It's George Borrow Time

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The story so far. 

In 2017 I read The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane which was without question the best non-fiction book I'd read that year. I chatted about it at the time on this blog.  Now he lauded about the 19th century writer and linguist George Borrow Now as it happened there were loads of his books available for free on my Kindle. So I thought "Great. I'll download them",  Which I did.

And so far I've hated every one I've read. 

I've just finished reading three of them which trust me as I will explain as we go along is not the great achievement that it appears to be.

The Songs Of Ranild is presumably the lyrics without a tune. I read it quickly. I wasn't impressed. Did not last long.

Letters To His Wife - The worst of the three. If only because there were just twelve yes twelve letters. And they were just mundane. Nothing important. Him asking for money I can recall. Really just not worth the paper this ebook wasn't printed on.

The Zincali:an account of the gypsies of Spain is the most substantial of the three but not great. Basically he was trying to flog the bible to this "tribe". And yes tribe is the right word because throughout the book the impression he gives is of a man looking down at a group of people he probably considers a few notches above savages.

The only bit that made me smile was when he was describing the Zincali women as basically lascivious. You know full well that the rich male readers were bellowing their disapproval whilst planning to visit the area in the summer.

In short then nothing has changed. George Borrow is a blog villain.

Until the next time.

When You Know You're Going To Hate A Book...But Read It Anyway

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

For every reader there comes a moment when you come into possession of a book that you know you're going to hate but feel honour bound by a sort of "reader code" (or is it an addiction?) to eventually come round and read it.

Things We Never Said was an ebook novel by Nick Alexander which in another post I chatted about. I won't repeat what I said here except that as you can guess from the title of this post I hated it. Indeed I've also chatted about another book by Mr Alexander, a "Brits in a villa" novel which, surprise, surprise, I hated as well.

Well to come back to Things We Never Said when I bought the book online it actually came with an added bonus (oh lucky me). Three Christmases : A Things We Never Said short story (thankfully). 

And of course when I read the main story I knew I was going to hate the short story. So I decided to bite the bullet and read the thing. And I'll read it in August as well. Suitable for Christmas.

Well.....of course I hated it. The things I hated in the main novel just carried over here. And let's face it any change of mind by me would have required something superhuman to achieve. In any event a boil has been lanced.

So I didn't ask for the book, but I read it. Sometimes you get delivered a book as a gift and you know you're not going to like it but there it is, taunting you, teasing that you might be pleasantly surprised and then laughing at you when you were right all along.

This is the addiction that we readers have. To read everything in our possession. To avoid the feeling we've missed something. To try everything on the menu just to say "I've been there" even though you would have rather had something dull but pleasant with chips on the side. All for that moment when you could honestly recommend the unexpected to others.

Until the next time.

 

Louisa May Alcott - The Quiet Feminist Goes Dark

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

We've chatted before about Louisa May Alcott. I've suggested that she is The Quiet Feminist. The sort of person who may not (in her case) have been the person who was the driving force for women's rights in the nineteenth century but chipped away at the edges against female inequality.

I also find myself wondering whether I'm the only person who liked everything he's read by Ms Allcott except for Little Women her most famous work.

Which leads us to Behind A Mask a 1866 novella which introduces us to Jean Muir, a governess of the Coventry family in Victorian Britain. She appears quiet and demure.

But things are not is as it seems.(and you just have to add to this) ...da da daaaah!

Of course we have all seen variations on this theme before but the fact that it's Louisa May Alcott doing it makes you want to know what is happening. What she's doing, why she's doing it and will there be dead bodies at the end as Ms Muir is revealed to be a homicidal maniac (spoiler - that doesn't happen).

In this novella there are issues of class attitudes though I suspect the greater issue is that of female rights. After all the fact that the book is subtitled A Woman's Power hints at Ms Alcott's attitudes here. But even viewed simply as an entertainment this novella works. There is a gradual but increasing tension as Jean Muir's intentions are revealed to the reader and whether or not she will obtain them. In fact I'll go as far as to say that judged solely as an entertainment this is the best book I've read this year.

It is more than that though. There is no messing with Miss Muir and it's surprising to me that such a strong female character is not mentioned often enough. Little Women it seems to me colours everything with regard to Louisa Alcott and for the general (and male) reader like me that runs the risk of ignoring her other books as the impression is given that they would be similar. 

I had a look at what I wrote for Little Women and whilst I won't go into absolute detail here I felt that it wasn't written for a fifty something male with an occasional back problem. I just obviously wasn't it's audience and with a title like Little Women fair enough.

Luckily for me as they were free on the Kindle I took the gamble and downloaded some of her other works. And I'm glad I did. Behind The Mask is the sort of book where a woman is the central character but a male reader can read and enjoy it as well. 

Thinking about it perhaps men should read a few other books by Ms Alcott before reading Little Women. Perhaps then she would gain a whole new audience. 

 

Populism And Plaid Cymru - Another Chat As To Why They Should Use It For Welsh Independence

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've spoken about this before. But I'm going to bore you by chatting about it again. For Welsh independence whilst not the majority opinion is still growing however Plaid Cymru's position remains relatively unchanged. 

I have stated before that Adam Price the Plaid Cymru leader needs to be more populist in his approach. There is nothing wrong with populism in itself. Being a nationalist is not being nationalistic. After all it was the Unionist Jacob Rees Mogg who stated that fish were happier in British waters (perhaps someone should have explained to him that unless caught fish have more freedom of movement than the citizens of this Disunited Kingdom). Similarly being populist does not mean supporting a border wall between America and Mexico.

With Senedd (Welsh government) elections coming in May (for the moment anyway) and perhaps depending on the Corona situation this will be the first where the battle between the Unionists and Nationalists will be the one which will be on the agenda.

Now of course Unionists will be in the advantage they will have the current Welsh Labour and the Westminster UK government on their side. This will be a battle and not a war. But it's important that Plaid makes inroads into the Welsh electorate. It needs to engage with those who take little interest in politics unless events cause them to stop and think where they are in the scheme of things.

What Brexit and the Corona virus appears to have done is to take the issue of independence into the mainstream for various reasons. It cannot be ignored by those who wish it anymore. Of course Unionism will make attempts to stop this revolution in thoughts for independence to continue. But it's I would argue too late. "When" could be a long time coming but "if" is no longer a debate.

So Plaid needs to up it's game on the populism front. Independence is after all the only alternative to the failure of everything else that has blighted the lives of the people of Wales for centuries.

And what Adam Price and Plaid Cymru needs to realise is that the Welsh Conservatives will use populism against it. It's new leader Nikita Krushchev, sorry Andrew R T Davies, is not afraid to pronounce loudly to everybody on everything between meals no matter how questionable.

So the energetic populist engagement with the voters in the next election must be a priority for Plaid. Wales depends on it.

Until the next time

Is Louisa M Alcot Still The Quiet Feminist?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

Normally I don't make claims about myself as a reader but I wonder whether outside of North America what other man in the 21st century has read two books by Ms Alcot other than Little Women?

Could it be because I've a particular interest in nineteenth century women writers? Or could it be because I just downloaded a load of free books onto my Kindle? That I'll leave you to decide.

Anyway after reading An Old Fashioned Girl I put forward the view that Louisa Alcot was the quiet feminist. A person who would not so much rock the boat as gently sway it. Such a person is actually quite important as if you consider any malign orthodoxy there is a need for people to weaken it before somebody/ some group comes along and destroys it. Louisa Alcot falls into that catagory.

So we come to Eight Cousins the story of Rose,a recently orphaned young girl who is looked after by her aunts whilst her actual guardian, her uncle, is out to sea and her adventures particularly dealing with her cousins (aka boys).

I did think even when I was reading the novel that I'd made a mistake reading it given that it was a novel for young girls. Being a fifty six year old man with an occasional back problem I'm obviously not Ms Alcot's target audience. Until this morning I was of the view that had I realised that before hoovering up all those free books on the Kindle I would have read it. However I've subsequently learnt that there was a sequel with Rose as an adult. I'm glad I read it now though to chat about Eight Cousins properly I reckon I'd need to read that subsequent book first.

But for the moment we come back to the question of the title. Is Louisa May Alcot the quiet feminist? I would say yes. Without spoiling the end at first glance you would think that Rose has been subsumed into patriarchal society, she @knows her place@ as it were.

But throughout the book she is the one who confronts the problems dealing with herself and her male relatives. She is the one who for example, nurses, confronts someone smoking tobacco (yes even then) and is even an educator.

There is an interesting line that strong women are tomboys, implying that they need a bit of male chracter. At first glance it would seem that she's saying females need to act like men, but of course tomboys are actually a mixture of male characteristics but they're still women.

However at the end the message is clear. Men (who incidentally are not evil - In the three books of Ms Alcot I've read I don't get the impression that she doesn't like them) my seemingly rule but without women they're helpless. And if you forget the "rule" bit it's something the wife says to me all too often.

Until the next time.

The Battle For The Future Of The BBC. Who Cares? For Welsh Nationalism The Battle Is For S4C/Radio Cymru

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Before I begin properly I will be repeating in this post a few things I have mentioned before about S4C. I make no apologies for this as it would appear that whilst the battle still continues the battleground has shifted.

Also for those who will say "Typical nationalist. Only thinking about the Welsh language and not English language programming in Wales" just remember that come independence the BBC as an organisation will not exist anyway. What the Welsh media picture as a whole should be post independence  is a discussion for another day.

So back to the BBC, whose current funding model is under threat from this Conservative Westminster administration. Many options have been put in it's place, the most talked about is a subscription service.

Now to be honest I'm not certain whether I would be interested in subscribing. Taken as a whole the BBC seems to be rather like Welsh Labour. An organisation with a glorius past that hides a reltively inglorius present. Leaving aside S4C/Radio Cymru for a moment I cannot say I watch/listen to a lot of BBC content anymore. Of course partly that's because the choice is a lot wider than when I was a child. But still there are less and less programmes now where I say to myself "I must watch that".

Nationalists of whatever celtic part of the country are no friends of the BBC believing it to have an anti independence agenda taking things as a whole.

Yet it's important that S4C and Radio Cymru (part financed by the BBC and advertising in S4C's case) is taken out of any subscription model that the BBC might eventually find itself in. It is a unique service providing information and entertainment in the Welsh language. It's also important to the cultural wellbeing of the nation.

Ah you say but S4C has low ratings. True. But as I've written about before the biggest problem S4C faces is not the langiage but the fact that it's just one channel. It has to be BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC Parliament, BBC News Channel, Ceebies and CBBC in just one stream. As a consequence it cannot offer the same options as other media outlets can. It's why S4C needs, even if crammed full of repeats, a second TV channel so it can offer choice.

How can it be funded? Well why should decisions on the financing of a Welsh language channel be controlled by Westminster? Why can't it control be in the Senedd? Proper devolution of what is clearly a Welsh resource is not an unreasonable aim. A Welsh government would understand the dangers to the language of these channels going subscription.

So whatever the future holds for the BBC let it fight it's own battles. Let us just fight to protect what is clearly Welsh.

Until the next time.

A Weapon Of Wax Destruction

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

A couple of days ago at work I noticed that a colleague wasn't walking comfortably. I asked why and she explained that a candle had dropped on her foot breaking two toes.

Now I must admit that my first reaction was to laugh (well you would wouldn't you?) in the same way that you would on seeing someone slip on a banana skin showing concern instantly afterwards.

Only later did I realise that when she was talking of a candle my colleague wasn't talking about a small thin white construction that people might use if there's a power cut. No she had been injured by a Yankee Candle or one of their competitors type of waxed construct. In other words a heavy lump of wax encased by a heavier lump of glass. So whether the candle had been dropped by accident or thrown in anger (I don't know) it would hurt.

A quick digression. I've never understood the popularity of scented candles. Or at the very least a candle whose scent is not easily identifiable. In our bathroom we have a Yankee Candle with the scent of "Wakiki Melon". Now unless you're a resident of the area or an expert in exotic versions of everyday food then how do you know it's accurate? Where (my case Wales) are there such knowledgeable people close to hand? It all seems very dubious to me.

Anyway back to the subject of a candle as a weapon other than for pyromaniacs. And this is the moment when I'm going to chat about a Roald Dahl story so you've been spoiler alerted.

There is a story where a wife kills her husband using a frozen piece of meat only to cook it later thus the evidence unknowingly finds itself in the stomachs of the police officers investigating the murder. Well exactly the same thing could happen here.

Your only real requirement is a good throwing arm. But if you're able to hit and knock out the victim you can then light the candle in it's normal place before leaving the house thus assuming the person is slowly dying because of a head injury or falling down the stairs their last moments are at least full of probably some obscure scent. The weapon will be hidden in plain sight.

You then return, feigning shock and distress as you call the police and then watch as they ponder what has happened. If (and it's a big if) your throwing arm is good then there  is a good chance that you will get away with it. If only because the means is not clear.

Before you ask I wouldn't do it personally. Because a) I love my wife b) I don't have a good throwing arm c) I would be an instant suspect because I've written this post and d) I've already told her of my theory.

Still the capacity of those big fat glassed candles as a weapon of wax destruction should not be overlooked. You have been warned.

Until the next time.

See You Later.....Or Perhaps Never

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm approaching the fifty sixth year of my existence my status as grumpy old man has never been stronger. Though if truth be told I've hovered between that and wild optimism ll my life. However one thing I have noticed is that as I've become older supposedly little@ things start to have a demonic status all their own.

One of my pet peeves of recent years has been the phrase "See You Later". When I was young it was perfectly simple. It meant that you were going to see the recipient of that conversation that very day. What could be easier?

However a few years ago that started to change. I was at work and a woman was about to leave. "See you later" she said walking out of the door .

I didn't understand. I wasn't going to be seeing her for the rest of the week let alone that day. What was she on about?

Other people then started to say the same thing to me and I realised that it was a phrase that had taken a life of it's own which went literally went beyond the original meaning of the word....joining such descriptive transformations as literally itself or when the youth of today describe something as being "bad" when it was in fact good.

So I let it fester in my old man heart. That is until Saturday also at work when a guy said @See you later@ as he was also leaving. Now what made it different was that we were in Bridgend to the west of Britain and he was taking a four hour (and probably then some) to Norwich to the East.

It meant that not only was I not going to see this man for the rest of the day. I was unlikely ever to see him again. I knew from our conversation that he was not returning to South Wales and whilst I have no particular dislike for Norwich I've no wish to visit there either. And yet his last words to me suggested we were going to the pub that evening (of course not being a drinker he'd be disappointed when I become that boring guy)

Language evolves. But it also should make a degree of sense. Or else what happens is that it becomes worthless.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 22: A Night To Remember (1958)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I haven't been well recently, which is why there's been a long break since the last time I've done this blog. But I'm back now for which I'm apologise.

So one of the things I'm returning to is going through and chatting about the movies the 2013 Radio Times Film Guide  bought in 2018 in W H Smith in Harlow for £2.50 when in Essex exile looking after my mother.

The most recent film then that I randomly recorded was Roy Ward Baker's 1958 production for J Arthur Rank about the Titanic disaster. So let's start  with that title.  A Night To Remember? Really!Surely it's one people would rather forget.

Of course such a movie is not easy. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a tragedy then you could joke that it's the ultimate spoiler. Everyone knows what happens next so creating tension is difficult.

I had wondered how to chat about this and then worked out that perhaps comparing it with the much more famous James Cameron Hollywood sugar coating romantic gush of a movie would be a good idea. I did see it but decades ago so these are scattered memories. It is therefore Clash Of The Titanics Part 1. When I get round to looking at Cameron's Titanic again then we'll come to Part 2.

Here's my initial reaction. I didn't like either film but for different reasons. In the case of A Night To Remember a lot of the reasons are technical. But some of this comes down to the script by thriller writer Eric Ambler. There is with few exceptions too little time is spent on too many characters. As the viewer, especially when the iceberg hits, you get a situation where you're introduced to one plot line and then suddenly are shifted to another. That's disconcerting

But like I said most of my dislike for the British film is technical. It's clearly done on a budget and it shows. You might think I'm being unfair in comparing a British movie in the late fifties with it's modern counterpart. But it's nothing to do with the actual sinking ( taken from a Nazi movie - unseen - on the subject). For example the decision to make it in black and white. I would argue (and did so in a Facebook group) that secondary to it's sinking the Titanic is remembered for it's extravagance. Black and White does not cut the mustard [or insert your colour here] Though I have to mention if you look at the set design of the restaurant it doesn't seem special either. The Hollywood version is better.
And before we leave the restaurant there is a scene when as the ship sinks a trolley hits a pillar. That pillar wobbles.

Being a British film it does seem more realistic when conveying a nation's pride at it's building and the class structure of the ship' s staff which mirrored society a whole. Class is an important part of both films but seems to be more authentic in the Rank one.

When the iceberg hits the Rank film seems to change it's patriotism to show Britain calmly dealing with this disaster. That is until you're shown that even when it comes to women and children to go on the lifeboats class is an issue as those on third find themselves locked in whilst those on the upper classes get to relative safety first.

Of course when it's about to go under then anarchy does rule.

Whilst there is a young Honor Blackman and David McCallum the true star in this film was Kenneth More. He was the upper middle class star of movies at this time. He was the comfy pair of acting slippers being representative of supposed British authority, calmness, decency and a sense of humour. Here he plays the number two of the ship and comforts his audience by being the only person to confront (albeit mildly) the only boo hiss villain here, the head of the shipping line.

I have know idea as to the veracity of this but the film seems to blame at least in part the disaster on a series of admin errors. To be honest it seemed too easy and to pat to have done this. Yet talking of blame it is interesting to note that in both movies the character that seems to have gone off lightly is the designer of the supposedly "unsinkable" ship. After all in it failed in it's first real test and no one confronts him.

You feel that even in it's budgetary constraints A Night To Remember could have been a better movie. Instead it ultimately become a disappointment.

Until the next time.

A Rugby Morning In Wales With A Halloween Postscript

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It is a Sunday. A fact that means nothing to me as I'm working later. It's also bright. A contrast to the past couple of grey, miserable but most of all wet on an almost Noahist scale days that we've had to put up with.

I look at the mobile. It's eight something. The clocks being put back an hour overnight.It explains the good sleep I've had (yes I know) but also why the wife isn't beside me in bed. She's downstairs getting ready to watch the match.I

Yes that match.

Wales vs South Africa. Second semi-final of the Rugby world cup.

The previous day we saw England beat New Zealand. Let's make my position clear here. For the same reason I wrote about last year regarding England and the football World Cup though I support Welsh independence I'm supporting England. Simply because sport is different and you don't change your team in the same way that you would change say a brand of baked beans.

Also much as I like rugby (though never as much as football) I would not claim to be an expert or even fan knowlegeable. Indeed I hadn't watched any of the previous games before this one and only saw yesterday's game by being at the right place at the right time

But hey I'm going to pontificate anyway. It seemed to me that after the devasting first twenty or so minutes England were not really that special. The real acheivement was their ability to neutralise New Zealand. The All Blacks became the All Greys. The England coach Eddie Jones had done his homework (a man who let's not forget called Wales a "s****y" country).

Back then to the Wales game. Or rather the living room of the new house where the wife is firmly ensconced in front of the TV. I walk in. The match has started. She turns to me and asks me to go out and get two bottles of milk and a packet of cigeraettes. I can't really argue given that she's a) Welsh and b) recovering from major surgery.

Now I've learnt already that the  convinience store near us is a wierd place. It's not that it charges high prices taking advantage of it's captive audience for those just seeking the odd item like me. I'd discovered last Monday that it wasn't open in the early evening and now even more remarkably it wasn't open on a Sunday morning either. For those lucky enough to be under fifty five let me tell you that such shops were open in the seventies on a sunday. That's how wierd this is.

It means I have to take the car to the next nearest store I'm aware of. Walkable but just far enough for me to think that driving is the better option to get the stuff given the wife's condition. It's a Spar solely served by an attractive young woman with dark hair, Morticia like make-up round the eyes, a metal something on the nose and a dark top. It occurs to me that she is either the local Penarthian Goth or she had come to work straight from a Halloween party the previous night and powered herself to go through the morning with energy drinks.

It's all quiet. People are watching the game obviously. Unless you're working only English people with not that much interest in rugby are probably wandering around.
Anyway the items (at last) bought I return to the house. It's approaching half time. Wales are losing but not by much. You don't need to have seen the half to know that it's a tough game to call the winner.

Anyway the items (at last) bought I return to the house. It's approaching half time. Wales are losing but not by much. I decide to let her watch the second half alone. During the time I hear one whoop of cheering but otherwise silence. When she comes out of the room I know the result. Wales had lost. Agonisingly the diffTerence being a last minute penalty.

I suspect her reaction is that of most Welsh people. Disappointed but acknowleding that the team did their best. Perhaps the best word to describe it is sanguine.

Now a quick Brexit Halloween postscript. I was working that day and have to go through the A48 to Bridgend. Normally a quiet route, especially midday on a Sunday, the early part of it was jamful of traffic.

Why? A field had become a Pumpkin field. People could drive in and pick their own Pumpkin. Personally Pumpkins are overatted as food and it's remnants stink afterwards as if skunks were in a wrestling match. But clearly it's a minority view. Not only was the field busy but people had parked on the grass verge on the road outside. This included a disability van and an unfortunate guy doing some repair work under the engine.

And this is the point. Halloween as an event has sort of creeped up and taken over from the fireworks of Guy Fawkes. And whatever the origins as an event this is clearly an American construct. If it was European you know the Leave people would have been attacking it but  becuse (again as a marketing event) the origins are American they are silent. And yet the British event of Guy Fawkes has suffered for it.

The Disunited Kingdom we live in folks.

Until the next time.

At Last We'ved Moved

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well at last we've moved. We're now in Penarth. The Penarth according to brother in law's partner "Near the council estate" but no matter. Wife's dream has now borne fruit.

As I've explained before this is not my dream. Treorchy is where I wanted to go. But I owe my wife for being there when I was unemployed and suffering from depression. This I consider a debt paid.

Still it does not mean I dislike Penarth. It is as I've also explained before the urban version of a comfy pair of slippers. The street itself is very quiet but also very thin. Which doesn't help much when your driveway is full of scaffolding.

Ah yes. The builders are still there. But it seems the wife's strategy of just moving in once habitable seems to be successful. They are after all these months putting a shift in. There is a very good chance now that it will be completed by the end of the week. It should have been done months earlier.

Of course as it was always bound to happen they're putting this effort in the worse possible week. Wife's operation was last week (timing is everything). It appears to be successful which for more than the obvious reason I'm happy about. This was her dream. To reach it and then become unable to enjoy it seems a punishment she does not deserve.

So I am back blogging. after this personally speaking eventful break. More regular stuff as I adapt back to the blogger groove.
Until the next time.

Last Night I Dreamt Of Harlow

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

We haven't move yet but are about to. The saga of the builders has been the stuff of cliche which I'll chat about another day. Promise...

However we are actually going to move by this weekend at the very latest. So at very long last Penarth here  we come.

But in the meantime let's talk about last night when I dreamt of Harlow.That's right Harlow in Essex. A place I haven't been to for almost two years since I was in Essex exile looking after my seriously I'll mother. But there I am, in it's main shopping centre. Having a coffee with a woman (remember I prefer tea). A dark haired young woman I do not know in real life. And we are, shall we say, friendly .

"I have a girlfriend" I tell this mystery female. So I don't mention  that I'm married but I say I'm in a relationship. Like most  dreams  it makes no sense.

My mystery fling holds my hand across an uncrowded coffee shop.

"Don't worry" she says "I have a boyfriend".

What have I led myself into?

It then gets weirder than even that. For another character I've never seen emerges. He's bald,he's wearing glasses...and he's drunk.

He also knows us. For he threatens to reveal all.What do I do? Deny everything? Plead that he does nothing? No I prop up the drunken figure and help walk him out of the shopping centre with my mystery fling.

What this all means? I've no idea. For that's the moment when the alarm went on my mobile.

Dreams are annoying that way.

Until the next time

The Battle For Wales : How Mark Drakeford, David Cameron And The Queen Furthered The Cause Of Welsh Independence

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

This past week may seemingly have been quiet in the cause for Welsh independence but actually has been quite important and needs to be noted down.
Let's start with Welsh First Minister Mark "Jeremy's Disciple" Drakeford who in the Senedd earlier this week basically stated that the majority of Welsh people did not want independence. and basically tying himself and Welsh Labour to the Westminster Unionist fold that makes it part of the problem and not th solution.

Welsh Labour have been in recent weeks seemingly have pursued a twin track approach on the issue of independence. On the one hand there has been the fervent Unionists like Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP we have chatted about previously on this blog talking up the "precious union" and talking down on Wales. As I've mentioned before about  Mr Kinnock (who in terms of Wales really is the London Planetarium of politics - Bald and pointless) he really needs to speak to his wife about small countries who are happily independent such as Iceland.I

But, including Drakeford, there have been another faction that has dipped it's tiny toe on the issue basically stating that under certain circumstances it cannot be ruled out. Thus the tactic seemingly is to muddy the waters and not lose further votes in local government elections to Plaid Cymru.

Now however by acting as he has done Drakeford has clearly fallen into line with what Jeremy and the Westminster head office want. There is no ambiguity anymore. Welsh Labour is part of the Unionist fold. It has, not for the first time, surrendered independence of thought.

Drakeford is right. At the moment the majority of Welsh people wish to stay in the union. But the polls show that support for independence is rising rapidly. Labour have been losing local by-elections to Plaid Cymru partly because it's clearly the party that seeks independence. It offers an alternative vision.What has happened in Scotland is happening in Wales. Many Labour voters are turning to Plaid. The loyalty to Welsh Labour is diminishing rapidly. Labour's nightmare is coming true.

Of course the twin track approach was always a stupid/opportunist strategy anyway but sticking to the Union come what may has/will damaged Labour and will continue to do so. Furthering the cause of independence in Wales.

So let's come to David Cameron and the Queen. I've not read Cameron's autobiography and have no wish to do so but this is the first political autobiography I can recall where the subject comes out of it even worse than before publication.

Of course Cameron came into this on a particular low ebb anyway. Not only did he call the Brexit referendum but then clearly as Prime Minister ran it so badly. Allowing the  Leave campaign to  make the running . Furthermore after having lost  the referendum he immediately resigns from the mess he created. Running away I'd argue to spend more time with his money.

Whatever you think of Theresa May, at least she tried.

Initially the focus of the coverage has been on Brexit, and specifically his views on Boris Johnson  and Michael Gove. But later it turned on events surrounding the  Scottish  independence referendum of 2014. where he revealed  he asked the Queen to act in support of the union during the campaign. Obliquely she did. Stating that people should "think very carefully" before  casting their vote.

As we all know the Unionist side won the referendum though subsequent events suggest that for the SNP it was  a defeat but of  a battle not the war.

Whether the Queen's remarks influenced voters who knows?  But it  might have done.

Now the  Disunited Kingdom media are focusing on the Queen's displeasure and the breach of royal protocol. Something I'm sure discussed in foodbanks everywhere. But there  is no denial that the story is true.

However the important point  in terms of  a Welsh  independence referendum is this. No Prime Minister will be able to  use a member of  the Royal family as a weapon  for Unionism again  If they try they will be attacked as a tool of Unionists, a puppet. Indeed the position of the monarchy itself  within Wales  would  be under threat.

A Unionist weapon has been neutralised by a Unionist. Oh the irony.

All in all then. A good week for Welsh independence.

Until the next time.

Argh My Laptop's Dead

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sudden death is always the worse for those around the deceased. If only because of it being so unexpected. There is shock mixed with helplessness. The inability to help. The inability to say goodbye because the swiftness of the departure As you get older you feel that pain towards inanimate objects as well. Though the pain is short lived ( as you can get a replacement) it is there.

Monday night then. I'm trying on the laptop to get a stream to watch the Aston Villa West Ham game (Nil-Nil so the hunt wasn't even worth doing it in itself) I'm on Google so not even on a website itself when suddenly the machine went ping, the screen went dead and just died.

I do everything I can to revive it. Switching leads, pressing the on switch very  hard that it hurts my finger but to no avail.

There is a very remote chance that it's alive however the only way to find out is to go to a repair shop. However I genuinely don't have the time given that we are actually going to be physically moving to our new home next Thursday.

And I am grieving. If only because in the past two and a quarter years it and the tablet has pulled me through as going on the internet it's been a portal to knowledge, communication and entertainment. So it's helped me not go quietly mad.

So it's likely to be dead. And I'm saddened by it's loss. Saddened as well that I have to go and get another laptop when this last one worked so well (and if you ask how I'm writing this mourning of a Microsoft powered ACER whatever it's through the Kindle)
At time of writing (3:19am - I can't sleep) there's a fly hovering around me. I will try and kill it.

It's  death won't bother me.

Until the next time.

In Which An Englishman Criticises Potential Public Irish Policy. No It Isn't Brexit But The Case Of Lyric FM

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Only a foolhardy Englishman would criticise potential Irish public policy without the risk of having Brexit thrown back at him.

Only a stupid Englishman living in Wales would criticise the possible closure of a radio station when he's not even part of it's catchment audience.

Only a ….well you get the idea that man is going to be me.

I learnt yesterday that the Irish public broadcaster RTE is considering closing it's classical music station Lyric FM. We'll chat about why later. But to be fair to me I have mentioned it occasionally in the blog before just saying that it's the best classical music station I know.

What makes it different? After all it plays classical tunes just like any other classical radio station. It broadcasts live concerts just like other classical radio stations. It seemingly is a clone of any classical commercial radio station you can think of  (RTE though a public broadcaster does commercials) with regular news, weather, traffic reports, competitions etc.

The difference is it's tone.

Bare in mind I'm talking generally now but let's compare Lyric FM with the two major classical music stations in the Disunited Kingdom BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Radio 3 constantly has difficulty in hiding the impression that it's tolerating you but considers itself superior. The commercial Classic FM seems to suggest that it considers it's core audience are listening to it in between reading the Daily Mail and watching omnibus episodes of Murder She Wrote.

Lyric FM on the other hand treats you as a friend. It does not patronise. What it understands is that it may know more about the subject matter than most of it's audience but that does not mean the listeners are thick. Neither is it fundamentalist in it's music choices. It can play Chopin and Ray Charles in the same programme.

So having worked out the formula for the ideal classical music station RTE is now considering throwing it away. Madness.

And why? Well to be honest living on this side of the Irish sea I'm not completely sure. The article I saw online suggested that RTE had a general "financial shortfall" (how come? It is paid by a licence fee and commercials). The article suggested that regional services, sports and drama were also likely to be cut. It seems to me that if these reports are accurate the idea of RTE being a public service broadcaster at all would be called into question.

But back to Lyric FM. Some people would say well then what's the issue when there's the example of Classic FM? The private sector will provide. Stop moaning. However that tone I mentioned will go. You will find that (taken as a whole) commercial classical radio will just get blander and blander.

I have,no knowledge as to why RTE has got itself into this situation. What I do know is that it's created a special public service gem with Lyric FM and losing it will not help it's future at all.

Until the next time.

The Battle For Wales : Why Wales Should Not Enter England's Possible Civil War

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have a link on my mobile to Microsoft's News service (it's a Nokia. Connected to Windows 10. And if that sounds impressive it isn't. They've stopped the model now). It alerts me to the news headlines. In truth I'm not sure how I arranged it. But from time to time the handset pings to reveal an article from a news organisation.

For the most part it's not that impressive. Telling me stuff I already know or stuff that I really didn't need to know. But a couple of days back it brought up an article that made me want to read it instantly.

By Alan Crawford on Bloomberg financial news agency dated September 12 entitled "Will Brexit Trigger The Nation's Next Civil War?"

(The link is here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-12/will-brexit-trigger-england-s-second-civil-war)

Now I've raised the possibilities of right wing dictatorship in this blog many times. Also as this strand of posts obviously says I've mentioned a political battle in Wales between people who believe in independence and whatever the right wing turns out to be. But this English Centric article (though worth reading - Wales isn't mentioned once - Scotland and Northern Ireland mentioned once in passing) puts forward the possibility of a civil war within England as a consequence not just of Brexit but it also needs to be said the subsequent mess of British government negotiations afterwards.

The chances of such a scenario are slim. But it says enough about the Disunited Kingdom now that no one in 2019 could honestly say that it's not impossible. And that fact alone should make people step back and gaze at the mess in front of them.

After all we have a scenario now of a Prime Minister suspending Parliament and purging dissidents from his own policy. One of the greatest ironies of the media manipulation is where the right wing press will accuse Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of wanting to bring in a Stalinist administration and yet it's Baboon Boris Johnson who has acted in this way.

Secondly Brexit is an issue that has caused division like no other in my lifetime. The issue arises passion on either side. Some people, whether previous friends or family members no longer talk to each other because of the arguments it has brought. That as history tells is as good an ingredient as you can get for that civil war stew.

Add to that shortages of food and medicines and increased political violence should Britain crash out with a no deal Brexit.

So then what if England is at war? What then? And given the title of this post. What should Wales do?

Wales is not in an easy position. It doesn't have the reunification option of Northern Ireland, nor did it vote to Remain in the EU referendum. The Brexit Party won most of the European Parliament elections in May but that doesn't really count as the Remain vote was split.

That all having been said though it does have the option of independence. Brexit might be the cause of an English civil war but let's be clear it will just be different facets of Unionism fighting with each other. If the Welsh Parliament declared independence from England and neutrality in such a conflict I would suspect that in such a scenario that  majority of people living in Wales would accept it. Firstly because they would not be involved in a war and secondly because what is the point in being in a  union disintegrating before your very eyes?

I have never said in this blog that independence will instantly make life better. And this scenario probably more than any other will be the most challenging. Still I would argue that messy independence would be far better than tying yourself to a country at civil war.

Until the next time.

A Short Post On Why You Shouldn't Blame Fireman Sam For Gender Stereotyping. Blame His English Translators Instead

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So it appears that the media preschool superhero of the Welsh rural village of Pontypandy is in trouble because he's not considered by one English Fire authority as "not inclusive" and outdated and have stopped using him as a mascot for this particular service.  Focusing on the title "Fireman Sam" the argument is basically that this discourages women from joining the service.

Now this an argument that splits people into ways that you would expect, the sort of "this is political correctness gone mad" response. However those who feel that the title "Fireman Sam" should be replaced to something gender neutral are correct for various reasons. Starting with it would follow the original Welsh text.

Fireman Sam was originally a pre school programme on the Welsh language channel S4C. It's (original) Welsh title was "Sam Tan". Literally "Sam Fire".

So the point being is that in terms of his occupation the original Welsh title was gender neutral.

Sam is innocent of the charges brought against him. As the title of this short post suggests the real guilty party here are those who decided that his English title should be gender specific. Sam however could hardly be blamed for the decisions of others

Now personally I don't see anything wrong with changing the title of the show to "Firefighter Sam". However I am bothered that one brave guy is cast as an outdated sexist symbol when in fact he has been anything but.

Change the title by all means. But don't kill off the guy.

Until the next time.

No More VE Day Clelebrations In Bridgend Town? Another Potential Welsh Labour Nail In It's Coffin

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes it's been a while since my last post. 1001 different things have been happening. But essentially I haven't unfortunately had the time. Anyway not as if anything has happened in Britain in the meantime.

But it seems somehow fitting that my first post in a while concerns a regular blog villain, Bridgend Welsh Labour council.

Now since the blog began I've focused on the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town which I've argued is due to the arrogant incompetence of the Welsh Labour council. I intend to visit again (I work nearby) later this month but if you're interested tap Bridgend Town on this blog's search engine and it will explain more fully.

So we have a town on it's knees without (unlike say other towns in the borough like Porthcawl) a clear strategy for it's future and this remember is before the closure of the Bridgend Ford engine plant next year.

Let's move to another strand. Bridgend Welsh Labour council have made swinging cuts to public services and they are proposing to make even more. They blame this on the cut in subsidy from the Welsh Labour government in Cardiff Bay. As I've said before if Welsh Labour blames Welsh Labour then it's Welsh Labour that's responsible.

The local paper, the Glamorgan Gazzette, has made a list of where the proposed cuts are going to be. If I discussed each and every one in detail then I would be still writing this post next week. But one caught my eye immediately as it seemed to show how incompetent the council is.

The council subsidies events in the town centre such as World war two V E day celebrations reenactments (hence the bunting in the town which has not been taken off for a year) Caribbean concerts, markets and the one which I've chatted about from time to time (as I happened to be there on those days) classic car shows.

Well the proposal is to cut this subsidy.

Now this subsidy is for other parts of the borough as well but let's focus on Bridgend Town. What it means is that one of two things have happened.

1) That these events have been unsuccessful in bringing people into the town.

2) These events have been successful in bringing people into the town and the Welsh Labour council are now proposing to cut them thus people won't visit and spend money in the town which desperately needs it.

Either way it only highlights how incompetent the Welsh Labour council have been in managing the town. How it's a town brought on it's knees by arrogant Welsh Labour incompetence and it needs all the help it can get. Instead it appears Welsh Labour just want to bang another nail into it's coffin.

Until the next time.

In A Disunited Kingdom On The Verge Of The Death Of Democracy Let's Chat About Gender Stereotyping As Light Relief....Through The Medium Of Two Dead Birds In An Attic

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes that's right. Gender stereotyping as light relief. That's how insane this Disunited Kingdom has become folks'

So yesterday the wife and I visit the house we're about to move into. Mainly because she has some issues with the shower (which I won't bore you with). However as I'm there she asks me to go up to the attic. Last time she went up there the wife saw two dead birds (presumably during the day the workmen forgot to close the window) and wondered whether they were still there or had been removed.

So gender stereotype number one. The wife is the sort of small woman who takes no messing from anybody. She will go all in to do things that are supposed to be "men's work" (even if I'm there and offering to do it). And yet when it comes to rodents or in this case dead birds she becomes the most girly girl in the history of girls. She just can't do deal with the situation. She is almost immobile. She'd rather walk out of the house and leave them there.

I've no issues with any small animal really that isn't a domesticated wolf (aka a dog) so I go up and yes they're still there. Like germs in a Domestos ad. Dead.

So gender stereotype number two: When the wife first saw the birds (I was at work) she asked the workmen to remove them. According to her they didn't want to do it because they were scared. That's right big strong tradesmen with tattoos over their tattoos were scared to deal with two dead birds.

Gender stereotype number three: Me. A man who you could deal with in a fight by just taking my spectacles off felt a rushing surge of testosterone in my veins as I proclaimed "I am Lord of this domain and I shall resolve this!!"

Or I just shrugged my shoulders and "I'll deal with it" (I'll leave you to decide).

But not at that moment though. I needed gloves and a couple of black bags as the birds were not the only things left in the attic. There was a sixties style suitcase (unopened), a tennis racket and various songbooks including one I noticed for Boyzone (which surprised me as I only thought they did cover versions).

I'll sort out the birds, open the suitcase and look at the other stuff properly on Tuesday. Obviously in the most manly of manly ways possible.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : The Almost September Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The first thing I need to say to regular readers, before I say anything else, is that I'm conscious that this blog is a little disjointed of late. This will continue for a while. Because within the next thirty days we will (at long last!) be moving.

Consequently things are being packed already. And in terms of the blog the learning of a few languages and the chats on movies for example will be put in storage until we've actually moved and bedded in. They will of course return. They are important to me.

Of course I'll still be reading (some things will never stop) but until we move it'll just be from the Kindle.

I am on this Saturday morning feeling as if I'm being drugged by kidnappers but I am awake. It's an odd feeling. Hopefully the cup of tea by my side will warm me up.

I also have a cold. September is coming. The weather outside is cloudy and grey. Rain is threatened.

Anyway a quick note on British Constitution. Only British Unionist politicians and academics would be proud of a constitution that isn't even written. Well now there are calls that there should be a written one. Thing is. It's too late. As I explained in my previous post Unionism as a philosophy is now dead. A written constitution will be the first document in history attempting to revive a corpse.

So independence is the way (there is even a Yes Cymru group for farmers I note). And when right wingers send me tweets regarding Wales being "too small etc" I just send them my recent post from the right wing magazine The Spectator about Iceland.

I am at this moment drafting a post suggesting that the worst case scenario for Brexit will be that the island Oliver Mcqueen gets stranded on is a perfect metaphor for what Britain will become. An article in the BBC News website today  discussing discussing the foraging of food does not help. After all surely such an article would have had more relevance in the summer not now (almost September). So why is this up there?

Anyway wife's awake. Things to do (and pack). Until the next time.

The Battle For Wales : After Suspending Parliament Unionism Is Now Dead

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well after what Prime Minister Baboon Boris Johnson did yesterday in suspending parliament one thing is clear.

Unionism is dead.

Unionists will survive (for now) because those will have power will seek to keep it. But Unionism is dead.

For after all if a Unionist government in Whitehall is happy to suspend the Unionist Parliament in Westminster (which as I've explained before has had a nervous breakdown in itself) then it's an action which once and for all has reduced Unionism to be a power grab and nothing else.

Now I know what some of you will say. "What about upholding the result of the EU referendum?" Well what about it? As I've also explained before the problem of the referendum, and the source of everything that has happened since, is that people voted on the destination not the route to get there. Who outside the cultish right wing truly voted for a No-Deal Brexit? Who?

So then what we have are right wing Unionists flexing their muscles uncaring about the democratic oversight of parliament. Whitehall truly rules. Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Gove. They represent the establishment without any pretence of decorum.

What that this do to the Scottish and Welsh independence movements? Well by overriding the will of parliament Boris Johnson has provided nationalists with more weapons to fight independence with. This is ultimately a right-wing English manoeuvre. A fact not lost.

In Wales Mark "Jeremy's Disciple" Drakeford has called the Senedd in early to discuss the Baboon's actions and how a no deal Brexit will affect people here. But let's not forget that as Finance minister he was the man who help surrender Welsh powers to Theresa May for a seven year period. These powers now to be controlled by the Baboon and his Welsh consul Secretary of State Alun "Chucky" Cairns. No one in Wales voted for this. And yet this is what's happening.

Therefore in Scotland and Wales the independence movement will grow (I'm assuming Ireland will be reunified - After all if Arlene Foster thinks that the suspension is a good thing then that's another DUP dinosaur manoeuvre) and will not be stopped. Independence is for Scotland and Wales the only other alternative to the right wing regime amongst us. And how can unionists now claim independence will provide chaos when they have helped cause the death of the philosophy they claim to follow?

I, I must admit, have not been the greatest at making predictions but I'm going to make another one. When Wales and Scotland become independent, and they will, historians will look at the actions on the 28 August and will mark that this was the day when the point of no return was reached for Unionism.

Because Unionists killed it.

Until the next time

Whatever The Finsbury Park Mosque Attacker Is......He Is Not Welsh....Yet Why Is That Impression Given?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

In June 2017 Darren Osborne drove a van into a crowd coming out of the Finsbury Park Mosque in London. One man was killed.

I remember at the time being appalled at the time. Then being truly stunned that he had rented the van from a place in Pontyclun, almost at the beginning of the Rhondda Cynon Taff area. Which he meant he drove all the way along the M4 to London to commit this hate crime. I didn't understand how a Welshman would have been prepared to do this at a place so far away.

He is now in the news again following an alleged assault on a fellow prisoner. And this time Twitter has informed me of something I wasn't aware of.

Whilst he lived in Cardiff .He's not Welsh.

He was in fact born in Singapore and spent his formative years in Weston-Super-Mare.

Now you may say, rightly, that this really has no baring on the crime which he committed. What is also true and needs to be stressed here before I go on is that I'm not saying that there is no one born in Wales capable of committing a similar act.

But the thing that Twitter pointed out was that the Wales Online article explaining the latest incident gave the impression that he was Welsh.

So I looked instead at the BBC Wales online article and it too gave a similar statement. It said "Osborne, from the Pentwyn area of Cardiff.....". But again this gave the wrong impression. He might have lived there but he wasn't born there.

An admittedly quick skim of articles at the time of the Finsbury Park attack and subsequent trial were also similar in their wording unless they spoke of his background. Only then was it revealed he wasn't Welsh.

So the question needs to be asked why is the impression given that Osborne is Welsh?  Well I've no idea. At best it's lazy journalism.

But what I do know is this. Trust in news organisations is diminishing at a rapid rate. This general impression that Osborne is Welsh has now lasted over two years and it continues today.

All people want are all the facts.

Until the next time.

The Battle For Wales : Why Ireland Will Be An Independent Wales' Friend

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Something odd happened to me on Twitter yesterday. I responded to a tweet from the pro-Leave group Turning Point UK which showed two young women called "The Grant Sisters" speaking about Britain, Ireland and the Irish backstop with all the patronising fluency that apparently reading from an autocue would suggest.

I won't go through what they said. But just imagine being taught by condescending vacuous supply teachers and I think you would start getting the right impression.

I tweeted that I would want the sisters to speak about Ireland and the backstop ...in Ireland.... in front of the Irish and then they would get the cold chill of reality.

And to my amazement the likes to that tweet came in their hundreds.

Brexit has not caused a rift in the relations between Britain and the Irish Republic but the reaction to the Irish backstop has. You know that thing that's actually helped peace in all of Ireland for decades. And the thing is this. Why is Westminster so surprised that the Irish Republic are being firm on this? Why is Westminster so surprised that Dublin is acting in the Irish interest?

As for the Welsh Labour government it's trying to improve Wales-Ireland relations but truly it's hands are tied due to the mess the party has found itself in regarding it's attitude to Brexit. The only true clear thing about Labour policy here is that it's policy is as clear as mud.

What the British government has been under May, and even more so under Baboon Boris Johnson, is arrogantly incompetent. It is a lazy attitude. It smacks of disrespect of an independent nation. It also suggests Ireland is, even subconsciously, still a colony in their eyes.

But of course it is Wales and not Ireland that is the last truly Serf nation in Europe but as the calls for independence rises (including a leader piece in this week's Economist magazine) it's interesting to chat about what an independent Wales's relationship would be with it's other neighbour across the sea.

Now before going on this crystal ball gazing assume three things:

1) Brexit occurs

2) Wales will be independent

3) Whilst not a full EU member believing that the priority has to be the bedding down of independence, Wales is a member of the subsidiary EU organisations eg EFTA like Norway and Iceland (there it comes again. Iceland mentioned three times in this blog in just over a week!).

So where do begin? Well let's start with the obvious. Unless England turns into A State Of Denmark (The novel by Dereck Raymond depicting an undemorcratic England - though interestingly Scotland and Wales being independent - no longer as far fetched as it would appear even five years ago) Wales would still want to be good neighbours with the only country it shares a border with. After all good neighbours become good friends.

However even a most democratic and free thinking England will be resentful at Welsh independence. It would be after all a divorce so it should not be a surprise if it threw (even literally) road blocks along the way. Ireland would provide help to alleviate whatever England decides to do.

You might say why should it? After all Wales voted for Brexit. It seemed to tie itself to Westminster. But even now Wales is a different country to what it was then. Welsh independence would change the dynamic of the country. Of how it's viewed around the world. No longer would it be seen as a Serf nation of London. And Ireland would be one of the first countries it will need to reach out to. Being as it is the neighbour across the Irish sea

In the short term Ireland will be damaged by Brexit. But in the long term it will adjust as a member of the EU. It will have 26 other countries to help it and I'd argue would be in the longer term more prosperous than it has ever been. Consequentially it will become Wales' gateway back into Europe both as an example and as a route for easier trade. This would not be quick and simple for Wales. Nor indeed should it given it voted to get out and indeed as I stated before the bedding down of independence should be it's first priority not attempting to rejoin .

Also if England does go A State of Denmark route. Then there would be potentially security issues for the Celtic nations that surround it. And that includes the Republic. Therefore co-operation between Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be needed.

Now I'm not a fan of the "Celtic nation" idea combining the three nations together. But there are some shared issues and, ironically enough, the state of England could be one of them.

Socially relations between the Irish and the Welsh have always been good. I remember years ago being in a pub in Cardiff where after a Six Nations games the fans were having a whale of a time. I was the odd one out. Not because I'm English but because I don't drink (I was with the wife's brother who invited me). A big burly Irish guy put an arm on my shoulder and said:

"Why don't you get p*****?"

Under the circumstances not an unreasonable suggestion. Thankfully he wandered away singing something so that moral maze was avoided.

I've never been to Ireland. But based on the Irish people I know the "Italy with rain" tag I love about Wales does appear to apply to the Republic as well.

Good neighbours become good friends.

Until the next time.

I Am Not Mr Summer So Am Happy September Is Approaching

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers will know that I'm not Mr Christmas and will probably have had a suspicion of this from previous things I've written about in the past. But let me make it clear. I'm not Mr Summer either.

One of the reasons I'm writing about this now is of course Brexit. I get the feeling that there has been some sort of plan to put Brexit on the back burner for a short while. "Enjoy the summer" the propaganda would say. "Don't worry about Brexit"  "Relax". We're doing the work whilst you don't have to. It's that sort of thing that makes me hate summer even more this year. The feeling of disaster whilst few are truly noticing.

It's as if we are being lulled into a European (oh the irony) Siesta.

This summer for the most part has not been of the blisteringly hot weather that I truly can't stand. The sort of heat (which happened last year) where your brain wants to do things but your body doesn't have the energy towards. If I'd believed in God I'd say that was a blessing.

Similarly my dislike (tidying up aside) of gardening has not been hidden from this blog either. Are you say. Summer means you can relax whilst watching the fruits of your efforts bloom. Thing is. What are you watching? Grass and flowers. Hardly a movable feast for the eyes.

Nor am I a beach person. Or indeed a picnic person. And let's go on about picnics for a while. I'm a man. So the idea of being able to eat food whilst swatting away insects that try to hover over the offerings on the picnic sheet seems to require a degree of multi-tasking beyond my intelligence.

It was actually worse when my daughter was very young, because summer holidays especially meant having to keep her occupied for six whole weeks . Even as a child I knew that the summer holidays were exciting to begin with, became deadly dull (these were the days before the internet and where there were only three television channels) only for you to frantically make it exciting again as you realised that the return of school was about a week away.

So as hard reality of Brexit approaches I've noticed articles talking about "Staycations" and "Charity clothes shopping" as if it's a good thing. Quietly we are being lulled into a very cold place indeed.

Personally I'm happy September is approaching. Happy that things will start moving again and that summer is going. For both personally and as a Disunited Kingdom, reality is rarely a siesta.

Until the next time.

The Case Against Adults Reading Children's Books For Their Own Pleasure

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have spoken about this before albeit briefly but a Twitter spat I was involved with made me feel "Ah well let's write about this" and marshall my thinking in some sort of regimen rather than the microwave of thought through a tweet.

When chatting about this previously I mentioned that it was my view that adults should not read for their own pleasure for reasons some of which I'll mention as we go along here.

I must admit I've nuanced my views a little. I've mentioned in the past chatting about Film/TV series the feeling of Nostalgia for the American comics of my youth as well as mentioning Neil Gaiman's intriguing work Marvel 1602 (which gave the answer to the question no one asked "What if a number of Marvel characters moved to Elizabethan England?") began to grow within me. So I now get the power of nostalgia and of rereading books you enjoyed as a child.

Also I'm not talking about people learning to read as an adult. Indeed when I started to learn Welsh I read many children's books, including those for pre-school, so I'm aware of the female powerhouse that is Sali Mali. I get that learning to read comes in stages and that "children's novels" are just such a stage.

But these are exceptions. For the most part adults should not read children's literature for their own pleasure. Why?

The main reason is simple. There are as I've made clear so many books and so little time. So why waste them on children's /young adult books when there are literally tons of adult tomes out there waiting for your eyes to discover them?

But there is also the point that it's rather pathetic trying to jump on a bandwagon (say, obviously Harry Potter) that was not designed with you in mind. Why invade the kid's space? Few people will applaud you for it. Indeed when as I've mentioned before the late great comedienne Linda Smith wanted to put such adult Harry Potter readers into Room 101 the studio audience instinctively applauded her.

What do you get reading the Famous Five for example (I was never a Famous Five fan. The Secret Seven was my Blyton series of choice) ? Lashings of ginger beer whilst solving mysteries?  You're an adult. Act like one.

Until the next time.

On Books : Including The Best and The Most Disappointing 2019 Read So Far

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

We have met Kate Chopin before in this blog. 2017 when chatting about her book of short stories The Awakening. I liked it and was looking forward to reading her first novel At Fault when the wheel of book reading fortune came it's way.

So let's now ignore the plot.

This novel was published in 1890 and set in Louisiana. There are people of colour but essentially supporting characters /servants for more sophisticated white people problems. The N word is used as well as other racially charged epithets. Also in a dinner party talk about "Negroes" is not considered suitable.

You might say that I'm writing from 21st century left wing sensibilities. Well why not? I'd also respond by saying that there is nothing in the novel to suggest that Ms Chopin disapproved of the social order at that time.

So let's now chat about the story (without spoiling things). It's too rushed. Especially the ending which struck me as being too convenient as well. Furthermore there is one plotline which is abruptly cut about halfway through for no believable reason. It's as if Ms Chopin either had a deadline to reach or was bored and wanted to finish it as quickly as possible.

There are (taking the book as a whole) three main characters and we know the two that Ms Chopin wants us to feel sympathetic towards. However my sympathies led me to the more flawed and yes more human third one.

In short then I've read worse books than At Fault this year. But given The Awakenings and with a third of the year to go it's the front runner for the most disappointing book of 2019.

So as I'm chatting about the next book Jonathan Coe's 2001 novel The Rotters' Club let me start by saying that I finished it in hospital on an early Wednesday morning. The last time I tried to do this was whilst waiting in an early morning whilst a day operation was being performed on my mother.in Essex almost two years ago. As I said at the time John Le Carre lost out to an overwhelming desire to sleep.

This time it's in South Wales and I'm still the one waiting for an operation to finish. The person having the day operation - though different -is my daughter. Now firstly everything went fine and she was out the same day. That's all I'm going to say regarding that.

I do need to mention however that (though I obviously started it days before) I didn't fall asleep this time. On that score then Coe is a better writer than Le Carre  ( yes it's important. Le Carre couldn't hold my attention Mr Coe did).

The Rotters' Club is mainly set in the seventies and for the most part (though adult characters and their dramas are included) focuses on a group of teenagers in Birmingham where amongst other things there was a British car industry. Now almost literally a bodywork of it's former self and (as Bridgend Ford's factory would attest to) perhaps being even less than that in the future.

There are many seventies references in the novel and I do worry for this novel's future when all the people that lived through the decade have passed away. For example the ending of the first part of the book, whilst brilliantly constructed, wouldn't be as effective on those who were not around then.

Also though it makes me sound like a Brexiteer I did not like the chapters relating to a Danish holiday if only because it seemed so out of kilter with the rest of the book.

But really why should I care about what I said about the novel's future? I lived through the seventies (was nine when the story properly starts - 1973) so I get the references which with quiet subtle genius are woven into the manuscript. And it works. It reminded me of that time. What Mr Coe provided me was a time machine to my youth. Including the teenage angst as the decade rolled on.

Ignoring the Danish part the characters and their situations were believable. All emotions were laid bare in front of us. I should also mention that I should probably claim be the only reader who supports an independent Wales (mentioned in a speech in the book) and was born in Forest Gate in London's East End so aware of the Princess Alice pub that is also mentioned (albeit in a short passage). A pub that along with the Odeon cinema (in the days where they showed just one film a week - but on a massive screen - no multiplexes then) was a landmark of the area at that time though I never went in as children were banned from entering pubs then let alone drinking alcohol .

So even taking the Danish chapters into account The Rotters' Club is the best novel I've read so far this year and although part of it is me wallowing in nostalgia like a hippo in mud it's also to do with it's quiet brilliance. I truly cannot recommend it highly enough.

Which is more I can say about Olive In Italy by Moray Dalton (actually a pseudonym for a female writer). Published in 1909 it's about what happens to a young English woman (called an "English rose". Of course she is) when she travels to Italy to be with her relatives there.

This novel has the rare trick of mixing melodramatic twaddle with mind numbingly dull twaddle. Twaddle though is the thing that stands out. Best avoided.

Until the next time.

The Battle For Wales : The Right Wing Magazine The Spectator's Unexpected Own Goal When It Comes To Welsh/Scottish Independence - Yes We're Talking Iceland Again

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I normally come across the right-wing Spectator magazine from time to time on Twitter and that let me tell you is enough. Happy to publish pieces by Rod Little and Toby Young it is a magazine that really should be renamed "Defend The Indefensible".

But yesterday on my Twitter timeline came an article by former Icelandic Prime Minister David Gunnlaugsson entitled "Why Britain, Like Iceland, Will Thrive Outside The EU". Basically it stated that if like Iceland Britain became a member of the linked to the European Economic Area (EEA) at least temporarily then all it's No Deal hassles will be gone in a flash.

You know why the article was published. Here is a proposed way out of the cliff edge that the current Disunited Kingdom government is pushing towards in the event of a No-Deal Brexit by someone who's not born here but has political experience.

Now regular readers to this blog will know that I'm a Remainer end of. But I'm not going to argue with the economics of the article here simply because I would not claim knowledge of Icelandic politics or it's economy. My ignorance.

It is therefore for others with greater knowledge of Iceland to argue over the article in itself. I would though mention in passing that Mr Gunnlaugsson is a member of the centre right Progressive Party and resigned as Prime Minister following the "Panama Papers" tax avoidance affair. So, like most things in the Spectator magazine, he is as neutral as a train track.

But twice in a week I'm drawn back to Iceland when discussing Welsh/Scottish independence. Let us say for the sake of argument that we unequivocally accept Mr Gunnlaugsson's article. Then small, tiny Iceland is "thriving". That is the same small tiny Iceland that broke off it's union with Denmark in 1918 and became an independent nation.

So if small, tiny Iceland is "thriving" then why not Scotland? Why not Wales?

The Spectator magazine, unexpectedly then, even through a right wing prism, has argued that nations can become independent and "thrive" away from a constricting control miles away. Even though it probably didn't realise it at the time it's made a right-wing argument for Welsh/Scottish independence.  An own goal I'd say.

Who would have thought it?

Until the next time.

Why Should You Fight For An Independent Wales? Because Life's Too Short To Shrug Your Shoulders

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometimes life is such that the unexpected hits you when you're already groggy from what it has already thrown at you.

Yesterday was one of the three days this week I have off. I'm at the house wondering when we can actually move in. I see a light at the end of the tunnel but there's still a tunnel and we're consequently in that twilight zone between starting to get ready for a move but being unable to get everything into full systems moving out mode.

Anyway I was there when I suddenly get a phone call from work. I don't know about you but I always worry about getting a sudden call from the place of your employment. At best they want something. At worst you've done something wrong (that's never happened. But it doesn't mean you don't have the fear it will).

It turned out that work wanted me to come in for the next two days (days I was on leave for) because the woman who was there "had a fit", was now on an ECG machine and so was incapable of doing any work for the rest of the week until the doctors exactly knew what happened.

I said yes to today (until we move in every little amount of money will help) but for reasons I won't mention now tomorrow was simply impossible.

Later though I'd begun to think about the lady herself. Like me she isn't young but there was absolutely nothing which suggested that all of a sudden her long term health was going to be called into question. And when something happens like that to someone else you cannot yourself think about your own health, your own future and yes what you have done in the relatively short time before your time is up.

And one of the things it made me realise is that life's too short to shrug your shoulders. If there are battles to be fought then they need to be fought. Shrugging your shoulders. Letting the bad guys (and girls - you can well imagine new Home Secretary Priti Patel stroking a white cat whilst expecting the arrival of James Bond) do what they want to ravage your life.

So even in a (like me) small way fighting (metaphorically) for an independent Wales is important. Because what I'm not doing is being a bit part extra in a movie of my own life. You are trying to make a difference. Trying to make things better through a new, independent Wales.

So I wish the lady well. But what happened to her made me realise that there is no time to wait. The thing about waiting till tomorrow is that one day you won't be around to see it.

Until the next time.

The Battle For Wales : How Labour MP Stephen Kinnock's Wife Could Shut Him Up On The Issue Of Welsh Nationalism

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Stephen Kinnock MP is the son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock. A man who moved from left wing firebrand to a seat in the House of Lords and who most people of my generation will remember as the guy who lost an election to the then most pathetic Prime Minister in my lifetime (Theresa May subsequently taking over the mantle) John Major.

His child goes to private school, which, whatever you feel about such an institution, is an unacceptable action for a Labour MP to take.

He often appears on TV with that level of arrogance of which Welsh Labour have honed through the years. The sort of "I'm Labour listen to me no one else knows better" tone. This he put into print on Saturday with an article "warning" about the rise of Welsh independence in the Western Mail.

I won't go into detail about the article. Truly it's not worth it. He repeats what is clearly a Welsh Labour tactic of linking Welsh nationalism with it's English and Trumpian equivalents. I've written before about this tactic and explaining that Welsh Nationalism is different and I won't bore you with it here. Similarly I've written debunking the "Wales is too small/poor to be independent" argument. An argument it needs to be mention which former Welsh Labour Minister Carwyn Jones (though still a Unionist) also rejects.

But Twitter reminded me that Mr Kinnock's wife is Danish. Not only that, she was the Danish Prime Minister. I thought, OK, Denmark is a small nation, perhaps it was colonised in it's history before becoming independent? (I know about the Vikings by the way - I'm not that ignorant of the history of Denmark - but of the years in between yes ashamedly I am).

Well it turns out that Denmark was not the colonised (if we exclude being occupied in World War 2). It was in fact the coloniser. And one of those countries it colonised was Iceland.

That's right. Small, tiny Iceland.

But Iceland wanted independence from Denmark and it became an independent nation as recently as 1918. You can imagine the Danish press at the time saying that it was too poor/small/isolated to survive on it's own.

And yet there it still is.....independent.

Of course as I've said before bedding down independence is not easy. It's had it's troubles. Particularly in my lifetime after the banking crisis of 2008.

And yet there it still is....independent.

(This is the moment to point out that I wasn't the only person to have discovered this. If I'd stayed on Twitter it would have saved me a whole load of internet digging. But there you go)

This whole strand of posts is designed to chat about what I believe to be the forthcoming political battle for Wales between Plaid Cymru and other forces for independence and whatever the right wing eventually turns out to be. Mr Kinnock's article displays Welsh Labour's desperation as it sees it's strength ebbing away.

So if Kinnock tries to boringly patronise again on the question of Welsh independence ask him if Iceland can be an independent nation why can't Wales? And if he still gives a rubbish answer then tell him to speak to his wife.

Until the next time.

On Books : Including How Brexit Can Affect The Reading Of Even An Eighteenth Century Novel

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers will know that I've a low opinion on Brexit (and it hasn't happened yet!) and I've mentioned before how it's affected from time to time how I read a book even if written years before the referendum and it's consequences. Now it's affected my reading of a novel published in 1778!

Evelina, written by Fanny Burney, for reasons which I won't spoil, begins with the reader making the assumption that the novel is going to be anti-French. Inwardly your mind groans.

However whilst the French characters can be idiosyncratic they turn out not to be evil but human. Indeed the counterweight to my initial thoughts is the character of Captain Malvern, who is so pro British and vehemently anti-French you would have wondered whether if this had been a non-fiction tale his descendants would have been all leave voters and Brexit party candidates.

It's clear that Ms Burney does not have a high opinion of the Captain. Which makes me confident that she would have voted Remain in the referendum. But the fact that these thoughts occur to me shows how Brexit permeates my thoughts in the most unlikeliest of places. And don't forget I've not mentioned the main character yet!

Evelina is a story of an inexperienced country girl going to London for the first time. We've all read and seen similar tales throughout our lives and I'm not going to spoil anything by saying that the general arc of the plot won't be a surprise. However Ms Burney does hold surprises along the way to show she's more sophisticated a writer than the story may at first appear. Not only in the deft way she handles the Continental characters but that it is slightly (and I do mean slightly here) more racier than I'd expected.

So as an entertainment I'd recommend it. Indeed I'd go as far as to say I've enjoyed this book more than (of the books I've read so far) any of the Jane Austen novels I've read.

As is my way with regard to the Kindle if I find a writer whose works I can get for free I tend to download all of the free books by that author. Which explains why although Samuel Butler was a novelist my random way in picking the next book to read turns out to be Evolution: Old and New. Mr Butler's views on the subject.

The book was interesting in two ways. One was in the introduction of other writers in the field. But the other was the way he attacked Charles Darwin. Firstly saying the Darwin's Origin Of The Species would not be remembered after his death (when it powers on as the work on the subject) and then by generally suggesting Charles Darwin rehashed the work of his namesake Erasmus Darwin.

I've learnt subsequently that later in life Butler regretted these views. Something that holds him in credit. Still irony that Charles Darwin is remembered today and Samuel Butler barely so.

Regular readers will know that Anton Chekhov (rather like Jane Austen) is in a category of writers that I call "Literary Switzerland" in that whilst I don't dislike them I don't understand why they're considered "great". They will also know that I don't see the point of reading theatre plays for your own pleasure.

But as regular readers will also know I am the slight hypocrite so I read The Seagull hoping I'd have a definitive opinion. But no. I'm still neutral. When it comes to Chekhov Switzerland is my home.

Until the next time.