I’m sorry I haven’t put out anything for a few weeks, but there’s just been too much to write about, and my lack of self-discipline has resulted in me being too easily distracted, too often.
So here goes, again. With a story that in my opinion is not being properly interpreted. What you’re about to read is my explanation for the adoption of the name Bannau Brycheiniog by the national park formerly known as the Brecon Beacons.
♦
BANNAU BRYCHEINIOG
Unless you’ve been trapped underground, cast away on a desert island, or living in Treherbert, you’ll know that the Brecon Beacons National Park recently dropped the English version of its name to be known exclusively as Bannau Brycheiniog.
And the rebranding produced an outpouring of balderdash such as this old blogger has rarely seen.
Though few reached the depth of silliness plumbed by the Park’s chief executive, Catherine Mealing-Jones. The traditional flaming brazier logo had been discarded because it didn’t fit with these times of global warming, she wailed, as she zipped up her Eskimo Nell™ anorak to avoid the icy April blasts.
Here’s the headline from The Times.
But the ‘climate crisis’ is a global fear campaign engendered by those, in the UN and the World Economic Forum, wishing to control your behaviour.
They’ve influenced governments around the world to brainwash millions of kids. That we then have so many worried or even unhinged youngsters is used as proof of the ‘climate crisis’, when in reality it’s proof of brainwashing.
In the Bannau debate the climate hysteria angle was bad enough, but certain sections of the English media seemed to view the changes as Woke. Here’s the headline from the Telegraph.
Now you know me, nobody’s more alert to the lunacies of Wokeness than old Jac, but I didn’t quite see it that way. Worse, for some English writers, Wokeness seemed to be code for anti-Englishness.
The Daily Mail viewed with horror the prospect of Swansea ‘becoming’ Abertawe, and Aberdovey changing to the unrecognisable Aberdyfi.
Yet the name change, the rebranding, and the bollocks about climate change, was all a distraction from the real story. So pay attention!
Let’s begin by saying that in my view there’s nothing wrong with the name change. ‘Beacons’ may have been a misnomer anyway. Were there ever warning beacons lit there? If so, who were they warning? And who were they warning against?
Look out! A charabanc from Dowlais is heading up the A470!
And as a regular contact pointed out, few people will use the new name anyway. Partly because, unlike the recent name change of ‘Snowdonia’ to ‘Eryri’, it’s too long, and fewer people speak Welsh in Bannau Brycheiniog than in Eryri.
Though to end this section on a lighter note, our ‘Welsh’ TV newsreaders should provide hours of mirth with their mangled pronunciations of Bannau Brycheiniog.
◊
THE TAKEOVER
For a few years I’ve been writing about the ‘interesting’ people turning up in south Powys, an area almost co-terminus with Bannau Brycheiniog.
There’s a temptation to just dismiss them as good-lifers, but I believe there’s more to it than that. Some are on a mission.
That latter interpretation certainly applies to those involved at Black Mountains College (BMC). An institution founded by people who had previously worked for George Soros, a man viewed by some as a philanthropist, and by others – including me – as someone on a mission to undermine Western society.
Black Mountains College is a member of Soros’s Open Society University Network.
The video below, produced by BMC, makes it clear that the college seeks to enrol those who have already been frightened witless over climate change. Attracting scared kids to Coleg Soros with the promise that they can, “re-engineer the future”.
The video also tells us: “our current predicament is man-made”. And indeed it is.
I believe that Black Mountains College now acts as a ‘hub’ or information exchange for climate alarmists, and this role is encouraged – and funded – by Corruption Bay. Which uses the same illusory threat as justification for imposing 20mph speed limits, waging war on farmers, and generally making us poorer, and our lives more miserable.
The hub may be needed because there’s quite a lot happening in the area.
For a start, let’s remember that Gilestone farm is just a few miles from Coleg Soros. Whatever was planned for Gilestone before the fan was overwhelmed with excrement, I guarantee it would have been justified on ‘environmental’ grounds.
Then, earlier this year, the ‘Welsh Government’ made a number of appointments to the (then) Brecon Beacons National Park Authority. This was done in the name of ‘diversity’ and ‘access’, for it seems Persons of Colour and homosexuals had previously been barred from entering our national parks.
Who knew?
Nonsense of course. It was done to give the ‘Welsh Government’ greater control over the policies and direction of the national park.
The last Conservative member of the park authority, Iain McIntosh, has now resigned. Which leaves a national park authority, with control over planning and other matters, and in a constituency represented in London by a Tory MP, and in Cardiff by a Tory MS, controlled by the Labour party.
But this is how Labour has always operated in Wales. And we see it again with yet another new body ‘tacking climate change’.
The latest is the Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group. Below is a panel from the ‘About’ tab. It’s funny. I mean, just look at who’s involved.
Topping the bill is former Labour Assembly Member and Minister for Saving Welsh Polar Bears Jane Davidson. She it was who gave Wales One Planet Developments. Hoping to realise her vision of the Welsh countryside repopulated with frightfully nice English smallholders and OPD dwellers.
Little room for the Welsh in that vision. And there’s little Welsh presence in the group headed by La Davidson.
What we do see is the Green Heath Robinsons at the Centre for Alternative Technology, who’ve received tens of millions of public funding. Our non-Welsh universities are of course represented. As is Coleg Soros, in the form of Art Garfunkel lookalike Ben Rawlence.
Returning to the bigger picture, we can’t ignore Y Bannau, the management plan for the national park. (Full version here.)
(How many such bodies and publications does one small country need!)
It’s a strange document. A mixture of platitudes, anguished concerns for the future, and the kind of ‘Welshness’ John Ford gave us with his adaptation of How Green Was My Valley.
For example, there are regular appearances by an imaginary family named Brychan. They also have impeccably Welsh forenames – Ioan, Mair, Dafydd – in an area becoming less and less Welsh through the activities of the kind of people you’re reading about.
There’s even a Brychan family tree (page 127)! It’s truly weird. Almost unsettling.
Take the ‘Letter from Sian (sic) Brychan to her daughter Megan’, February 20th 2042 (page 75). I suppose some reading this will be reassured to think that we’ll still be writing letters in 2042. Or at least the Brychans will.
In fact, they’re writing to each other all the bloody time. Don’t they talk?
By a painful irony the Brychans are described as, “seventh generation farmers here in the Bannau Brycheiniog” . . . which makes them the very people Green zealots want to remove from the area.
Aside from the Brychans a number of old favourites appear in Y Bannau. Coleg Soros, again; the greenwashers at Stump up for Trees; the secretive Beacons Water Group; and many more favourites that have appeared on this blog.
Perhaps all you really need to know about this management plan is that the foreword comes from Julie James, Minister for Climate Change, and the document first saw the light of day in Corruption Bay, not Brecon.
This is the ‘Welsh Government’s plan for Y Bannau. And if they and their cronies can get away with it, they’ll try it on elsewhere.
There must now be hundreds of Labour-connected enviro-shysters whizzing around Wales – in cars we pay for – attending meetings where they earnestly discuss how to cut emissions and save the planet.
A planet in no danger whatsoever.
UPDATE 03.05.2023: It should go without saying that the new Future Generations Commissioner was at the launch of Y Bannau.
◊
WHO’S A LUCKY BOY, THEN!
The most recent development in the Beacons / Bannau saga came last Friday with a fascinating article in the MailOnline.
Which tells that the genius behind the re-branding was one Jordan Thorne, who is 34 and has a company called Creo, described by the Mail as “a Cardiff-based marketing agency which has in recent years won a series of lucrative public sector contracts”.
Including of course the Beacons to Bannau gig.
So, what can we learn about Thorne and Creo?
Starting with Creo, there seem to be three companies of that name. They are: Creo Digital Ltd; Creo Interactive Ltd; and Creo Group Holdings Ltd. Here’s the Creo website.
Where we can read Jordan Thorne telling us how he sees himself.
I get a wee bit queasy when I hear anyone say they’re ‘trapped’ in the wrong body because it puts me in mind of weirdos and perverts who pretend they can’t tell men from women.
But back to more wholesome thoughts.
Creo was acquired, in a management buy-out, just over a year ago, when Thorne and a couple of others bought out founder Richard Ward. Though Ward retains a 25% share.
As you’ve just read, the buy-out was funded by the Development Bank of Wales (DBW). Which is owned by the ‘Welsh Government’. Here’s a link to more details of that act of generosity. Just click on ‘View PDF’ for the details.
But it wasn’t the first time DBW has looked kindly on Creo, for there was an earlier example in December 2018. (Ditto.)
Let’s just flick through the accounts for the Creo companies, see if anything catches Jac’s jaundiced eye. (Though, actually, they’re skeletal ‘unaudited financial statements’.)
Creo Digital shows total assets of £300,172 but has a net deficit of -£55,253.
Creo Interactive Ltd reveals total assets of £522,250 (previous year £365,043); reducing to net assets of £466,437.
Creo Group Holdings Ltd shows total assets of £375,100, made up of fixed assets of £375,000. Taking out liabilities leaves a net figure of -£4,529.
Control over Creo Interactive is exercised by Creo Digital; and Creo Digital is, predictably, controlled by the holding company. Where the 100 shares are split equally between Ward, Coakley, Thorne and Shaw.
Maybe the fixed asset is the Creo premises in the old St Cadoc’s church at 76 Wells Street, Cardiff. Naturally, I wondered who owned it, so I shuffled over to the Land Registry website.
The freehold title document shows four owners. Two are Ward and Coakley, from the image above. A third is Personal Pension Trustees Ltd. The fourth is Andrew Paul Ashton, who was formerly a director of Creo Interactive Ltd.
Turning to the leasehold document we see the two leaseholders named as “David McLeod Lea and others” and Creo Interactive Ltd.
Lea’s another ‘creative’, who shared the old church premises for a while. He was involved with company Still Works Ltd that went bust a few years back owing Development Bank of Wales money.
I’m a ‘creative’, do you think I could get a DBW loan?
On a more serious note, seeing as it’s wholly owned by the ‘Welsh Government’, is there genuine scrutiny or oversight of the DBW? And while I’m not suggesting that Labour supporters are favoured by the DBW with its loans policy, I can understand why some might think that.
∼
The MailOnline went big on Thorne’s politics, without properly understanding them. Though the boy has said some nasty things. As the headline put it:
Corbyn-loving Twitter troll and Welsh separatist whose vile posts tell Margaret Thatcher to ‘burn in hell’ and call Conservative ministers ‘Tory scum’
Why are modern Leftists so thoroughly unpleasant? So vindictive? So personal? The kindest thing one can say is that it’s infantile. For let’s remember that Thorne is too young to even remember Margaret Thatcher.
Clearly, he’s far left, and was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn. Then, like a number of other Corbynistas, he turned to Yes Cymru. Though not because he cares about Wales but because he sees Welsh independence as a vehicle for his socialism.
Jordan Thorne wants a Welsh socialist republic. Just like the other Corbyn entryists who nearly wrecked Yes Cymru a couple of years back. (I wrote about it extensively.)
I must admit that I’d never heard of Jordan Thorne. Yet it seems Yes Cymru values him highly enough to have put out a tweet in his defence on Saturday.
I believe that leaping to his defence can be put down to Thorne being a socialist, and the attack coming from a ‘Tory’ source.
Yes Cymru then tried to reassure us that it is neither left nor right, with this tweet yesterday morning. But just a few hours before, had put out the tweet below.
What the hell has Welsh independence got to do with illegal immigrants crossing from France to England? The answer should be – Nothing.
But what the tweet above reveals is that whoever wrote it wants an independent Wales with open borders. A socialist Wales. A Wales following the Globalist agenda.
The stances taken by the loudest elements in Yes Cymru; on immigration, gender ID, climate hysteria, ‘White supremacy’, and all the other Woke nonsense only serves to alienate many in a socially conservative country, making independence less likely.
◊
CONCLUSION
Jordan Thorne and Creo got the rebranding contract due to Labour party connections. Thorne joining Yes Cymru may be part of Labour’s infiltration of that organisation.
For there have been other attempts, such as the absurd ‘Labour for an Independent Wales‘ (linked with, ‘DUP for a 32-County Republic’). Plus individual Corbynistas and Momentum members have been identified on this blog and elsewhere.
And let’s not forget that Labour is a control-freak party that wants to run just about every organisation in the country. Labour will often use the Welsh language to placate the easily duped, and to disguise its true intentions.
The name change was the dead cat thrown on the table to distract the media and those who rely on the media to do their thinking for them. It’s really about the takeover of Bannau Brycheiniog by a political party with no democratic mandate.
Done so that it can implement the Globalists’ Net Zero lunacies, and in so doing, ‘re-model’ the landscape, the economy, even the demographics of the area.
Having succeeded in south Powys Labour can now impose its will – and its supporters – on other areas that do not vote Labour. It must be done this way because . . .
Despite its dominant role Labour is a minority party. Winning the votes of less than 20% of the electorate in 2021. This is another reason why the party must rely on corruption and cronyism to exert control. With many of the cronies imported.
In practical terms this insidious spread of Labour influence, this crony shadow state, means that even if Labour was to lose the next Senedd elections in 2026 (unlikely given the rigged ‘party list’ system it wants to introduce) it could carry on running Wales – for it would take years to dismantle the system Labour had created.
Clearly, Wales is not a democracy. Wales is run as a one-party state. Shame on Plaid Cymru for lending this corrupt system a veneer of credibility with its support.
I for one would shed no tears if Westminster chose to restore some semblance of democracy to Wales.
♦ end ♦
This is quite interesting if you like post-Roman history of North Wales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhutNwbos7Q
Recommendation 9 of the Nerys/Deryn report into Plaid Cymru states that an independent external investigator shall be appointed to investigate complaints and all circumstance to be adopted in complaints of sexual harassment, bullying and misogyny.
This will obviously be Deryn itself.
In other words, they will have a ‘loaded gun’, a power to hire and fire Plaid Cymru candidates and suspend elected representatives based on rumour and guilt by accusation. Coupled with the Plaid/Labour proposals to adopt the closed list in Senedd elections, this puts a lobby group in direct control of who takes a seat in councils as well as the national chamber, and powers over their removal. List shuffling. This is something even Putin or Erdogan has not yet fully achieved.
It is also interesting that the report champions good practice in their Westminster retinue as opposed to their Senedd organisation. Bizarrely really, when you consider it is only one of their number, an MP in Westminster that has had a criminal caution for a man on woman domestic incident. Most people in Wales I suspect will be confused by this report as the party in recent decades had been led by a woman and then by a gay man, as their leader in the Senedd and party chief.
As for staff employed, the current trade union is PCS, which already has an existing mechanism for reporting and acting on incidents of bullying or harassment, with elected members already being subject to disciplinary processes of local authority or the Senedd commission.
Something that has long baffled me is, why did Adam Price, the claimed shiny new ‘Mab Darogan’ , as an MP, get up and runaway to an Ivory Tower in the USA for a few years. Was he eluding something then or fed up even that early of malaise in the Party?
Adam Price is set to resign as the leader of Plaid Cymru, according to Nation.Cmru. It comes as the party continues to reel from the publication of a report which found Plaid had a “toxic” culture of “harassment, bullying and misogyny”. It also concluded there was a “lack of collective leadership and governance across the party”. Price initially apologised for the report. Yet just six days ago, he was insistent that he would not resign.
Nation.Cymru reports that Price wants to stand down immediately, whilst others want a more organised transition. His decision came about after an emergency meeting of the party’s Senedd group. Plaid Cymru are yet to respond to the reports.
Senedd Plaid group chair, Llyr Gruffydd appeared on ITV’s Sharp End last night and failed to support Price. After being asked if Price would be leader this time next week, Gruffydd said “I don’t have a crystal ball”.
Your mate Martin Shipton reports:-
https://nation.cymru/news/adam-price-to-quit-as-plaid-cymru-leader/
Dead man walking. But with no obvious successor I can understand the party’s reluctance to rush it.
And he’s gone.
Ynys Mon is worth keeping an eye on.
Rhun Iorwerth – the current MS, will be the Westminster Parliamentary candidate at the next election. However there is a growing band who want him to put himself forward for the leadership. Currently, the Plaid leader sits in Cardiff not Westminster so he would have to drop that ambition and remain as MS – unless they break with the ‘tradition’ of the last few leaders.
So that would – if he remained MS, make the Westminster vacancy up for grabs, which would be a fight between Vaughan Williams of Holyhead, and the current leader of Ynys Mon Council – Llinos Medi., and likewise if he decided to shoot for the Westminster slot, would have those two scrapping for the MS slot with probably Medi getting it and Williams moving on to the County Council at some stage..
Plaid is big on Ynys Mon – lot of members votes to play for in leadership and candidacy etc etc etc and three people with big ambitions in a small place..
Could be a cracking spectacle. Pass the popcorn.
Do you think Rhun or anyone else is likely to put an end to the fringe ishoo nonsense played out within Plaid for a decade or more ?. Indeed the party has drifted for far longer but for a long time it was drift within relevant parameters. Now it’s a rabid quest for new imaginary “oppressed” to liberate from equally imaginary oppressors. Price couldn’t stop it, indeed he condoned it due to his own preferences. The recently publicised scandal is just a taste of what has gone on as normal day to day activity within parts of Plaid. Suddenly someone didn’t get the treat he/she/it was expecting and started whining about it. Price rightly pays the price but maybe he was looking to buzz off anyway. Clapped out politicians seem to be able to command top dollar for spouting their inane bollox on chat shows and over priced conferences. The willingness of business leaders and others to pay big bucks to listen to undiluted horseshit is baffling. No doubt a well paid future beckons for Price, not as big as Boris but not bad for a boy from Tycroes.
Nope, probably make it worse. Could even cause a long overdue split in Plaid. Going to be very funny to watch though. I know two of the three (not well but well enough) and they are simplistic, out of their depth beyond parish council and far far too ‘doctrinaire’ as opposed to Real-Politik.
They will take Plaid up a very dark alley to a dead-end with no way out no matter which way it ends up.
Bring back Leanne Wood I say – it least she had a modicum of ‘real world’ about her despite her advisors.
It’s possible to disagree with someone but understand what makes them tick.
For Leanne the clock stopped and wondering what caused that. From the feisty battle axe who overcame personal tragedy who then became well adapted to the stage of leadership to suddenly end up touring placement constituencies to tell lies, untypical of her, and become sullen and withdrawn. Something happened. Wondered at the time if this was an event in her personal circumstance, bullying within Plaid, or betrayal in the Senedd, or just exhaustion.
If the mantle of party leader does fall to Rhun, the next Westminster election will not be until November 2024, gives a leg-up to Plaid taking another Westminster seat as well as breathing space to sort out the domestic strife within the party, but the pool of candidates is thin and lacklustre. This is because candidates for election is by anointment of ‘the right sort’ rather than earned from achievement.
A bit late to the comments party on this, but one thing that strikes me is the selection of new board members to the Authority at a time when the Audit Wales report of March ’22 shows fantastic failures of governance and a breakdown of communication between officers and members.
There is quite obviously a cultural issue within the Authority that has been partly addressed by bringing in a new CEO and senior staff contingent, but this won’t change the dynamic between the members and officers unless there is clear understanding and demarcation of roles and responsibilities.
Julie James has made much of the appointments in terms of promoting access opportunities to the Park, but the absolute focus should be on developing a functioning Authority and even going so far as to set up a task force to deliver this.
I don’t visit the Beacons often anymore, but I’m completely stunned at the overdevelopment of Pont-y-Dâf at Storey Arms to accommodate the hordes of visitors wanting to walk up the M4 path to Pen-y-Fan. What Minister James is heading for is an ‘access for all’ agenda within a place that should be limiting access to safeguard the special qualities of the area and conserve nature, wildlife and culture.
The above are the two statutory functions of the Park and the Ministerial desire to create more opportunities for all to access the Park will move it from a National Park to a Country Park. When you bring Active Travel into this, there are some who will want to see the Valleys Regional Park extended into the Beacons with tarmac paths to allow full access to the waterfalls area of the park for all for example.
So when you set this against a background of a dysfunctional Park Authority (it has been for decades) you have to question whether the Audit Wales recommendations will be executed by the Members or whether in a few years time we will see yet another damning report on the state of affairs.
Interesting that you refer to the park authority being “dysfunctional” for decades. Which makes me think of Gilestone farm.
The problems experienced by the Thomas family, that owned Gilestone until 2010, were down to incompetence or worse within the park authority. Specifically, the planning department. Called in to help sort things out was a solicitor from Swansea named Julie James. This was five years or so before she was elected to the then Assembly.
The Thomas family has told me they felt that from the outset Julie James was against them and wanted them out. After a long struggle, they eventually sold Gilestone and had to pay massive legal fees. Fortunately, they moved to Ceredigion, started afresh, and made a success of their new venture. The farm was then bought by the Englishman who sold it to the ‘Welsh Government’ for £4.25m.
From all my digging into Gilestone I have developed a sneaking feeling that Julie James and others weren’t just keen to get the Thomas family out, they were also keen to get the buyer in. And that the £4.25m sale was done as much if not more for the benefit of the vendor as for the benefit of The Green Man. Which would explain the unconvincing excuses we’ve heard defending the purchase.
Nice to hear from you.
So now he’s a shiny helmet and a new pair of dinky boots, but do think the silver sash looks better on Miss Tawe than Camilla.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZrSYyI7Phw
What goes down in London is met with indifference in Wales, munch on your cucumber sandwiches we help pay for, but try to impose it with a fake investiture on Wales things will be different.
Brychan I take note of the fire in your belly but the more I see the more convinced I become that Wales is now a land with an excess of indifference. How else can you explain the persistent vote for Labour – 24 years at the top of the Bay Bubble and still nowt to show for it yet those who bother voting still donate their votes to likes of Drakeford, Waters et al. I agree that there was probably a large slug of indifference towards the weekend’s panto too but that doesn’t equate with an appetite for change, just something else to have a little moan about over the Bank Holiday. Now that Plaid is well and truly mired in some sort of Establishment disease(s) the drive for Rhyddid is likely to be set back another 30-50 years as it takes a long time for likes of Gwlad and Propel to gather momentum (note use of lower case). We need some focussed anger on the one hand and clear well defined objectives on the other. 5 simple pillars would do for a start – Education, economy ( industry/ commerce and agri), Employment(proper jobs), Health & Care, Property and homes. Keep it simple not the garbled fudge that passes for policy from the big Unionist parties.
Someone we know who is claimed to be a “Vice Chancellor Emeritus” also boasts membership of :- “The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management” which promotes the highest standards of practice for the benefit of nature and society
Anyone can join that for quite a modest membership FEE and self appointment as having an Ecology / Environmental background e.g. Litter Picker or Bird Spotter or Bat Counting Surveyor or River / Canal Dredger or Peat Bog Patcher without seemingly any Academic Proof background or Exam or Research.
Check it out – GOOGLE – CIEEM – a worthy bunch – but not a really big academic thing as our “known person” boasts!
With these “Titles” this person has just been appointed to Chair a prestige Committee just established by Wales Government. Whilst probing can any of you establish what is “Vice Chancellor Emeritus”? How many Universities grant such a title and for what?
Anyone wanting to look at a bit of number-crunching for the English locals last week, you can find my thoughts here:-
http://thepeoplesflag.blogspot.com/2023/05/english-local-election-results-may-2023.html
Timely comment from Mr McEvoy who knows a good bit about engineered hate and abuse from the party machine. Not unexpected that the Party has such problems. Making it a haven for shirtlifters, boys (and old men) in frocks, militant wimmin who hate men, occasional wifebeaters and other assorted fruitcakes certainly shortened the odds on an explosion of abuse and unwanted advances. Can’t see them coming back from this even though it may still be a slow, slow drift down the plughole.
How come Nerys was so keen to let rip with the criticism? Is she lining a new face up for Party Leader ?
Was I being a touch slow in recognising the relentless shift of internal tectonics within Plaid ? Nerys and her coven have started to pump up that drift and her Jewell in her crown is probably poised, or being prepared for the push for the top job. Not that it really matters. This is a plot to shut a party down or remove what remains of its original identity. It will end up as a haven for dreamers and weirdos who are too way out to be included at any meaningful level in the stagnating Labour pond. Sadly the other Unionist parties are not sufficiently focussed or well motivated to turn this to their advantage so it’s definitely up to Gwlad and Propel to keep working at communicating their analysis and visions.
The woke leftist mob still haven’t come to terms with the English working classes voting Tory and Brexit, urban England is further ahead than Wales and Scotland when it comes to seeing communities lose their identities through mass immigration, I’m convinced this is the real reason that the left has taken such interest in shoring up support for independence in Wales, ie creating a globalist utopia before its too late – perhaps like the one beginning to emerge in Ireland.
Nationalists are naturally conservative, what sort of nationalist wants independence in order to welcome young men from the 3rd world ?
I’m sure an independent England will happily fund the one way bus trips from Dover to Cardiff – or Bangor
The conflation of Wokeism and the movement for national sovereignty, perceived or otherwise, is grist to the mill for the Tory Fleet Street rags and quislings amongst us. The SNP’s recent hara-kiri must have had the organ grinders of the Fourth Estate rolling in the aisles! But I do have to question – would the Conservative and Unionist Party exercising control over the Beacons really be an improvement, underhanded tactics of Labour aside? Two cheeks, and all that…
It might not be a great improvement having Tories running the national park, but it would be more in tune with local political loyalties. And the Tories would be less likely to push the Woke crap and the planet-saving nonsense.
The bigger point I was making is that Labour is doing this everywhere, in many different ways. Taking control of a country where – despite ‘winning’ elections – it is very much a minority party. Making Wales a one-party state.
The scrambling and scheming are no doubt the actions of a party that sees Wales as its last redoubt.
Interestingly the English Coastal Path has just been unilaterally renamed the King Charles Path. Almost every hysterical argument used in the Daily Mail (with the exception of the Cymraeg name) against the Bannau renaming can be used against the KC path. Yet there is a surprising silence. Hypocrites.
It is interesting that the English Coastal Path is now the “King Charles Path”. Those spaniels should be kept on leads at all times, but they will still be a danger to walkers if they are spotted by cows. Cows , especially with calves, go berserk if they see dogs. Highly dangerous on cliffs!
Do you also know that ,when creating the English Coast Path, that Hilary Benn made “parks and gardens exempt” , so that the coast path could NOT GO THROUGH THEM ? WHY?? BECAUSE AT THE TIME, HIS LEFT-WING SOCIALIST, MULTI-MILLIONAIRE FATHER…..TONY BENN……OWNED A HUGE SHORELINE ESTATE WITH A VERY LARGE “GARDEN” ON THE BLACKWATER ESTUARY IN ESSEX!! SOCIALIST TONY BENN DID NOT WANT “THE GREAT UNWASHED ” WALKING THROUGH HIS PRIVATE GARDEN ON THE WATERS’ EDGE!! SO , SON HILARY OBLIGED BY MAKING “PARKS AND GARDENS” EXEMPT OF PUBLIC ACCESS!!
OF COURSE, AGEING TONY BENN DIED A FEW YEARS LATER!!
WHO INHERITED THE STANSGATE HALL ESTATE?? WHY! HILARY BENN, OF COURSE!!
ISN’T THAT “FORWARD THINKING”???? WHO HELPED HILARY BENN WITH ENGLISH COAST PATH PROJECT??? WHY…..ONE “HUW IRRANCA DAVIES MP”, OF COURSE!!
BUT WHEN HE GOT BACK TO THE SENEDD IN THE LAND OF SONG…….DID HE STOP THE WALES COAST PATH FROM ENTERING “PARKS AND GARDENS” ON THE COAST??? OF COURSE NOT !! MIND YOU……THEY MANAGED TO SKIP THE GARDENS OF PLAS NEWYDD ANGLESEY AND THOSE OF FEE-CHARGING PORTMEIRION……SO WHY DID THEY NOT SKIP “CARDIGAN ISLAND COASTAL FARM PARK” WITH THE WALES COAST PATH?? IT’S A DESIGNATED “PARK”!! IF IT WAS IN ENGLAND……..HUW IRRANCA DAVIES ET AL WOULD HAVE LEGISLATED TO AVOID A PATH THROUGH IT!!
I WONDER WHAT MR DAVIES OF THE SENEDD HAS TO SAY ON THAT ONE??
Thanks Jack – whenever see these type of headlines I feel reassured that you will uncover the s*** on it. “Catherine joined the UK Space Agency from the Home Office in January 2012 to lead work on the Agency’s goal of growing the UK space sector. She leads the development of new uses, new users, new applications, new technologies and a new attitude to the use of space in order to grow the space sector.” So she comes from that well known carbon sparing quango THE UK SPACE AGENCY FFS – excuse my language.
Currently have an FOI re costing/consultation/agencies involved.https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/costs_to_date_and_projected_5_ye?nocache=incoming-2295490#incoming-2295490.
Thanks as always for all that you do.
Perhaps the Brecon Beacons could sell their Logo to Drax? Kris
Thanks for that, Kris. Though I’m not sure Drax would be in a position to buy, things are not looking good.
Anyone adhering to that old crap about biomass being green is a few sandwiches short of a picnic. * Nice analogy with a Coronation upcoming. Shocked by the lack of street parties and other community celebrations. Maybe the common herd has finally seen the light. I live in hope.
There is definitely diminishing interest in the royals, but we can guarantee that the media will find the few street parties taking place and pretend it’s a ‘national celebration’.
If top-rated comments on Mail Online articles about King Chuck can be taken as some sort of straw poll or bellwether of sentiment, well, it ain’t rosy put it that way.
Mail Online! That says something.
At least two of the Creo companies are fundded by a Schelles based non dom company with little over site from the UK
You sure it’s the same company?
WALES SENEDD GOVERNMENT rules from Dyn Gwyrdd
If a person disregards the request of the Chair of a meeting to moderate or improve their conduct, any member, or the Chairman of the meeting, may move that the person be no longer heard.
As the members of the nation
of what is Wales in woes and wail
we must in words take our ration
of what we say or write in mail.
It’s not in good order or rules
to challenge global outlandish
claims to be the planet’s great fools
on energy and trans fetish.
To do so is at the great risk
of your say becoming not heard
the political correct frisk
your words into a lone backyard.
Politics often serves as a mirror, reflecting a nation’s identity, aspirations, and values. When we gaze into this mirror in Wales, a perplexing paradox emerges. For over two decades, the Labour Party has held the reins, a period marred by economic inertia, entrenched poverty, and whispers of cronyism. Yet, Wales remains unswervingly loyal to Labour. Is this steadfast loyalty the result of a superiority complex, a misguided need to feel morally superior over Tory-voting England, despite the harsh realities of failed governance?
Historically, Wales, with its deep-seated community values and resilience, has found resonance with Labour’s ethos of social justice, equality, and the welfare state. However, this long-standing alliance has morphed into a perplexing cycle over the past two decades. In spite of socio-economic adversity under Labour’s watch, Wales clings to the party as a moral antithesis to English conservatism. It’s as if the nation has fallen into a trap where the illusion of moral high ground supersedes the need for tangible progress and prosperity.
The concept of a “superiority complex” aptly describes this scenario. It suggests an unwarranted sense of moral arrogance that blinds Wales to Labour’s shortcomings, even as these failures continue to impede the nation’s growth. This stance, while providing a sense of moral vindication, has kept Wales in a state of inertia, discouraging consideration of alternative political ideologies that could potentially usher in much-needed change.
Labour’s two-decade-long reign in Wales has been characterised by economic sluggishness and an inability to significantly alleviate systemic poverty. Despite these shortcomings, the party’s influence over Wales remains steadfast. Adding to this troubling scenario is a persistent lack of government accountability and allegations of cronyism, further undermining the party’s performance.
Nonetheless, the Welsh populace continues to back Labour, seemingly entrapped by their conviction of moral superiority over Tory-voting England. This misplaced pride has overshadowed the development of a robust national identity grounded in real achievement and progress. Unless Wales can extricate itself from this cycle and adopt a pragmatic, results-driven approach to politics, it risks being stuck in this quagmire, its potential for growth stifled by blind loyalty to a party whose governance has been marked by unfulfilled promises and missed opportunities.
Wales finds itself ensnared within its own illusions, its defiant roar reverberating emptily against the stark backdrop of Labour’s troubled governance. The nation’s journey towards genuine prosperity requires a critical reassessment of its political loyalties and a willingness to confront the realities that its current path has failed to deliver on its aspirations.
I don’t accept that the need to feel “morally superior” over Tory-voting England accounts for people in the poorest parts of Wales voting Labour.
Though it may be accounted for by inertia and the lack of a credible alternative. Which also account for the fact that Labour runs this country with a minority of the vote in turnouts of less than 50%. Which of course exaggerates Labour support. But they don’t care.
I suppose parts of Wales with much of the population fall into the 3 broad categories of places which tend to vote Labour as I see it, to various degrees of overlap: the economically deprived, the post-industrial, and urban areas with large populations of young and ‘hip’ sorts.
As far as Labour are concerned “apathy” and “indifference” are vital factors in securing power. Fuck the democratic imperative if you can get by on masses of people opting out of any debate. Plaid have joined in this “disenfranchisement by stealth” by droning on about shit that doesn’t really fire up anyone’s imagination thus promoting the view that they don’t offer any kind of alternative. Tories and LibDems in their own ways are seriously defective in firing up anyone’s imagination, much of it due to the kind of pompous know-all twat that turns up as candidate material. Dai and Mari Public can see through their lack of relevant real life experience and just ignores them.