The Rawles Group Ltd, currently in its death-throes at Companies House. And it’s the company number for the Rawles Group that’s given at the foot of the website for the Aspire Leadership Academy. (Here in pdf version.)
And that’s about all I can find by way of companies: the Rawles Group and the outfit set up last year to arrange the Kilimanjaro jaunt. And I would guess that this second company had to be set up because the old one was heading down the Swannee.
But why did nobody check him out, especially after the allegations in 2021?
The address given for the company organising (or not, as the case may be) the Kilimanjaro trip is, Caban Cyf, Brynrefail. A village to the east of Caernarfon and just north of Llyn Padarn.
There is a company by that name that recently changed to a community interest company (CIC). Though Rawles doesn’t seem to be involved. It looks as if he was using the old school building as an accommodation address.
In the Caban building itself you can find Climb Snowdon, North Wales Sports Massage, and the Snowdonia Society. And within ice axe throwing distance, there’s Rock and Sea Adventures, Martin Chester – Guiding: Consulting : Coaching, Outdoor North Wales, and Gradient Adventure.
For the area seems to have been invaded by fleece jacketed hearties of the kind destroying Welsh communities with their belief that Wales is England’s playground.
I’m sure they all know Jason Rawles. Maybe they’ll chip in to help him out.
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TRUMP ON A ROLL
As I’ve mentioned a number of times, November sees the US presidential (and other) elections. At the moment it looks like Biden v Trump. But that could change.
Mainly because an increasing number of Democrat power-brokers, and others, know Biden can’t win, and some of them will be in trouble if Trump becomes president.
The Iowa caucus earlier this month, with Republican voters braving snow and ice, gave Trump 52% of the vote and 98 out of 99 counties. This was enough to make second-placed, Florida governor, Ron DeSantis abandon his campaign and get behind Trump. The result also pushed the other challenger, Nikki Haley, into third place.
It was argued by Trump’s opponents that Iowa is not ‘typical’ – but which state is?
Next it was New Hampshire, where Haley was expected to do better, and perhaps even win. In the end, and despite Democrats and Independents being allowed to vote for her, she ended up 11 percentage points behind Trump.
Next up is South Carolina, Haley’s home state, on February 24. If she doesn’t win there by a big margin, then it’ll be all over, and Trump can be crowned.
Many in the Republican party distrust Haley. They think she’s a RINO (Republican In Name Only), or an agent of the uniparty Washington establishment, which amounts to much the same thing.
Among the other runners who have now pulled out is Vivek Ramaswamy, who impressed me greatly. He too has thrown his weight behind Trump. If he has a fault, it’s verbosity, but that can be curbed.
Remember the name.
Another great contribution was made by actor Burt Thakur, after Haley tried to play on the fact that she’s part-Indian. (Not that anybody had noticed or mentioned it.)
Ramaswamy and Thakur remind us of the contribution being made to the USA by Hindus. They work hard, they obey the law, they respect the country that has welcomed them, they don’t kill and rape its citizens.
It’s the same with Buddhists, Jews, Confucians, Sikhs, Taoists, Zoroastrians and the followers of Shintoism.
Incidentally, the tweet that contained the put-down from Thakur came from the X account of Simon Ateba, which I follow. Ateba’s African, and he’s rather conservative. The establishment hates him!
Ramaswamy, Thakur, Ateba and others expose the patronising basis of liberal-left race politics. Which says that anyone who isn’t White must be a victim of colonialism, slavery, white privilege, or whatever slogans are currently being screeched on campus.
Few things drive a Wokie crazy quicker than a non-White person saying, ‘Well, actually, I don’t feel oppressed. I worked hard in school, I got a good degree. Now I’m doing quite well. I believe in the USA, the nuclear family, and I think Donald Trump talks a lot of sense’.
The left-liberal response is wonderful to behold.
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IRELAND: NO MORE WOMEN, NO MORE FAMILIES
I have mentioned Ireland a few times lately. There the Globalist agenda is being enthusiastically implemented and supported by the three main parties (Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin) and of course the Greens, who’ve gone so far down the rabbit-hole as to be at risk from dingoes.
Sinn Féin gained the most votes at the last general election (February 2020) and to keep them out of power an unlikely coalition was cobbled together between traditional rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, plus the Greens.
Despite being excluded SF agrees with almost everything coming from the government, especially on climate, race, and gender. And of course, on the big issue in Ireland, mass immigration.
The opposition to the Globalist agenda comes from a growing number of politicians who’ve broken with their parties, and ‘insurgent’ parties such as the Irish Freedom Party and the even newer Farmers’ Alliance.
The European elections in June might indicate how much support there is for the new parties, and how much opposition to the establishment. Then again, getting new parties off the ground is not easy, and in Ireland, as elsewhere, the ‘mainstream’ media is in the Globalists’ pockets.
But before those elections, Ireland has a couple of linked referendums in March on changes to the Constitution. This is how the Electoral Commission explains it.
The first vote is being seen by many as an attack on the nuclear family; certainly, the nuclear family as most people understand it, which is a married heterosexual couple and their children.
It wants to replace family with the concept of a ‘durable relationship’. Which might seem acceptable, but as ever, the devil is in the detail. And the Electoral Commission didn’t help with this suggestion.
So if young Dermot and the bird who’s now dumped him get a Christmas card addressed to both of them does that mean the relationship is back on? Mmm.
I have a long relationship with a number of Argentinean wine producers – does this make us ‘family’? (I hope so!)
It’s clear that the definition of ‘family’ is being extended beyond the heterosexual couple and their children to the “durable relationship”.
At which point the whole farce degenerates into a lawyers’ benefit fund. I mean, how do we even define “durable” – surely not by Christmas cards?
The second proposal removes “woman” from the Constitution. This might not arouse suspicion were it not that those proposing the change are the usual suspects who cannot define a woman but still think anyone can be one.
Erasing “woman” from the Constitution has nothing to do with liberating adult human females and everything to do with pandering to deranged and dangerous men who want to be allowed to pretend to be women in any situation they choose.
Critics see another potential problem.
As I’ve said, the big issue in Ireland now is uncontrolled immigration. The arrival of large numbers of unvetted and almost exclusively male migrants. And it really is pushing people to the edge. A few weeks ago Mayo County Council in the west voted to refuse future cooperation with the Department of Integration. (i.e. immigration.)
If the proposals are accepted, then there’s little to stop each of these migrants bringing in others with whom they’ll claim a “durable relationship” of the kind the State says it will “strive to support”.
With or without Christmas cards.
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PRODDING THE BEAR
Last week a former deputy commander of NATO, General Sir Richard Shirreff, suggested that the UK might need to bring back conscription.
Britain’s current numero uno, General Sir Patrick Sanders, chipped in by telling his troops “to prepare to fight and beat Putin’s armies in a European land war“.
This is pure Strangelove. I was half-expecting mention of bodily fluids. Then I learnt that the same calls were being made in other countries.
Clearly, there is a campaign to get people used to the idea of WWIII.
To explain what’s happening I think we need to start in Ukraine.
You know my take on events there. I set out my views soon after the conflict started. I haven’t updated it or changed anything.
To describe Russian action in Ukraine as ‘unprovoked aggression’ is like mistreating a dog over a long period of time and then feigning shock and outrage when it bites you.
Or maybe repeatedly poking a bear with a stick.
I say that because Russia didn’t want war in Ukraine, the Globalists wanted the war, the same people who engineered the 2014 coup, and then they despatched Boris Johnson to scupper the chance of peace.
It was hoped that by sending money and armaments to Ukraine a combination of Russian casualties and hardships at home would turn the people against Putin.
But the plan has failed. Ukraine is being bled white and is unlikely to hold out much longer. While the Russian economy may actually be stronger due to new markets, alliances, and trading partners. So a fresh approach is needed.
Which fits with US and Western foreign policy since WWII – engineer conflict and instigate regime change for corporate gain. We can trace this strategy back to at least 1953 and the removal of Mossadeqh.
(Cheeky blighter thought Iranians should benefit from Iran’s oil!)
The truth is that Russia lacks the manpower and other resources needed to mount an attack on Western Europe. And I don’t believe she plans to invade the countries that were formerly within the Soviet Union, or part of the Eastern bloc.
So rest easy, you won’t have telnyashka-clad Ivans larging it in your local.
But the facts remain. The Ukraine ploy has failed; so have sanctions; so maybe all-out war, or the threat of war, is the only way for the Globalists to get their hands on the wealth of Russia.
And note the number of times the issue is personalised. The message to Russians, from the highest-ranking general to the most wretched babushka, is clear: ‘Putin is the problem. Replace him with somebody we approve of, and there’ll be no war’.
If there is a land war with Russia, it will not be about ‘security’ or ‘deterring aggression’; it’ll be an asset grab, the biggest of all.
And of course, Russia cannot win a lengthy land war fought on a number of fronts. But she has new allies . . . and the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world.
So for God’s sake, somebody rein in these nutters!
But if you’re happy for your children, your grandchildren, to die for BlackRock, Vanguard and the WEF, then keep swallowing your daily dose of misinformation from the mainstream media.
Which is of course owned and / or funded by BlackRock, Vanguard, Bill Gates . . .
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EPILOGUE
In recent years I have defended Western civilisation against the Quisling Left, Black racists, Islamists, and assorted muppets who portray all White people as descendants of slave-owners and colonialists, enjoying unspecified advantages over other races.
That’s the easy bit. For the benefits the White man has bestowed on humanity are incalculable and ubiquitous. Only twisted and embittered fools, or followers of a death-cult, would try to argue otherwise.
Much more difficult is defending the empty and battered shell of the modern West, hollowed out by anomie. A condition brought on by endless war, constant ‘threats’, ever-rising prices, engineered societal fractures, falling standards in public life – all serving to further enrich the already rich and give them more power over us.
The only way to break this cycle of decline is to return to those values that made the West great, and the world a better place.
Fundamental to any reformation must be an understanding of truth, a sense of right and wrong; and it’s almost irrelevant whether that’s premised on the Hellenistic tradition, the Judaeo-Christian, a simple form of dualism, or even Pinocchio.
What matters is knowing.
It begins with the individual who, in return for guarantees of personal freedom and security, abides by the laws agreed on by the elected representatives of the society in which he lives. And only those laws.
The individual will be part of a family, that most precious of all associations; always a target for dictators and totalitarian regimes.
Then we arrive at the nation. A number of people who, for whatever reason, feel a strong enough bond to regard themselves as a distinct grouping.
Nations may enter into any form of free and mutually-beneficial association, from which they should be free to withdraw at any time.
Truth, personal liberty, freedom of speech, the family, the nation, are all threatened by Globalism. Which is why it must be defeated, and not just for the benefit of those of us who see the threat but also, and perhaps more importantly, for those poor souls trapped in their silly cults about climate, gender, race.
So join the fight, even if it just means doing something simple like switching off the BBC, rejecting the Globalists’ political puppets, or supporting the farmers.
This is a fight we must win. Lose, and we may not get a second chance.
♦ end ♦
© Royston Jones 2024
Words of a globalist puppet – ” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said ‘the day-to-day concerns for people’ had to be the priority for the Northern Ireland Executive, rather than a united Ireland – which was ‘not for today’.” He was speaking after the new First Minister Michelle O’Neill claimed a referendum on reunification could be held within a decade.
Obvious that the bulk of Irish government spend is to be prioritised into welcoming more asylum seekers, economic migrants and other unclassified trippers that gets washed up on Ireland’s welcoming shores. No time for fussing about with integrating the Six Counties and undoing a lot of the economic damage caused by Brit neglect of the needs of the general public. It will be costly but a far better spend that making an unspecified number of diverse ethnics happy while denying natives their rights.
Varadkar’s a smarmy and slippery cunt living on borrowed time, and he knows it. It’s only a question of whether he’s stabbed in the front, by the electorate; or in the back, by his colleagues. Either was, his time is up.
Miscellany – The Welsh Cob is deserving of a place on the Welsh flag
A major article in the ‘Western Morning News’ 3-4-24, the main newspaper for Devon should sound alarm bells for Welsh Upland hill farmers who are in danger of seeing their farms “greened” by “Rewilding” and “Tree Planters” invariably by the ideas coming out of Wales Government with outside investors. The article explains how the Sharpham Estate in South Devon have just introduced a pair of Konik Horses from Poland and Mangalitza pigs from Eastern Europe to help rewilding there. Why not use Exmoor Ponies? If Konik Horses are brought into the wilder parts of Wales, such breeds of horses, like these Polish Koniks, will inevitably cross breed with iconic Welsh Cobs, that in many places graze freely on the upland commons (owned by the core of Wales’ Welsh speaking hill farmers).
In my home village a ‘secret’ is just out. It appears the Woodland Trust has just acquired a prime large farm abutting our village. On contacting them to inquire politely of their intentions, they clammed up with hostility and refused to discuss it.
This sort of thing is soon going to envelope Wales under the flickering shadows of 850ft tall erratic Wind Turbines, all to be developed by foreign investors, with the blessing of Wales Labour Government and their “political pals”. This is not now just about landscape and erratic electric for the grid – it is about traditional hill farming and the survival of Welsh speaking in our heartlands. The Welsh Cob is deserving of a place on the Welsh flag instead of our legendary Red Dragon as nobody in Cardiff Bay is breathing fire here anymore!
Lastly if the ’Brighton Brigade’ had their way we should all be living in primitive off grid ‘One Planet’ homes, so the Wind Turbines could become redundant and the much needed new ‘Housing for Wales’ would no longer be needed. Problems solved.
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Date correction for Western Morning News – it was this weekend 3-2-24
Miscellany – Gender – the definition of :-
It’s a very long time since I read Charles Dicken’s “HARD TIMES”. Yet one famous scene has been flashing into mind this past week. It is where Sissy Jupe is aked to “define a horse” by the School Board Inspector Thomas Gradgind when he is testing the class of teacher Mr M’Choakumchild. Sissy is the shy daughter of a Circus Hand who is responsible for training horses at the Circus and riding them in the ‘Ring’. She is ridiculed for failing to give an answer. Gradgrind then asks a boy named Bitzer who is the teacher’s pet. Bitzer gives an amazing factual answer and gets praise although he has probably never handled a horse. In reality it was Sissy (Cecelia) who knew more than anyone all about horses.
So why has this scene been flashing in my mind with bother this week?
It is because we now live in a new “Woke World”, particularly from Wales Government, where it is foolhardy to now define a woman let alone a horse.
One reason is that so many “men” now want to declare themselves as “women” but cannot define a real woman. This is leading big men demanding to use women’s dressing rooms in sport complexes, or demanding to go to women’s prisons or even demanding extra toilets for three or more different genders. Many women are demanding they be called ‘them’ and ‘us’ and “both” because of claimed plural gender.
I am probably getting all this wrong because I do not understand all this ‘woke’.
The real problem I have with it is how nasty “they” and “them” can get over gender. Take the aguish suffered by Rowling and Dilys of the ‘Cofiwch’ wall.
I am not referring to the established normal gay community who sometimes sadly get dragged into this.
Anyway, perhaps the Oxford Dictionary needs to revise its definition of gender.
Dinosaurs like me may then wake up to what is ‘woke’ without its present anger!
On the matter of welcoming any old turd that bobs up out of the Channel this extract from a Spectator article sums up the problem neatly.
This will surely be a wake-up call. It will surely arouse people from their moral slumber on the issue of asylum. No more writing people off as ‘racist’ if they query the asylum system. No more branding voters as ‘bigots’ if they ask what’s being done to secure our borders. No more bandying about the cheap insult of ‘Islamophobia’ against anyone who worries about an influx of young men from a country like Afghanistan. No, we now need a grown-up, insult-free and frank discussion about what is going on in 21st-century Britain.
It is not racist to ask why Ezedi was in the UK. It is not racist to ask why a man who illegally snuck into Britain in a lorry and was later convicted of sexual assault was granted asylum. It is not racist to ask why he wasn’t kicked out the minute it was established that he had sexually assaulted someone, on the basis that if you fail to respect the safety and dignity of women and girls, then you are not welcome here.
Not that this is the only question that confronts us but at a time when there is a large influx through both “front” and “back” doors those Cymry who care a little about our core identity have to share a bit of common ground with our neighbours despite the lax behaviours of the UK Brit gov being a key factor in the development of our current state of affairs. Last week I read somewhere some daft comment from a resident of darkest England basically telling us Welshies that we shouldn’t complain about a few of his assorted tribe – elderlies, social misfits etc etc- turning up in Wales when he, poor dab, was on the receiving end of a bigger wave of tinted folk via the Manche. Hard to be sympathetic because it was his type that voted into power a bunch of opportunistic chancers who enable/permit the current mess. Will this ever change ? I doubt whether bruvver Starmer has it in him in implement more demanding rules and regulations.
The Globalists and their allies know that time is running our for uncontrolled immigration. No matter how it’s sold people can see the reality, and the problems. And with important elections and referendums this year time may be running out for open borders.
And it’s not just in Europe. There’s a case in the US at the moment where two NYPD cops were beaten up by a gang of unvetted immigrants in Times Square. The assailants went to court – and most were allowed to walk free. They are now believed to be heading for the Mexican border.
A few months back, the mainstream media would have ignored this story.
Trump is also on trial, again, in NYC. Where judges and DAs were funded by that truly evil fucker, George Soros.
Because that’s another thing bringing an end to this ugly chapter – people are joining up the dots.
I know Soros raked it in from Black Monday, so there’s a window into how morally bankrupt he is, but what else has he done?
Soros funds the election campaigns of far left candidates for the posts of District Attorney and judge, who then play dangerous political games by letting criminals – even murderers – walk free, while on the other hand using public money and other resources to pursue political opponents, the most celebrated of whom is of course Trump.
Miles off topic your tweet earlier features Heledd Fychan, although I think the picture is of her cousin Heledd Fawr Iawn ! Behind her sits Sian Grumpy Gwenllian another who can only be happy when our entire society and economy are turned upside down.
London, 30th January 2042:
England’s popularly elected ruler, President Harry Bolingbroke, issued a statement today to ‘clear up certain errors concerning the special military operation in Wales’. It was not, he emphasised, a war but rather a policing action. Because Wales was part of the same island as England, it was not entitled to independence in the way that Ireland was. It fell within England’s legitimate sphere of influence. Indeed, the Welsh were the original Britons, that is, English, and their own Tudors had confirmed this. As possession of Scotland and Wales was vital to England’s security interests, the break-up of the UK had been a ‘geopolitical catastrophe’ that had to be corrected before it was too late. Wales was on the verge of joining CATO – the Celtic Area Treaty Organisation – which would make future decisive acts by England impossible. It was also doing far too much trade with countries other than England. Wales would therefore need to be liberated and decolonised.
Bolingbroke disagreed that England had thrown the first punch. Wales’s former government, led by Plaid Cymru, had been friendly, if not suitably obsequious towards England, conscious of England’s long and positive influence. The overthrow of President ap Iorwerth in the Cathays Park Revolution, backed by American free-market extremists, had brought Gwlad to power on a policy of de-Anglicisation. It was now imposing an ‘anti-English’ state on territory that historically was a region of England until 1967 and where the Welsh language had been kept in its proper place. The English-speakers of Wales were being horribly mistreated and England could not stand idly by. These people, said Bolingbroke, were his people. They had been planted in Wales by his ancestors and he was not prepared to have them returned to him without the land they occupied. Gwlad, he said, were Nashis and everyone knew what that meant. He asked everyone to look into the writings of early Welsh nationalists and their stance during World War II.
Bolingbroke denied that the grounding of the English tank column at Caersws would unduly delay the fall of Machynlleth. Counterattacks, like that which sank the ‘London’ in the Irish Sea, would not succeed. Solid progress had been made in the north-east and south, despite the fierce resistance of the Lost Lands League in the Port Talbot steel complex. He announced that Monmouthshire would at once become again a county of England. Birthplace of England’s greatest warrior king, it had been part of England for hundreds of years until cruelly transferred to Wales in 1974. He drew an analogy with Crimea. Referenda would be held in other areas with an English-speaking majority that would confirm that they wished to be English. Having lost most of its population and industrial capacity, Wales would cease to be viable and would henceforth be known as the Protectorate of Dyfed and Gwynedd.
Very clever, David, but the analogy is hopelessly exaggerated and inapplicable.
In relation to CATO / NATO it should be mentioned that after the fall of Communism Russia was promised that NATO would not advance eastward. The Russians did nothing to justify what became a clear betrayal. Though it was really the promised links with the EU used to remove Yanukovych. A reminder that EU and NATO are often interchangeable.
Comparing Gwlad to the fraudsters of the Zelensky regime is grossly unfair. Though you’re right to suggest that the 2014 coup was organised by the USA, with Victoria Nuland deserving special mention.
A couple of hare-brained oddballs flirting with the Nazis in WWII cannot realistically be compared with whole regiments of very real Nazis in Ukraine today. And they were there in Kiev in 2014, providing muscle (and false flags) for the coup. After which they killed hundreds of Russians and Russian-identifying Ukrainians in the Donbass, Odessa, and elsewhere.
It might also be worth mentioning that Crimea doesn’t really fit into your fable. Because until 1783 the peninsula was neither Ukrainian nor Russian, but Muslim Tatar territory, from where captured Russians and Ukrainians were shipped down to Istanbul to be slaves of the Turks.
Finally, apart from the castle boroughs of the 1280s and 1290s I not aware of any organised attempts by the English crown to plant English speakers in Wales.
8/10 – but don’t give up the day job
What about south of the Landsker, re: plantations?
This imaginitive tale of partition and redrawing of boundaries is not too far off from what have been passed off as ‘serious’ opinion pieces on the Scottish Question in recent years. I saw one Fleet Street hack moot sundering of the Borders in the event of a hypothetical Yes vote. And they’ll always go to the well of invoking the War and the political sympathies of the lunatic fringe within a movement as cheap capital.
What I said was, ‘Finally, apart from the castle boroughs of the 1280s and 1290s I not aware of any organised attempts by the English crown to plant English speakers in Wales.’ And I’m not sure that what happened in south Pembrokeshire was organised by the English crown.
Furthermore, the settlers were reported to have been Flemings, which would mean they weren’t English speakers.
I thought they were planted there, given the sharp demarcation of linguistic and genetic heritage? Also with Flemish being closer to English than Welsh (especially Middle or Old varieties in each case), perhaps there was some degree of mutual intelligibility, and therefore, loyalty?
The qualification I used was ‘organised attempt by the English crown’.
I believe that what happened in south Pembrokeshire was the work of the local Norman barons. And ‘Norman’ is an elastic term, taking in Bretons, Flemings and others who either came over with William in 1066, or in the years following.
Also remember that medieval Flanders was bigger than the area of that name in modern Belgium. Stretching into what is now northern France. Dunkirk, for example. Perhaps as far as Calais, or even Boulogne.
Interesting that the Irish Freedom Party has no ‘headline’ policy on the North. Also, surely the harshness of the Russian winter and the enormous territorial expanse in which it plays out, means a land war would be automatically tilted in their favour?
I can’t speak for the Irish Freedom Party, obviously, but it’s new, and its priority seems to be challenging and reversing the policies coming out of Dublin.
Regarding Russia, the suggestion being made is that Russia plans to invade the West.
The IFP has enough on its plate trying to sort out the mess that has infested the Republic within a matter of a few years. It must be heartbreaking for old veterans to see SF in its modern neutered form turn the country into a haven for all sorts of newcomers with suspect motives. No doubt in my mind that earlier policies that set out to turn Dublin and its immediate environs into safe havens for globalist capital enabled the embedding of the more toxic social viruses that come with such a culture of laissez faire corporatism.
Rich fat cats have turned Dublin into a disgusting place floating on top of a thick layer of poverty and exclusion while the elites prance around celebrating their successes at all creating all sorts of inclusion. More illusion than reality.
What I see happening in Ireland is that Irish nationalism / Republicanism may be undergoing one of its periodic changes, in response to changing circumstances and a changing world.
Traditionally, it was Gaelic Ireland against Anglo-Norman England. With both being Catholic religion played little or no part.
Then came the Reformation, the Flight of the Earls, Plantation and Ascendancy. Now religion enters the picture. Interestingly, the Old English, the long-settled and partly-integrated original settlers remain Catholic and are now, to all intents and purposes, regarded no differently to the Gaelic Irish.
Ascendancy means rule by Anglicans. This sees many Scots Presbyterian settlers, especially in the north, make common cause with Irish Catholics in the United Irishmen, and the Rising of 1798. Which was greatly influenced by the French Revolution, and explains that great rebel song, The Croppy Boy.
Realising the danger, England (and Scotland) work to divide Catholic from Presbyterian by promoting the Orange Order. The first lodge was formed two or three years before 1798.
Despite great Protestant heroes like Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, and Charles Stuart Parnell, and a few lesser-known others, in the 19th century Irish nationalism becomes increasingly Gaelic Irish and Catholic. And with the end of any credible Stuart claimant, more republican.
Fast forward to 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War. Perhaps a 32-county republic was always out of reach a century ago, but it remained the objective.
1968 / 69 the pogroms start in the North and the IRA, now a left wing political organisation, is nowhere to be seen. ‘I Ran Away’ is scrawled on Belfast walls. So the IRA is re-built almost from the ground up as the Provisionals.
Thirty years of peace and the IRA may exist in little more than name again, but Sinn Fein has become the biggest party on the island. But now it’s losing support rapidly for linking up with other parties to promote the Globalist agenda and support unsustainable levels of immigration.
Which explains why I see a form of Irish nationalism emerging that is reconfigured to meet the current crisis. It still pays tribute to ‘the Men of ’16’ and others, but implies that the modern SF has betrayed those who’ve gone before.
It’s now ‘Ireland for the Irish’, and we seem to be back with a fight for the soul of Gaelic Catholic Ireland. Or rather, it’s no contest, because only one side mentions the real Ireland.
It’s a fascinating situation. I advise everyone to pay close attention.
And what of a 32 county Republic under this new Nationalism? Also, I’m sure the Old English were more than partly integrated, and were in fact known to have become ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’?
It’s quite ironic that Dublin looks to be aping London with its own Docklands seemingly seeking to become Canary Wharf and the City Lite, as well as in terms of wealth inequality and ‘multiculturalism’.
You’re right, the old English were largely integrated. Their tragedy was that while they still thought of themselves as English, the English saw them as Irish.
You can easily tell that SF has gone to seed by the appearance of those 2 women now leading the party in North and South. They look like something out of the regulation catalogue for wimmin who conform to the party lines drawn by likes of UK Labour and Tory parties, EU and other international busy body organisations. Good job that we in Wales are blessed with more credible alternatives such as Julie James, something Evans, the Griffiths drone and others who make a daily effort to be shabby.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14795715 No sure if its in liquidation yet….according to company house its still alive!!…
I agree, nothing has yet been filed with CH, I’m just going by the statement put out on the Aspire website. But we obviously need to be very wary of anything put out by this man.
Information below copied from Debi Evans’ latest blog post on U K Column.
As Companies House comes to the end of the fourth year in its 2020–2025 strategy, dramatic changes are being announced: new priorities, new strategies, and—most importantly—more power. Here are some of the changes that will be introduced in March 2024, in Companies House’s own wording:
Long overdue.
Some crooks I’d written about changed the name of one of their companies to ‘Royston Jones LL36 9YF Ltd’. I contacted Companies House to complain, to tell them this had been done without my permission, and I wax told, ‘Sorry, pal, there’s nothing you can do about it’. I bet if I had more ‘influence’ there would be something I could do about it.
And as we know, addresses can be used by anyone, without the permission of the person who owns that property or lives there. And there are so many other issues.
The system at Companies House is currently a shambles. Favouring all manner of crooks and shysters.
all good for tracking down crooks and shysters but more likely to be used to ensnare contractors/freelancers working through their own company.
when you have Big Government you get Big Taxes and any other way that revenue can be collected from the public.
sounds more of a case of getting Companies House to do its job properly and adding protections to individuals or residents. It a wonder the RJ Ltd co you mention didn’t put its registered office at your address, very hard to get it removed and stop people using your address for nefarious purposes.
that’s the current civil service for you. not a service but always on the lookout for a tax turn [to pay themselves and a pension] supported of course by our “independent” judiciary. as Peter Hitchens says – if you don’t get a trial by jury it will be by a govt employee.
What the Ukrainian war has proved is that the US is an unreliable ally. Once the Great Spring Offensive in August ( don’t ask ) 2022 failed to gain much ground the Americans lost interest,and now, of course, their attention is elsewhere.
Western Europe on the other hand has realised that their fears of vast Russian tank armies sweeping into their territory, as per WWII, are now outdated; modern technology has made armoured vehicles much more vulnerable.
If you ignore the child-like rhetoric in the English newspapers you will realise that Russia isn’t really that big a threat to Europe. I haven’t got figures for the whole of Europe but the EU has a population 3 times the size of the Russian Federation, it’s manufacturing base is 8 times bigger and, before the war started, the EU had a combined military force that was actually about one third larger than Russia at that time.
Another way the UK press misleads is by telling how mighty America has donated vast sums to Ukraine compared to the feeble EU, but according to the Kiel institute …
Quote: Total EU commitments are now almost double those of the US. When adding other Western European countries that are not part of the EU (UK, Norway, Switzerland), the gap widens further. Specifically, the Tracker lists a total of €156 billion commitments by all main European donors (EU and non-EU), compared to less than €70 billion by the US.
It’s not often you visit this blog and agree with me! But as I say, this is not about any realistic threat, this is an asset grab. To justify it Russia must be presented as a threat. We’ve been here before in recent times with ‘weapons of mass destruction’. The dialogue changes but it’s the same old story.
The financial value of US (and European countries) donated weaponry to Ukraine is purely notional. These weapons have only one purpose. They fall obsolete due to technical advances so they can be donated to lesser powers. Otherwise they would need to be decommissioned and parked in the Nevada desert as scrap value or flogged to the third world. The best example of this is British and American warships sold at obsolete sums, the scrap value, to the Argentinian dictatorship, Belgrano and all that. The ‘Ukraine cost’ is not money that would otherwise be spent elsewhere, unlike the Russian spending on the war.
“…benefits the White man has bestowed on humanity are incalculable and ubiquitous. Only twisted and embittered fools, or followers of a death-cult, would try to argue otherwise.” The last sentence would apply to those who think that no one else bar the so-called white man has contributed to humanity. Fools on all sides.
Do I say that?
The White man’s contribution to the world hasn’t always been benevolent of course, when you think of all the colonisation and plunder undertaken, and the legacy thereof. Any ‘civilising’ or industrial progress bestowed would have been incidental in the course of furtherance of colonial interests, and not as some sort of humanitarian effort. Still, the past is the past, and to try and ascribe or apportion ‘blame’ to people living today for past wrongs leads us to nothing but an intractible quagmire.
Same could be said of Arab expansion and the further spread of Islam. The Aztecs. Incas. Even the Zulu empire.
This exchange is a microcosm of the sort of interminable back-and-forth that would ensue if talk of colonial or slavery reparations ever gained serious traction. Any ‘settlement’ would inevitably, and ironically, draw upon notions of ethnic purity in deciding who gets what – an unavoidable consequence when you’re making judgments on dues and recompense based on one’s ancestry.
Any reparations for slavery would have to involve ALL slavery otherwise it would be obviously and narrowly racist.
Which would mean that the modern city of Rome would very quickly go bankrupt.
Interesting background to the shyster Rowles. How to spot a wrong-un.
We also see the spectacle of local authorities in England claiming dire financial woes and have their begging bowls out to Westminster for more cash. Yet at the same time we also see the same councils owning outward bound cottages and bunkhouses in Eryri and elsewhere in Wales which as crown enterprises do not pay business rates, nor residential council tax, deprive our native communities access to housing, inflate property prices using taxpayers cash and have little or no local economic worth. How does Welsh and genuine tourism enterprise establish, grow, and prosper then they are out-bid by taxpayer cash being funneled through English councils?
There are some streets in Llanberis where the properties are mostly owned by English local authorities.
This is obviously something worth looking into.
“…..as crown enterprises do not pay business rates, nor residential council tax,” Time that got changed I wonder whether the 2 talented candidates for FM have any views on the matter or are they too busy adjusting the permanent grins and tans to bother ?
I agree.
The London Borough of Islington has one, purchased when Jenny Rathbone MS was a councillor there prior to the Labour Party parachute into Wales. Other examples are Ogwen Cottage on the A5 at the top of Nant Ffrancon was owned by the now bankrupt Birmingham City Council, Plas Gwynant owned by Sandwell Borough Council of West Bromwich and the Kent Mountain Centre on the shores of Llyn Padarn in Llanberis owned by Kent County Council. Austerity innit.
Sorry but do these outdoor centre’s not employ local employees, use local contractors, shop locally and use local amenities then?
Suspect the mini-bus will fill up with petrol at Tesco in Bangor and they will pay a parking fee at Ogwen while Abigale and Marcus do some abseiling in Cwm Idwal.
It’s usually local cleaners.
I thought Rhyl was the preferred landfill site for human detritus?
Jac, do you have any info on the snowdonia society or an articles you may have written about them.
Let me be clear, I have no real issue with the Snowdonia Society, which might explain why I don’t think think I’ve written about them. I just mentioned them in this piece because that’s where they seem to be based.
I wasn’t suggesting you did. The question was an open one.
OK. Nae bother.
Why does it still use that Anglo supremacist name ? Eryri is the native name for that region and should be adopted by any orgaisation that wishes to use the region in its business name. Simples really. Maybe Lord Snowdon thinks differently but he seldom if ever bothers to cross Y Clawdd so not really a big problem.
I suppose they’d say that’s the English version. In Welsh of course they call themselves Cymdeithas Eryri.