Today’s Mule carried a front page lead by Darren Devine about figures released by the Office for National Statistics. Among the surprising disclosures, that merited the front page plus the whole of pages 2 and 3, was the revelation that we don’t have enough entrepreneurs (for which there is no word in Welsh, incidentally) and the shock news that after the south-west of England Wales has the highest proportion of over 50s to be found in any part of this sceptr’d isle. Let’s consider these two issues.
That Wales has fewer entrepreneurs than she should have is no surprise to anyone familiar with our history. During the 19th century, when Wales should have been producing her capitalist class, one of the major social and moral influences on the nation was the nonconformist chapels. Which were keen to see young Welshmen advance themselves . . . as educators, men of the cloth, even as politicians and lawyers, but handling the filthy lucre was usually frowned upon.
The chapels and their political party were eclipsed as influences in the early 20th century by the Labour Party. Given that Labour always had competition, particularly in the Valleys, from more extreme factions, this resulted in a Labour Party that in Wales, lacking the dilettantes and the Fabian element, was markedly more left wing than in England. Which resulted in a hostility to wealth creation that often bordered on the hysterical. Though the great leaders of this period (thankfully almost forgotten) like Cook, Horner, Painter et al had one thing in common. These ‘Giants of Welsh Labour’ were all English. And while someone in their fiefdom daring to start a business – and of course, creating jobs – could expect to be vilified, English companies operating in Wales had a much easier time.
Finally, let us remember that Wales is a colony of England. Colonies provide raw materials, manpower and other commodities but they are not allowed to compete with the Mother Country. The example I love is that of 19th century Cuba, where the tobacco leaf had to be exported to Spain to be made into cigars, and of course big profits. As an example of colonialism it is simple to understand and yet so damning of the system.
Commenting on our ageing population Devine wrote, ” – which is likely to place extra burden on public services in future”. What!! When Councillor Seimon Glyn said the same thing back in 2001 the London media (in a brilliant campaign orchestrated by those directing the population changes he referred to) leapt from their bar stools to condemn him as a racist and worse. Everyone knew he was speaking the truth, but the truth was dangerous, so Seimon Glyn was used as an example of what would happen to anyone else minded to speak the truth, and to publicly challenge this social engineering.
Even an ageing population has political advantages for our colonial masters. It puts a strain on health and other services; so our Notional Assembly then has to beg for more money from London (without stating the nature of the problem); this in turn is used to strengthen the argument that ‘Wales could never pay its way’; and all the while Wales becomes more English and therefore less likely to be politically ‘troublesome’. This system is a thing of great beauty!
The obvious counter to this would be to point out that an independent Wales would not accept the elderly, the sick, the indigent, the misfits from other countries. But anyone minded to say this would have the example of Seimon Glyn to make them bite their tongue. So rather than sacrifice an individual could our AMs not show both understanding and balls by a) demanding a national planning presumption against any more estates of retirement bungalows b) stricter regulation and registration of retirement homes and care homes?
And so it goes on . . . We pretend to believe lies. The truth can not be articulated. Welcome to Wales 2010. And welcome to this blog. If you like what you’ve read, then come back. I’ve been around so long and seen so much I’ve now got to the stage where I’m gonna have my say and f*** ’em all.