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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After recent postings on YesCymru it’s time to analyse what happened at last Saturday’s AGM before considering where it might lead.
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DEMOCRACY AND THE LEFT
Let me start by spelling out what happened. And then explain why.
In a nutshell: the left, operating from its bases in Undod and elsewhere, captured YesCymru using its woke ‘guerrillas’ advancing under the smokescreen of ‘diversity’.
Among themselves the leftists justify both the coup and the future direction of travel by claiming that ‘Wales is a socialist country’. A claim supported by pointing to the fact that most of us vote for Labour and Plaid Cymru. Which in turn depends on accepting that a) these parties are indeed socialist and b) all who vote for them are socialists.
Which is just one misconception piled upon another.
While Plaid Cymru could credibly be called a socialist party Labour can be anything you want it to be, certainly the Welsh branch of the party.
As for the voters, most of those who vote Labour in Wales do so out of self-interest, believing Labour will keep taxes low, benefits high, while looking after the NHS. These Labour voters tend to be social conservatives, and most voted for Brexit.
Plaid Cymru is more obviously socialist than Labour, but the distance between the party policy-makers and the party’s voters may be greater than in Labour. People from across the ideological spectrum vote for Plaid Cymru because they want independence, while others – especially in western areas – vote for the party because they see it as the party that best supports the Welsh language.
So, only a minority of those who vote for Labour and Plaid Cymru are socialists. With self-identifying socialists increasingly concentrated in an anti-Brexit, climate conscious, gender-obsessed middle class bubble that every year drifts further away from most Labour and Plaid Cymru voters.
To the point where many on the ‘Welsh’ left now identify better with the English middle class and the metropolitan elite than with working class Welsh people.
It’s important to stress that the Conservative Party does not have this problem. People know exactly what they’re voting for because it does what it says on the tin. (This greatly annoys the left . . . but they still don’t get it!)
The reality of the mismatch was brought home to the comrades in the Plaid Cymru leadership contest of September 2018, when the socialist candidate, and then leader, Leanne Wood, came a poor third in a three-horse race.
That election was open to all members of the party. The left has not made the same mistake again.
In the Plaid Cymru party conference held in Swansea just over a year later only those present in the venue – just over 500 people – were allowed to vote. (And it was ensured that the ‘right’ people were in attendance.)
I covered these shenanigans in ‘Plaid Cymru, where to now?’
Which meant that most party members were effectively disenfranchised even though a postal ballot could easily have been organised, as was done with the leadership contest the previous year.
The scheming involved was so obvious that academic and writer Seimon Brooks was moved to compare the 2019 result with that of the previous year. While Alwyn ap Huw described the machinations as a Stalinist coup.
These Plaid Cymru votes from 2018 and 2019 explain why YesCymru did not allow a postal ballot for the Central Committee elections and motions submitted to last Saturday’s AGM.
Instead, debate was restricted to 400 or so logged in to the online deliberations. Representing less than 3% of the 18,500 members.
Yes, Alwyn, another Stalinist coup.
Though, as you know, I’m a generous old bugger, so I’ll give YesCymru a chance to explain why it couldn’t organise a postal ballot.
I don’t expect an answer because I already know it – the left cannot afford open and fair elections because it knows it will lose.
Proving that there is nothing new in all the world. For this is how the old Communist Party used to operate in places I worked over 50 years ago. Call a meeting at short notice, at a time and place awkward for most people but for which your people are ready. At the meeting, control the agenda, decide who can and can’t speak, and then – make sure you count the votes.
What the left did with Plaid Cymru in October 2019 and YesCymru last Saturday is the old Communist Party playbook updated for the 21st century.
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BRAVE NEW WORLD
You’ll get a good idea of what sort of people support the takeover from celebratory tweets put out very soon after the AGM. Here are a couple for you to savour.
To explain . . .
‘TERF’ means trans-exclusionary radical feminist. A silly and insulting term used to describe any woman who refuses to accept a man with penis and testicles as a woman. In other words, the attitude of most people in the real world.
This is the term that has been constantly used in the recent attacks on Dr Dilys Davies and Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones.
“Fashy phobes” means fascist transphobes. Because of course, in the black and white world of these fanatics, if you don’t agree with them then you must be a fascist. A transphobe is anyone – usually a man – who agrees with the ‘TERFs’. Roughly 95% of the population.
As of Saturday, who’s running the show?
Three of the four officers are: Siôn Jobbins (Chair); Sarah Rees (Vice-Chair); and Gwyn Llewelyn (Treasurer); all of whom were returned unopposed.
Though Jobbins may not be as secure as being returned unopposed might suggest. Someone sent me this tweet, posted on the very day of the AGM. As you’ll see, @thbuff98 was in an exchange with ‘BVB’, who appears in the panel above.
Jobbins may be too easy-going, and has perhaps not appreciated the approaching danger; so it might be karma if he is the left’s next victim. Though I’m sure he has no connection with the political party Gwlad.
Will this be the excuse used to remove him?
I can’t tell you a lot about Shane Brennan because his election statement to the members has been taken down. Perhaps because he became a shoo-in for Secretary after Iestyn ap Rhobert withdrew.
Though I do know that he first came to Wales to study at Aberystwyth, joined Plaid Cymru around twenty years ago, went home to England to work for a few years, before coming back to Wales to take a job in finance.
He was the Plaid Cymru candidate in the 2011 Assembly elections for the Alyn and Deeside constituency, and supported Leanne Wood for the party leadership.
Now let’s introduce the other members of the Central Committee. I shall do this by providing a link to their election statement supplemented perhaps by a comment.
Most of these statements contain a link to a video by the candidate.
CARYS ELERI (re-elected) Seems to be a performing artist with a YouTube channel.
LLYWELYN AP GWILYM (re-elected) Is the son of Eurfyl ap Gwilym (of Paxman interview fame). I don’t know if he’s in a relationship with Carys Eleri but his Twitter account carries the quote: “A wonderful human” – @caryseleri.
NIKITA JONES May be one of the more rational among the new intake. Certainly, in her favour is the fact that the wokie jackal pack turned on her just before the AGM. This is often a good sign. Time will tell.
BEN GWALCHMAI Seems to be the head honcho of that bizarre outfit, Labour for an Independent Wales. About as convincing as ‘DUP for a United Ireland’.
As I’ve pointed out before, Labour for an Independent Wales is quite clear about its objective: “Socialism through independence”. Meaning independence is only desirable if it delivers socialism.
Does that mean that if an independent Wales votes to not be socialist Gwalchmai and his mates will campaign for re-joining whatever is left of the UK? Especially if there’s a Labour government in Westminster?
TORI WEST (re-elected) Is another artist. In this ‘get to know . . . ‘ piece from Dazed digital magazine in June 2020 there’s no mention of Wales, let alone Welsh independence. Which is odd, seeing as West was on the YC Central Committee.
(But then, as a number of people have pointed out, independence wasn’t mentioned during Saturday’s AGM either.)
Soon after the AGM West put out this rather worrying tweet.
I describe it as worrying because a possible motive for takeover I’ve avoided mentioning until now – despite numerous people suggesting it – is YesCymru’s money. The balance sheet given at the AGM showed an annual income of £365,413, expenditure of £156,792; with almost £198,348 in the bank, and stock valued at £23,500.
(As one of those “marginalised Welsh creatives” I shall of course be applying for a grant.)
ANDREW O’BRIEN Comes from Port Talbot, he’s a Swans fan (which is obviously in his favour), and seems to want independence with no distractions. Time will tell.
RACHEL COOZE Perhaps the kindest thing to say about Rachel Cooze is that she comes from Swansea. Other than that, she seems to have ordered every dish on the Woke menu. To the point where she now sees YesCymru as the agency to rid Wales of the fascists, racists, transphobes, etc that are everywhere. Everywhere!
Cooze appeared prominently in an earlier post, ‘Hopes of Welsh independence being jeopardised by the hard left’.
ELIN HYWEL Seems to live a relatively quiet life. She has written for far left Undod (not encouraging) but I can’t tell you much more about her.
UPDATE 27.05.2021: This tweet, and the fact that is was re-tweeted by Mark Hooper, strongly suggests that Elin Hywel also belongs to the woke left.
In addition, YesCymru now has two full-time officials. One, the Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Jessica (formerly Matthew) Harvey, is a transsexual woman. While the other, the Campaigns Officer, is Harriet Protheroe-Soltani, of Momentum.
They complement each other perfectly because the issue nowadays for the far left is ‘transsexual rights’. With the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights being controlled by hard left Momentum.
The AGM also agreed to create an Equality and Diversity Sub-committee.
Put it all together and if it doesn’t convince you of the direction YesCymru is headed, then you must be a bit dim or part of the problem.
Or maybe this will help. Put out late last night by the ‘Communalism or Barbarism’ Twitter account.
First, it somehow conflates the left’s takeover of YesCymru with the recent Senedd elections, and presents the result in the manner of a Wikipedia entry on a war or a battle.
Some of the ‘combatants’ are unknown to me, and I’m not sure that all those on the side of the left would welcome their inclusion in those ranks.
Like those behind it, it’s puerile, amusing, even superficially clever; but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Though it confirms and celebrates that the left has taken over YesCymru . . . but justifies it by arguing that YC has been saved from fascism!
For as I suggested earlier, when dealing with these extremists you soon learn that everyone who opposes them, and everyone they attack, is a fascist. So that makes it OK.
‘Fascist’ has been devalued to a catch-all term for a political opponent. I’m not sure who benefits from this devaluation, except perhaps, genuine fascists.
Here’s a link to a pdf version of the tweet.
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BEGINNING OF THE END?
Regular readers will know that I’m not a big fan of Nation.Cymru, but my attention was drawn to something published on that site last Saturday, almost certainly to coincide with the YesCymru AGM.
Penned by Ifan Morgan Jones it had the catchy title: The big question YesCymru needs to answer is: ‘What went right in 2020?’ The important section is worth quoting in full:
“I think that changing YesCymru’s central tenet as a neutral movement would be a big mistake, for a few reasons:
Firstly, while I agree that independence for the sake of it would be pointless, no kind of independence is independence for the sake of it. Any kind would transfer more democratic power away from an established political elite at Westminster and into the hands of the people of Wales. There is no independence ‘for the sake of it’ – it’s a massive constitutional upheaval in itself and will radically change how Wales is run. Either that is, in and of itself, a fundamentally good idea or YesCymru should stop campaigning now because nothing beyond that is guaranteed.
Secondly, because nothing beyond independence is guaranteed, no one can honestly promise a single vision of an independent Wales to the people of the nation. The future ideological direction of an independent Wales would be chosen by the people of Wales, at a Senedd election after the referendum, not by any promises made by YesCymru beforehand. As much as I would personally like to see a socialist, progressive independent Wales, that’s dependent not just on independence but the public deciding, in an independent Wales, to throw their weight behind socialist, progressive parties.
Thirdly, there is no guarantee that selling a particular ideological vision to the people of Wales would be in any way effective. While everyone in YesCymru may have an idea of what a post-independence Wales would look like, they’re likely to all have different ones, and backing one of them would alienate others. As Plaid Cymru demonstrated at the recent Senedd election, voters don’t necessarily want a laundry list of specific promises. In fact, the party with the vaguest manifesto of all ended up winning.”
The fraction of YesCymru members that voted at Saturday’s AGM didn’t heed those wise words. Those who now control YesCymru intend promoting a plethora of diversionary concerns, and independence will soon be relegated to just another issue, or dropped altogether.
You’ve already read Tori West suggesting that those in control start divvying up the YesCymru money among their friends. Sorry! “marginalised Welsh creatives”.
Someone else quick off the blocks was ‘Kemp’, of @YesYBynie.
Can anyone explain what this has to do with the campaign for an independent Wales? And where will the money come from to pay ‘contributors’? (And I bet there’ll be no mention of Abram Wood.)
As I’ve said before, Yes Y Bynie (Bynea) is a one-woman show, set up because she found YesCymru Llanelli to be uncongenial, as it’s membership is made up of level-headed people who want to focus on independence.
But perhaps the most important reason that YesCymru is heading down a blind alley is because of recent developments around protected characteristics and related matters.
To explain (as best I can) . . .
I’m sure you’ve heard of Stonewall. In recent years this LGBTQ+ organisation has built up a great business advising government departments, police forces, universities, private companies, and other bodies on matters sexual and gender related.
But recent developments have exposed Stonewall to be both partisan and dishonest.
The problem is one that Stonewall brought on itself by becoming fixated with trans issues. Sound familiar?
Stonewall’s promotion of ‘trans rights’ resulted in academics being ‘no-platformed’, feminists and others being hounded as ‘TERFs’ and ‘transphobes’, and lies being told about ‘persecution’ suffered by trans people.
It all came crashing down last week with a number of announcements. These included:
Stonewall had been telling lies to Essex University. This resulted in the university being forced into apologising to two academics for them being no-platformed following protests by trans extremists egged on by Stonewall.
As this article from the Spectator put it: “Both professors Jo Phoenix and Rosa Freedman have views which accord with our current laws on gender identity”. But Stonewall was deliberately misinterpreting the law to serve its trans agenda.
Other organisations severed their links with Stonewall and yesterday the Guardian, in this report, told us that the Equality and Human Rights Commission would no longer be linked to Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme.
You know how far Stonewall has fallen when it tries to get a Black lesbian lawyer sacked.
And so it was no surprise to read that the Stonewall UK media director was standing back due to a ‘tsunami of transphobia’. The truth is of course that he’s leaving because Stonewall has been caught out in lies.
But that can’t be admitted, so it has to be ‘transphobia’. Which, if you think about it, should be a reason for staying, because isn’t ‘transphobia’ what Stonewall is fighting?
It would be reasonable therefore to conclude that Stonewall has capitulated.
At the head of this section, and in the title of this posting, I suggest that YesCymru could be heading for the rocks, and there are two main reasons for me thinking this.
First, following the AGM, YesCymru is firmly under the control of ishoo-mongers, obsessives, and the hard left. These will insist on YC fighting on many different fronts, thereby dissipating its energies and making enemies unnecessarily.
Second, the one issue that unites the dangerous and intolerant fanatics that hounded Helen Mary Jones and Dr Dilys Davies, the jackal pack that piles in on its victims, is ‘trans rights’. That’s because the hard left has weaponised this issue.
With the left having relied on Stonewall for guidance and credibility, and Stonewall now itself discredited, dismissing legitimate critics of certain trans lunacies as TERFs and transphobes will no longer work. The scam is exposed.
Put the two together and we see that the present Central Committee is now on the wrong side of history. But it’s still a tragedy for YesCymru. That said, those at the top had plenty of warnings, and time enough to lance the boil.
Perhaps Ifan Morgan Jones should start working on, ‘The big question YesCymru needs to answer is: “What went wrong in 2021?”‘
♦ end ♦
Latest news is that Andrew O’Brien has resigned from his posts following last weekend’s meeting.
I don’t know any more – does anyone else?
He has resigned. Here’s the statement he put out.
I’ve tried a little thought-experiment, comparing the trans community with another group on the margins, the incel community. Incels – involuntary celibates – are mostly young men who struggle to form relationships. They blame lack of physical looks rather than of social skills and will sometimes seek out various forms of body modification in a bid to solve their problem. Both communities have their own lingo, including words for the out-group generally (cis / normie) or those designated ‘the enemy’ (TERFs & fashy phobes / Chads & Stacys). Both communities have members who think The Big One – having sex ‘right’ or changing sex – will transform their lives for the better. Both have members who are bitterly disappointed if it doesn’t. Both judge women’s concerns over boundaries being breached to be unreasonable and intolerable. For trans advocates, women-only spaces are selfish; for incels, the emotional impact of rejection can be labelled ‘reverse rape’. Both are driven by aggrieved entitlement and need for power, for which misogyny is often the mask.
Both groups include attention-seekers who speak openly about suicide if they don’t get what they crave. Both have radicalised and now include members who advocate violence. Among incels, this has led in Canada and the US to mass shootings. Among trans advocates, it’s at the level of screaming ‘Kill the TERFs!’. Those who deem all gender-critical views harmful because such views may embolden anti-trans violence (they reject the idea of perpetrators’ personal responsibility for violent acts) don’t see the same rule applying to them.
Most fascinating of all is the different response from the ‘progressive’ media. The trans community have been embraced as one of the wokey Left’s ‘pets’. They can do no wrong. The incel community, finding no help forthcoming, have drifted to the alt-Right, allowing them to be monstered as ‘toxic’, with ‘disordered beliefs’. Trans are Good People, oppressed by the cis-heteronormative patriarchy. Incels, on the other hand, are Sad Losers who just need to Get a Life. Mockery acceptable in this context is judged a ‘phobic’ ‘hate crime’ in the other. We have ‘characteristics apartheid’, where the law deems some people – the current iteration of ‘pets’ – more worthy of protection than others. Some incels may be autistic, and therefore as sufferers of a disability it’s illegal to discriminate against them, though this point is rarely raised.
The sharply contrasting responses to two groups of unhappy people – one extrovert and lionised, the other introvert and demonised – should remind us that much of the medico-sociological ‘fact’ we encounter is politically constructed. You see what you want to see, but my eyesight is at least as good as yours. Guillaume Faye, arguably the greatest thinker of the French New Right, wrote ‘Sex & Deviance’, in which he traced the roots of gender theory to Soviet-era Lysenkoism. It’s worth a read, though hard work.
A fascinating comparison, David. I particularly liked your term, “aggrieved entitlement”. And you obviously appreciate that each group reinforces its members’ perceptions of victimhood, which then ‘justifies’ violence against the ‘oppressors’.
The situation here is not as bad as in North America, but there are still disingenuous individuals playing a dangerous game. Such as the mayor of Bangor. To believe him, he lives in constant fear of being physically attacked by homophobes, transphobes, etc. If he is in danger of attack then he’s probably brought it on himself by being a very annoying and vocal narcissist. It would have little to do with his sexuality or gender identification.
The criticism he’s received is due entirely to him arguing that men can be women. And that teenagers can demand whatever life-changing procedures they’ve been misled into believing they urgently need. But it has nothing to do with how he wishes to describe himself.
He and his clique also link the reservations over the more extreme trans activists’ claims with wider LGB issues. The two are entirely separate, and the collapse of Stonewall has exposed how many gay men and lesbians (plus feminists) feel alienated and even threatened by this argument. At the end of the day, Hurcum and his very noisy friends are a minority within a minority, but one that demands everyone listens to them and everyone agrees with them.
Now that Stonewall is discredited, and so much Woke nonsense is being rolled back, it will be interesting to see how Hurcum, Aled Gwyn Williams and the rest of the gang respond. For what’s happened to Stonewall will impact on the ‘Welsh Government’, the NHS, Plaid Cymru, YesCymru, the third sector, and many other areas of Welsh life.
They could still do a great deal of damage because Wokeism was eagerly embraced by ‘progressives’ in Wales, and nobody likes to admit they’re wrong. Reputations are on the line, and lots of lovely funding.
Personally, I’d adopt the one, sharp pull on the sticking plaster approach rather than dragging it out.
Thank you medically qualified person – now move on to how you would actually promote Welsh independence.
Just popped in to have a browse, as one does when so many other sources are flooded with fibs and downright lies.
Your tweet column does a good job of highlighting the grievance industry that has grown in the UK and has now invaded Wales like a nasty dose of Japanese knot weed. Had this grievance industry been stimulated by a genuine concern for the liberation of Wales there might be cause for some celebration. On the contrary what we are now witnessing, and some unfortunates are experiencing, is the rapid corrosion of our core objectives by a cluster of cults or sects each promoting its own agenda at the expense those foundation objectives.
Yes Cymru, like Plaid, is now a corpse hollowed out by a cancer of subversive elements. Had they been genuine community orientated socialists in their motivations there might be a degree of acceptance. But no, what we see is a new breed of ultra fascist supremacists who only tolerate their own narrow creed or ideology, are unwilling and unable to devote a minute of their time to anything that doesn’t promptly chime with their dogma. These are vermin. They threaten violence, well let them be aware that as far as I’m concerned they will be repaid in kind, eye for an eye.
Re your recent tweet – I suspect Ben Gwelshmun deleted his tweet threatening violence cos the strap on his handbag is broken. Shame.
How could you!
Just to cheer us all up, those identifying as Welsh in any way in the Rhondda has declined by 5 percent in the last two years. (Welsh government stats) Only 75 pc regard themselves as Welsh. One in four has no Welsh identity. In the ffycin Rhondda.
Being idle for a few minutes I thought I might invest the time in correcting the facts appearing in one of your tweets today. Our precious Ms Wood let fly in the general direction of Viktor Orban, to which you commented rather pointedly that old Vik is more popular in Hungary than Ms Wood is in Wales. FFS you missed the point – the man is more popular in Wales than she is ! and in today’s climate it’s quite possible that he is more popular in the Rhondda constituency which she threw away so shamefully a few weeks ago. Time she got out of the limelight and focussed seriously on what it might take for her to make a credible and sustained comeback.
That’s always the left’s blind-spot. They rant and rave about ‘populists’, ‘far right administrations’, ignoring the fact that these are all democratically elected. What’s more, people KNEW what they were voting for. Unlike the left, which cannot stand on its own agenda and has to infiltrate political parties and other groups to have any hope of implementing its lunacies.
Come on, you don’t think the rubes and simpletons who vote for spivs and demagogues like Farage and Trump, on their laughably contrived ‘Man of the people’/’Not an elite at all, me’ bit have been taken in a bit? Ex-banker and billionaire real estate mogul, there to take it to the “Elites” in Brussels, drain the swamp and all that, but because Trump likes him a McDonald’s and Farage his fags-N-pints, they’re one of us!
Luckily, the longer you keep thinking like that (which is so far wide of the mark as to be pure comedy), the longer you will kepp losing and wondering why you lost.
Bit like the idiots and halfwits running Labour and the LibDems in London and Plaid in Wales.
What exactly have I ‘lost’ praytell? And what have I said that is far off the mark as to be laughable? You write words, but say nothing. Lay off that cooking sherry.
What Leanne Wood fails to understand is that Victor Orban won power from a socialist government in Hungary, the socialist government had essentially handed wealth to a trendy bureaucratic elite, the third sector, and was side tracked into side ishoos rather than address the real concerns of the Hungarian people. This was laid stark in the speech by its leader to the socialist party congress. It is here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%90sz%C3%B6d_speech
Hungarian to English translation.
Bad language, but worth a read.
Leanne Wood would do well to read and understand her socialist compatriot in Hungary rather than focus on Orban, who won the election because of it. The reason why she lost the Rhondda seat is that she was too busy delivering tins of beans for the foodbank in Penygraig rather than preparing to win an election to form a government, for independence, to do away for the need of foodbanks.
To quote Ferenc Gyurcsany – “What if we didn’t lose our popularity because we are fucking about in between ourselves but because we dealt with great social issues? And then it wouldn’t matter if we temporarily lose the support of the public; we will win it back again afterwards.” Just before Victor Orban won the election, and again, and again.
Socialists globally are better at capitalising on people’s misery – and blaming someone else – than at putting an end to that misery.
In the case of Hungary it’s also worth remembering that Hungary is in many ways a special case, culturally and linguistically, and suspicious of both East and West. The East because the country was part of the Russian empire until 1990, and all Hungarians remember the failed Rising of 1956. The West because, after WWI, Hungary was punished by the victors. She lost a lot of territory and millions of Hungarians found themselves living outside of Hungary.
More recently, conflict in the Middle East has resulted in ‘refugees’ flooding across the Balkans towards Hungary. Orban capitalised on the fact that for centuries Hungary was on the front line against the Turks and the advance of Islam, with all that would have meant for Europe.
So for some comfortable leftist in Western Europe to dismiss Viktor Orban – and by extension, the Hungarian people – as racists, fascists, Islamophobes, etc., etc, is both arrogant and ignorant of many salient facts.
Don’t forget their unique linguistic heritage also. Uralic, as opposed to Indo-European.
It has a connection with Finnish. And, I believe, Turkish.
Estonian too, off the top of my head. As a guess, it’s absorbed by osmosis, loanwords, grammatical and spelling patterns and the like from surrounding Slavic languages. Bit like Cymraeg and English.
Handy tools in the arsenal to use against the wags who make fun of Welsh, using searing original witticisms such as “It’s only English with ‘-io’ at the end of every word”, or “The pronunciation is stupid”: remind them of what a slag English was for stealing words from Norman French back in the day, and what a mess the phrase “Loughborough, Leicestershire” is! 😂
No doubt Aled and the rest of the Twitler Youth would crap themselves if they ever came face too face with some real fascists.
My client, Mr BVB, has asked me to respond to scurrilous accusations made about him on the Jac o’ the North blog.
He would like to make it absolutely clear that the image of him holding an axe was definitely not connected with any suggestion, implicit or otherwise, that my client would advocate the use of such an implement to threaten or harm another. The subsequent tweet he made less than 24 hours later invoking chaos and violence was, of course, a joke and entirely unconnected. My client has today also made it clear on his social media pages that the infamous “Mad Axeman” photo was purely a selfie as he believed the light was particularly good at the time, and his beard even better. So there!
Any repetition of suggestions that my client wants to indulge in cage fighting, likes to spin a jaw now and then or acts as a minder for the vagabond known as Aled the Ha’pissed from Maesteg will result in further action. He may even block you on Twitter.
I trust this will draw an end to the matter.
Yours etc
Baron von Bellend
Solicitors and Shysters
(also Part-time Terf Accountants)
A timely reminder of how hard it might be to shake off the Anglo Brit supremacist yoke :
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/100-years-ago-today-how-burning-the-custom-house-made-ireland-ungovernable-by-the-british-1.4557390
At my age I can’t condone violence so haven’t been inclined to ask anyone else to take action. However all those brave souls who recently went on line to advocate violence against Jac and others who have embraced the cause of independence might redirect their courage and aggression towards the symbols of colonial oppression that are plentiful here in Wales.
There again that might be too much like the real thing when most of their lives happen in a loopy fantasy.
“My colleagues are very offline types and they’re so relaxed and not fuelled by rage, barely any idea what’s going on in the world. I almost envy them. could never be me” The axe man on Twitter dot com.
Does this fella ever stop to consider that maybe living online has distorted his worldview?
In his world he and his friends are 100% right and anyone who disagrees must be a fascist. So there!
He’s right insofar as the world inhabited by him and his friends is spherical. However it is the inside of a bubble and that’s the bit that distorts the perspective. Step out of the bubble and get real and perhaps some of those strange fantasies will fade away.
The trouble with the Axeman and those like him is that when you are continually “fuelled by rage” it’s hard to keep things in proportion. You don’t see the world through the same lens as the rest of the population.
He and others like him have tried to justify the politicisation of Yes Cymru by saying that when we knock doors to persuade people to the Indy cause, we need to have a package of goodies to present to them. I agree people have to be persuaded somehow but I think it’s their economic survival will feature foremost, and not “ishoos” of the day.
I can picture how it goes though.
Axeman knocks door of woman’s house, having left hatchet and commie beret and badges at home, hopefully .
“Hi. I’m hoping to fetch you on board to supporting Welsh Indy. But first, do you or anyone you know not support self-ID for people who want to change sex?”
“I’d like women’s concerns to be considered before we decide”
“You can fuck off then. How about your partner?”
“He’s ambivalent about it. But he does support Gwlad”
“Tell him he’s a fascist and can fuck off as well. Do you have kids?”
“Two. Boy and a girl.”
“Are you mad in this house? You can’t sexualise them like that. They have to be allowed to decide what they are themselves. They might want to identify as non-binary before they commit. Any Tories in the family,? If so, tell them they’re not welcome in Wales either. While I’m at it, I fucking hate centrists too so if any of your relatives or friends have voted for Starmer”s Labour, they can do one as well”
Door gets slammed in Axeman’s face.
Independence fades away like the setting sun.
Brilliant. 🤣🤣🤣 Do you want to take over the blog?
Now now, shagger. D’ya think I’m as mad as the Axeman, innit?😉
Waste my time drawing attention to issues like Wales being ripped off by crooks, chancers and charlatans when there’s jaws to be spun. Fucking ‘ell, mun.
You’ve got your priorities straight, Stan; and you’ve even picked up the terminology!
YesCymru is supposed to be a non-party political campaign for independence, and should, of course be diverse. As diverse as the people of Wales. This would usually mean that the central committee would be expected to be composed of a dozen or so members, which would usually be geographically diverse, north east, north west, mid, west, Swansea, Cardiff and valleys, truly reflecting the ethnicity of Wales, also diverse in respect of gender and sexuality. That is Wales. A public expression and campaign for independence. A bringing together. Unfortunately, as a result of specific interest groups that push specific agendas, we have the opposite. A cabal of trendy middle class ‘creatives’ about as far removed from the ordinary people of Wales as you could imagine. Some not even resident in our country. It’s just become an echo chamber of abusive brats, self promoting exhibitionists, people expressing threats of violence against others, but most importantly, irrelevant to the real political ambitions of Wales. What’s the point of YesCymru?
If these lunatics have irreparably scuppered Welsh independence, I have a solution from their own playbook. We can all identify as citizens and passport holders of an independent Welsh state. Voila!
Why does Stephen Morris have a white flag next to his name in that scathing mockup?
I feel very sorry for you guys. This is identical to what has happened in Scotland and has fatally divided a movement which was so close to the winning line.
It used to be utterly united, truly diverse at the same time and vibrant, energizing and exciting.
Now it’s utterly toxic and steered by entryists, careerists, trans fanatics and morons.
Despite election results and good polling there is no chance of Scotland becoming independent now. It’s all over bar the shouting.
Heartbreaking really, and frightening to think about what the place will become now as WM wreaks destruction on us.
So I very much feel your pain. I gained a massive new found respect and affection for Wales through all this.
The cynic in me sees the hand of British intelligence in all of it but they couldn’t have succeeded without the wanton stupidity and weakness of those in charge.
Best of luck, you have many friends and admirers here now though I fear we face similar fates.
A number of good sources have suggested ‘state actors’. While not wanting to go down that road myself, when you ask, Cui Bono?, there’s only one answer.
As you may recall I have been a touch fixated about this recurring theme in both the Scottish and Welsh arenas. The agitators may have some points of difference but there is a huge degree of similarity in styles and the nature of “debates” and “ishoos” that have been fostered.
When you factor in the number of ‘commentators’ of a certain archetype that are all over social media and comment boards of online newspapers (Right-to-far-right leanings, Unionist, Royalist, Rangers, UJ-bedecked profiles, often claimed ex-forces and usually demonstrably quite thick), some might call it an attack on two fronts.
People say you’re a conspiracy theorist or being ridiculous when you say MI5 will be involved in infiltrating and subverting independence movements in Scotland and Wales.
But that’s what they’re actually for. That’s their job, if they weren’t doing that they wouldn’t be doing their job. They did it in Norther Ireland, so why would Wales or Scotland be any different?
Exactly. And I have personal experience of SB and MI5 involvement.
Its got 77th Brigade fingerprints all over it.
The phrase “direction of travel” is used in this piece and crops up often elsewhere when people speak or write about political developments. This one is quite easy to predict – YC is heading for the cliffs, steered from the middle of the pack, or the back, by a crew of manipulative entryists.
It seems from Dafydd’s comment earlier that Stonewall too fell to a similar group of entryists who have done a lot of harm to the reputation of that organisation. Did Stonewall feel they had run out of work on gay participation in society ? Were they overtaken by a form of corporate boredom, or was it just a case of a bunch of manipulators spotting the main chance and swooping ?
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Stonewall had also been infiltrated.
It is amazing how so many people know why so many other people voted in a particular way. Should take it up profesionally and make loads of money, as the commercial pollsters are always getting it wrong. As for Trans equality and as a leftie, I cannot see why they are selected for special treatment or anybody else for that matter. Equality for all! So stop painting all into a corner and thus being the same as the people you are complaining about.
When it comes to trans ‘equality’ the left, through its association with Stonewall, has painted itself into a corner. Didn’t need any help from me.
Was watching an interview with a founder of Stonewall yesterday, Parrish?, who disagreed with their now trans agenda. Said it was originally a pure gay organisation. Too much attention paid to attention seekers.
‘Attention-seekers’! It’s revealing how many different people come up with similar terms to describe the trans extremists.
I may have missed it somewhere….why are you not keen on nation.cymru?
My objection to the is they repeatedly call North Wales “The North of Wales”. Its North Wales with a capital “N”
They never when talking about South Wales, say South wales or “The south” Are we a tuberous growth in North Wales.
Order order did have an Article on Nation Cymru a few months ago.
And does anybody know where the Feathers in Llanystumdwy is getting all its cash from? Its a “public” enterprise with a bottomless bank account it appears. It is relevant to the Article.
North Wales South Wales
Divide and rule.Get it???
Mae Cymru’n Un