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 PROBABLY NOT UNDERTAKE ANY MAJOR NEW INVESTIIGATIONS. DIOLCH YN FAWR.
♦
I had planned a piece on May’s Senedd elections (or whenever they’re held). But then I realised there are a couple of factors still playing out that will impact mightily on that election. I mean Coronavirus and the effects of Brexit.
So, I’ve put that planned piece on the back burner. There’ll be plenty of time to return to it when the picture has become a little clearer.
Instead, I shall deal with another issue that will certainly impact on the election and more widely on Welsh public and political life in the years ahead. Though to refer to it as a mere ‘issue’ fails to do it justice.
♦
IN MY BEGINNING
I got involved in the nationalist movement in the mid-1960s. Driven by patriotism, a lifelong love of history, and a growing interest in politics that soon made me realise my country was not being treated fairly.
I’m not sure there was a single ‘trigger’, but Tryweryn certainly influenced my conversion. If I had any doubts, then Aberfan ended them.
I wanted independence to improve the lives of the people I cared about: my family, my neighbours, my community, and my nation. I wanted independence to protect my country from neglect or exploitation, and to defend what made us Welsh.
My Wales had no bogeymen, no minorities against which retribution was sought, and there was no irredentist dimension. My nationalism was, and remains, purely defensive; the only people who need fear it are the enemies of my country and my people.
If what I’ve written strikes anyone as ‘blood and soil’ nationalism then that really is your problem, not mine.
I cannot think of any reason for wanting independence other than to serve the best interests of the greatest possible number of Welsh people.
◊
THE LEFT AND THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
On December 19 Yes Cymru put out what seemed at the time to be a harmless enough tweet welcoming Conservatives into the ranks. The tweet ended with a recognition of the “compatibility” of conservatism and independence.
This tweet outraged the hard left and the woke (increasingly difficult to tell apart) and within an hour it was taken down.
A generous interpretation might be that those who demanded its removal don’t know the difference between Conservative and conservative. For I’m a lifelong believer in Welsh independence who is a conservative, but not a Conservative.
A less charitable, and more worrying, interpretation would be that for some in the new independence movement neither Conservatives nor conservatives are welcome. This they seem to justify by arguing that Wales is a ‘socialist country’, with a ‘radical tradition’.
But how true is that?
The claim that Wales is a socialist country is premised on the fact that the Labour Party and Plaid Cymru together usually get a majority of the votes cast in elections.
Though in the December 2019 Westminster elections Labour gained 40.9% while Plaid Cymru got only 9.9%. Giving a combined total of just 50.8%.
In the most recent elections to the National Assembly (as was) in 2016, the combined percentage of the constituency vote was 55.2%. For the regional lists, the ‘socialist’ total was 52.3%.
But these figures are misleading because how many of those who vote for Plaid Cymru and Labour are really socialists?
I live in Plaid Cymru’s safest seat, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, but few of the Plaid supporters I know could be described as socialists. Most are cultural nationalists and / or social conservatives. It’s a similar picture throughout Plaid Cymru’s western heartland.
Turning to Labour; yes, the vote looks impressive, but to assume that all Labour voters are socialists is nonsense.
The average Labour voter supports the party because he or she believes Labour will raise wages and benefits. The closest this constituency comes to socialism is on specific issues such as the NHS. But again, self-interest dominates.
So, what of Wales’ claimed ‘radical tradition’?
Since the Second World War radicalism – in the sense of challenging the role of the English monarchy and the legitimacy of the British state in Wales – has come exclusively from nationalists.
In the same period Wales has seen strikes, perhaps most memorably the two miners’ strikes, but again, these were about protecting jobs and communities, they were not a fight for socialist ideology.
Socialists are understandably reluctant to concede any of this because it undermines their claim to a monopoly on radicalism. Also because the rise of nationalism in the 1960s had the effect of turning many in the Labour Party into simpering royalists or tub-thumping Unionists. Something that embarrasses many on the left.
The fact is that socialism in the UK was, at a very early stage, broken and domesticated as the Labour Party, and brought into the constitutional fold. Thereby allowing the UK to avoid the political upheavals seen elsewhere in Europe.
Yet many on the left of the independence movement can make common cause with ‘socialists’ who are diehard Unionists, while rejecting those who sincerely believe in independence because they’re not socialists.
The only interpretation is that socialism is more important for these people than Welsh independence, with the independence movement being just another vehicle for their socialism.
As for the alleged radical tradition, yes it’s there, though sporadic and localised. In the 19th century, the Merthyr Rising, Chartists, Rebecca, Ceffyl Pren, Scotch Cattle, Tithe Wars, were all rooted in an outraged sense of social justice; defending family and community but owing absolutely nothing to Marxist dogma.
What’s happened since is that socialists have tried to re-write history by adopting movements and causes that were never at all socialist.
But even if Wales was a socialist country that would still not be reason enough to exclude others from what should be an ideology-free independence movement.
◊
“DOCTRINES FASHIONED TO THE VARYING HOUR” *
What Labour cleverly did in the twentieth century was to capitalise on the legitimate demands of working class people and promote those demands with more vigour than the Liberal Party.
Which explains why the Labour Party displaced the Liberal Party a century ago as the main opposition to the Conservatives.
But once Labour started going beyond demands for higher wages, better working conditions, etc., into the abstract and the esoteric, promoting socialism for socialism’s sake, then it always lost support.
As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century the rupture between ideological socialists and the working class is almost complete. To the point where today’s left liberal elite positively despises the white working class.
It’s been summed up brilliantly by trade unionist and lifelong Labour member, Paul Embery, in his new book Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class. As he points out, there are elements of the contemporary left that detest working class values of family, community, tradition and patriotism.
This contemptuous attitude has now reached Wales; it has infected Labour and Plaid Cymru; it has spread to Yes Cymru, and it’s threatening the independence movement.
(Though in fairness, Labour has been far cleverer than Plaid Cymru in keeping the single-issue fanatics, the anti-Semites and other undesirables at bay.)
This new, woke left exercises influence wholly disproportionate to its numbers. As we saw with the removal of that Yes Cymru tweet.
This is done by taking a Manichean position in which they are right and those who disagree with them are not just mistaken, or wrong, but positively evil.
Perfectly exemplified by Leanne Wood and others in Plaid Cymru.
Ask how Antifa rioting and burning shops in Portland, Oregon on a nightly basis promotes anything other than violence and you’ll be met with, ‘Antifa stands for anti-fascist, so only fascists question Antifa’.
Of course! But that still leaves unanswered the question of how burning shops and attacking innocent bystanders and police is fighting fascism.
Here’s another tweet concerning Yes Cymru exposing this attitude. Thomas Wynne Lewis argued that Yes Cymru must appeal to “people on all sides of the political compass”, Luke Williams pretended to agree – then accused Yes Cymru of having “platformed fascists”!
I’m sure this never happened, but as I’ve just said, in the black and white world of the woke left those who contradict them, point out their errors, are, ipso facto ‘fascists’, ‘racists’, ‘transphobes’, etc., etc. End of debate.
This intolerance in defence of ‘toleration’, this refusal to accept alternative views in defence of ‘diversity’, this ‘no platforming’ in defence of ‘freedom of expression’, is now causing problems in the independence movement.
I’ll conclude this section with another tweet, or rather a retweet, this one from a doyen of the wokies, Aled Gwyn Williams. Williams is a member of both Plaid Cymru and Yes Cymru. (As is Teifi.)
“You’re never innocent if you’re a Tory”, the image tells us. Who could argue, for those two in their wingback armchairs are surely the Fred and Rose West of Acacia Avenue.
Remember, folks – these lunatics walk among us!
Let’s push the boat out and imagine Andrew R T Davies, former leader of the Assembly Tories undergoing a genuine conversion to Welsh independence. Despite this being a coup for the movement, and likely to encourage others to support independence, he would be rejected by those we’ve met here.
He would be damned by people who are simply using the independence movement to promote whichever fleetingly popular lunacies torment them.
* ‘The Deserted Village’, Oliver Goldsmith
◊
‘WHY DO WE WANT IT!’
There are a number of factors explaining the increase in support for independence, unfortunately, many of them are tangential, exploitative, or simply wrong.
To begin with, there’s Brexit, and the belief that an independent Wales would join, or re-join, the EU. A belief strengthened by Plaid Cymru recently saying – without apparently consulting anyone, or checking the referendum result – that an independent Wales would become a member of the European Union.
No mention was made of a fresh referendum.
Yet another example of leftist elitist arrogance, echo chamber decision making, and out of step with the wishes of the people.
Recently exposed with an interesting poll on Twitter, not least for the fact that 2,214 people voted. And because there was a majority for ‘Full Independence’ over ‘Independence within the EU’.
If that vote can be achieved on Twitter, where ‘certain views’ tend to dominate, then in the real world the majority would be even greater.
Others are now considering independence because of the present Conservative government in London. Disliking BoJo and the gang is perfectly understandable, but hardly a good enough reason to want Welsh independence.
What happens if Labour wins the next election? Would that mean that an unequal and exploitative Union becomes acceptable again?
A third element increasing support for independence emerges from the foliage in the form of the planet-savers. I don’t wish to be dismissive; I’m quite fond of planet Earth myself, but too many of those I’m thinking of – just like the wokies – see an independent Wales as a blank canvas, with them monopolising the crayons.
This explains the Green Party of Englandandwales recently announcing its support for independence. Yet this party has so little respect for Wales that not long ago it voted against setting up a genuine Wales Green Party.
To explain this dichotomy we need to remember the canvas and crayons I just mentioned. Even under devolution the Greens, in various forms, have found it far too easy to dictate what passes for ‘Welsh Government’ policy.
Just think of One Planet Developments, Future Generations legislation, funding taken from farmers and given to ‘rewilders’ and other charlatans, etc., etc. And a fat lot of good it’s done.
The Greens have decided to support independence because they believe they can easily persuade the government of an independent Wales to implement their polices, without the need for any democratic mandate, and thereby use Wales as a platform from which the rest of the world can better see their virtue signalling.
The benefits of these policies to the Welsh people would be zero because as Angela Womak, deputy leader of the Green Party of Englandandwales, put it:
Wales “tackling the ecological and climate emergencies”, is unadulterated bollocks. To suggest that a tiny country can make any significant difference is laughable.
Whether it’s Brexit, Boris Johnson, or environmental concerns, these alone – even collectively – are the wrong reasons for wanting independence.
◊
DEVOLUTION IS DEAD
The battle-lines are being drawn between those who want to abolish the Senedd and assimilate Wales into England, and those of us wanting Wales to be independent.
There will be few speaking up for devolution because it has failed. Wales is a worse place in 2021 than she was in 1999 partly because successive administrations have pandered to vociferous minorities rather than address the needs of the great majority of the nation.
The upcoming contest over Wales’ future could be a close call, and that’s why anyone supporting independence, from any background, and of any political orientation, should be welcomed. None should be excluded.
But those joining simply to promote their pet issue, and then seeking to exclude those who don’t agree with them that it’s the most important thing in the world, need to be taken aside and spoken to.
For these will alienate more people than they will ever attract.
Those taking an interest in independence need to be assured that the direction of ideological travel for an independent Wales, the spending and other priorities, will be decided by the Welsh people, in democratic elections, after independence is achieved.
It will be a blank canvass, and we’ll all have a chance with the crayons.
For my part, I still want independence to improve the lives of the people I care about: my family, my neighbours, my community, and my nation. I want independence to protect Wales from neglect or exploitation, and to defend what makes us Welsh.
I see no reason to change. I never have, and I never will.
♦ end ♦
Hello, I am an American reading your post today, which is a bit untimely, but I am a bit curious as to why any nation within the UK would not want to be independent. You have your own history, your own culture, your own language. I don’t understand why each of you agree to be governed by a nation who believes itself to be better than yours. I don’t know much about your economic system and whether it would be able to sustain your population, but if it can, I don’t see why you’d want to be governed by an outsider. I would want to be governed by my own people. It just seems to me that imperialism died a long time ago, except in the UK.
The word ‘fascist’ is banded about too loosely. It’s important to understand what Fascism is and where is comes from.
An Italian word for a bundle of sticks, all genuinely fascist movements originate from the trendy left. What genuine Marxists would call the pettie bourgeoisie. Mussolini was an early socialist of the left from which he adopted democratically repressive tendencies. Similarly in Germany, the Nazi, being the National Socialist Workers Party in German, which were not made up of workers, but lifestyle countryside settlers, entitled civil servants, students and artists. Those who consider themselves entitled for what they are. In all cases, fascism comes to power by making an alliance with the ruling class of former imperial powers, in a crisis, to bolster the footprint of colonialism. It should also be noted that the ‘beer hall putches’ of the German Nazi’s were actually agent provocateur activity very similar in tactics to BLM and Antifa. They respond with cancel, either with media or violence, to anyone who questions.
Beware of those who wish to cancel or postpone elections, or close down freedom of speech, or say things like ‘trust the experts’, or demonise those who challenge their orthodox. That is the seed of fascism.
That the term “Fascist” remains in use is a disgrace. Like so many other words it has morphed from its original meaning and is now commonly used by people of stunted limited vocabulary and intellect to describe others who do not share their particular and peculiar interpretation of current political and social situations. Despite its reactionary connotations it is most often used by people who profess to be progressive yet wish to inhibit or prevent the right of others to free expression. Perverse, or what ?
…and here’s how a thoroughly modern authoritarian reactionary uses his her powers :
https://nation.cymru/news/police-fined-couple-60-for-driving-to-visit-94-year-old-mother-in-care-home/
Where people travel modest distances to undertake low/no risk activity with the active consent of the management of the home surely Plod ought to just wind its neck in and focus on the real sacks of shit that were shuffling around on the sea front at Porthcawl less than a mile away,or places like Barry. Even more relevant what about the epidemic of real crime that’s left with no real response in the SWP region ?
To be fair to SWP they have no way of verifying a ‘compassionate grounds’ claim for non-essential travel.
The fault lies with the Welsh Government who has not defined the exemption correctly or effectively. All care homes are government registered in Wales and appointments to attend are needed. The magistrates court will no doubt receive the written representation from Carol Richards or the Porthcawl care home, and determine the fine inadmissible. Nothing to worry about. It’s a bit like a parking ticket when your car breaks down. When the time stamp on the recovery call pre-dates the parking ticket for being in the bus lane. Happens all the time, post event validation.
I, myself, have been quite correctly stopped by the police on suspicion of flouting the restrictions when I travel for essential work purposes. However, as a defined key worker (railways) and being in possession of relevant IDs, work assignment and documentation, the police are in a position the validate the exemption under the rules on the spot. It can only done where there is legislative clarity. Such is the nature of a controlled workplace that it’s actually the police themselves that are the transmission risk, both to themselves and the person stopped, whether it’s when I need them, or they need me.
Jac enjoys this stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU{removetoplay}
Banned in America before Germany.
I am aware of the sacks of shit that were shuffling around on the sea front and not just Porthcawl. However, pre-validation is much easier with ANPR on road vehicles, stopping the ones you need to, not just random pedestrians which does require more nuance in investigation, hence manpower. There is the issue of ‘roaming gangs of teenagers’ which presents both a logistical nightmare, like returning a juvenile to the parental home under duty of care, and of course issues of domestic arrangement.
I’m more interested in finding out what Mohamud Hassan did in the many hours between being released from police custody in Cardiff Bae and arriving back at the residence in Roath, the taxi journey, and the toxicology report. As well has whether Lee Jasper, not actually being of legal qualification or social services registered in Wales can justify in his travel to Wales from his London home. I suspect Adam Price and Leanne Wood in the Senedd has jumped on the wrong bandwagon, even if the beat of that band is somewhat jaunty.
Thanks for the video link, I didn’t realise Elizabeth Cotton had written it. You learn something every day.
Regarding Lee Jasper, a professional agitator, in yesterday’s WM he was quoted as saying, “When it comes to suspicious deaths in custody there is no justice in this country”. Does he realise the death did not occur in custody? And which country is he referring to?
Yes. She wrote it. Elizabeth Cotton was originally a chapel singer in Carrboro, North Carolina. The chapels, both Bethel and Calfaria (opposite sides of the street), were established as an offshoot of the devotees of the Pencader Hundred. You may hear the Welsh hymn melodies in her music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgQEOkuCRZ0{removetoplay}
From 3:35
Perhaps Adam Price might have understood some of his own cultural history when he spent time in the US rather than making crass assumptions based on the colour of someone’s skin. I wonder after our independence we could get Cerys Mathews together with Huw Edwards and explore this rich and diverse vein of our history. Too Welsh for the BBC?
Brychan, there is an issue with the general conduct of various SWP officers of all ranks. I accept that the message coming down from the top is somewhat garbled but, and it’s a big but, there is something quite unsavoury about the enthusiasm of front line officers for the task of stopping vehicles and issuing fines. Some months ago NO serving member of same SWP force could be got off his/her fat arse to pursue a criminal whose identity was already confirmed by film evidence presented by a victim. Had that victim elected to dish out a spot of his own “justice” – a dose of brick rashing or similar – you can rest assured that SWP would have pursued that matter to the extreme. They just don’t get it – crime has to be tackled swiftly not by spending hours checking whether the alleged perps or the victims ticked so many boxes on some entitlement matrix.
Those tick boxes are drawn by our lords and masters in London. You will also notice a difference in stop and question policy over the last nine months between GogPlod or DPP as opposed to SWP. This is due to the politics of police commissioner. I expect foul play of senior ranks of SWP is more likely on the Tawe at Clydach than at Penrhiwceiber or Pontcanna on the Taf. Now there’s a case to get your teeth into.
Don’t bash front line officers.
Recently, in an unrelated event, I spent time doing CPR on a casualty and needed home office police to prevent drugged bystanders from frustrating my efforts. When asked by the paramedic on the 999 call if the patient had blue lips, I said no. The casualty was black. Perhaps some members of the Senedd should offer support and stop posturing, especially those who claim to want ministerial powers over policing and justice.
Where front line officers act in an unwarranted high handed manner it is appropriate to take issue. Some of these people get a bit carried away especially when they get the nod from above. You make a fair point in picking out the politics of the PCC known locally as a man who like to flex his minimal muscles when there is scope for a touch of political showboating. Shame he can’t address old fashioned crime with the same vigour. SWP is rapidly getting a reputation for never being around when needed, but serve up an alleged hate crime or a spot of Covid rule breaching and boy the response is ultra shit hot. Anything to do with being driven by statistics ?
You can measure a Welsh police force by how they deal with drug addiction as well as how the county lines supply chain can operate.
NWP – Refer to third sector who provide clean syringes to escalate addition.
DPP – Confiscate the possession and issue a fine.
Gwent – Bash down some doors to find more stash.
SWP – Refer to third sector for a flat on the mountain or hostel if Cardiff.
It depends on how the PCC interprets targets and weekly policy initiatives sent down from the Home Office in London. It’s also where the supply chain is managed, as well as where many of the pushers and addicts originate. NHS Wales picks up the damage as does the host communities.
They know fine well why they use the term. It’s to close down debate – mustn’t debate with a ‘fascist’.
It is of no surprise that Antifa are now attacking offices of the Democrat Party in the United States. It’s happened before when the Antifaschistische Aktion, a front organisation of the Communist Party of Germany decided that the Nazis, although a fascist party were not the real enemy, but the real enemy was global, also in the German sense Jewish, international capitalism.
In 1931 Antifaschistische Aktion united with the Nazis in the Prussian Landtag referendum, an attempt to dissolve the Prussian Parliament. It failed. The Prussian parliament, a devolved administration, was the last part of Germany to remain democratic.
This was where the joint black and red flag emblem was invented. It can still be seen today in Antifa iconography.
Perhaps people like Leanne Wood MS should spend less time trying to be right on cool and seek out first hand reports of these historical events of this time by examining the archives that used to be housed in the Maerdy Workingmen’s Hall, which I believe are now held in the National Library in Aberystwyth.
Of note is the objection to support for Antifaschistische Aktion by the South Wales Miners Federation and a tactical split in Wales from the Communist Party of Great Britain. As a result, Arthur Horner travelled to Moscow in 1931 to appeal against his expulsion from the Comintern. They, at the time, were supporting the Communist Party of Germany in alliance with the Nazis with the view to overthrow capitalism.
Hope Leanne enjoys her weekly lockdown walk and takes time to think things through.
If she looks down on Cwmparc she will see the tailings of the Dare colliery. It’s where the colliers remained underground to prevent an alternative union being formed in 1935. That scab union also featured the black and red flag. It was when it first appeared in Wales. I need no Twitter to make this comment, just a few scars from the Gellideg and Garw black stuff.
Brychan, you never fail to amaze me. And to educate us all.
It’s the territory that’s amazing, Jac. Our country. Rhondda does not need tips from the coffee shops of Islington, nor the supplements in the Guardian. It’s the hard lessons of our history that should be referred to in order to recognise false flags or agent provocateurs who descend to Wales with dubious narratives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I24fSktQKEs%5Bremovetoplay%5D
Many versions of this.
If Leanne Wood wishes to stride the path of socialism in our quest for independence, that’s fine, but are not the gift horse of others. Also, don’t try bypass the sospans with a forked tongue. I’m sure both James Connolly and Arthur Horner would have agreed this on the barricades in Dublin in 1916.
Just noticed this :
https://nation.cymru/news/this-is-what-were-up-against-police-slam-english-teenagers-who-planned-to-climb-welsh-mountain-in-dark/
Sometimes you just got to let wasters like these go ahead fall off the mountain and die of exposure or trauma. Also announce that there are no rescue services on duty. Later on pay the teams a big bonus for going up to scrape up the remains. In the present situation no-one should shed tears over such plonkers.
Jac says in the tweet column :
I’m hearing that the managers at Ysbyty Gwynedd have had their Covid jabs, ahead of the nurses. Is this true @BetsiCadwaladr?
Most probably. The survival instinct is well developed among these morons, especially senior managers without any clinical/medical professional qualification, you know, accountants and H.R muppets. These are the cvnts who make the lives of professional medics and nurses a living hell not just at Betsi but almost everywhere. Classic grey suited nasty bits or work. Well suited to a bit of target practice when the time comes.
There are new Wales rural slums called ONE PLANET SITES.
Take as a typical example the recent TV feature with TV presenter Ben Fogle in West Wales.
This but one of many examples around rural Wales today and there will be more. They create several issues:-
1) There’s just not enough land in all of the UK for all 65 million of us to live in a rural “paradise”. We can all visit the countryside and coasts by visiting it sensibly and relax or exercise there with respect to farmers and nature in the rural countryside without having to live in it in privilege in “One Planet” slum shacks;
2) None of us would get similar planning permission to even build a small modest new dwelling in the open countryside even with all sustainable inclusions e.g maximum insulation; ground heat source; solar panels; where possible recycled building materials up to fire safety regulations – the list is long. Planners and Regulations would say a big “no !” unless we could prove it was absolutely essential for agriculture; fisheries or forestry. ;
3) “ONE PLANET” can only be done in rural Wales (not the rest of UK) and the “Green” publications across the UK are advocating for people to come here without work (or our language) with the complicity of a lot of our own politicians;
4) They can breach all normal planning permissions and building regulations (even in National Parks / Scenic Areas) which locals cannot. Rural villagers everywhere are being forced out by good life rich people who buy up every available cottage and smallholding. Now, hippy style life poor people are creating a new second influx by creating new ugly rural slum dwellings called ONE PLANET as approved uniquely in Wales in the UK by Wales Government Policy Tan 6. This is causing resentment in long standing local rural dwellers;
5) None of them are 100% viable – they only need to be about 65% viable and live ‘Off Grid’ – and that’s difficult for regulators to check. So frequently the ONE PLANET good lifers need to fall back on State Benefits that we pay for via our taxes. They certainly use all other public facilities like Health and Hospitals etc.. I am certainly in favour of some of my own taxes helping genuinely poorer people and giving to overseas aid, but these people have volunteered for this life. Why should I subsidise them? They contribute nothing to the nation. The family featured by Ben Fogle even had their costly publicly funded education paid by us for a long education to become Vets (in this example) to live off grid in a shack – what a total waste of our money. I do not want to unfairly just pick out them they are just a topical typical example of many. They brought the spotlight on themselves by inviting in Ben Fogle;
6) Only a few will agree with the next bit – outsider ONE PLANET good lifers are undermining the Welsh language in rural Wales. I say “only a few will agree” – as in a recent survey it is so sad that only 62% of the population of Wales now identify themselves as being Welsh. We will be a minority soon – then look out when most Welsh institutions will fade away or even forced to disband – even our Sports Teams! Why support Wales Rugby if you do not identify as being Welsh? Why teach Welsh when the soon to be a majority do not want to feel to be Welsh? As the late Poet Nigel Jenkins said before his death “Cornwall is the haunting spectre!”;
7) The root cause of all this is the Wales Government unique Planning Policy TAN6 masterminded by former Wales Government Minister Jane Davidson who styles herself as a sort of “Science Guru” using titles as “PhD” and “Dr” when she really only has an Honorary Doctorate for ceremonial purposes from Pontypridd. She actually went to a costly Public School in Malvern as the daughter of well to do former Colonialists and went on to get a Lower BA 2nd at Birmingham and a Teaching Certificate from Aberystwyth. No science! Yet she goes to Harvard University to a seminar and calling herself Dr Jane Davidson PhD Emeritus of a Harvard University Faculty. It’s all on the internet – yet we gullible Welsh believe this is a great guru on ONE PLANET SUSTAINABILITY and that these ONE PLANET slums will save the planet! This TAN6 (Technical Advice Note 6) Policy was then adapted formerly by the present Wales Government Minister Lesley Griffiths and Wales’ County Councils and National Parks must adhere to it or lose costly appeals that we will pay for. Dream on if you think they will save the planet! This needs high level policy discussion. Now, not tomorrow.
Well said Dyn Gwyrdd. Analysis spot on. The sooner TAN 6 is reviewed / abolished the better.
Dyn Gwyrdd is more or less correct but I wish that people like ourselves who have lived here for the last 50 years and despite not speaking Welsh do try our best to absorb the culture and the way that indiginous Welsh think. We moved to Wales to work and worked bloody hard for 30 years or more. Enjoyable work too with wonderful Welsh colleagues and friends. We paid the going rate for our home and the homes that our children now occupy. It upsets us greatly that people who are TAN 6 orientated are locking into Wales because of the crass legistlation that Dr whoever she is from Lampeter College got the rules changed for Wales and the idiots in that horrid building called the Sennedd went along with it. The TAN 6 route is not easy and the paperwork is never ending. Witness the first application for two agricultural dwellings and small holdings on Gower that will tax anyones brain never mind the Planners. The primary reason that anyone who gives up land on the periphery of London (growing flowers) to start up a new project in senior years (to grow flowers on windy Gower) is not to save the planet at all. Quite simply it is because you can do this in Wales and what more attractive location could you choose than wonderful Gower ? Its a bloody life style choice plain and simple. Any farmers youngster who wishes to farm and does not have a home is struggling to obtain planning permission and has to jump through hoops and a lot of them . English ‘drop outs’ are attracted to the way of life, location and stupid regulations that allow them in. So we can not blame the opportunists, blamre those who allow them to be so.
TAN6
Gwinllan a roddwyd i’m gofal yw Cymru fy ngwlad,
i’w thraddodi i’m plant, ac i blant fy mhlant,
yn dreftadaeth dragwyddol.
Ac wele’r moch yn rhuthro arni, i’w maeddu.
Minnau yn awr, galwaf ar fy nghyfeillion,
cyffredin ac ysgolhaig,
Deuwch ataf i’r adwy,
Sefwch gyda mi yn y bwlch,
fel y cadwer i’r oesoedd a ddel y glendid a fu.
Fel dwedws criw Cymuned – Dal dy dir.
Fel dwedws Dafis ac eraill – Ffwcia bant nol dros Glawdd Offa !
Same message, different audiences.
Hi Jac – it looks like nobody is interested in challenging these ONE PLANETS. I put it on your Blog and sent it to many many contacts. It has been met with a ghostly hostile silence! Maybe we should all put the tongs in the bosh and hang up the tools on the bar and let the Good Lifers take over. Enjoy ourselves after the Covid vaccinations and let the swine loose into the vineyard. You can take a nag to the water but not force it to drink. I do think we are really facing the future reality of SWUK as a new UK region – disbanding South Wales to join it with Somerset & Bristol & Devon & Cornwall as a new future region called SOUTH WEST UNITED KINGDOM – SWUK ! What would we call North Wales with the West Midlands? Imagine the occasional rugby international in the Millennium Stadium in Bristol North West (formerly known as Cardiff) with the crowd cheering “Come on SWUK!”.
It’s not that nobody is interested, I think it’s because we’ve dealt with the subject time after time on this blog. You aren’t contributing anything new, so there’s nothing to say.
Jac’s right; YesCymru made a big mistake in removing the welcome mat from any potential independence supporters with small ‘c’ conservative views, because it has thereby excluded the majority of the Welsh population. At the same time as it opted for this exclusivity, it asked members to fill in a questionnaire on diversity, presumably with the aim of promoting a ‘big tent’ approach. How does it reconcile these conflicting approaches?
On a party-political level, although I would like to see the back end of all the ‘Red Wall’ Tories who were parachuted in, with dark-money financial support, on the back of Johnson’s electoral success in Dec. 2019, I would have no problem with standing with any Conservative MS or local councilor who came out in support of independence.
Sure stopped me from joining! We need a no nonsense, undiversified republic.
When jac stops, someone please keep it up and form a new party, as Gwlad have
also jumped on the diverse cart.
The whole point of a national movement must be going from small numbers to numbers big enough to win. Not enough to preach only to the soft/woke/socialist choir. It is an absolute necessity to be able to deal with people who do not agree with you 100% but do/might agree on Independence. You give the example of Andrew RTD. I found him straightforward to deal with. He does not now agree with me about Indy. But worked on over time, and given a sensible deal, he just might. We won’t succeed unless somebody makes the effort. Or take someone like David Melding, who definitely is open-minded. But then he has had exposure to something very important – US Republicanism – by studying at William & Mary in Virginia ie right where something important happened
Many US Republicans – by no means all – have a very simple belief in what their country did in 1776 and after. They devised and followed a legal, constitutional and democratic process and built a system of calling people to Conventions, and producing a Constitution. Having done that, they are tolerant about politicians with different opinions. Not easy in the US where there is sadly a culture of corruption and violence, and media lying, especially in Democrat run areas like Chicago, NY City etc. ALL British ex-colonies have drawn on US ideas and processes. Except maybe for New Zealand who nurdled their way to Indy just by being polite, firm, and a long way from London. Wales will have to be at least as polite AND FIRM as NZ. But we need Welsh leaders who actually know how to get, not a woke paradise, but Indy in a practical sense. Who know how to call a Convention, and organise a Reserve Bank, and a Welsh Navy And we have hardly any. That noone stands out in Plaid Cymru is a stunning indictment of its lifelong failure. Just compare them with the SNP or Sinn Fein.
But at least we (just) have you (for now) Jac
J.E. that is interesting about Mr Melding, as the English Democrats bang on about the influence of The English Bill Of Rights on the founding fathers.
Will be funny if the English get Indy before us, though? This is not far fetched.
Jac needs his well deserved rest. DIOLCH, JAC!
Gwlad must become The Welsh Democrats and go for that Constitutional Republic.
(
Big fan as you know, but I can’t help but feel a contradiction between your calling into question people’s ‘reasons’ for wanting independence in one stroke of the keyboard, and the appeal for a big tent approach and cautionary attention being drawn to how close the race could be which followed shortly after.
As regards the EU question, as a soft remainer I believe for all nations in these Isles it’s a case of ‘better in than out’, as four independent states with all the free trade and open borders which come with the package. However as a pragmatist, I’ll take an open border with our only land boundary neighbour over countries we have to sail to or pass through it to reach.
So, if England’s out, then aligning our arrangements with Scotland, Ireland and the Continent accordingly to ensure an open border is the only sensible option as far as I can tell. I’d even have an ear open to some sort of confederation/’Mini EU’ type arrangement if it were workable given the vast size and population differential between our nations.
When it comes to Greens, single-issue obsessives, those pissed off with Boris Johnson, they have swung towards independence for the wrong reasons; they’re fair-weather supporters, they could be gone tomorrow. And yet, if they are prepared to vote for independence, then fair enough, but under no circumstances must they be allowed to dictate today the nature of a future and independent Wales. Any preconditions will alienate a section of potential voters. Keep the canvass clean.
To really bring in committed support and win a referendum we need to convince enough people that the connection between Wales and England will never work to our advantage no matter who is in power in London or Cardiff. Therefore there is no political solution other than full and unfettered independence.
Yes; in a nutshell, more the merrier, whatever their personal reasons, and nobody should be given any platform to hijack the issue for their own agenda(s). Statehood first, then we get down to that kind of nitty gritty. I’ve raised the point on other fora that from my perspective, if I could pin down the biggest weakness of the Scottish movement it’d be its lack of conservative voices (at least as far as I’m aware anyway).
https://www.facebook.com/AFNCymru
I’m too stunned to write. The twpsen behind this is from Wolverhampton.
It’s a real dog’s dinner. No wonder it’s got so few followers. I particularly liked this call to arms (left arms, of course). Though what the final sentence is trying to say is anyone’s guess. I’d like to think it was a Welsh speaker having a bit of trouble with English. But I doubt it, more likely to be a semi-literate leftist.
“We stand together in defence of those most marginalised, we stand together for an Independent Wales that puts wellbeing before profit, we stand against Racism and a societal structure that promotes hatred. London will not take our Diplomacy from us.”
I also noted a bit of Hebrew. Obviously rattled by the anti-Semitism cursing the left.
At a loose end this morning so I started wandering through that WAN Facebook clutter. Interesting to find that on Dec 19th there was an entry about Yr Eryr Wen which acknowledges that it was the symbol of the FWA and omits to engage in any disparaging remarks about Cayo or any of the other members, no mention of “arch Fascist Jac” who also doubles up as Leanne’s “demon in chief”. Does this suggest a rapprochment (always wanted a crack at using a big word !) or was it an editorial blunder ?
Elsewhere they talk of threats to Welsh agriculture. Obviously they haven’t consulted with their pals in Plaid who really couldn’t give a fuck about our family farms.
I’m sure there is some good stuff there. I just wish they’d come down to earth and stop seeing fascists where they don’t exist. They’re not helping anybody, or any cause, by sticking that label on just about anyone they disagree with. But that’s how they operate – vilify, ostracise, and invalidate in advance anything said by those they’ve victimised. It’s not how a democracy is supposed to operate.
My earlier comment about the WAN Facebook stuff was aimed at showing how lightweight they are. They just don’t get it about anything in depth. Their posturing is all about a glossy superficial reaction to any phenomenon that doesn’t fit their narrow orthodoxy. A corrupt use of history and current factual context.
Hence my view that one or more of them dropped a bollock on Yr Eryr. Had they known of your link to FWA and other subsequent differences of opinion with “thought leaders” in the radical hubs of our feeble nationalist movement I suspect they would have found reason to blame Yr Eryr for all the bird shit on their windows ! And the little reference to farming in Wales must have gone in without any of their minimalist editorial controls. No doubt the local Monbiot henchman will be in touch putting them straight on that one.
I loved the bit where the FWA is described as a “socialist movement”. I would love to hear this tool explain that to Cayo.
Where was that?
All the followers of Eryr Wen were bona fide socialists according to this. Get down to the 19th Dec item lodged at 05.17 to see it all attributed to dear old Harri Webb. He was a good old republican, and socialist, but above all Gwlad garwr. Which oddly enough is a fairly accurate description of muggins by ‘ere !
I got to laugh at this, a bunch of cnuts now distorting the legend to suit their purposes. No doubt in a few weeks some twat will be scribbling a long diatribe about likes of us hijacking the noble bird for our own perverted aims before being derailed by that great original wokey, Jock Wilson of the Yard. Twisting history is a core discipline for these plonkers.
Reading the comments it’s clear that a few people know that the FWA was not socialist.
But then, after showing what a clever boy/girl/other/non-binary he/she/they/it is they blot their copybook by calling Saunders Lewis a “raging fascist” because he supported Franco. Lewis was a convert to Catholicism and religion played a vital role in the Spanish Civil War, with priests and nuns being killed, churches destroyed, by Republican elements.
Franco was an an old-fashioned, Latin, Clerical reactionary. Something as revolutionary as fascism or Nazism terrified him. If he’d been the fascist some allege he would have joined Hitler and Mussolini in 1940. He didn’t, because he wasn’t a fascist. And neither was Saunders Lewis.
iesu grist Jac, surely you can’t excuse Franco. Whatever “politico” label he’s given he was a dictator in the same vein as Hitler and Mussolini. He was responsible for the torture, death and false imprisonment of 10s of thousands of his fellow Spaniards. He’d have an interesting attitude towards the public speaking of Welsh, just ask the Catalans and the Basques.
I do wonder if you are now following the Eddie Murphy/Richard Prior model…the nearer I get to the end the more outrageous I’ll be…..whatever, still shocking.
Why do I have to keep saying this – read what I actually wrote!
I made no no attempt to ‘excuse’ Franco. I was addressing the allegation that Saunders Lewis was a “raging fascist” because he supported Franco. I pointed out that Franco was not a fascist, and neither was Lewis. I did not ‘excuse’ Franco. Do you understand the difference between clarifying something and giving support?
You come across as not a lot different to these kids who see everything in simple black and white. Saves having to think, I suppose.
Fair enough, just the language you use about Franco makes him sound like a good old fashioned boy who was being tarred with being a fascist. This can often lead to mis understanding/interpretation (ask Iain hislop). Doesn’t matter what he was, label wise, he was a cunt. And remember “no one expects the Spanish Inquisition”
I was explaining that Franco was a clerical reactionary nationalist driven by an image of the ‘true, traditional Spain’ that put him closer to de Valera than to Hitler or Mussolini. I say that because both were prepared to fight to preserve a country that may never have existed, or was already gone.
But he was not a fascist, and neither was Saunders Lewis.
Oh dear, Jac is slipping into his right wing dotage with a vengeance.
Wales is generally considered a socialist country – that’s with a small ‘s’ – because it has never voted for a majority of Tories at Westminster, at least since WWII.
Cherry picking little factoids and trying to disprove them to justify your little rant is just plain silly.
For example you can’t distinguish between conservatives with a small ‘c’ and a large ‘C’ unless you do the same for socialists/Socialists.
You can’t claim that members of the Labour Party are secret right wing supporters, unless you also allow for the fact that there may be some in the Conservative Party with leanings to the left
Your misuse of history just makes you look incompetent. For example telling us that the Merthyr Riots (1831) weren’t caused by Marxist dogma seems a tad irrelevant, because Marx (born 1818) was only about 13 years old at the time. etc.
If this shambolic and confused rhetoric is going to be your contribution to the ongoing political debate then it’s probably best not to wait until after the elections to the Senedd but to go now.
It is a pity to see an author, who has contributed so much in terms of exposing graft and corruption in Wales, descend into this geriatric, right wing propaganda exercise shorn of any logic and sense; although I suppose most of your regular readers would have realised things were deteriorating when you started to tell us of your delusions about Gwlad and McEvoy’s version of the Tooting Popular Front leading us to independence.
May I take this opportunity to wish you well in retirement.
You are a one! You come here with an ad hominem rant and accuse me of losing it.
Anyway, now that I’ve stopped laughing . . . Why don’t you help us all out by explaining the difference between socialist and Socialist? See, I’m even giving you a chance to parade your cleverness!
He can’t comment because it will take up a lot of space but contain nothing of value. Empty vessel syndrome ?
Quite correct. Wales is not a socialist country. Only someone who thinks that voters know or care about ideological nuances would say that. Voters are tribal and mostly don’t know about ideology. Politics is messy and complicated. We don’t need the stupid-left dominating Welsh independence.
Two points, Yann:
1/ Jac was pointing out how certain mentally-constipated individuals have erroneously grafted a ‘Marxist’ label onto a number of anti-establishment insurrections and protest movements in Wales in the 19th Century. These insurrections and protest movements were free of any ideology coming from outside Wales.
2/ As a unionist, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the independence movement is a right-wing movement just because it is not predicated on Socialism. If you must use such outdated concepts a Left and Right, bear in mind that once you begin to support independence for Wales, you are anti the Establishment and more left wing than those who are currently trying to highjack the indy movement to promote their own pet causes.
Jac where did you get that jacket mun ? I thought you were just a combat jacket/winter parka type of rebel !
Turning to the serious side for a minute. This reads like – Llef un yn llefain yn y diffeithwch – a cry in the wilderness. Sadly that is my view right now. The plotters – a mixed bag of single issue nutters blending in with clusters of political careerists and opportunists – are beavering away to divert energy that should focus on genuine liberation. These buffoons will be carving up the economic cake long before its ingredients are mustered, they will poison kids through the education system and enslave ordinary people with wholesale petty regulations which in isolation will not seem much but when aggregated will be mighty Orwellian ( or Monbiotic !).
Well fuck them, if we can’t have a decent open free Wales I’ll opt for personal freedom instead and kill any of the bastards that darkens my doorstep.
My excuse is that it was a picture for an election pamphlet! Though I confess to ownership of the jacket. The bloke with me, Ray Williams of Gendros (long dead), was a tidy bloke; footballer, lorry driver, the type that would be frowned upon in today’s Plaid Cymru. Or just wouldn’t join.
Those jackets were the biz at one time, can’t place exactly when ! I had a similar style,loud check, biggest lapels ever, used to wear it to special events like interviews and do’s where ties etc was needed.
Ah! the days of works do’s. When a young fellow could get rat-arsed on some revolting keg beer, tell the boss to sling his hook, try it on with a few of the older female colleagues (stocking tops and suspenders!), then throw up in the car park before boarding the bus and singing all the way home. Happy days!
Interesting, Jac. I agree that everyone should be entitled to their opinion and if thoughts/opinions/actions become dictated within certain parameters then we may as well all fuck of to “Animal Farm”. Not too much difference between raving Communist and Fascist dictatorships…body counts maybe about even.
For me, independence only works if economically viable and I have still yet to see anything that looks vaguely so for Wales. Our friends in the North (wee Jimmie K and chums) still have their plans predicated on oil (the devil’s sputum to many of our woke friends)….a very precarious path to go down. They think they will get better deals from rejoining the EU, but that’s very, very speculative. However, as you indicate, at least they voted to remain in the EU….unlike in Wales.
I’m all for politicians working for the greater good and not their own little pet projects and if they could do so brilliant….but unlikely.
Too much vitriol and self serving contemp abound, on all sides. It is unacceptable, unless directed at the orchestrator of all things wrong with modern Britain…that witch Thatcher, hopefully now in the 7th circle of hell…..iawn boi
“Wee Jimmie K” is very disrespectful description of a formidable politician. And Scotland has a lot more than oil.
You’re just trotting out the arguments that have been used since the end of WWII – ‘Malta won’t survive’, ‘Singapore can’t afford independence’, etc. They’ve all done well, not one former colony has asked the English to return and rule over them.
The Russians used the same arguments against the Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians. They’re all doing fine!
Every colonial power uses the same argument. And every time it’s self-serving bollocks.
” Wee Jimmie K” is very disrespectful description of a formidable politician.”
I agree that it is disrespectful especially in light of recent experience of watching all four of the UK’s prime ministers in action through the Covid crisis and the Brexit fiasco. Ms Sturgeon is evidently very driven to contain and overcome the Covid mess and has projected a balanced sane leadership style. This is so unlike the demented Boris whose persistent use of superlatives to describe what often turns out to be woefully inadequate and badly thought out suggests that he has no compass at all, moral or otherwise. Indeed Boris contrives to make our Drakeford look worthy, which takes some doing.
Where your description as “formidable” loses some of its validity is in Ms Sturgeon’s inability to tackle the “gender identity” militancy which is undermining the unity and integrity of the SNP and the wider Scottish nationalist community. Like our noisy wokish clusters here in Wales there are groups in Scotland promoting these fashionable ishoos far beyond their relevance and in so doing they have overturned or fudged the priorities. This has happened on Ms Sturgeon’s watch and she and her partner have to shoulder responsibility for that.
You’ve mentioned this a few times, but I can’t find anything about it. Though it doesn’t seem to be doing the SNP or the Indy movement any real harm. Let’s hope that the momentum is so great up there that nothing can derail it.
Though you have to wonder if there isn’t a ‘guiding hand’ behind these loonies.
Have a look at Wings over Scotland passim for the fury this has caused.
Will do.
That’s where I been seeing much of it although it also crops up on self congratulatory weirdo sites.
Scotland indeed has a lot more than oil BUT their economic independence platform was founded on it.
All of our politicians deserve a little disrespect at time…no need for Jac to be “tugging his forelock”.
I’m not against independence but it has to be economically viable otherwise what’s the point? It doesn’t matter that I haven’t got a job/place to live/food etc….at least my Country is independent…crazy.
Lots of emmigration from your Baltic states, once the Ruskies jacked it in….wonder why?
Name me a country that is in a worse position after independence.
Emigration from the Baltic States after independence was usually Russians going ‘home’ and natives going abroad for work or for an education. But there’s less of both nowadays.
Plenty, but let’s start with Rhodesia, as was…..absolute basket case. Their economic plan, as bread basket of Africa, was quite simple….carry on as before…..failed. Wales’ problem is our proximity to England….if our economy fails people will fuck off. Too many of our brightest doing that already
Be reasonable. Think of countries that approximate to working democracies and were not run by sociopathic kleptocrats.
Rhodesia would have prospered had the Smith regime been open to gradual change leading to eventual democratisation of the country. Instead it swapped a post imperial segregated state for a tribal authoritarian model which swiftly sank into kleptocracy. Bad white model replaced by even worse black model. All supervised by indifferent Brit toffs in Foreign and Colonial Office !
Ii.e Johnson and chums
Chwarae teg, it was long before BoJo’s time.
Indeed, factor in the effects of UN and British economic and monetary sanctions, factional infighting which left Rhodesia with little hope of social cohesion or economic prosperity with Mugabe in power.
Seems as though our friend who resides on the isle of Anglesey picked up on the word ‘Socialism ‘ in the second sentence of the Wikipedia entry and ran with it before doing his due diligence.
Lot of Baltics and other E.Europeans have returned to their own countries after spending a few years in UK and elsewhere in Western Europe. They like taking their hard earned loot home and using it to buy homes, set up own businesses etc.
Top class work ethic of the many has been tainted by the criminality of the relatively few. Lot of native Brits should have learned from their example but instead spent too much time whining about missing out on jobs they didn’t want to do anyway.
If you wait for economic viability you will never get independence. Or are you suggesting that we go to Westminster and ask nicely for them to beef up the Welsh economy with independence to follow ? You can imagine what Boris would say, and it would be no better if Starmer, Farage, or some LimpDem was running the show. They always look after London and the choice bits of England first and foremost.
If you want prosperity you have to strive for it and going out on our own is a far healthier platform for future prospects. Staying as we are means we are consigned to being a peripheral subordinate colonial entity which will be fully assimilated in due course.
hmm. have to disagree….wee Jimmie K (specially for you Jac) said that the Scots would not consider Independence unless able to do so economically. Fair play to them, they had an economic plan…but it was just incorrectly predicated on oil. In Wales, I’ve yet to see an economic plan for Independence….ever.
Disagree as much as you like. Likes of you will act as an eternal brake on progress. “Don’t move now it’s too dangerous, someone might do away with my cushy middle class job in the ruling bureaucracy.” Best get the economy on an even keel, is it ? Well Wales’ economy will never be on an even keel if you wait for UK to sort it out for you. Guys like John Ball have already outlined the big lies that underpin the dependency culture. Look him up read and learn. You might then have the inner confidence to get off your knees and chuck away that begging bowl.
Disgusting servility in a grown man is really offensive. Ironic that you refer to N Sturgeon as wee Jimmie when it is amply evident that she has more backbone and shape than you are ever likely to develop.
Hmmm, a bit over the top there methinks. I’ve read some of John Ball’s stuff and don’t find it sets out “where the money is going to come from”. not sure where I’ve said we should wait for the UK to “sort it out”….the Scots didn’t. It’s just I’ve yet to see anything costed remotely as accurately as the Scots have, and I wasn’t convinced by their figures.
I’m not servile to anyone but I aint a lemming either.
Lemming ? Nah. They dive whereas you too busy hugging the ground and shitting yourself in case the country goes bust . We’ll check out the reality, most countries are bust if you apply mad Maggie’s “household budget” model. The reality is that most governments issue currency and credits to meet the needs of the nation and Covid has shafted the myth of austerity and “restraint”. Learn to leave the chains and shackles behind you.
Lots of unecessary vitriol and bile. With a nod to Hans Christian Anderson I don’t think I’d fancy living in Emporor Daftis’ new World. “everything is fine emperor…the people don’t want to work and they like living on the streets. But what shall I tell them when they ask for food, as they are starving”….”Let them eat Welsh Cakes”, Daftis replied.
I’m not sure your grasp of economic theory is good enough to start espousing about currency issues and bonds. Suggest you read up on the Weimar Republic, and our friends in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) first, then move on slowly from there.
If you are so wedded to the status quo you should not really engage in discussion with people who are ready for change. It only serves to upset you in your cosy little existence.
I will draw lessons on economics from people who have the imagination to consider change not those who look back to historical mistakes for their supply of excuses for standing still.
Sometime in the future we shall probably see you outside the Senedd, or similar place, along with other servile pliable “subjects” of this feeble Principality protesting your wish to remain under the benevolent wing of the good old Union when people with a bit of backbone will strive to become citizens of the republic, democratic, socialist or whatever carries the majority.