Mule stirs up another "Language Row"

The Mule has once again made an attack on the Welsh Language by gibing a misleading byline

With a Title

Eisteddfod winner deterred by festival's language policy 

They then have  the byline

An award-winning artist crowned at last year’s National Eisteddfod says she “would hold back” from competing at the festival again after drawing criticism for her use of the English language.

So you may  be drawn to think that it was the winner of the  Bardic Crown for fre first which together with the Chair are the big prizes at the Eisteddfod.


Instead as you read on you find that the  story is about University of Wales Newport graduate Josephine Sowden was awarded the prestigious (sic) Gold Medal for Fine Art at the Denbighshire and District 2013 National Eisteddfod of Wales.
The young Cardiff-based artist received £5,000 for her performance video entitled The Lilies of the Field and described the honour at the time as “the most exciting thing to have happened to me.”
But the National Eisteddfod’s decision to award its fine art prize to a video filmed in English was later called a “dangerous precedent” by Welsh language campaign group Dyfodol i’r Iaith (A Future for the Language).

So the row is about an artist who uses video feling she would be dtered from entering because she would have to use Welsh in her video.

So basically its about someone having to put a bit more work in her project.

The Gold Medal is an important prize but it is hardly the top one and this loks more like an artist seeking publicity rather than a problem with the all Welsh policy.



Robyn Tomos, the eisteddfod’s visual arts officer, said he hoped artists would not be deterred from entering the competition.
He said: “If there is any question, I would advise artists to get in touch. Let’s discuss what the possibilities are.”
Mr Tomos said the use of spoken or printed words in art works was relatively recent.
He added: “When the language rule was established in 1950 at Caerphilly, we had paintings in frames and sculptures on plinths so it didn’t arise then.
“It’s only a recent thing, with recent practice.”

But is there any reason why the rule should be changed to accommodate those who can't be bothered to do a little bit of extra work and use the Welsh Language?


 

Cameron can't afford to upset pensioners

It his hardly surprising that  David  future Conservative government claims  will protect the basic state pension after the next election by keeping the coalition’s "triple lock" guarantee to increase payments each year, 
As  the Table below   produced by Ipsos-MORI and published shortly after the GE2010 demographic breakdown of how Britain voted. shows the Tories get the biggest share of the vote from those over 65 and  older people are more likely to vote.


But we also have  Chancellor George Osborne unveiling  plans for a “permanently smaller” welfare system, with a further £25bn slashed off state spending - including £12bn of new cuts to benefits following next year’s general election.

And l those in the DE class were the only group to favour Labour over the Tories.

So the Tories are only looking after their voters

Its a pity the Table does not show the turnout tout each Class but I suspect that it will show . Why both Labour and the Tories are concentrating their efforts on the Middle Classes as these are  most likely to vote and switch parties..

But for now the lesson is clear you don't want to upset pensioners and you can afford to screw the lower classes because in the long run their votes are not those who win elections,

Michael Gove and the rewriting of history.

As we face potentially fout years of British Unionist using the First World war as an attempt to envoke British Nationlism it has become clearer how the Tory ked government mean to pursue this 

Michaek Gove " Gove's interpretation in the Daily Mail on Friday, backing Culture Secretary Maria Miller's plans to ensure the centenary commemorations  ensed up as nothing but a jinogoistic tirade

In an extraordinary denunciation, Gove said "left wing academics", and series like the satirical Blackadder, sought to damage patriotism and portray the war as a shambolic game played by a bumbling elite.

I imagine Cove is particularly irked with the final scene in Blackadder 4 surely the most poignant in comedy history.

He wrotes

"Our understanding of the war has been overlaid by misunderstandings, and misrepresentations which reflect an, at best, ambiguous attitude to this country and, at worst, an unhappy compulsion on the part of some to denigrate virtues such as patriotism, honour and courage.
"The conflict has, for many, been seen through the fictional prism of dramas such as Oh! What a Lovely War, The Monocled Mutineer and Blackadder, as a misbegotten shambles – a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite.
"Even to this day there are Left-wing academics all too happy to feed those myths."

And made it plain that it his version of history  he wabts to be taught in schols

The Government wants to give young people from every community the chance to learn about the heroism, and sacrifice, of our great-grandparents, which is why we are organising visits to the battlefields of the Western Front.
The war was, of course, an unspeakable tragedy, which robbed this nation of our bravest and best.  But even as we recall that loss and commemorate the bravery of those who fought, it’s important that we don’t succumb to some of the myths which have grown up about the conflict.

What myths. That Thousands were sent over the top to attack  impregnable defences by Generals whom declined to visit the front line fore fear that the carnage would affect their judgement?

If you just want to see the carnage of the First World War just go and lok at the local War Memorial and I bet that there are more names on the 1914-18 conflict as the 1939-45 one.


Millions died because of the stupidity of our Generals and even more the action of our politicians throughout the Nations involved


On 31 July  I will be remembering Jean  Jaurès  the leader of French socialist was assassinated in a Parisian café, Le Croissant, 146 rue Montmartre, by Raoul Villain, a 29-year-old French nationalist

. Jaurès had been due to attend a conference of the International on 9 August, in an attempt to dissuade the belligerents from going ahead with the war.Villain was tried after World War I and acquitted but was killed by Spanish Republicans in 1936.

If we are to honour the memory of those who died in the first World War let us also honour the memory of those who tried to prevent it in the first place.

Hinterland or the Bridge why did we have to chose?

Last night TV was a bit of a viewing dilemma in a ridiculous move  BBC Cymru /Wales decided to show the English Language version of Y Gwyll (English: The Dusk) bow  known in English by the name Hinterland at the same time it clashed with the second series  of the Swedish/Danish  police detective series  The  Bridge .

 The show was filmed in both Welsh and English. The Welsh version was broadcast on S4C in October

Having watched the Welsh Language version with subtitles on S4C already. I opted to watch the Bridge, working on the theory I could watch Hinterland t again on BB4 when they show it later this year though the date is unspecified.

But it makes me think was it really necessary to shoot it in both languages and wouldn't it be interesting to show the Welsh language  version with subtitles on BBC4  or did BBC bosses insist it be in English on a UK wide channel?

A similar scenario occurred with the excellent   Mind to Kill is a police detective series set in Wales, UK. It was developed from a 1991 pilot which starred Philip Madoc as DCI Bain, and Hywel Bennett. The series ran from 1994 to 2004 and first aired as Yr Heliwr on S4C, the Welsh language TV channel, But the main channels didn't take it up and it was eventually  being broadcast on the, Channel 5.  Which limited its impact

I suspect if Hinterland had been shot only in English then the BBC would have been reluctant to show the series UK wise its idea of diversity is to make shows like Dr Who in Cardiff and then claim it as a Welsh output  even if there is no Welsh content in it.

Perhaps someone at BBC Cymru/Wales can explain to me what's going on.

.

Arthur was right after all.

30 years after the Miners strike newly released cabinet papers from 1984 reveal mineworkers' union leader Arthur Scargill was not being a fantasist in his t to claim there was a "secret hit-list" of more than 70 pits marked for closure.

The government and National Coal Board said at the time they wanted to close 20. But the documents reveal a plan to shut 75 mines over three years.

A key adviser to then-PM Margaret Thatcher denies any cover-up claims.

The miners' strike began in March 1984 and did not end until the next year. It had a devastating affect on mining communities and was not helped by the likes of the then Labour Leader Neil Kinnock  who seemed at times to be more intent destroying Scargill  influence than backing effective solidarity with the miners.

Prehaps the biggest appology should come from him. but he probably remembers his role differently. He often does.

Nor was it helped by a complacent media including the BBC who portrayed  the miners as being violent and never showed the brutality of the police force used against them.

The  so called Interdependent and unbiased BBC  and I TV news showed film of  miners throwing stones before being charged by police on horseback.

Only years later was it explained that film had been "mistakenly" transposed. There were three cavalry charges before any retaliation by miners and their supporters.

Indeed as the revelations   come to light that Scargill was correct in his accusations that the Government were intent on closing 70 mines we need an investigation into whether the Government planned to actually   create confrontation and a strike and portray the NUM as the "Enemy Within".

The Tories it is known  deputed Nicholas Ridley to draw up a plan to utilise all the power of the state to provoke an NUM strike and to smash the union.

His plan involved building up coal stocks at power stations, arranging to import coal through scab ports, recruiting large numbers of lorry drivers prepared to drive at full speed through picket lines, expanding dual coal-oil power stations, slashing benefits to strikers' families and putting the police on a united, nationwide war footing.

When you consider all the investigative journalists  there were at the time it odd that the Tory Government  agenda seemed to only come under from the Morning Star.

What the miner strike proved is where power really lies in Britain and in 1984 and it wasn't the Unions and 30 years later it is even more concentrated amongst the elite whether in the government or the media.

A Blog from beyond "The Graves"

Plans to adopt the Welsh place name Y Farteg for the Torfaen village of Varteg have been scrapped due to "overwhelming" public opposition.

Torfaen councillor Richard Clark, who made the decision, said he had listened to residents' views before making up his mind.

Some villagers feared the community would be ridiculed if it was forced to include Y Farteg on signs.

Stuart Evans at Welsh not British points out the absurdity of the argument against translating the name

Of course al it does is show the  dominance of English and how there is a reluctance amongst some to learn the Welsh pronunciation  correctly.

There has been a improvement in recent years but elements of the BBC still have problems with Welsh pronunciation . Only last as the tragedy of April Jones was unveiled to us some of the BBC finest were struggling over Machynllech
 
Of course coming from Beddau or more rightly Y Beddau which translates as The Graves, I do not live in the most exotic  named place in Wales.

But even then, there's contrast I and the rest of the village pronounce it as Bayther and have been admonished by Welsh Speakers over this. who believe it ab Anglicization.

However I have been told by some one who knows that Bayther is old Glamorgan Welsh and perfectly correct.

And may of us wil say they come from "The Beddau" rather than just Beddau.

Indeed throughout Wales there are places where the locals pronounce their village or town name in the Welsh Dialect of that area and there is nothing wrong with that.  the locals in the Pembroke town of Newport who use the Welsh Trefdraeth prounce it very diffrently from the rest of us because they are using Penbrokeshire Welsh.

We do need to make it clear how to pronounce our local villages in both languages . There some pretty peculiar places in England whose name derive back to the local dialec rather than received pronunciation.

But maybe the residents of Y Farteg are lucky as I used to have French girl friend who used to breal out in hysterics when seeing the abbreviation of Shropshire as Salop "Salope" is better translated as "slut" than as "bitch". Bitch can better be translated as "chienne".

Cameron to Scotland: stay for the sake of the kids.

Our beloved Prime Minister David Cameron has used his New Year message to highlight the importance of Scotland's vote on independence, telling Scots: "We want you to stay."

As the countdown to the referendum begins, Mr Cameron said the outcome of the vote on September 18 matters to everyone in the UK.

It is an important date in the history of the United Kingdom, he said, and urged "the nations" to stay together.

"The referendum vote will be the biggest decision Scotland has ever been asked to make. The outcome matters to all of us, wherever we live in the UK," Mr Cameron said.
"This is not a vote for the next few years, but a vote that could change our country forever.
"Our family of nations is at its best when we work together with shared interest and common purpose.
"This year let the message go out from England, Wales and Northern Ireland to everyone in Scotland: we want you to stay and together we can build an even stronger United Kingdom for our children and grandchildren."

Stay for the sake of the children? The plea of a partner  whose other-self decided they want to move on

Or is he behaving like an domineering husband who can't believe his wife has had enough of his abuse and who attempts to keep her by claiming that she is at fault and she being selfish and even "you'll never see the kids again.

And if Scotland is the abused wife where does it leave Wales? The pathetic brother -in -Law, whose  told he.'s  always welcome, but who it is made clear is a drain on his generous had of the family and who nust know his place.

My message to Scotland, is to give the same advise as Rick to Ilsaa in  the classic film Casablanca

Rick:... If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

 If Scotland votes No on September 18th they wil be at the mercy of the Tories and indeed parts of Labour  It wil be irrelevant what they want theywill have  a Tory or Blue Labour  government in Westminster  whose values are not their values .

.Who will be determined to dismantle the welfare state and impose Victorian Values reminiscent of the Workhouse.

You have the opportunity that we will not have in my lifetime  . Don't look back.  Look forward and  say Yes for an Independence.