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.
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Well, the election is over, a rather disappointing election for the national cause and those wanting independence.
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Though the performance of Gwlad, the party to which I belong, was not surprising. A new party trying to get itself known in a pandemic, and almost ignored by the colonial media, was always going to struggle.
The other new party, Propel, is probably disappointed, and I’m not sure what went wrong. Though I do know that in the Cardiff West constituency dirty tricks may have affected party leader Neil McEvoy’s vote. Though perhaps not enough to cost him victory.
But the real under-achievers were, again, Plaid Cymru. With the 2016 figures bracketed, this was the party’s result last week: Seats 13 (12), constituency vote 20.3% (20.5%), regional vote 20.7% (20.8%).
Plaid Cymru’s disappointment didn’t end with the Senedd elections. In 2016 the party’s candidates won the Police and Crime Commissioner elections for North Wales and Dyfed Powys. Last week they lost North Wales.
Better was expected. One reason being that after 22 years of decline under Labour, and a bunch of Tory chancers running things up in London, it was felt that many voters would be seeking a third option.
Also, Plaid Cymru was supposed to be the main beneficiary of 16 and 17 year olds being given the vote.
Alas, it did not come to pass.
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TWO STEPS FORWARD, THREE STEPS BACK
The title of this week’s offering is of course something you’d have heard in cinemas when I was a bright young thing adorning the salons of Manselton, Brynhyfryd and contiguous neighbourhoods. (Yea, even unto Cwmbwrla and ‘the cowin’ Hafod’.)
I use the phrase here because the position of Plaid Cymru today is not greatly dissimilar to when I joined the party in the mid 1960s, before Gwynfor Evans’ famous Carmarthen by-election victory of July, 1966
Back then Plaid Cymru was perceived by most people to be a party for Welsh speakers, and for rural areas. Due to that perception, Plaid Cymru was unable to make much of an impression east of Carmarthen and Conwy.
What’s changed?
Well, obviously, Plaid Cymru now has MPs, and we have a devolved parliament . . . but as a political force, Plaid Cymru is penned into its western strongholds as much as it ever was in the past.
And yet, it could all have been so different. For in 1999, in the first Assembly elections, Plaid Cymru came within a fat whisker of winning. The threat of victory so frightened certain people, in Wales and elsewhere, that inspirational leader Dafydd Wigley was removed.
It was downhill for Plaid Cymru from then on.
To the point where Plaid Cymru’s plight today should surprise no one. Because the party now labours (no pun intended) under a double handicap, the second element self-inflicted.
To begin with, it is still perceived as a Welsh language party; second, it moved to the left – in the hope of taking Labour votes – at the same time as the (white) working class across the Western world was moving to the right.
The move to the left might have been in response to Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown making the Labour Party more centrist. If so, then it was a silly and damaging response to the success of New Labour.
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YES CYMRU
Since my previous pieces Hopes of Welsh independence being jeopardised by the hard left and Senedd elections: Hard left to win by stealth I’ve received more information about goings-on inside Yes Cymru.
I won’t say any more about Dr Dilys Davies and her treatment by that organisation because lawyers may now be involved. And as regular readers will know, I already have enough solicitors’ letters.
But there’s still plenty to report. First, here’s the agenda for the AGM on the 22nd.
Obviously there will be elections to the Yes Cymru Central Committee but there will also be discussion of submitted motions. Most of these appear to be procedural, so I’ll just mention Motions 1 and 2.
You will see in Motion 1 considerable emphasis on Central Committee members being or identifying as female or non-binary. These posts are unlikely to be filled by anyone you or I would regard as a woman. (Henceforth to be known as a ‘birthing person’.)
Which raises an interesting question.
Can someone decide to identify as a woman / birthing person simply to stand for election? Or to put it another way, for how long will someone have had to identify as such before they can stand? Is there a ‘qualification period’? (Should I have used the word ‘period’?)
Thinking about the whole issue of self-identification . . .
If someone can ‘identify’ as a woman / birthing person when they are clearly a man then should self-identification be restricted to the human race? For example, could I identify as a rabbit, then demand to be recognised as belonging to a persecuted group, and insist on joining Yes Cymru’s Central Committee? Because wabbits have all sorts of enemies, human and animal.
(Though I would insist that the Central Committee contained no one identifying as a fox or a stoat. We must not tolerate coneyphobes!)
Motion 2, to set up an Equality and Diversity Sub-committee, is an obvious attempt by the left and the wokies to further strengthen their grip on the running of Yes Cymru.
God only knows how Yes Cymru has survived for so long, and flourished, without an Equality and Diversity Sub-Committee.
Clearly, ‘diversity’ is being used to fill the Central Committee and other roles with more leftists. For almost all those being co-opted or put up for election under various labels are from the far left / woke faction.
Which means that in pursuit of ‘diversity’ Yes Cymru will in fact become less diverse, just more of a far left organisation.
But why would the far left and its wokie foot-soldiers want to take over Yes Cymru? Are they really that supportive of Welsh independence?
After sifting through information received, following various contributions on social media, and asking pertinent questions of people in the know, I think I’ve figured out the left’s plan.
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NO CYMRY?
Mark Hooper, prominent member of Plaid Cymru, heads up the Banc Cambria project, and he’s stepping down from the Central Committee of Yes Cymru at the upcoming AGM. I’ve always found Mark to be a decent bloke and, for a socialist, quite clubbable and real world rooted.
On Saturday Mark put out a curious tweet, which you can read below, together with a response.
Like Chantel Mathias, I too wondered what making Wales, “a safe space for everyone who chooses Wales as their home” has to do with the campaign for independence.
If it had just been Mark Hooper saying it then perhaps I might have passed over it and moved on, but I keep hearing this sentiment from others in Yes Cymru. Even from those seeking to join the Central Committee at the AGM.
For example, among the latter we find Scott Mackay of Yes Cymru Abertawe. His statement contains the phrase, ” . . . an inclusive, diverse Wales where anyone who wants to call it home is welcome”.
Laudable, no doubt. But what I found strange about Scott Mackay’s pitch to the YC members is that while he mentions “engaging with the Welsh independence movement” I’m not sure if he actually supports independence.
That’s because ‘engaging’ is such a strange word to use in this context. Kind of detached. I would have expected to read ‘joining’ or ‘supporting’.
Anyway, you know me; I may be a bastard but I try to be a fair-minded bastard, so I dropped Mark Hooper a DM: “You get a wee mention in tomorrow’s blog piece. What did you mean by “safe space for everyone who chooses Wales as their home”? Does that extend to the Cheshire Set who’ve taken over Abersoch? The retirees pricing locals out of the housing market and overburdening the NHS?”
He responded in his usual courteous fashion, but he didn’t answer my question.
Anyway, moving on . . .
Someone rejecting nomination to the Central Committee is Dr Jen Llywelyn. While one who yesterday announced that he was standing down is founder-member Iestyn ap Rhobert. I think both could be described as moderates who’ve focused on independence.
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LEFT TURN . . . FAR LEFT TURN
With moderates pulling out it would appear that the far left has been given a clear run. But let’s return to the question of why the far left would want to take over Yes Cymru, and how it might use that control.
There are a number of ways of looking at this.
To begin with, let’s remind ourselves that the far left’s influence in Plaid Cymru was slightly weakened when Leanne Wood so disastrously lost the 2018 leadership contest. More recently, the influence of the far left was curbed in the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn was toppled following the general election debacle in December 2019.
It’s in these parties that we find the far left in Wales. Being the beast it is, the far left is forever looking for fresh organisations to take over and use to promote the socialist message.
In the Welsh context, Yes Cymru, with its 18,000 members, was an obvious target. Those pre-Covid Yes Cymru marches were the most impressive shows of public support for any political cause that Wales has seen for decades. With all the flags and the good-natured crowds, who could fail to be impressed?
We can guarantee that the committee of the Karl Marx Social Club (Bingo Tuesday and Friday) were attracted. It explains what we now see being played out – a takeover of Yes Cymru by the hard left.
If the takeover is successful then Yes Cymru will go in for further ‘diversification’. In practice, this will mean issuing statements, perhaps organising marches, against the usual bugbears of the left: police brutality, Israeli brutality, racism, transphobia, Islamophobia, a Tory government in London, Robertsons golliwog badges being sold under the counter at car boot sales, etc., etc.
And of course, there will be support for unlimited immigration. Because the left always supports unlimited immigration. (Spouting ‘diversity’ and humanitarian considerations, but prepared to cause social dislocation in the hope of increasing the vote for leftist parties.)
And socialism is the driving force here, not considerations of what’s best for Wales, or the Welsh. Not so long ago Aled Gwyn Williams was a loyal and vocal member of Plaid Cymru, and remains influential in Yes Cymru (though he has been told to tone it down a bit), but socialism is what really matters to him.
Speaking of Williams, someone contacted my server claiming copyright infringement. This relates to images I’ve recently used on this blog, which I believe were picked up from Twitter. They show Aled Gwyn Williams on his trip west to harass Dr Dilys Davies, and another showing Williams wining and dining with a few friends.
Who could have made this complaint? Will it result in yet more correspondence from yet another shyster lawyer?
I suggest the sentiments we’ve heard expressed show support for unlimited immigration because the ‘Welsh Government’ already has a plan to make Wales a ‘Nation of Sanctuary’. The document I’ve linked to is remarkable in a number of ways. Not least the fact that it differentiates between asylum seekers and refugees, but finds no room to mention economic migrants.
Suggesting that this document, like so many carrying the imprimatur of the ‘Welsh Government’ was written by a third sector group hoping to squeeze more money out of a poor country.
This would certainly explain the talk of,” . . . an inclusive, diverse Wales where anyone who wants to call it home is welcome”.
And as I suggested in my DM to Mark Hooper, if you believe in open borders then you must accept the ethnic cleansing taking place in our rural areas, and especially in our coastal communities.
Nor can those holding up the Croeso! banners complain about Welsh communities being blighted by drug addicts and petty criminals dumped on them by third sector bodies working with private landlords and housing associations.
This social dumping has been a problem on the north coast for decades, especially in Rhyl. But now southern towns with cheap properties are experiencing it. Towns such as Llanelli, Neath, and even Briton Ferry.
But everybody is welcome in diverse and inclusive Wales! No matter what the cost.
When the left takes over Yes Cymru it will have far more important things to worry about than community cohesion, law and order, the economy, Welsh nationhood, Wales being colonised . . . or independence.
Because if it isn’t dropped entirely, then expect independence to become just one issue among many.
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LAST CHANCE
Yes Cymru members have one last chance to offer our people what Dr Craig Dalzell of Common Weal describes as a ‘Future neutral’ campaign for independence.
Yes Cymru must be a broad church, welcoming all who want independence, and it must focus solely on independence; because the alternative is an organisation in which unity is compromised by members being herded into different pens, classified by gender, race, sexuality, etc.
With the thought police deciding who is allowed in to what will quickly degenerate into just another far left protest group. Those same thought police will unleash the pack on anyone who dares challenge them, or expose their intolerance.
Just ask Dr Dilys Davies.
The odds are already stacked in favour of the left and the wokies because the proceedings of the 22nd will be online, which will favour their youthful supporters.
But if those with Wales’ best interests at heart are not prepared to stand up to the extremists and the obsessives then you can kiss goodbye to the Yes Cymru you joined. The Yes Cymru you helped build.
Because after May 22 it will exist in name only.
♦ end ♦
You mention that Plaid Cymru lost the PCC seat in North Wales. As you may know there is a huge county lines drug problem along the north Wales coast and effectively ‘tolerance zones’ in Rhyl and Wrexham. The problem is amplified by the criminal justice system in north west England using north Wales as a dumping ground for the hopelessly addicted.
Afron Jones the previous Plaid Cymru PCC was a wokey decriminalise pundit.
Vocal with it too.
I have no doubt whatsoever that this affected the Plaid Cymru vote, certainly on the second vote preference which swings who wins. The ‘drugs’ issue is not just about the zombies slumped in the bus station in Wrexham or the Rhyl no-go areas, but also the low level crime like burglary and shoplifting that goes with it. Quite fashionable in trendy eateries for the middle classes who don’t experience the results to have an academic discussion about it, having tried a bit of harmless blow at Uni.
It’s the poorest in our communities who suffer the outfall and want something done.
The robust county lines operations like the “clean up Station Road in Llanelli” is very popular and definitely played a role in Dafydd Llywelyn retaining his seat for Plaid Cymru in Dyfed-Powys area.
Nothing like a bit of “robust”action to generate support among people who have been left behind or feel ignored. That’s why all this trendy “anything goes” bullshit doesn’t ever end well for the thickos running Plaid. The PCC may not be the prime mover in a “cleansing” operation but if he looks like he’s in tune with it then he’ll do O.K and that’s how it should be.
Council leaders could learn from this by not granting permits for HMO’s where it is evident that the residents will be ASBO’s and dopeheads from out of town. We need to solve our own social problems first, then when all is hunky dory get into granny farming and housing imported delinquents strictly on a commercial basis. If darkest England is so desperate to dump its “surpluses” then there will be a market rate for such facilities and well organised enterprising locals can displace publicly funded Third Sector wasters.
So long as a HMO is for less than 6 people, the council never know about it.
The RentSmart scheme should know about ALL premises as they spent a lot of time gathering data – for what purpose other than extracting cash out of landlords even those with just 1 let property ? And they were chasing people up about registration and issuing penalties. So armed with that kind of database they could crack on with a revised permit system, unless of course they don’t want that level of scrutiny and enforcement
HMOs have always been something of an issue, not least because the rules seemed to be different in Wales. I remember there was something of a campaign in Swansea, particularly in those areas that were being taken over by students. This letter appeared in the Western Mail some years ago
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Apologies to ‘Stan’, ‘Daf’, ‘Dai Protheroe’ and maybe a couple of others. Some of your recent comments have slipped into the spam folder. Trying to figure it out.
“The other new party, Propel, is probably disappointed, and I’m not sure what went wrong.”
I, and thousands of other people, can tell you what went wrong. Neil McEvoy is nowhere near as popular in Cardiff West as either Mark Drakeford or as Plaid Cymru. He was rejected by both Labour and Plaid Cymru because of his behaviour and his interactions with fellow party members, not because of his ideologies, whatever they actually are.
He is rude, aggressive, insincere and egotistical. Plaid members in Cardiff tolerated him for eleven or twelve years but his behaviour became so extreme that most felt they couldn’t work with him or campaign for him any longer.
He spent his last day campaigning with “Mad Dog” Tara Stout, who is a convicted stalker, a woman who went to Spain on the run from justice, a woman who flashes her genitals daily on Twitter, a 50-year-old who boasted on Saturday morning that she’d “just f#cked a twenty-year-old” – presumably the poor lad is a member of Propel.
McEvoy welcomed her to his campaign with open arms. This is indicative of both desperation and appalling judgement.
If you are going to continue promoting McEvoy then you will be remembered for propping up an extremely unpleasant, manipulative man. You should be remembered for your wit, your investigations, your patriotism, your fine writing and your overall contribution to Wales.
Stop jeopardising your legacy Royston.
Have you got her phone number? (asking for a friend)
Yes, JD. Gyms, nightclubs and sexy ladies was also the downfall of Tommy Sheridan in Scotland. Someone who also had the same political trajectory.
Rude – This depends on the cultural perspective.
Aggressive – This depends on who you’re aggressive to.
Insincere – Sincerity or lack of it, overrides or amplifies the above.
However, it is.
Egotistical – That encapsulates a downfall.
The reality is that the McEvoy pub crawl with Tara Stout around Cardiff would definitely have shed votes, in the same way as Sheridans parties in Manchester nighclubs. It is for this reason that on the last day of election campaign it is usual to kiss babies not babes.
Poor judgement.
Read that input from JD last night and shoved it to the back of my head. My main aim nowadays is to become a “dormant” or near dormant Dafis and part of that is to reduce the frequency of comments until they appear no more. While motoring around this morning the comments above came back to bug me.
While on the face of it JD’s input may be a legit criticism of N.Mc, Brychan’s response starts to put it into context. The deconstruction of Sheridan was undertaken by people who would themselves engage in similar “indiscrections” given half a chance and some hope of not getting found out. So McEvoy spends time campaigning with a colourful lady of whom JD disapproves. So enriching to learn that good old Welsh non conformist moralising is alive and well among our own people. Yet a central part of that non conformist belief is the character commonly going by the name of Jesus who was inclined to pass time with such “fallen” people because he saw hope of getting them to straighten themselves out. McEvoy has often reached out to “difficult” and outcast cases. Maybe he has made a bit of a career out of it to his exclusion from the company of those who like talking about ishoos but seldom reach down into the dirt to contribute real physical and intellectual effort in dealing with those challenges. I know which man I’d have alongside me at the barricades.
Fostering further distancing and exclusion will do Plaid no good at all. Neither will it benefit the wider nationalist cause. Unionists observing these antics from a distance will continue to have a chuckle safe in the knowledge that they have to do very little when elements of the cause will do their dirty work for them.
McEvoy is a narcissistic, not very bright bully and waste of time. PC are rubbish but don’t kid yourself that McEvoy is some kind of lost hero, he isn’t. I gave him the benefit of the doubt to start, but soon saw through him after listening to him speak a few times. He shot his mouth off to often, railed at everything that moved, jumped on populist bandwagon and overegged the persecution complex.
I appreciate that Neil McEvoy is not to everyone’s taste. But having investigating a number of the specific issues with which he has been involved I know that much of the ogre image has been carefully manufactured by his enemies.
For example, many of the complaints against him have been contrived, often exposing co-operation between Plaid Cymru, Labour, third sector bodies and Deryn. The last of those because McEvoy exposed a Deryn contact with Ofcom when two Deryn people sat on the Ofcom advisory board. That was naked corruption. But it also exposed the cosiness and the wider acceptance of corruption in Cardiff Bay. Where McEvoy was always an outsider.
Many of the complaints against him were so feeble as to be laughable – ‘Ooo, he raised his voice to me!’. Many were so obviously contrived that you could almost hear the workings: ‘Listen, ——–, we’re going after McEvoy again, so we want you to put in a complaint. Don’t matter what, people will believe anything.’
As for his popularity with the voters in Cardiff West, let’s wait for the council elections next year, when people are more likely to vote for the person than the party.
Tara Stout was, I agree, a disastrous miscalculation. But Neil McEvoy does have the tendency to chase lost causes and to welcome waifs and strays. Not always a bad thing.
But if there is one issue for which he might be remembered it will be the ‘nuclear mud’ being dumped off Cardiff. Labour waved it through, Plaid Cymru accepted it. The other parties said nothing. Neil McEvoy took up the issue and was derided as Ely’s Don Quixote. But when other politicians realised the public mood they had to change their position, if begrudgingly. Because the question many people asked was: ‘How could our political leaders have been so cavalier with our health that they just waved through this lunacy?’
The answer is of course that on ‘major’ issues, affecting England, the ‘Welsh Government’ will do what its civil servants tell it to do. Civil servants that – let’s remind ourselves – answer to London. That’s why there will be nothing more than a futile gesture from Cardiff Bay on the ethnic cleansing taking place in our rural and coastal areas.
So, Neil McEvoy is not to everyone’s taste. He’s made mistakes. There we agree. But I would prefer his company for a drink, and prefer him as my political representative over just about anyone in that agglomeration of duplicitous mediocrities known as the Senedd.
Thank you for your kind words about my legacy, but I think this blog might be remembered for rather more than my support for Neil McEvoy.
Thanks for taking time out to make those comments. Way back early in my career I had to take over a team – “a mixed bag” would be a nice term for them. Fortunately I’d had some sage advice from a senior colleague – look for the good in these guys and then if needed iron out the wrinkles. And on we went. Successful squad of blokes evolved quickly and they were very modest but also willing to brag up the team as a unit. Minimal egos, maximum squad ethic.
Had Plaid had the kind of leadership team that engaged with people in that way then they would have harnessed and mobilised Neil’s strengths and steadily worked out his negatives. History teaches us that they were far too concerned with their own fixations and we are where we are today with both McEvoy and Leanne out of Y Senedd.
Jac dug up a serious gem today. I’m referring to the item in the tweet column regarding “the enhancement of Cardiff’s City Centre”. This is a story dripping with bland drivel – for instance, from the CEO of Chwarae Teg – “The impact of Cardiff becoming an equality city will mean that businesses can attract, retain and progress really diverse talent – which will put us at the forefront of equality in the UK and perhaps in Europe as well.”
FOR Cardiff spokesman said – “Over the last five years our projects have showcased Cardiff as a vibrant, welcoming city and we’re proud of what we have achieved.”
Emphasising its (Cardiff’s) cleanliness the statement dribbled that “Since 2016, the street cleansing team introduced by FOR Cardiff have removed 57,754 pieces of gum, jet washed 441, 008 sqm of streets and taken down 3,056 graffiti tags. The team will continue to operate a seven-day a week service to ensure Cardiff is a clean, safe city for all to visit.”
In other words the place is frequented by a cross section of dirty scumbags who dump their litter indiscriminately in the expectation that some other persons will clean up after them. I suppose that’s one way of showing the caring and welcoming side of Wales’ capital city.
Wokey Welsh Twitter Paradoxes
1st Wokey: I would never read Jac o’ the North’s rubbish blog
2nd Wokey: Nor me
3rd Wokey: Me neither
1st Wokey: The bugger has never mentioned me in any of his write-ups. I’m miffed about it, to be honest
2nd Wokey: Hasn’t written about me, either
3rd Wokey: Let’s all hope he doesn’t pack it in before we get a mention
(Loosely based on an actual Wokey Welsh Twitter conversation very recently. The bastards will miss him when he’s gone!)
Those comparisons for Plaid in the 1999 and 2021 elections were very interesting. So in the constituency vote % they have dropped from 28.4 to 20.3. Welsh Labour, in comparison, have gone up from 37.6% in 1999 (constituency) to 39.9% in 2021. Then, the third major player, Conservatives. Well, in 1999 in the constituency vote just 15.8%, now in 2021 they are 26.1%.
I don’t think it’s just their handling of the Covid crisis that has given Welsh Labour such a resounding victory, though it did play an important part. In my constituency of Neath the decent Plaid candidate’s offer on her election leaflet was basically it’s time for a change. Labour’s was if you value it, vote for it. The thing is, after the turmoil of Brexit over 5 years and in the midst of a global pandemic where the UK nations had all performed very poorly in terms of deaths per population, the last thing people wanted was to put a bet on a Party offering more upheaval, with a referendum on independence in the next term if they got in. It might have been attractive for a small minority of voters, but even the pro Nationalist Gwlad recognised the utter folly of doing this in the near future.
Plaid got their just desserts. Leanne was humiliated by the Rhondda result. How could they have got it so wrong? In Llanelli, Helen Mary Jones failed to oust Lee Waters. The “let’s sack HMJ” trans lobby crowed like the morning cockerel, but again, I don’t think this did for her at all. And in Cardiff West, Drakeford took 48% of the vote. Even if McEvoy had fought the seat as a Plaid candidate, he wouldn’t have touched him. Game, Set and Match to Welsh Labour. I happen to despise the Party, but by God, they are one of the most potent electoral machines I’ve seen. They’ll take some bloody shifting now alright.
One thing which I find striking about the YesCymru constitutional proposals is how British it is. How distinctively United Kingdom they have become. Let me explain.
1990s
I was working in Sweden and had to establish a team of employees for a specific project, the company was Swedish owned. I had to familiarise myself and adhere to their national employment laws. It introduced me to the Nordic CV, the Swedish model of Details Resume. Applicants are required to provide a 3-page summary of eligibility. On page 1 is the personnel check, stuff like gender, national ID number, tax reference, name, address and contact details. Page 2 contains only the academic qualifications, experience, and employment history. Page 3 any additional information. All candidates are validated by personnel dept using page1, which is confidential, just a qualification to take up employment in Sweden. The actual appointment process is blind, it only accesses data on page2. Page3 is only then used after appointment.
Result.
This means on interview day, when the door to the interview room opened, candidates A-F were called. I had no idea whether the candidate was male or female, or what colour of skin, or what sexual preferences, or what age, what family situation, not even the name of each candidate until they introduced themselves. Recruitment was only by page2 info. I found this an extremely effective and un-biased method. The Swedish way.
2000s
Had a similar recruitment dilemma now working for a Japanese global. My task was to implement a Euro currency project across all EU subsidiaries. I decided to employ the Swedish way in the recruitment process as a number of legal jurisdictions applied. In Frankfurt it was adequate, in Rome it was amusing, in Madrid it was professional, in Athens it was understood as it stopped fraud, in Paris it was perfect, in Budapest it was embraced. The only objection came from the personnel department in the London subsidiary. At issue was the surname being unknown to the interview panel. The Singh, Wong, Williams and Wienstein dilemma. Their objection was that the name of the candidate was not known to me prior to interview, and this did not adhere to a positive ethnicity requirement in London. So I interviewed in the Paris office instead.
So I have to ask the question. Why does YesCymru need to know the reproductive equipment between the legs of committee members or the colour of their skin? This is page1 stuff. Not a consideration. Page2 is about independence. Page3 is about deployment. I therefore conclude that YesCymru is more about representing London culture in Wales and importing its institutions and hang-ups. It does not represent a progressive aim of an internationally recognised nation state. The merit of an independent Wales. It seems to me come of those that call themselves progressive are nothing of the sort.
Notes – The only office with a gender specific toilet was in England. The only country where maternity and paternity leave was not interchangeable was England. The only country where the recognised trade union was not on the board of directors was England. Why are these England problems an issue for an independent Wales?
I wonder where the notions to specify non-binary representation on the Yes Cymru committee originated from? I suspect it’s to do with the new Diversity and Inclusion Officer who was arguing strongly on Welsh Twitter this week about how the current Committee was too male dominated (and too White). Well surely, there’s been no bar on BAME or LGBT candidates applying for these positions in the past?
Something else caught my eye recently as well. It was a statement from a prominent Undod member that Undod was formed by members of YC who had been chucked out of YC for trying to bring in policies relating to anti-fascism and anti-racism within YC. Now I’d be very surprised if that statement as it stands is a fair reflection of past events in YC, but can anyone shed light on this? Because I think there’s a bit more to it than this Undod member was making out.
One final thing. I spend too much time on Welsh Twitter and saw a photo the other day of some of the faction who regularly wade in to AGW’s threads, basically to add a bit of weight and muscle to some good old social media bullying. Jeez, they looked hardly old enough to shave, they were kids, like. And they were so short, they could barely reach the pub table! How about another YC motion so we have an allocation for dwarves on the committee? Because I’d hate to see this minority excluded. I’m sure Snow White would put a word in, though these self righteous bullying little fuckers would doubtless spurn her support. What! SNOW WHITE!! Can’t she change her name to something less offensive!
Any organisation that sees fit to appoint an “Diversity and Inclusion Officer” has first had to draw the conclusion that it is not diverse or inclusive, and needs to appoint someone to that role. The advantage of colour photography and those who know activists would realise the indy marches in Cardiff and Merthyr was very much diverse and inclusive. I suggest therefore the need or requirement did not arise from the membership but from a small cabal of individuals with a premeditated agenda. Infiltration.
But once any organisation goes down that road and, especially, begins specifying certain groups it supports, then every group identified means that at least one other group is, by extension, excluded. Back the Palestinians and you (effectively) exclude Jews. Support those obsessed with trans rights and you exclude feminists, Christians, and many fair-minded and level-headed people.
‘Diversity and inclusivity’, sound noble aims, but in practice, always exclude someone. And painting all those excluded as fascists, racists, transphobes, terfs, etc., might work in the short term, but only in the short term.
Considering they hardly have any full time staff, why do they need a diversity officer. It is not a county council or the BBC. It is up to the membership, local groups and special interest groups t ie BAME, cyclists , to reach out to their own. Wales i ONE COMMUNITY
I worked in the big Stena HQ in Gothenburg in the 2010’s. All their toilets were gender specific – M or F, not both, not mixed. They even had separate sex disabled facilities for males and females.
If I remember correctly (1993-4), the Stena main building at the ferry terminal on Masthuggskajen did have such separate facilities on ground floor reception, a public area. However, the other floors and the whole data building over the footbridge, and the other offices just had ‘toalett”. I remember it because initially this was a new experience for me. Inside were cubicles and patrons of both genders. More generally this was the case at the academic the buildings of Universitetsplatsen. After a while you just get used to it.
Not when I was there. They were separate facilities. And in the hotels and bars.
Apparently, only those who attend YesCymru’s AGM ‘in person’ (in virtual person) will be able to vote on the motions proposed. How is that ‘inclusive’? Do all those who have paid to join YesCymru but can’t attend have no chance to vote?
And the AGM is at 1pm on a Saturday. Very hard to attend if you have kids at rugby clubs, weekend family duties, ageing parents to visit etc. Fine if you’re young, single, barely employed/a student with no other responsibilities. Which I imagine describes most of the group hoping to skew the vote at the AGM. I’d also be cautious about attending a meeting where voting against the motions proposed made me identifiable to individuals who have proposed/support motions – and have been extraordinarily vicious on Twitter towards those who disagree with them.
It’s almost like it is deliberate. Excluding the majority of the movement from voting. If they did vote, YesCymru might find itself steered back to the waters of pro-indy. Which is where it was when most of us joined it.
That’s a piece of manipulation that’s been used by Plaid for years. They ensure that the venue for conference can only stretch to a few hundred then pack it with known “orthodox” types who vote to a plan. Fixed.
I work for an organisation that is keen on ‘diversity’.
What that actually means in practice, is that positions are filled by anyone other than white, hetero-sexual males.
Would be called blatant discrimination if it was applied to any other demographic.
Discriminating ‘positively’ is simply transferring discrimination.
I also notice a change in definition recently.
Ethnic minorities used to include Jews, and the surnames of those in the third sector would indicate those of Jewish heritage being included in the definition, as well as those of non-Islamic south Asian heritage. However, this new definition of BAME has a streak of ant-Semitism, and pro-Islam. A kind of purge appears to be taking place in organisations of the “third sector”.
Such discrimination has no place in Wales.
A few years ago, when I was studying the third sector, and particularly BAME organisations, I noticed how narrow was the recruitment. Those involved tended to be from sub-Saharan Africa or the Caribbean, or else of Muslim (usually Pakistani) background.
The (Han) Chinese are the largest nation on Earth. There are many thousands of them living in Wales. I have yet to see one represented on any ‘Welsh Government’ BAME group. Why is that? Because, by and large, they tend to work hard and keep to themselves.
Because, by and large, they tend to work hard and keep to themselves.
Labour’s secret nightmare is the prospective of large influx of Hong Kong chinese holding British National Overseas passports and status. These people are natural Tory voters. They despise anything left wing,, their aim in life is to get on and get rich – and long bost people in Hong Kong, they are ‘market-savvy’, have large amounts of savings in gold, shares globally and extraordinarily self-reliant . (it’s perfectly normal in Hong Kong for ordinary workers to buy gold, buy shares all over the world, invest in things, etc etc. Due to their low taxation quite ordinary people have large amounts of disposable income)
I lived there years ago for three years. Wondeful place back then and Beijing would be stupid to continue on it’s present course and blow it all. Although in all probability they would actually relocate to where the economic set-up is more in line with their beliefs – Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and at a pinch Canada and Australia.
I identify as 8 foot tall so that high fence is oppressing me by not letting me scale it!
I identify as an elite athlete and the Olympics committee robbed me of my gold medals!
I identify as a millionaire and the prestige estate agent marginalised me by not accepting my rubber cheque for a mansion I was after!
But seriously… any thoughts on the results in Scotland?
It will be taken over, re-branded as a left wing protest and campaign group, independence binned and they’ll say the Yes! means yes to inclusivity and diversity. It will then be run by middle class graduates from the English cities such as Bristol and a recruiting pool for the Labour Party. Most of its activities will take place on campuses
Very quickly it will just become Yes! (no mention of Cymru) with a branch in Wales, alongside branches in England and Scotland and the red name banner will be changed to rainbow.
And established organisations such as Hope Not Hate, Unite Against Fascism etc, will become part of it, under it’s banner.
“Yes” itself will probably at some stage be seen to be discriminatory towards the ambivalent or undecided. Or, seeing as the implied question being asked, “Should Wales be an independent country?” has two possible definitive answers, it manifests itself as a subversive microaggression towards non-binary individuals.
Well done. You have evidently immersed yourself in this highly convoluted wokey dialect and possess an admirable fluency. You will have a multitude of career opportunities opening up in writing gobbledegook for their turgid literature which will be distributed to all participants in Yes ! events. However you may have to invest in an entirely new wardrobe so that you can impress the thought leaders that your gender fluid, non-binary persona is “for real” and a set of nice frocks does the business. If not then it’s a series of nasty operations for you, especially nasty if you don’t really want them !
I identify as being befrocked during the day and when out and about so those fascists that harass me for their claimed “Indecent exposure” charges can get to Hades!
You enjoy that. Some people take their pleasures in strange ways. Others end up in Strangeways if taken too far !
No surprises at the results, unfortunately. Too many people who just vote the way it’s always been, for them and their families. 22 years of Labour governance and not a great deal to show for it. Tories puppets of Westminster, Lib Dems and their Disappearing Act. Plaid Cymru becoming more weird by the day. I was one of 270 people to vote Gwlad in my constituency, more of a protest vote then anything else.
Problems will persist whilst the vast majority of people still ignore that the Prime Minister tells lies (supposedly) and the only people actively interested in politics seem to be those with their own weird agenda. How Rayner can be deputy leader of the Labour Party is beyond me. She’s a good example of the particularly spiteful aggressive occupant of senior positions that only alienates people…certainly doesn’t bring them together. She is a woman with a very large chip on her shoulder, who appears to have a great deal of resentment and anger for some unknown reason.
Enjoy your retirement Jac, plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose (as the Frenchies would say).
I see the Western Mail is reporting Dilys Davies is suspended for six months from serving on the Yes Cymru Central Committee, but retains her YC membership. The way that organisation is going I’m not sure I’d want to keep it. The fallout from this sorry affair, plus the rows over the politicisation of the organisation by the hard Left, have led to many members chucking it in already, it seems.
I have no idea where the DD suspension will go yet. Is there a right of appeal? Would she want to anyway? But I’d say this. I don’t think it’s a good look for YC that the Diversity and Inclusion Officer, who presumably gave advice to those who decided Dilys Davies’ fate, runs an open Twitter account that “follows” Mr Aled Gwyn Williams, and has even “liked” AGW comments! It’s also interesting that it “follows” several individuals who are linked to the original Dilysgate1 saga back in September 2019, which were referred to again, retrospectively, in these recent complaints about Dilys Davies. In following all these individuals who have at one time been involved in the case against DD, there’s a real risk that the Diversity and Inclusion Officer might appear biased. But I’m sure the Diversity Officer made all this known to those who decided Dilys Davies’ fate, didn’t she?
This has shades of the old Political Commissar jobs that were inserted into The Soviet armed forces and most of its state institutions. Job was to ensure that there would be no deviation from the officially defined orthodoxy. This modern commissar is not as well organised (or discreet ) as the Soviet predecessor but is already showing signs of being just as fuckin’ nasty. She’s on a trip and it won’t end well for victims of her pogrom. Those having a chuckle alongside her right now had better watch out. She’ll be running out of victims and will have to home in on another group of members to satisfy her escalating blood lust.