Thanks for that.

I think i’ve mentioned to you before Jac about the forum. There are regular political threads in the non-football section which get very large responses, whether actual posts or just reads. And quite a number of those threads have been on the Cardiff v the rest of Wales subject.

I don’t know how many people regularly read your blog but I know there are large numbers who visit the Planet Swans forum so for you or any of your posters it’s a useful extra way of getting whatever message you want out there.

And, just for you to be aware, dw i Johnlangy.(smiley emoticon)

I just went to the Planet Swans forum to read what the fans are saying and what did I read but this.

To reiterate what others have said, i’ve used the description in many letters and posts on various website threads that Wales is like a mini version of the UK, run for the benefit of the South East to the detriment of the rest of the country.

And on a similar vein to Jac’s proposal about spreading the government/governmental depts around the country I recently emailed Dai Lloyd about the idea of Swansea being the ‘Judicial Capital’ if/when Welsh judicial powers are devolved.

To be fair to him this wasn’t my idea, although I think it would be a great idea, but it was his suggestion a number of years ago. I just reminded him of it.

All parties seem equally to blame. Though given where Plaid’s support lies you’d expect a bit more sense.

Another factor may be that lots of politicians and others have been suckered into believing that we must have a ‘great capital’, which of course justifies any and all investment in Cardiff.

Dear Mr Lloyd,

I don’t know if you’re aware of this blog but it would be well worth reading.

As you know i’ve been very critical of the investment disparity between Cardiff and the Rest of Wales. There are two articles that Jac has done which are withering in their disdain for everything to do with the Assembly’s investment ‘strategy’. The latest is titled ‘Welsh Assembly, Time to Move’ and the previous one titled ‘Cardiff Bay, Corruption Bay’ can be found in the right hand column of the blog three pages down.

I find it amazing that it should take a ‘normal’ person like Jac to try to highlight this. I don’t understand why, at a Swansea level for example, our Council are not shouting about this unfairness from the rooftops. They have the largest selling newspaper in Wales on their doorstep and they should be creating headlines on a weekly basis telling the WAG what we think. But they don’t. Is it because they are part and parcel of the same party and they don’t want to rock the boat maybe ? Perhaps they can see future jobs as AM’s ? Career politicians ?

And why doesn’t Plaid do it ? They/you could be using the EP also. And I don’t mean the careful, mealy mouthed words used by most people when they comment. Lawrence Bailey was critical on this subject in the EP this week but it was so ‘careful’ it almost wasn’t worth saying. Things should be said the way Jac says it. Straight for the jugular. As he says, when you have ALL the political and business powers that be rubbing shoulders with each other on a daily basis it promotes what we have ended up with. When you add to the mix ALL the so called National media based in the same small area all with their own Cardiff centric agenda that’s when you get the unfairness we have now. It’s sickening and i’m just waiting for someone to tell it like it is.

Plaid describes itself as the Party for all of Wales. If they really are the party for all of Wales why isn’t Plaid doing this ?

But as I’ve argued, people like Bale and the Labour Party in Cardiff, and the Cardiff business community, feel no responsibility to Wales whatsoever. ‘Wales’ is just a cash-cow that allows Cardiff to exploit being the capital for its own selfish interests and turn its back on Wales.

There are two aspects to this…

(a) The young teens that have shown some promise in the various amateur sports like badminton, gymnastics, swimming, weights, and all that kind of stuff from the housing estates of Cardiff from participation at the sports centres have their ‘progression window’ in the relevant sport into the England set-up.

(b) The ‘events calendar’ such as inter-community competitions like five-a-side, under 16s teams of all kinds of sport will be with the other leisure centres in the group. So Fairwater v Barnett and Splott v Clifton. It’s stuff like the funding of the mini-bus for the trip away. The coach of a team, sponsorship and the enthusiast holding the whistle that drives community sport.

The issue is not just a question of privatisation and hiving off assets. It’s our capital city and the ‘acorns’ all our amateur sports will be diverted away from the set-ups in Wales. If Cardiff is to be our Capital City, it being the most populous, they have a responsibility to the rest of Wales, not to England.