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.
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This short guest post from ‘”Honest Bob” Lloyd’ was too good to turn down. It certainly made me laugh.
Though it’s worth pointing out is that it comes from someone who is not involved in the YesCymru debate in any form, he’s just a decent guy who’s been observing from a distance.
And here I think is an important message for those still in control of YesCymru, their few remaining allies, and their social media foederati.
The period of anyone taking you seriously is over. People are laughing at you!
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“HONEST BOB” LLOYD of Undod Indy 4 Lab with a world exclusive preview of his slate of candidates for the upcoming YesCymru EGM.
No pasaran, Comrades! The combined forces of Terf and Fash reaction, centrism, revisionism, Merched y Wawr, Plaid Cymru and the Botwnnog Trotskyite Collective are congratulating themselves on their pathetic coup against our democratically elected Central Committee.
We will smash them, Comrades, and I call upon you all to support the new team which will lead this great movement into the wilderness and beyond.
UPDATE 26.08.2021: I have been asked to make it clear that the image above is not really of Bob Lloyd. The likeness is pure coincidence.
UPDATE 05.09.2021: I have been asked to make it known that the real Bob Lloyd did not write this article. It seems some people think he did!
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BEN GWAGMALU
Yo dudes (but a big f*** off to anyone called Iestyn, Dilys and all the Terfs, Swerfs and Fascist bastards of the extreme right in Plaid Cymru). Yes, it’s me Ben Gwagmalu here, or Ben Guacamole as we say in these parts.
As a lecturer in macrobiotic badger yoghurt at the East Powys Polytechnic, I am once again standing on a platform of greater transparency and general koolaidness.
Our new world-leading three step methodology for unmasking transphobes, pogonophobes, nationalists and malcontents is now being rolled out, and there will be no room in our movement for anyone who is found guilty by me and our diversity and inclusivity unit.
That is why Tregaron must be wiped from the map.
I’d love to respond to all of the thousands of messages I receive from you every day, but I can’t be arsed, and much as I would love to agree to requests for copies of minutes, I regret to inform you that they, like everything else what I wrote since becoming leader, have fallen prey to an auto-delete within 5 minutes setting.
Solidarity!
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MOONBEAM MOLOTOV
As someone who lives with multiple undiagnosed personality disorders, I know only too well that YesCymru is not a safe space for people like me. That is why it must be burned to the ground.
Only from the ashes of this stinking pit of crazed queerphobia and terfdom can we hope to build a movement which is truly inclusive. Until then I will refuse to engage with anyone fighting for toxic so-called independence.
Vote for me. You know it makes sense.
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BENITIO “THREE LIONS ON MY SHIRT” BELLENDINI
YesCymru has fallen prey to the forces of fascist transphobia and my sisters, brothers and non-binary siblings are literally being hacked to death on the streets by the jack-booted thugs of Yes Pontrhydfendigaid and Yes Hanes, wherever that is.
So death to the Terfs and Smurfs! Nor shall my axe sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem, in England’s* green and pleasant land.
*Or Wales if that’s not possible.
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TEIFI
As some of you know, Aled has left to form a movement of his own, accusing me of ailurophobia and anti-veganism after I turned my nose up at his Pedigree mungbean and tofu surprise, but I’m sure he will be back soon along with his follower. That is why I have decided to stay and fight to make YesCymru a safe space free of cats and terfs. Inclusivity must extend to all those of us with four legs and wet noses.
Solidarity!
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GWENDA WHIPLASH
Yes, it’s me, and I’m back! There’s only one thing these far-right agitators understand, isn’t that right Iestyn bach?
When I resume my rightful place on the Committee, I will arrange for every member to receive a complimentary sex toy from my exclusive collection with instructions on how to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.
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CARYS HARRIES
Gwlad y Gân? Donchya wanna puke when ya hear those words? So for a modest fee* me and my fellow Transistors (geddit?) in Les Tricoteuses, our newly formed street dance collective, will be staging a shrill-othon to drown out the screams of the terfs and fashies when Bob’s great top to bottom purge gets underway.
*None of your business
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CHRIS BRYANT
Just as Comrade Guacamole endorsed me when I stood in the 2019 general election, it is only right that I should show solidarity with him at this critical time, and so I too have been persuaded to join Honest Bob’s team as the unity candidate under the slogan Better Together! to work for a slight change in direction.
One of my first actions on being elected will be to introduce a modest salary and expenses for all those expected to turn up to meetings of the Central Committee.
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
The title gives a strong hint of the tenor and quality of IMJ’s piece, which was both antagonistic (towards me) and riven with non-sequiturs. Make up your own minds as to whether he simply got his facts wrong or deliberately misrepresented what I had written.
Let’s start with the title of his piece. What I actually wrote was: “I’m not saying that George Soros controls Wales, but having read what Soros has to say on climate change – and it really is an obsession with him! – he could have dictated everything the ‘Welsh Government’ has put out in recent years.”
By which I meant that the ‘Welsh Government’s output on saving the planet is attuned with the way Soros uses the threat of climate change to enforce the political and other changes he desires. Somehow, from that, Ifan Morgan Jones chose to believe that I think George Soros is running Wales. The generous interpretation would be that he simply missed the ‘not’.
He continued: “Jac o’ the North’s evidence for this ultimately amounts to the fact that some people now working in Wales used to work for projects to which George Soros had given money, and that institutions set up in Wales have ties to institutions to which George Soros has given money.”
In fact, the two people I named, who are behind Black Mountains College, worked directly for George Soros.
One, William Newton Smith was, “For 20 years head of George Soros’s higher education programme”. He was the founding executive chairman of Soros’s controversial Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
The other, Ben Rawlence, worked for George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and also Human Rights Watch, a body funded by Soros. Despite being Project Lead of a new higher education college Rawlence appears to have no experience of higher education other than having been a student himself.
As this document makes clear, Black Mountains College “would be part of a global liberal arts network mentored by Bard College, NY, USA.”Bard College is a small, off-Broadway kind of institution kept afloat with Soros money.
click to enlarge
And of course the ‘network’ referred to is the other institutions around the globe that Soros funds and through which he exerts his political influence. Many of them set up for him by William Newton Smith.
If further proof were needed of how the policies of the ‘Welsh Government’ chime with the Gospel according to St George, we read in the document I linked to a few paragraphs ago, “It would be a college set up with the Well-being of future generations at its heart”.
If established, Black Mountains College would produce climate change zealots dictating the political agenda in Wales, curtailing our liberties and making an already poor country poorer for no measurable reduction to global warming. This being the virtue signalling for which Wales is famous, and why it’s so attractive to those seeking to use Wales for their own ends.
There is no doubt in my mind that George Soros is the guiding influence behind Black Mountains College.
The final point I wish to address is Ifan Morgan Jones accusing me of being anti-Semitic. He tries to be clever by saying, “Jac himself strenuously denies any accusation of anti-semitism (sic) in his post. He himself never mentions Soros’ Jewishness”.
Consider: Ifan Morgan Jones introduces the issue of George Soros being Jewish, but only in order to suggest that I – who never mentioned it – am anti-Semitic!
I’ve been losing interest in Nation.Cymru for some time. It obviously serves a certain agenda, appealing to an in-crowd. ‘In’ with their own little cliques and echo chambers, but usually out of step with the great majority of our people.
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THE MULE KICKS OUT
My piece on Black Mountains College was published last Monday. Ifan Morgan Jones’s attack came out on Tuesday, and then, on Saturday, in the Western Mail‘s ‘Weekend’ supplement (and TV guide) there was a double-page spread extolling the vision of those involved. (Available here in pdf format.)
Well, I’m sure that was the intention, but it was compromised by the statements made by the principals, and of course, the omissions. Let me explain.
To begin with, the article says that Rawlence and Sheers’ ” . . . thinking has has been shaped by the ground-breaking Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act”. The same connection I made in my article.
Later, Rawlence is quoted: “It (BMC) . . . can attract others . . . who want to come and work here”.
click to enlarge
Which supports something else I said – “the Black Mountains College will be in Wales, but not of Wales”. For this is not a college as you and I would understand it; BMC will cater for the kind of people who want to drop out on One Planet settlements.
Despite the highfalutin plans, the whole BMC thing still seems rather half-baked. And perhaps amateurishly managed. For the idea is three years old and yet there seems to be no tangible progress to report.
The preferred location for BMC is the old Talgarth mental hospital, which the article told us is privately owned. Again, they’ve known that for three years, so have any moves been made to acquire the building?
I worry, given the involvement of Labour Party heavyweights like Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe, and Jane Davidson, former Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, that the Black Mountains gang are expecting public funding.
I just hope that the redundancies announced at University of Wales Trinity Saint David are in no way connected with Black Mountains College. With UWTSD providing accreditation is BMC also lined up to join the UWTSD group, maybe as a replacement for Lampeter?
Other oddities in the WM report (attributed to Jenny White but almost certainly written by Rawlence and/or Sheers) was the absence of any mention of William Newton-Smith, so trusted by George Soros, who we read about in the first section.
But no signs yet of Uncle George’s money. Maybe he’s hoping some mug will cough up so he won’t need to put hands in his very deep pockets. That ‘mug’ might be us, the Welsh public.
Whatever, we’re entitled to know how Black Mountains College is to be funded. Because I honestly don’t think it’s going to be done through JustGiving.
click to enlarge
That the ‘National Newspaper of Wales’ should give them a two-page spread so soon after I asked a few questions, and that Ifan Morgan Jones was even quicker off the mark, tells me that Sheers and Rawlence (who remind me of a Simon and Garfunkel tribute act) must be well connected.
And if that’s the case, then we should be on our guard.
Stop Press: the accounts for Black Mountains College Ltd became available on Monday – a dormant company with a single £1 share. Can’t see that building a new college.
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A NICE LITTLE BURNER?
Plaid Cymru’s support for One Planet Developments and related bullshit is not limited to the abstract or the ideological, for some Plaidistas are coining it from the hippy influx.
One whose name keeps cropping up is Vicky Moller of Pembrokeshire. Not only has she built up a nice little portfolio of smallholdings, but she was also a driving force behind OPD legislation. Almost inevitably, she has supported a number of OPD planning applications, including Beeview farm on the slopes of Mynydd Carningli.
And it seems to be generational, for her children are also capitalising on the invasion. Here is the Management Plan for Beeview Farm, where we encounter, on page 73, “energy consultant Jamie Ashe”. By page 79 he has become “reed bed designer Jamie Ashe”. (Is this promotion?)
Beeview farm. Anyone who says this is an improvement to the Welsh landscape is talking out of their fat, green arse. Anyone who accepts such bullshit should not hold public office. Click to enlarge.
Jamie Ashe is a son of Vicky Moller. Another son, Robin Donnelly, flogs wood-burning stoves.
Now I have never understood why the planet savers think burning wood is acceptable. Maybe it’s because wood is ‘natural’? But so is coal. Even lignite is natural. And yet, those who have been encouraged to move here to reduce Wales’ carbon footprint (work that out!) obviously see nothing wrong in filling the air with wood smoke.
I have driven the A487 past Corris on a windless winter evening and marvelled at the pall of smoke overhanging the valley thanks to the Centre for Alternative Technology cult’s acolytes. Who, with their wood-burning stoves, candles, joss sticks and joints make an Orthodox cathedral at Easter look smoke-free.
Twelve have walked on the Moon, but there have been dozens of OPDs allowed. So this arrogant twat criticises Wales for not allowing enough OPDs, but his own country, England, escapes criticism for allowing none. Click to enlarge.
With at least one of her offspring benefiting from Beeview ‘farm’ Vicky Moller was herself an enthusiastic backer of this OPD that breached the border defences of a National Park. The first, but certainly not the last.
Moller is a Plaid Cymru Assembly candidate, yet many locals have difficulty understanding what kind of Wales she wants to live in. And their confusion isn’t limited to OPDs.
Pembrokeshire county council wants to close village schools, especially in the Welsh-speaking north of the county. Yet Vicky Moller helped found, and is a big supporter of, Nant y Cwm Steiner school, attended by many of her ‘alternative’ friends’ children. While others prefer home schooling.
But then, since the advent of devolution, the tide has been running against the indigenous Welsh and in favour of those Vicky Moller supports. And others taking over our country.
Things could be about to get even worse.
Because last week, Sophie Howe, the Future Generations Commissioner, called for more climate change funding. Much of her pitch I found uncontentious – more spending on public transport, energy-efficient homes, renewable energy, but then came the sting in the tail . . .
Yet more money will be taken from Welsh farmers and given to English hippies by the ‘Welsh Government’. Click to enlarge
With that kind of money available in the future, what we’ve seen up until now could be viewed as a scouting party for the main force. Things could be about to get a whole lot worse.
It’s been covered by countless media outlets so I’m not going over it again; no, what I want to focus on is protester Janet Barker, “from Builth Wells, Powys . . . who works in environmental education and homelessness prevention, and runs a small holding (sic) and ethical angora business”.
(I was relieved to read that, cos there’s a lot of unethical Angora about. Bastards!)
Another report I dug out told us that her partner is an author. It didn’t take long for them to be identified and located on social media. They live near Llyn Brianne . . . ‘off-grid’, of course.
Peter Barker has written a book entitled System Error. When I first read the blurb and saw that the central character is called Imogen Thomas I began to worry that it might be set in Wales. I worried because the author is from Dorset and his partner from Wigan.
My fears were realised, for Imogen – who is, you’ll be surprised to learn, also a Greenpeace activist – stalks the mean streets of Llandrindod Wells. Here’s a section I lifted from what the author has made available.
Click to enlarge
This is most definitely Station Crescent not the Nevsky Prospekt, but it has a certain . . . well, a certain . . . oh, what’s the word I’m looking for? It’ll come to me.
As far as I can make out this earthly paradise for ethical rabbits is not a One Planet Development, which serves to remind us that the problem is not limited to OPD.
And yet, I don’t wish to be too harsh (you know me), I’m sure they’re both sincere people. But there’s no way they’re making a living out of a few acres and rabbit fur. (Nor Peter Barker’s riveting prose.) Like virtually all those who come here they either have their own money, or they have family money to fall back on, or else they rely on grants, state benefits and other hand-outs.
Which makes a nonsense of whole premiss that families, with children, can live this way. And you have to worry about the children.
It can’t be done. So why is the ‘Welsh Government’ encouraging this fantasy? And if it’s such a great idea – and it’s obvious that many English people want to try this lifestyle – why aren’t OPD and other initiatives being introduced in England?
Because, yet again, we are being taken for mugs, and Wales exploited.
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AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT . . . OR MAYBE NOT
A news report that caught my jaundiced eye a while back was this story about children’s homes springing up in Swansea. The article itself explained the problem:
“Relatively cheap property prices in the county are attracting private providers to places like Swansea, a group of councillors was told.
Swansea currently has 13 homes registered with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), with at least four more due to open in the next year. Only one of them is a Swansea Council-registered home.”
The article also made it clear that the problem extends to Neath Port Talbot. So it’s a Swansea Bay problem due to companies from outside of Wales taking advantage of cheaper property here to bring in someone else’s problems.
I don’t want to sound heartless, because these kids have problems, and they need help – but they should not be our responsibility.
And they cost us money. Just read what the police had to contribute to the report.
“In March, South Wales Police chief superintendent Martin Jones said his officers were dealing with missing children and taking care of young people in crisis at weekends due to the increase in children’s residential homes in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.
He said: ‘In these homes there are about 110 children and they’re being brought in from outside Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, that’s putting massive strain on police resources and on social services, and other resources in health.'”
I suppose because this is how Englandandwales must operate. The Valleys and Swansea Bay – accounting for some half the population of Wales – is becoming increasingly attractive to those who run ‘homes’ and the like.
Reproduced courtesy of WalesOnline. Click to enlarge.
The problem of Swansea’s unneeded children’s homes probably links with another problem I highlighted a few months ago in this post. (Scroll down to ‘Welsh Not 2019’.)
This story made news as a Welsh language issue, with staff speaking Welsh at a care home in Ystradgynlais said to be upsetting residents. No one thought to ask why residents at a home in a largely Welsh-speaking community were unfamiliar with the Welsh language.
And of course this system of social dumping goes a long way to explaining why Wales has such a bloated third sector. (And an overstretched NHS.)
Then, earlier this month, we heard of a case in the Rhondda that followed the same pattern – an English company planning to house highly disruptive youngsters in a Welsh community. The company in question being Rise Care Ltd of Bristol, and so new is this company that no accounts have yet been filed with Companies House.
Reproduced courtesy of WalesOnline. Click to enlarge.
The reaction was so hostile – problems with similar establishments in Tonyrefail and Ebbw Vale were cited – that even local MP Chris Bryant (Labour) and local AM Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru) were forced to object. (Clearly there were votes to be lost.)
I have a suggestion for Bryant and Wood. Ask Care Inspectorate Wales why it registers such establishments, for unproven companies, in areas where there is no local need? Get to the root of the problem rather than engaging in very public displays of knee-jerk nimbyism to hang on to your seats.
And maybe your party leaders down in Corruption Bay will begin to appreciate that we have a serious, national problem of social dumping on our hands.
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Wales is a corrupt country being exploited to benefit anybody and everybody – at our expense. It’s our country yet we are marginalised and exploited.
We need to be more assertive. And it really doesn’t matter how we go about it. Any nation being exploited and invaded has the right to defend itself.
The town of Merthyr holds a special place in the hearts of those Welsh who know their history. The Rising of 1831 is still celebrated, and the execution of Richard Lewis aka ‘Dic Penderyn’ still resonates, with yet another petition being launched recently to have Dic pardoned. I have a soft spot for Dic and the others who died in 1831, but that’s not because I buy into the nonsense about the Merthyr Rising being part of some glorious UK-wide workers movement – strictly Unionist and pro-monarchy, you understand – that laid the foundations for the ‘Welsh’ Labour Party we know today. No, the Merthyr Rising was very local to the Heads of the Valleys, the rioters were largely ignorant of events outside of their region, but they knew enough to shout ‘Down with the King!’ . . . in Welsh, and like most of the rioters, Dic Penderyn himself spoke no English. One of the details BritNat Labour revisionists tend to overlook.
A more credible reason for Merthyr’s special place in Labour folklore is that it was the first parliamentary seat won by the party, when Scotsman Keir Hardie was elected in 1900 as the junior MP for the dual-member constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. (Though what was to become the Labour Party remained the Labour Representation Committee until 1906.) Hardie had previously been elected MP in 1892 for the Independent Labour Party in the English seat of West Ham South.
Merthyr suffered badly during the Depression and subsequent decades, seeing its population decline from 110,569 in 1891 to some 57,000 today. Despite this fall, sentiment – and the political calculations of the Labour Party – decreed that Merthyr should remain a unitary authority in the 1996 local government reorganisation. Achieved by deciding on a 60,000 minimum population level for the new authorities, a hurdle that Merthyr just about cleared, while other areas – mainly non-Labour areas such as Montgomeryshire – failed to negotiate. To compensate for the decreasing electorate, but in order to keep the iconic name, Rhymney was added to give the seat its current name of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, though for brevity I shall continue to use ‘Merthyr’.
By the time I got to know Merthyr in the 1960s the place still had an ‘edge’, the turbulent, even violent, past was never far away; the drinking was fierce, and the antagonism towards ‘Plant Mari’, or ‘Aberdare Snakes’ and other exotic sub-species, was never far beneath the surface. (I had to be careful about declaring my Swansea origins because I swear some of the old guys had not forgiven the Swansea Yeomanry for its role in 1831!) The Labour MP at this time was Stephen Owen Davies, universally known as ‘S. O.’. Then, some time before the 1970 general election, the local Labour Party decided to de-select this man who had represented the constituency since 1934 in favour of a younger candidate, probably hoping S.O. would go quietly. They soon realised to their cost that S.O. was going nowhere . . . except back to the House of Commons.
One of the things about S.O. was that he wasn’t very good at toeing the party line if he felt something needed to be said, and this trait may have contributed to the Labour Party giving him the heave-ho. For example, following the Aberfan disaster of 1966 he was an outspoken critic of how the Labour government in London compensated the families of those killed. To the surprise of very few, following his de-selection, S.O. decided to run against Labour as an Independent. He beat the official Labour candidate, T J Lloyd, by 7,467 votes, taking 51.9% of the vote in a four-cornered contest that saw a 77.92% turnout.
Stephen Owen Davies died in 1972 at the of 86 (or possibly 93), and Labour regained the seat in the subsequent by-election. His successor was a young Edward ‘Ted’ Rowlands.
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BARON ROWLANDS AND ‘DAI BASRA’
S. O. Davies was a hard act to follow, and Ted Rowlands didn’t even try, he was a party loyalist through and through. Baron Rowlands (as we must now call him) had first been elected to parliament for Cardiff North in 1966, a seat he lost in 1970. He must have thought all his Christmases had come at once when he secured the nomination for Merthyr following the death of S. O. Davies. In a dismally unspectacular parliamentary career spanning almost three decades (1972 – 2001) his most noteworthy contribution came in 1982, during the war with Argentina. To a startled House of Commons Rowlands revealed that the UK government was reading Argentine diplomatic traffic. Seeing as the Argentine military used the same system Rowlands was telling the junta they’d better start using other encryption methods. To the chagrin of many, he was not hung for treason.
Rowlands was succeeded in 2001 by another man with a keen interest in, but no knowledge of, military matters. This would-be Hannibal of Heolgerrig was David Stuart Havard, soon to acquire the nickname ‘Dai Basra’, after his frequent jollies in the sun many necessary visits to the city of that name in Iraq, occupied by British forces following the 2003 invasion of that country. For the benefit of younger readers . . . Iraq is a country in the Middle East that was invaded in 2003 by countries led by unbalanced ego-maniacs searching for the death ray machine with which Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein was threatening to blow up the whole solar system, including Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain. (Or was there some other, less plausible, reason for the invasion?)
Dai Basra rose to the heady heights of vice-chairman of the Commons’ Defence Committee, but his political career came to a juddering halt in March 2012 when, ironically, he was brought low – indirectly anyhow – by those same dastardly Argies who had done so much damage to the reputation of his predecessor. On a visit to the contested islands Dai, a keen equestrian, and a member of the British Horse Society, had been looking forward to a canter – he’d taken his riding hat with him – but his equine jaunt had to be cancelled at the last minute. This resulted in a clearly irritated Dai telling the Ministry of Defence number two on the islands to “piss off“.
Among his other claims to fame it’s worth mentioning that Dai Basra opposed an inquiry into the invasion of Iraq (which should surprise no one). He voted against reforming the House of Lords, he voted in favour of ID cards, and he went on a tour of WWI cemeteries, paid for by arms manufacturers! No I’m not making the last one up, read it for yourself.
Dai ‘Basra’ Havard is also a member of the Henry Jackson Society, a US think tank that believes it’s OK to invade other countries and kill the indigenes in order to teach them the benefits of’ democracy, or as the website puts it, ” . . . to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so”. The HJS also “Supports the necessary furtherance of European military modernisation and integration under British leadership, preferably within NATO”. Would that be a UK including Scotland . . . and a Europe with or without Greece, and the Donbass . . . and does anyone in the USA in possession of a full set of marbles seriously expect the French military to take orders from Uncle Sam’s errand boy? I’m told that the MP for the neighbouring constituency of Rhondda, Chris Bryant, is also a member of this loony tunes outfit.
Dai Basra stood down at the general election of 2015 and when the weeping and wailing had subsided Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney awoke to a new dawn with Gerald Jones as its MP. So let us now direct our gaze towards the successor.
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2015, GERALD JONES AND COMPANY
For a start, who is Gerald Jones, what do we know of him, or rather, what have the dickie-birds told me? To begin with, Gerald Jones is from Caerffili, more than that, he was a councillor, indeed Deputy Leader, on Caerffili council, and Cabinet Member for Housing. He was one of the five-man panel involved in the infamous secret meeting that agreed to bump up the salaries of the chief officers. Here are the details. And despite campaigning against the ‘bedroom tax’ this did not stop Jones leading Caerffili council in prosecuting those who fought the bedroom tax!
Since being elected to Westminster two months ago Jones has been a busy boy building up a dynamic team of thrusters and go-getters such as only ‘Welsh’ Labour can muster. Here’s a run-down of who’s who in the Gerald Jones political empire.
Let us begin with his Senior Parliamentary Assistant, on a salary of £43,272, who is none other than his partner, Tyrone Powell. A picture of the couple can be found here. Tyrone is also a community councillor in the Darran Valley of Caerffili. Prior to taking over as his partner’s SPA Tyrone was a “housing professional” . . . but wait! wasn’t Gerald Jones Cabinet Member for Housing? Yes indeedy. How convenient. I can imagine the pair of them by a big log fire, whiling away those long winter evenings talking about . . . well, housing. Tyrone is also Chair of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney Labour Party. Does he still work as a housing professional, or has he given himself entirely to his new role? Either way, it is suggested that Powell was appointed without the post being advertised, even within the Labour Party.
Next up is Gareth Lewis, councillor for the Plymouth ward on Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. The word on the Merthyr street is that Lewis has been appointed the new MP’s Office Manager, a post for which the salary could be as high as £38,121. This appointment raises the issue of conflict of interests. At the time of writing Gareth Lewis was still councillor for the Plymouth Ward, so does he intend staying on as councillor while also being the MP’s Office Manager? Even if he stands down he will still have friends and former colleagues on the council. There may be occasions when the MP will not see eye to eye with his local party / council, when that happens, where will Lewis’s loyalty lie? Again, people ask if the post was properly advertised.
Another who has boarded the Merthyr gravy train driven by Gerald Jones is Denise Toomey. ‘Who her?’, you cry . . . well she is the wife of Brendan Toomey, and he is the leader of Merthyr Council. Although head honcho among the Merthyr bruvvers Toomey’s Twitter account tells us that his “spiritual home” is north Gower, despite having his drinking there interrupted by some Merthyr malcontent. Brendan is another who’s seen plenty of helmets in his time, being a retired fire-fighter. It is strongly suggested that Mrs Toomey’s post was another not to be advertised, perhaps it was felt unnecessary seeing as she had previously worked for the unforgettable Dai Basra, ere he galloped off into the sunset.
A serious conflict of interest could arise here because Mr Toomey, as leader of Merthyr council, and being the good socialist he is, wants to sack and re-hire, on worse wages and conditions, one thousand council employees. What is the point of these council workers appealing to their MP if to do so they have to go through Mrs Toomey?
One further appointment from Merthyr may be worthy of mention. The new Women’s Officer of the Merthyr Constituency Labour Party is Jennie Davies, wife of councillor Dai Davies (Town Ward). She was appointed after her predecessor resigned in frustration over a number of issues. Mrs Davies is a podiatrist, which is someone who looks after feet. How this differs from a chiropodist I have no idea, and have no wish to enquire. Being the wife of a councillor we can confidently expect Mrs Davies to be less ‘troublesome’ than her predecessor.
And there may be other things going on in the Merthyr Constituency Labour Party of which I am unaware. So I would welcome any further information.
*
CONCLUSION
What are we to make of the behaviour of the bruvvers and sissters of Merthyr? First, I think I am not being overly-critical when I suggest that what the Labour Party is doing in Merthyr takes nepotism and contempt for the electorate to a whole new level, even by the standards of ‘Welsh’ Labour. It reminds me of the irresponsibility and contempt for others we see when groups or individuals believe they are beyond censure. But as history also teaches us, such behaviour is often closely followed by disaster. Wouldn’t it be sad if Huw Lewis, the local Assembly Member, paid the price in next year’s elections for his comrades’ arrogance? No, not really. I’d rejoice even if Ukip took the seat.
What a journey Merthyr has travelled since 1831. Back then it was the downtrodden masses rioting against those who exploited them. Now those who claim to be in the tradition of Dic Penderyn and Lewsyn yr Heliwr are the ones lining their pockets. Were this piece being written by someone more cynical than me then that person might suggest that the modern Labour Party in places like Merthyr is more self-serving than the Crawshay family and the other ironmasters ever were. For most of those grandees seemed to accept a certain responsibility towards their workers, even if it was little more than the guilt of the nouveaux riches, while by comparison the modern ‘Welsh’ Labour careerist seems a thoroughly odious little fucker devoid of any redeeming features.
As I write this, Carwyn Jones, the self-styled ‘leader’ of ‘Welsh’ Labour is travelling the country asking electors to ‘write’ the Labour manifesto for next year’s Assembly election. His tour starts today at Gorseinon in the Swansea constituency of Gower (wherein, remember, can be found the spiritual home of Labour’s Merthyr capo), a seat Labour lost to the Tories in May’s UK general election. On the assumption that Carwyn Jones is serious, here’s a suggestion. Bring on local government reorganisation and get rid of these foetid fiefdoms like Merthyr. Doing so would be welcomed by everyone except those I’m writing about here – are you really going to listen to these buggers any longer?
This short guest post from ‘”Honest Bob” Lloyd’ was too good to turn down. It certainly made me laugh.
