Northern Ireland Unionists show how Anti-Cymraeg sentiments may grow.

My recent Blog on what I perceived as an Anti-Cymraeg sentiment  which surfaced  surfaced in the Radio Programme Any Question  did not suggest that this has become  part of the main stream political debate.

Any Questions? ‏@BBCAnyQuestions  17h17 hours ago17 hours agoMoreGiven current financial restraints which would the panel prioritise for extra funding in Wales. The Welsh language or care budget? #bbcaq

Though maybe it is coming from some quarters?

Mike Parker ‏@mikeparkerwales  Feb 5MoreSurprise! Sly anti-Welsh questioner on R4 Any Questions is a Conservative electoral agent.

 

So if there is any sign of a growth in support of Welsh Independence or Plaid Cymru we may see Unionist politicians  taken up an Anti-Cymraed stance

We may already see how it could pan out 

Although the poll ahead of the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election has shown that there has not ne a significant shift in voting intention since the collapse of the Stormont Executive.te DUP leader has decided to play the sectarian card over the Irish Language

The DUP is down to 26%, just three points lower than they received in 2016. Sinn Fein is at 25%, up one.

The leadership approval ratings are interesting. Arlene Foster, former First Minister, is at 22%. The most popular leader is Alliance chief Naomi Long, at 52%. All other party leaders enjoy ratings in the 40s. That the DUP remain as the lead party suggests that the St Andrews amendment over the nomination of First Minister is acting as a firewall for DUP support.

As Political betting  pointed out 

This poll will be immediately pounced upon by the DUP and will adorn leaflets all over Northern Ireland as they seek to hammer home their message: “Vote DUP or the Shinners get First Minister”.

In fact, leaving aside the joint nature of the OFMDFM, the current boundaries make it highly unlikely that Sinn Fein will get more seats than the DUP unless they are well ahead in vote share.

 Ms  Foster may be worried however that transfers means she loses transfers to the Ulster Unionist and this is probably behind her attacking calls for an Irish Language act

Ms Foster said that perhaps there should be a Polish language act instead because more people in Northern Ireland spoke Polish than Irish.uding to Sinn Féin demands, she told a party event: "If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more."rs Foster said she was not prepared to "reward bad behaviour, and to capitulate to manufactured demands".

Is there any diffrence between Ms Fosters "Polish" argument  and those expressed by Liberal Democrat Jacqui Gasson




Ms Fosters attack on the place of the Irish Language clearly comes from the desperation of a politician who may face the wrath of her own Party in not resigning when she should have and leading them if not to defeat to a loss of seats.

How long before we see elected Unionist Welsh AMs and MPs  attempting to stir up even more Anti-Cymraeg sentiments , especially if Wales indicates that maybe the direction Scotland is heading is one we should follow?

Why doesn't Eluned Morgan criticise Labours Rural exclusion in the Siambr.

Well I suppose we can only welcome the news in the Wasting Mule ( in what seems a press release) that Labour  AM Eluned Morgan, who represents Mid &West Wales, has set up a group of business leaders and academics to ensure Rural Wales gets an economic plan of its own to ensure it is not left behind by City Deals and other initiatives designed to benefit urban areas,.

But I wonder why she has not pressed her point more vocally in the Assembly Siambr.

An inaugural meeting of the group passed a resolution saying:

“While the City Region model may work in parts of Wales, it is not a model that is relevant or suitable for vast areas of rural Wales.”

The group suggests there is an urgency to develop a plan specifically for rural Wales following the Brexit vote. They argue that the impact of leaving the EU on the rural economy is likely to be greater than elsewhere in Wales as European funding is withdrawn.

Baroness Morgan said:

 “I am delighted that a range of accomplished individuals has agreed to work towards presenting the Welsh Government with the broad structure of a plan.
"We will then encourage the Government to elaborate on this by preparing specific and measurable targets.
“The economic challenges for rural Wales are many and varied. These include low productivity rates, low-paid jobs, a low skills base, transport and IT infrastructure weaknesses, a lack of affordable homes, and an ageing population.
“Due to a lack of varied employment opportunities there is a loss of many of our brightest people who feel they need to leave in order to find work. In order to build a balanced and more sustainable economy these are just some of the issues that need to be addressed.”

According to the article

The group agreed at its meeting that insecurity in terms of the long-term future of agriculture suggests there is a need to start preparing now for a new approach focusing on added value and broadening the debate to include the wider food and drink industry. In addition to this there is a need to enhance the quality of the tourism offer and take advantage of the low pound to attract new visitors to the area.

Though no names are given  so we can only wonder at its strnyh
Baroness Morgan, herself a former MEP, said: “

Many sectors have received economic support through European funding initiatives over the years. The loss of this additional support will have longer term impacts if it is not replaced.”

The group says it will not try to re-invent the wheel or duplicate work already underway by the Welsh Government, local authorities, the City Region and other organisations committed to economic development in the area. It will, however, identify key sectors on which a rural development plan should focus and make the case for the proposals within the plan to be taken forward by the Welsh Government.

The AM added: 

“I have already discussed this matter with First Minister Carwyn Jones, Economy Secretary Ken Skates, and Rural Development Secretary Lesley Griffiths. They are all interested to hear what progress we can make on this matter.”

The group has invited Mr Skates to attend a meeting in April when he will be presented with a draft plan. Baroness Morgan has also sent a questionnaire to all town and community councils in Mid and West Wales to gauge their views on economic development in the region.

The  Mule does not seem to have looked for a response  from any of the other Political Parties , which seems odd especially as a Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM who  described the decision to locate a new Welsh Government department a few miles from Cardiff as “shameful”. was criticised by a Labour MP

Owen Smith ‏@OwenSmith_MP  14h14 hours ago14 hours ago14 hours ago14 hours agoMoreMore great news that @welshlabour Govt. investing in RCT. Trust Plaid to attack them 4 bringing jobs to the valleys!

No where in the Press Release  Mule does there seem to be an explicit criticism of the Labour Party's running of the Welsh Assembly  which has concentrated  nearly all its eggs in the South East Wales basket.

Do we really need a Labour AM toset up a group 

This to me looks like a gimmick by Labour to throw rural Wales a few crumbs and to be seeing to do something.

I await Ms Morgan grilling Carwyn Jones and his Ministers in the Siambr on this topic with interest  , or will this highlight her party's failures in this area a bit to much for comfort?

Has Brexit empowered Anti-Cymraeg sentiments?

There has always been a fair number of Xenophobes and down right Racist  throughout these Islands, and we must accept Wales has more than its fair share of them.

I don't think I am alone in thinking that  Brexit has given them a boost and allowed them to voice their vile opinions openly.

It has also allowed the media and even main stream politicians  to make xenophobic comments believing that Brexit has killed of what they regard as the PC Brigade

It also seems that Brexit has empowered the Anti- Cymraeg sentiments  and opened  the door for them hem to attack our language 

It surfaced in the Radio Programme any question to put forward  this question last week

Any Questions? ‏@BBCAnyQuestions  17h17 hours ago17 hours agoMoreGiven current financial restraints which would the panel prioritise for extra funding in Wales. The Welsh language or care budget? #bbcaq

It is very rare for questions of a Welsh nature to be asked on this programme even when it comes from Wales and you can't help thinking the  BBC are deliberately stirring up trouble

It comes after the Television equivalent Question Time allowed a question on the  council's proposal to change the language category of Llangennech schools to Welsh medium/

The agenda included a raft of questions concerning the council's proposal to change the language category of Llangennech schools to Welsh medium

I am not saying that these questions shouldn't be asked but they seem designed  to deliberately stir up Anti- Cymraeg sentiments .

It is not only in the BBC that we are seeing a rise in Anti-Cymraeg sentiments

The worrying thing for me is that the Labour representative  Nia Griffiths seemed reluctnt to stand up for the language and leads me to wonder if they are reverting back to thier old Anti-Cymraeg ways believing it is a stick to attack Plaid Cymru.

Lately A former councillor for the Lib Dems in Cardiff  1988-2012 and an ex-Mayor of the city – Jacqui Gasson seems to think she can now portray her true feelings over Cymraeg

Which is even more t seem to be a little worrying, when one considers the attitude to the Welsh language displayed in these tweets and posts.

As a non Welsh speaker I have no problem with signs  in Cymraeg and am at least "familiar " with the language  you would suspect after 50 years she would be also.

This led to the usual Ant-Cymraeg trolling

One wonders to what extent  this view is shared other Liberal Democrats in Wales as I have not seen any reaction  from them maybe Peter Black can tell us what he thinks?

I hope that this rise in Anti-Cymraeg voices will be seen by progressives not only in Wales but throughout the UK as an example of the Xenophobia and Racism  that Brexit has let grow like a weed in what we hoped was a tolerant  and friendly garden.

Labour Hypocrisy over regional bias

I did not suppport Devolution and fight for an Independent Wales to see Cardiff  becoming  the London of Wales where all the jobs and investment are invested.

Indeed for me Indepemdence should lead to a sharing of investment and a spreading goverment  throughout Wales.

Maybe as I have no plans to stand for public office it is  easy for me  to criticise  a The BBC reports that

The headquarters for a new tax-collecting body for Wales is to be set up in the south Wales valleys.

The South Wales Valleys? Treforest is almost as close to Cardiff as to make hardly any difference.

It may be where I live but i don't see it as giving amassive boost to my area, whereas it would do so if it went to Wrexham or Porthmadog say.

The report says that the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA), with a total staff of around 40, will be based in Treforest, near Pontypridd, subject to a review after 18 months.

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said it was a "clear demonstration of our commitment to spread prosperity" into the valleys.

Mr Drakeford said staff at Treforest would have "a high degree of expertise and specialist skills in tax compliance; digital services and data management".

He said Treforest was chosen after detailed analysis of six potential locations as it was felt that "to attract and retain these specialists it is important the WRA is located in the same area of Wales as other organisations carrying out similar functions".

So why even go through the motions of considering  other parts of Wales? Is Mr Drakeford  saying that the policy of Welsh Labour  is to retain all power and investment in Cardiff?

There was an immediate response from Plaid Wrecsam surely the best local party blog on the web.

In it Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM has described the decision to locate a new Welsh Government department a few miles from Cardiff as “shameful”.

This Labour Government has, once again, ignored the North. This is despite there being more than 400 tax workers based in Wrexham and Porthmadog who are ideally placed to work for a new revenue authority. They’ve got the skills and expertise and they’ve been shamefully ignored. To make matters worse, just six weeks ago, a government cabinet secretary spoke of his desire to ‘share opportunities right across Wales’. "That cabinet secretary, Ken Skates, actually represents a constituency in the North. Can he explain to his constituents, some of who work in the HMRC in Wrexham and will be losing their jobs in a couple of years’ time, how creating this new tax authority a few miles from Cardiff will help those skilled and experienced workers?“Labour is failing Wales – and failing north Wales in particular. It is centralising institutions in Cardiff rather than sharing and all the warm words we hear about devolving and sharing power are just hot air. This was a wonderful opportunity to show that places like Wrexham could benefit from this new authority and they’ve blown it. Shame on them.”.....“Plaid Cymru is committed to the North, in particular over this issue. We have argued the case for devolving financial services here, to make sure that public spending is shared equally. We have made the case that the expertise we have in both Wrexham and Gwynedd should be utilised.“It’s clear that ministers are saying one thing in public while their civil servants are working to another brief. The only locations on the WRA appraisal shortlist were in Merthyr, Pontypridd or Cardiff – none in the North or West of the country. How many more times is this Labour Government going to be allowed to get away with this sort of behaviour

This led to the response from Pontypridd MP Owen Smith

Owen Smith ‏@OwenSmith_MP  14h14 hours ago14 hours ago14 hours agoMoreMore great news that @welshlabour Govt. investing in RCT. Trust Plaid to attack them 4 bringing jobs to the valleys!

Mr Smith may well be fighting for his Constituency , bur criticising a Welsh AM for doing the same  is rather shameless.

Indeed we should be asking where are the North Wales Labour   AMs and MPs  in fighting for their part of Wales.

By sheer coincidence the day after the Welsh government announcement  we get the news from the BBC that

 Labour is vowing to "close the gap" between spending in the north and south of England and end the "bias" it says there has been in transport investment.Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will say in a speech that London and the south-east have disproportionately benefited from projects such as Crossrail.He says a Labour government would act to prevent regional imbalances.

Mr McDonnell will say the north has consistently lost out in terms of spending - and will promise a future Labour government would try to rectify that.He will cite figures from the National Infrastructure Commission suggesting projected capital spending per head of population in the north of England will increase by just £1,491 by 2020-2021, compared with by £3,114 per head in London.
He will say Crossrail's £14.5bn price tag is four times the entire public investment budget for Yorkshire and six times that of the north-east.

Can Labour seriously argue  for approach from Westminster in ending the bias in the North of England, while they are doing the exact same thing with its Cardiff bias from the Assembly?

Canadian PM Trueadau show how PR is dropped once you win.

On Tuesday I commented on the by the Welsh Government  to allow  Welsh local authorities would be able to choose their own voting systems.

I was sceptical over whether it would work , writing that

 I am not sure if allowing councils to choose their own voting system is right , is Mr Drakeford proposing we have different systems in Gwynedd and Merthyr? it seems that it will be used by some councils particularity Labour run ones to preserve their hegemony and the only move is when  they temporally lose power and a different party take the opportunity  to change the rules.

It something that John Dixon over at Borthlas went into 

In theory, it’s possible that council areas could end up see-sawing between voting systems, depending on whether the ruling group after any given election was for or against STV. In practice, I suspect that getting a sufficient majority under STV to reverse a decision to adopt it will be a much harder task than getting a majority under FPTP to adopt STV. In short, any changes are likely to flow in only one direction.Some commenters seem to assume that where those parties in favour of STV are in power (essentially, Plaid and the Lib Dems), the change will be made, and where they’re not, the councils will remain under the FPTP system. I suspect that’s rather an oversimplification, because of the way that STV plays out in different types of area. As far as the Lib Dems are concerned, their influence in Welsh local government at the moment is so limited that consideration of their position is largely irrelevant, although that may change in the future, of course. The position of Plaid is rather more complicated.

As he pointed out although Plaid appear to be strongly in favour of STV

The councils where Plaid is either in control or the leading party (Gwynedd, Carmarthen, Ceredigion) are all essentially rural counties, and there is a feeling in many areas that existing single member wards are already geographically large. Combining three or four existing wards into single much larger new wards is unlikely to be popular, even assuming that the seemingly relentless pressure to reduce the total numbers of councillors ceases. It is likely to make councillors appear even more remote from the people they represent.It’s not an argument which sways me against STV; even recognising the difficulties, I still favour STV because I believe that it produces a fairer and more democratic result. But it would be naïve to think that individual councillors who have been elected on the basis of their support and activity in one area are suddenly going to enthuse over the possibility that they will have to fight elections in a much bigger area where they are considerably less well-known. And council groups are composed of dozens of such individual members – persuading those groups to adopt the change may not be entirely straightforward.So, whilst in principle I welcome the way in which the Labour government in Cardiff has opened the door to a more democratic system of voting, I’m not going to hold my breath in expectation that it will be adopted anywhere. And for Plaid, for whom this probably looks like something of a concession, it may turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing, if they can’t actually get their groups in the relevant areas to implement it.

 Changing your view on PR is something that seems to happen when a opposition party win power.

Recent Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke a significant campaign promise to reform the country’s electoral system, in a move an opposition party called a “betrayal.”

Trudeau on Wednesday told Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould that there were no longer plans to overhaul the country’s electoral system, abandoning his 2015 election campaign promise that Canada would have a new voting system by the 2019 election. He said there was no clear consensus on establishing a new voting system.

“There is no consensus on how, or even whether, to reform our electoral system,” he said in the House of Commons during Question Period, the Toronto Star reported.

Trudeau in 2015 vowed to change the current first-past-the-post voting system, which generally benefits conservatives who vote in a block for the Conservative Party of Canada, and leaves out smaller and more liberal parties. Trudeau himself is the leader of the Liberal Party.

The opposition New Democrats said Trudeau lied to progressive voters when he made the promise during his campaign.

“What Mr. Trudeau proved himself today was to be a liar,” New Democratic party member of parliament Nathan Cullen told reporters, according to Reuters.

As a supporter of PR it seems that if we were to allow councils to chose for themselves , what electoral system they can use. It would lead to Parties putting forward different arguments in different  parts of Wales.

We have an example of how STV works in local authority elections (specifically) including rural areas in Scotland and Ireland .

I suggest that we paid some interest in how it works in both,

More twists in the "Circuit of Wales " saga.

I have already pointed out  my scepticism over the The Circuit of Wales racetrack 

Now the project is facing fresh controversy over allegations that an MP was told incorrectly that BMW wanted to develop a major exhibition attraction on the Circuit’s site near Ebbw Vale.

The businessmen behind the scheme, Michael Carrick and Martin Whitaker,allegedly  told MP David Davies that the German car giant wanted to build a “BMW World” style facility at the site.

Mr Davies later contacted BMW who told him they had “no plans for any projects at The Circuit of Wales, and have at no point developed any such plans”.

Mr Davies said he had “incontrovertible proof” the two men had made the claim and said such “inconsistencies” undermined faith in the £430m scheme, which supporters say could rejuvenate one of Wales’ most deprived areas.

“At a meeting with Michael Carrick and Martin Whitaker on July 8 2016, Martin told me that the day before he had met BMW Germany and BMW UK and that BMW wanted to build a BMW World theme park on the Circuit of Wales site.“I have contacted BMW UK’s government affairs department who have told me the group has no plans for any projects at the Circuit of Wales and that at no point have they developed any such plans.“How does Mr Carrick explain this discrepancy? It is inconsistencies like this that make it difficult to have confidence in the project, and in the people involved in it.”

A spokesman for Aventa Capital Partners, the company wholly owned and controlled by Mr Carrick that is developing the project, responded: 

“We are not prepared to comment on the alleged ‘ discrepancy’ or any other matters relating to confidential conversations between the Circuit of Wales management team and third parties.
“The dialogue which Martin Whitaker and Michael Carrick had with David Davies MP in July last year was expressly agreed to be confidential, without which agreement it would not have been possible to brief Mr Davies about highly sensitive commercial matters. 

It is very disappointing that Mr Davies has chosen both to breach confidentiality in and fundamentally misrepresent those discussions.

“Both Martin Whitaker and Michael Carrick’s notes of the meeting wholly contradict the claim made by David Davies.”

 But Mr Davies insisted his record of the meeting was correct, saying: 

“I have incontrovertible proof that Mr Whitaker claimed BMW wanted to build a BMW World on the Circuit of Wales site. My proof would be of a standard that I could submit to a court if necessary.

 Mr Davies must surly be aware  that such evidence is not always believed  by Magistrates let alone Juries.

He continued

“I can’t comment on the record keeping of Mr Carrick and Mr Whitaker, but mine is meticulous. I have been a politician for 18 years and was a special constable for eight years, and I know how to prepare evidence that will stand up in court. Mr Whitaker’s comments were made 41 minutes into the meeting.

 “He said he had been involved in ‘a big meeting’ the day before with BMW Germany and BMW UK, who, he said, ‘want to build a BMW World on the site’.“Mr Whitaker described it as a completely new idea, ‘like a Jurassic Park’, and said the plan was to capture passing trade on the new A465 and to show how there was a massive opportunity for the leisure industry and the tourism industry in the area.
“At no time before, during or after the meeting did Mr Carrick or Mr Whitaker say that what was said in the meeting was private and confidential.

 “In order to check out what they claimed - and let’s remember they are seeking public backing of more than £200m for their project - I contacted BMW to see whether it was true that they wanted to build a BMW World at Ebbw Vale."BMW have told me categorically that they never had such plans. It is absurd to claim commercial confidentiality for a project that has never existed.
“During the meeting with Mr Carrick and Mr Whitaker - 12 minutes in to be precise - I asked Mr Carrick why he had bought a loss-making motorbike firm based in Buckingham, FTR Moto, that was still making a loss.

 He described FTR Moto as an anchor company for the Circuit of Wales project, said it punched ‘miles above its weight in Moto GP’, and that it would help the Circuit’s main contract event get 40,000 extra spectators in Wales who wanted to see ‘a Welsh rider on a Welsh bike in a Welsh round of a world championship’.“Within weeks there was an application to wind FTR Moto up and in October 2016 it was placed into administration.”

 Mr Davies also said that 10 minutes into the meeting, Mr Carrick had asserted that the industrial giant GE had put money into Aventa for a major renewable energy project on the River Wyre in Lancashire.


Unless he taped the meeting which would be interesting if the other party where not aware I can't see it as  “incontrovertible proof”

Unless we have a third party recording  we have no way of knowing whose recollection of what was said at the meeting is the truth.

We could ask why Mr Davies would make up such a detailed  accusation, if it was not true ?

I suspect that we will see more twist and turns in this saga, Indeed if they match those on the exact circuit , it will be an interesting venue,

 

Mr Davies said he had “incontrovertible proof” the two men had made claim and said such “inconsistencies” undermined faith in the £430m scheme, which supporters say could rejuvenate one of Wales’ most deprived areas.Mr Davies said he had “incontrovertible proof” the two men had made claim and said such “inconsistencies” undermined faith in the £430m scheme, which supporters say could rejuvenate one of 

S4C still facing death by a thousand cuts.

I have in the past queried whether the cuts to S4C's budget were wise and indeed designed  to  create a situation in which the channel reaches such a low audience that there will be a campaign to scrap it 

After all if you cut opening hours for any service you will find less people  will use it.

Now we have been warned S4C could lose its high-definition satellite service if feared cuts go ahead, and of even greater concern English language subtitling could also be cut back and the already high number of repeats could be increased, MPs were warned.

Giving evidence to the Welsh Affairs committee, S4C chief executive Ian Jones stressed the progress it had made in making savings but warned further cuts would threaten key services.

He said:

“Our cost per hour has come down by 35% over five years... We made a decision four or five years ago that whatever happened we were going to protect what we had on the screen and the number of hours and we’ve done that, but that’s meant that our repeat programmes have gone up to around 57% whereas I think the BBC’s average for repeats is about 5%, and when S4C started we were targeting 20% so repeats are really high...

“So, although it’s a tiny amount of money in the context in Westminster – £700,000, absolutely tiny – it is substantial for us... We’ve cut virtually everything else to the bone and we will have to look at the service [if] we have any future cuts or this is not frozen.”
“So, although it’s a tiny amount of money in the context in Westminster – £700,000, absolutely tiny – it is substantial for us... We’ve cut virtually everything else to the bone and we will have to look at the service [if] we have any future cuts or this is not frozen.”

Signalling that English language subtitling could be scaled back, he said:

 “The one thing I’ve been determined to do in the last five years is be inclusive so if you can’t speak Welsh you should be able to access the content on S4C, and [that] inclusivity comes through in that we subtitle about 79% of our programming. We’ll have to look at reducing that.”

I have long suspected  that S4C's viewing figures are much larger than we are given to believe and there  are a substantial number of Non- Welsh speakers viewers using the subtitle service and not just to watch Pobly y Cwm.

Warning that high-definition broadcasting could stop, Nr Jones said:

 “We relaunched back in the middle of last year for the Euros but it’s another area of the service – if we want to protect the hours – that we’re going to have to look at if there’s another cut.”

Describing the decision to relaunch the high-definition service, which had been axed in 2012, he said: 

"I had no choice, I don’t think. If we’re a national broadcaster and we’re supposed to record not only the collective memory of a nation but what’s happening in real time, how we could not go back on HD and not show the Euros on HD? We had to, otherwise we would have been in my view providing a second class service...
“I’ve got to find the financing if we’re going to continue on HD in the future.”

In that he hits the nail on the head , S4C is not some kind of local service like "Made in Cardiff" but a reflection of us as a modern bilingual Nation.

TV films produced for S4C have received some good foreign reviews; Hedd Wyn was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1994 and Solomon & Gaenor was nominated in 2000. Others like Milwr Bychan (Boy Soldier), 1986 directed by Karl Francis amd : Rhosyn a Rhith (Coming Up Roses), directed by Stephen Bayly 1986 also reached a wider audience.
There are more here and many would not have been made without S4C.

Can we really carry on reducing S4C to only being able to afford documentaries on farmers daily lives in Ceredigion.