YesCymru: Stalin meets Kafka on a Marx Brothers set

I’M IN SEMI-RETIREMENT AND THIS BLOG IS WINDING DOWN. I INTEND CALLING IT A DAY IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. POSTINGS WILL PROBABLY BE LESS FREQUENT AND I WILL NOT UNDERTAKE ANY MAJOR NEW INVESTIGATIONS. DIOLCH YN FAWR.

I had intended putting out Weep for Wales 19, but events in and around YesCymru meant that my attention was drawn there. What’s more, with the YC story developing as I write this it may be more stream of consciousness than you have come to expect from me.

In a nutshell, YesCymru, an organisation formed and dedicated to campaigning for Welsh independence has, over recent years been first, infiltrated, and then taken over, by the Woke-Left obsessed with issues that have little or nothing to do with Welsh independence.

The AGM of May 22, rigged so that as few as possible of YesCymru’s 18,500 members could participate, sealed the takeover. Less than 2% of the members voted for the new Central Committee and two contentious Motions.

The takeover has been accompanied by a campaign of lies, intimidation, and the vilification of anyone standing up to the extremists. Yet those behind this takeover have cleverly turned the facts on their head to present themselves as victims of intimidation, ‘transphobia’, etc., etc.

To prepare you for what follows I would suggest you read these recent postings. ‘Hopes of Welsh independence being jeopardised by the hard left’ (April 27), ‘Senedd elections: Hard left to win by stealth’ (May 4), ‘This is where I came in’ (May 11), ‘YesCymru – under new management?’ (May 18), ‘YesCymru, the beginning of the end?’ (May 25), ‘A guest post on . . . YesCymru!’ (June 21).

IN THE BEGINNING

As you’ll have read in the posts I linked to the extremists now running YesCymru – and their allies outwith that organisation – first came to my attention with the hounding of Dr Dilys Davies. This followed her purchasing the ‘Tryweryn Wall’ on the A487 in July 2019.

The memorial had been subjected to two attacks earlier that year and was in danger of complete collapse. So, you might think that a Welsh patriot buying it for the nation would be welcomed by those claiming to be patriots or nationalists.

Mais, non. For Dr Davies was almost immediately attacked, and for bizarre reasons, most of which seemed to focus on the fact that she had the wherewithal to make the purchase.

It was pure, old-fashioned, socialist envy of the, ‘I hates rich people, I do’ variety. The sort of thing you often get from failures, malcontents, and social misfits.

Some even talked of demolishing the wall. Though now they insist they were only joking. Of course they were. Though it does raise an interesting possibility.

For it has been suggested to me that Dr Davies stepping in to buy the Wall may have thwarted a plan for our heroes to buy it – probably with crowdfunding – thereby guaranteeing their places in the pantheon of Welsh nationalism. When their hopes were dashed they had to ensure that Dr Davies was not deified in their stead.

Whether that theory is plausible or not, it may be worth mentioning that no one was ever charged with causing the damage to the Wall in 2019. Or even accused on Twitter. Which, in the febrile world of Welsh social media, is quite something.

Who could have done it?

TAKEOVER AND AFTERMATH

And so it came t0 pass that at the YesCymru AGM on May 22 the Left-Woke extremists, influenced by Momentum and operating out of Undod, took control of YesCymru.

This was achieved by the old Communist Party ploy of fixing things beforehand and keeping participants down to a manageable number and a favourable disposition.

Undod was formed towards the end of 2018 by leftists who’d previously attempted to take over YesCymru but had been resisted. Its website tells us, “Our members are involved in political campaigning across Wales on a wide range of issues”. Which is fine for an avowedly left wing campaigning group.

But why would the Undodistas want to take over YesCymru and have it do exactly the same thing? The answer, gentle reader, comes down to numbers, and the perceptions of the general public.

Let me explain.

Undod has a few dozen members. At best, a Far Left outfit could hope for a few hundred members. YesCymru has – or had until very recently – 18,500 members.

If Undod protests about US involvement in Laputa they will be dismissed as ‘the usual suspects’. By which will be meant a tiny minority unwilling to come to terms with a liberal democracy and a market economy.

But, if YesCymru demands that the US withdraws its troops from Laputa then the public response might be different. It won’t be, ‘Them lefty nutters!’, it’ll be, ‘Oh, hang on, there’s somebody in YesCymru who works with me – tidy bloke’.

And this is why the Left wanted to take over YesCymru – credibility. And not just with the public, but also with the media, and with politicians.

However . . .

Since the takeover, resistance to it has grown as people who joined YesCymru to work for independence see the organisation’s energies – and money? – dissipated on causes that should have nothing whatsoever to do with YesCymru.

Not least because above and beyond the more general Leftist agenda there are other issues causing concern. First, is the obsession – and that is not too strong a word – with ‘trans rights’. Then there is the growing realisation that some of those involved in the takeover, and their allies, are very unpleasant people.

Very unpleasant indeed. With quite a few of them absolutely unhinged. And those who encourage and exploit them are of course unwilling to rein them in.

One of the new members of the YesCymru Central Committee is Rachel Cooze of Swansea.

Rachel appears on OnlyFans, an online pornography site. Here’s a recent WalesOnline piece that might give you a better idea of what OnlyFans offers.

Some will disapprove of a YesCymru Central Committee member being involved in that kind of thing, others will rush to her defence . . . ‘How is a working-class girl supposed to make money?’ I’m sure there are a million answers, but we don’t have the time . . .

Though the reason Rachel Cooze is coming under pressure now is not – as her defenders pretend – because she is a sex worker, but because she joined in a second attack on Dr Dilys Davies and linked it with her sex work. This second attack was instigated to get Dr Davies removed from the Central Committee ahead of May’s AGM.

To explain. From what I can gather, punters pay money to see Rachel Cooze and others ‘perform’ on OnlyFans. In April she offered a ‘Happy Fuck Off Dilys Day’ discount voucher, the kind of thing you get from your local supermarket.

Well, perhaps not quite.

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The renewed attacks on Dr Davies were set in train by Aled Gwyn Williams of Maesteg, something of a guru to those being discussed here. Over Easter he made a trip to Ceredigion in order to provoke Dr Davies into doing something out of which her suspension from YC’s Central Committee could be contrived.

This trip is covered in ‘Hopes of Welsh independence being jeopardised by the hard left’. With photos!

Here’s another photo; this one shows Aled Gwyn Williams with Rachel Cooze.

The person on the right has had her face pixelated. She doesn’t really look like that. Click to enlarge

Rachel Cooze’s reward for sticking it to Dr Davies may have been membership of the Central Committee, to which she was duly elected at the rigged AGM on May 22.

Rachel Cooze’s position within YesCymru must surely now be untenable, as must the positions of those who drew her into the conspiracy against Dr Davies, and those who persist in supporting her despite the evidence.

Among his other qualities Aled is forthright . . . especially after a few drinkies.

Here’s an example I was sent today that is completely in keeping with our hero’s behaviour: “Looks like Aled has a habit of saying “f**k off” to women on Twitter and deleting tweets. He told C—– H—– to “f**k off” at 12:06 am and by 9 ish this morning the tweet had gone….It was there at 8 ish this morning. By the looks of it he spent some time in a pub yesterday too…”.

Some previous examples of Aled Gwyn Williams’ chivalry. Where are the troubadours when you need one? Click to enlarge

The latest news on Dr Dilys Davies’ suspension is that her appeal was heard on Tuesday and the final decision on whether she’s re-admitted will rest with . . . the Central Committee! The very people who engineered her suspension.

No, I am not making this up!

Iestyn ap Rhobert was a YesCymru founder and served as Secretary until withdrawing just before this year’s AGM.

Iestyn ap Rhobert had a bit more to say about his own position today in this Twitter thread. It’s worth reading.

Motions 1 and 2 to which Iestyn ap Rhobert refers – and which I mentioned earlier – were put before the last AGM:

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Motions ensuring that as many as possible of YesCymru’s decision makers are non-binary, transsexual, and belong to other ‘oppressed’ minorities. In this set-up there is little room for straight White people . . . unless they’re pulling the strings.

When I started writing about the shenanigans in YesCymru, and wondering who Rachel Cooze was, she put out a message to my Twitter followers asking them to unfollow me.

She asked others to put out the same lies, among them Tessa Marshall of Cardiff. I’d never never heard of Marshall before this, and she certainly didn’t know me. But that didn’t stop her going even further than Cooze.

On Wednesday Marshall was back, defending Rachel Cooze. And attacking Dr Dilys Davies, someone else she doesn’t know.

Tess Marshall is still retweeting Stonewall. Reminding us that much of what I’m writing about is a desperate, rear-guard action by those who know they’re on the losing side.

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These people are no different to members of a cult. They are incapable of reasoned argument, so they scream slogans. Their world is black and white, without nuance. Everything is exaggerated: they always feel ‘unsafe’, words are violence, any attempt to engage or debate is ‘harassment’, ‘fascists’ are no longer hiding under the bed – they’re trying to jump in with you like some jackbooted incubi belting out the Horst Wessel Lied.

But then, all manner of strange behaviour is to be found with these people. Some of it truly disturbing, to the point where you wonder how twisted a mind has to be to produce such filth. Take this for example, addressed to a boy of 18 who had recently lost his mother.

This came with illustrations. I’ve spared you those. Click to enlarge

The person who wrote is also 18. It’s a boy wanting to be a girl or a girl wanting to a boy. Either way, the confusion has clearly affected ‘George’, and made him / her both irrational and vicious. Which is something encountered time and again when dealing with Wokies and those obsessed with gender issues.

Despite these obvious and troubling problems, ‘George Brown’ is the vice chair of YesCymru’s LGBT Committee. And was recently defended by Montgomeryshire’s answer to Rasputin, Ben Gwalchmai.

For even though Gwalchmai is a relatively intelligent individual, a member of the Labour Party (and of course, Momentum), he knows that unhinged individuals like ‘George’ have paved his crew’s way to control of YesCymru. And it’s not time to ditch them, yet.

In other news . . . YesCymru Chair, Siôn Jobbins has been missing since Monday. Or at least, his Twitter account was closed on that day.

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So what does the future hold for YesCymru?

THE ROAD AHEAD

Last Saturday there was a meeting of the Central Committee. At the meeting was YesCymru’s Diversity and Inclusivity Officer, Jessica – formerly Matthew – Harvey, who harangued Andrew O’Brien of Port Talbot for daring to suggest that YC should focus on independence.

Didn’t he realise that the streets of Wales ran red with the blood of trans martyrs! Ripped limb from limb by TERF mobs! Where were his priorities?

Soon after, Andrew O’Brien resigned from the Central Committee. Here’s the statement he issued:

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Andrew O’Brien is a decent, level-headed guy from the steel town of Port Talbot. The sort of man that Plaid Cymru has struggled to recruit, but YesCymru was able to attract. But is now alienating.

It is reported that just one member of the Central Committee spoke up in defence of Andrew O’Brien, so this man’s days on the CC may also be numbered.

Which leaves Niki Jones, who is hanging on by her fingertips. Niki could not attend last Saturday’s Politburo lecture. Though I’m sure she can empathise with Andrew O’Brien because she too has been attacked by people inside YesCymru aided by their social media allies. To the point where it is now a matter for the police.

There’s an irony in the fact that the Far Left, using its Woke foot-soldiers, has finally captured YesCymru; yet as they settle in, hoping to take advantage of their success – the whole thing starts falling apart!

We are at the stage now where YesCymru is alienating people so fast, and bringing the idea of independence into such disrepute, that if the Central Committee is not working for the British state then it is certainly doing the work of the British state.

In his statement, Andrew O’Brien asked, “Who is it who is actually guiding the direction that YesCymru is currently taking”.

A good question. Here’s my answer.

Wales may be at a constitutional crossroads, even First Minister Drakeford is dropping hints about an unbalanced Union not working for Wales. Others sense that Wales may be closer to independence now than at any time since Glyndŵr’s day.

Having captured YesCymru the Far Left has a credibility and influence that would never be bestowed by the ballot box. This gives the Marxists a platform from which to not only influence events in the here and now but also, should independence be achieved, the development of the new state.

More credibility and influence than Undod could ever hope for under its own banner.

CONCLUSION

From my observations, from what I’m being told, and from what insiders are now making public, YesCymru has become TransCymru, and should be allowed to drift away to irrelevance.

I believe TransCymru is too far gone to save. Any attempt would be lengthy and acrimonious, would almost certainly involve lawyers (which those holding the YesCymru purse-strings could afford), and attract the attention of Wales’ enemies in London and elsewhere. All of which would damage the independence cause.

A new organisation is needed. One rooted in Wales. An organisation that will speak out on the real world issues that affect our people; and by doing this build up support for independence, through proving commitment to Welsh people and their physical rather than their imaginary communities.

We must start again. And this time – get it right.

♦ end ♦



YesCymru, the beginning of the end?

I’M IN SEMI-RETIREMENT AND THIS BLOG IS WINDING DOWN. I INTEND CALLING IT A DAY SOON AFTER THIS YEAR’S SENEDD ELECTIONS. POSTINGS WILL NOW BE LESS FREQUENT AND I WILL NOT UNDERTAKE ANY MAJOR NEW INVESTIGATIONS. DIOLCH YN FAWR.

After recent postings on YesCymru it’s time to analyse what happened at last Saturday’s AGM before considering where it might lead.

DEMOCRACY AND THE LEFT

Let me start by spelling out what happened. And then explain why.

In a nutshell: the left, operating from its bases in Undod and elsewhere, captured YesCymru using its woke ‘guerrillas’ advancing under the smokescreen of ‘diversity’.

Among themselves the leftists justify both the coup and the future direction of travel by claiming that ‘Wales is a socialist country’. A claim supported by pointing to the fact that most of us vote for Labour and Plaid Cymru. Which in turn depends on accepting that a) these parties are indeed socialist and b) all who vote for them are socialists.

Which is just one misconception piled upon another.

While Plaid Cymru could credibly be called a socialist party Labour can be anything you want it to be, certainly the Welsh branch of the party.

As for the voters, most of those who vote Labour in Wales do so out of self-interest, believing Labour will keep taxes low, benefits high, while looking after the NHS. These Labour voters tend to be social conservatives, and most voted for Brexit.

Plaid Cymru is more obviously socialist than Labour, but the distance between the party policy-makers and the party’s voters may be greater than in Labour. People from across the ideological spectrum vote for Plaid Cymru because they want independence, while others – especially in western areas – vote for the party because they see it as the party that best supports the Welsh language.

So, only a minority of those who vote for Labour and Plaid Cymru are socialists. With self-identifying socialists increasingly concentrated in an anti-Brexit, climate conscious, gender-obsessed middle class bubble that every year drifts further away from most Labour and Plaid Cymru voters.

To the point where many on the ‘Welsh’ left now identify better with the English middle class and the metropolitan elite than with working class Welsh people.

It’s important to stress that the Conservative Party does not have this problem. People know exactly what they’re voting for because it does what it says on the tin. (This greatly annoys the left . . . but they still don’t get it!)

The reality of the mismatch was brought home to the comrades in the Plaid Cymru leadership contest of September 2018, when the socialist candidate, and then leader, Leanne Wood, came a poor third in a three-horse race.

That election was open to all members of the party. The left has not made the same mistake again.

In the Plaid Cymru party conference held in Swansea just over a year later only those present in the venue – just over 500 people – were allowed to vote. (And it was ensured that the ‘right’ people were in attendance.)

I covered these shenanigans in ‘Plaid Cymru, where to now?’

Which meant that most party members were effectively disenfranchised even though a postal ballot could easily have been organised, as was done with the leadership contest the previous year.

The scheming involved was so obvious that academic and writer Seimon Brooks was moved to compare the 2019 result with that of the previous year. While Alwyn ap Huw described the machinations as a Stalinist coup.

“2021 Plaid Government”. ? Click to enlarge

These Plaid Cymru votes from 2018 and 2019 explain why YesCymru did not allow a postal ballot for the Central Committee elections and motions submitted to last Saturday’s AGM.

Instead, debate was restricted to 400 or so logged in to the online deliberations. Representing less than 3% of the 18,500 members.

Yes, Alwyn, another Stalinist coup.

Though, as you know, I’m a generous old bugger, so I’ll give YesCymru a chance to explain why it couldn’t organise a postal ballot.

I don’t expect an answer because I already know it – the left cannot afford open and fair elections because it knows it will lose. 

Proving that there is nothing new in all the world. For this is how the old Communist Party used to operate in places I worked over 50 years ago. Call a meeting at short notice, at a time and place awkward for most people but for which your people are ready. At the meeting, control the agenda, decide who can and can’t speak, and then – make sure you count the votes.

What the left did with Plaid Cymru in October 2019 and YesCymru last Saturday is the old Communist Party playbook updated for the 21st century.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

You’ll get a good idea of what sort of people support the takeover from celebratory tweets put out very soon after the AGM. Here are a couple for you to savour.

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To explain . . .

‘TERF’ means trans-exclusionary radical feminist. A silly and insulting term used to describe any woman who refuses to accept a man with penis and testicles as a woman. In other words, the attitude of most people in the real world.

This is the term that has been constantly used in the recent attacks on Dr Dilys Davies and Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones.

“Fashy phobes” means fascist transphobes. Because of course, in the black and white world of these fanatics, if you don’t agree with them then you must be a fascist. A transphobe is anyone – usually a man – who agrees with the ‘TERFs’. Roughly 95% of the population.

As of Saturday, who’s running the show?

Three of the four officers are: Siôn Jobbins (Chair); Sarah Rees (Vice-Chair); and Gwyn Llewelyn (Treasurer); all of whom were returned unopposed.

Though Jobbins may not be as secure as being returned unopposed might suggest. Someone sent me this tweet, posted on the very day of the AGM. As you’ll see, @thbuff98 was in an exchange with ‘BVB’, who appears in the panel above.

What does “playing privy” mean?

Jobbins may be too easy-going, and has perhaps not appreciated the approaching danger; so it might be karma if he is the left’s next victim. Though I’m sure he has no connection with the political party Gwlad.

Will this be the excuse used to remove him?

I can’t tell you a lot about Shane Brennan because his election statement to the members has been taken down. Perhaps because he became a shoo-in for Secretary after Iestyn ap Rhobert withdrew.

Though I do know that he first came to Wales to study at Aberystwyth, joined Plaid Cymru around twenty years ago, went home to England to work for a few years, before coming back to Wales to take a job in finance.

He was the Plaid Cymru candidate in the 2011 Assembly elections for the Alyn and Deeside constituency, and supported Leanne Wood for the party leadership.

Now let’s introduce the other members of the Central Committee. I shall do this by providing a link to their election statement supplemented perhaps by a comment.

Most of these statements contain a link to a video by the candidate.

CARYS ELERI (re-elected) Seems to be a performing artist with a YouTube channel.

LLYWELYN AP GWILYM (re-elected) Is the son of Eurfyl ap Gwilym (of Paxman interview fame). I don’t know if he’s in a relationship with Carys Eleri but his Twitter account carries the quote: “A wonderful human”@caryseleri

NIKITA JONES May be one of the more rational among the new intake. Certainly, in her favour is the fact that the wokie jackal pack turned on her just before the AGM. This is often a good sign. Time will tell.

BEN GWALCHMAI Seems to be the head honcho of that bizarre outfit, Labour for an Independent Wales. About as convincing as ‘DUP for a United Ireland’.

As I’ve pointed out before, Labour for an Independent Wales is quite clear about its objective: “Socialism through independence”. Meaning independence is only desirable if it delivers socialism.

Does that mean that if an independent Wales votes to not be socialist Gwalchmai and his mates will campaign for re-joining whatever is left of the UK? Especially if there’s a Labour government in Westminster?

TORI WEST (re-elected) Is another artist. In this ‘get to know . . . ‘ piece from Dazed digital magazine in June 2020 there’s no mention of Wales, let alone Welsh independence. Which is odd, seeing as West was on the YC Central Committee.

(But then, as a number of people have pointed out, independence wasn’t mentioned during Saturday’s AGM either.)

Soon after the AGM West put out this rather worrying tweet.

Spare a thought for “marginalised Welsh creatives”. ?

I describe it as worrying because a possible motive for takeover I’ve avoided mentioning until now – despite numerous people suggesting it – is YesCymru’s money. The balance sheet given at the AGM showed an annual income of £365,413, expenditure of £156,792; with almost £198,348 in the bank, and stock valued at £23,500.

(As one of those “marginalised Welsh creatives” I shall of course be applying for a grant.)

ANDREW O’BRIEN Comes from Port Talbot, he’s a Swans fan (which is obviously in his favour), and seems to want independence with no distractions. Time will tell.

RACHEL COOZE Perhaps the kindest thing to say about Rachel Cooze is that she comes from Swansea. Other than that, she seems to have ordered every dish on the Woke menu. To the point where she now sees YesCymru as the agency to rid Wales of the fascists, racists, transphobes, etc that are everywhere. Everywhere!

Cooze appeared prominently in an earlier post, ‘Hopes of Welsh independence being jeopardised by the hard left’.

ELIN HYWEL Seems to live a relatively quiet life. She has written for far left Undod (not encouraging) but I can’t tell you much more about her.

UPDATE 27.05.2021: This tweet, and the fact that is was re-tweeted by Mark Hooper, strongly suggests that Elin Hywel also belongs to the woke left.

In addition, YesCymru now has two full-time officials. One, the Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Jessica (formerly Matthew) Harvey, is a transsexual woman. While the other, the Campaigns Officer, is Harriet Protheroe-Soltani, of Momentum.

They complement each other perfectly because the issue nowadays for the far left is ‘transsexual rights’. With the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights being controlled by hard left Momentum.

The AGM also agreed to create an Equality and Diversity Sub-committee.

Why no place for straight white bloggers?

Put it all together and if it doesn’t convince you of the direction YesCymru is headed, then you must be a bit dim or part of the problem.

Click to enlarge

Or maybe this will help. Put out late last night by the ‘Communalism or Barbarism’ Twitter account.

First, it somehow conflates the left’s takeover of YesCymru with the recent Senedd elections, and presents the result in the manner of a Wikipedia entry on a war or a battle.

Some of the ‘combatants’ are unknown to me, and I’m not sure that all those on the side of the left would welcome their inclusion in those ranks.

Like those behind it, it’s puerile, amusing, even superficially clever; but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Though it confirms and celebrates that the left has taken over YesCymru . . . but justifies it by arguing that YC has been saved from fascism!

For as I suggested earlier, when dealing with these extremists you soon learn that everyone who opposes them, and everyone they attack, is a fascist. So that makes it OK.

‘Fascist’ has been devalued to a catch-all term for a political opponent. I’m not sure who benefits from this devaluation, except perhaps, genuine fascists.

Here’s a link to a pdf version of the tweet.

BEGINNING OF THE END?

Regular readers will know that I’m not a big fan of Nation.Cymru, but my attention was drawn to something  published on that site last Saturday, almost certainly to coincide with the YesCymru AGM.

Penned by Ifan Morgan Jones it had the catchy title: The big question YesCymru needs to answer is: ‘What went right in 2020?’ The important section is worth quoting in full:

“I think that changing YesCymru’s central tenet as a neutral movement would be a big mistake, for a few reasons:

Firstly, while I agree that independence for the sake of it would be pointless, no kind of independence is independence for the sake of it. Any kind would transfer more democratic power away from an established political elite at Westminster and into the hands of the people of Wales. There is no independence ‘for the sake of it’ – it’s a massive constitutional upheaval in itself and will radically change how Wales is run. Either that is, in and of itself, a fundamentally good idea or YesCymru should stop campaigning now because nothing beyond that is guaranteed.

Secondly, because nothing beyond independence is guaranteed, no one can honestly promise a single vision of an independent Wales to the people of the nation. The future ideological direction of an independent Wales would be chosen by the people of Wales, at a Senedd election after the referendum, not by any promises made by YesCymru beforehand. As much as I would personally like to see a socialist, progressive independent Wales, that’s dependent not just on independence but the public deciding, in an independent Wales, to throw their weight behind socialist, progressive parties.

Thirdly, there is no guarantee that selling a particular ideological vision to the people of Wales would be in any way effective. While everyone in YesCymru may have an idea of what a post-independence Wales would look like, they’re likely to all have different ones, and backing one of them would alienate others. As Plaid Cymru demonstrated at the recent Senedd election, voters don’t necessarily want a laundry list of specific promises. In fact, the party with the vaguest manifesto of all ended up winning.”

The fraction of YesCymru members that voted at Saturday’s AGM didn’t heed those wise words. Those who now control YesCymru intend promoting a plethora of diversionary concerns, and independence will soon be relegated to just another issue, or dropped altogether.

You’ve already read Tori West suggesting that those in control start divvying up the YesCymru money among their friends. Sorry! “marginalised Welsh creatives”.

Someone else quick off the blocks was ‘Kemp’, of @YesYBynie.

And so it begins . . . Click to enlarge

Can anyone explain what this has to do with the campaign for an independent Wales? And where will the money come from to pay ‘contributors’? (And I bet there’ll be no mention of Abram Wood.)

As I’ve said before, Yes Y Bynie (Bynea) is a one-woman show, set up because she found YesCymru Llanelli to be uncongenial, as it’s membership is made up of level-headed people who want to focus on independence.

But perhaps the most important reason that YesCymru is heading down a blind alley is because of recent developments around protected characteristics and related matters.

To explain (as best I can) . . .

I’m sure you’ve heard of Stonewall. In recent years this LGBTQ+ organisation has built up a great business advising government departments, police forces, universities, private companies, and other bodies on matters sexual and gender related.

But recent developments have exposed Stonewall to be both partisan and dishonest.

The problem is one that Stonewall brought on itself by becoming fixated with trans issues. Sound familiar?

Stonewall’s promotion of ‘trans rights’ resulted in academics being ‘no-platformed’, feminists and others being hounded as ‘TERFs’ and ‘transphobes’, and lies being told about ‘persecution’ suffered by trans people.

It all came crashing down last week with a number of announcements. These included:

Stonewall had been telling lies to Essex University. This resulted in the university being forced into apologising to two academics for them being no-platformed following protests by trans extremists egged on by Stonewall.

As this article from the Spectator put it: “Both professors Jo Phoenix and Rosa Freedman have views which accord with our current laws on gender identity”. But Stonewall was deliberately misinterpreting the law to serve its trans agenda.

Other organisations severed their links with Stonewall and yesterday the Guardian, in this report, told us that the Equality and Human Rights Commission would no longer be linked to Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme.

You know how far Stonewall has fallen when it tries to get a Black lesbian lawyer sacked.

And so it was no surprise to read that the Stonewall UK media director was standing back due to a ‘tsunami of transphobia’. The truth is of course that he’s leaving because Stonewall has been caught out in lies.

But that can’t be admitted, so it has to be ‘transphobia’. Which, if you think about it, should be a reason for staying, because isn’t ‘transphobia’ what Stonewall is fighting?

It would be reasonable therefore to conclude that Stonewall has capitulated.

At the head of this section, and in the title of this posting, I suggest that YesCymru could be heading for the rocks, and there are two main reasons for me thinking this.

First, following the AGM, YesCymru is firmly under the control of ishoo-mongers, obsessives, and the hard left. These will insist on YC fighting on many different fronts, thereby dissipating its energies and making enemies unnecessarily.

Second, the one issue that unites the dangerous and intolerant fanatics that hounded Helen Mary Jones and Dr Dilys Davies, the jackal pack that piles in on its victims, is ‘trans rights’. That’s because the hard left has weaponised this issue.

With the left having relied on Stonewall for guidance and credibility, and Stonewall now itself discredited, dismissing legitimate critics of certain trans lunacies as TERFs and transphobes will no longer work. The scam is exposed.

Put the two together and we see that the present Central Committee is now on the wrong side of history. But it’s still a tragedy for YesCymru. That said, those at the top had plenty of warnings, and time enough to lance the boil.

Perhaps Ifan Morgan Jones should start working on, ‘The big question YesCymru needs to answer is: “What went wrong in 2021?”‘

♦ end ♦