The Guardian is no different from the Telegraph .when it comes to Welsh.

Readers of this Blog , will know that I have been advocating a "Progressive Alliance" for a number of years now.

I suppose for some it outside mainstream politics would consist of Guardian readers types, that being seen as the most liberal minded  paper as opposed to most of the rest of the media except for the Mirror but the latter is is hardly a progressive paper.I do not expect for other progressives to share my views on Welsh Independence, but i do expect an  acceptance of devolution  and reconsecration  of Wales as an identity and Nation.

So when the Guardian publishes such utter Drivel  as Yesterdays   

‘We’re told we’re anti-Welsh bigots and fascists’ – the storm over Welsh-only schools

I become more than a little annoyed  

For some reason the Gruniard digs up the Llangennech  row and gors all Telegtaph on it..

You know it not going to be a balanced article when  it starts.

“We’ve been told we are anti-Welsh bigots and even fascists,” says Alice Morgan in her soft Welsh accent. The comments she is talking about began when she and other parents raised objections to a plan to turn their primary school in the village of Llangennech into one that teaches only in Welsh. They are worried that some children used to being taught in English won’t cope.

 The mention of a "Soft Welsh accent" should  have pointed me to the London Centric   attitude of the authors.

Ur goes on.

Feelings are running high. On one side are those who want to increase the number of Welsh speakers in the country. On the other are campaigners who say the evidence shows this method is futile and that children’s education is being sacrificed for politics.

Further along  after failing to mention that those opposing the changes were photographed with Ukips Neil Hamilton and his odious wife



the Guardian makes the audacious  claim that

There is debate among educationists as to whether the “immersion” method of language teaching is effective or the opposite: for some children, being plunged into a classroom where they are unable to communicate or comprehend can be a terrifying, isolating and miserable experience.
According to Save the Children, which works in multilingual contexts across the world, “adults often have powerful reasons for choosing a school language that children do not know. Nevertheless, it has been shown that if the school language is different from the language children use at home, this is a major cause of educational failure.”
Despite efforts to bolster the Welsh language over the past two decades, its use is in decline. The 2011 census found that the number of Welsh speakers had fallen from 21% of the population to 19% over the previous 10 years. In Carmarthenshire, the drop was steeper – from 50% to 44%. The Welsh government is trying to double the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050. In Carmarthenshire, led by Plaid Cymru, it is the council’s intention “to move every primary and secondary school along the language continuum” – meaning that schools will teach only in Welsh.

Save the Children  Cymru have said that they have been taken out of context .

The whole article is riddled with  misleading assertions,

So lets be clear

1. Most academics agree that bilingual education is a benefit for all children.
2. No child educated in  Welsh Medium School comes out of it unable to speak English . Indeed their grammar is often better than those in Monoglot English Schools
3. The plans to end dual stream teaching where some pupils are educated through the medium of Welsh  and others English, Show can anybody think this is a good system
4. Travelling 3 miles to a school is not uncommon in rural areas and people in other parts of Wales who want Welsh Medium Education have to travel much further.
5. The plans for Llangennech was drawn up under the previous Labour led council.
6. It is also inline with the plans of the Welsh Labour Government.

Twitter has exploded with criticism  and rebuttals of the Guardian  article .

But we need to ask" how this  came to be written and more importantly why."

We have very few friends in the English Media but we would expect the Guardian  not to be an enemy .

It reminds me of the old adage 

"Scratch a British Liberal and you will draw the same imperialist blood as an English Tory"

.

language.”