Perhaps The Welsh Need To Be Less Nice

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's been a rather odd day. Three things have happened. Separately. But all involving Wales and the treatment of the Welsh.

The first concerned an article in the Staffordshire Sentinel about the occurrence of bilingual road signs in English and Welsh in the English town of Eccleshall. On reading it you'll find that it went beyond the irritation of someone having the courtesy putting bilingual signage on a town close to the Welsh border and moved into something that was just plain unpleasant.

Well Welsh part of Twitter was not happy. I know that a complaint has been sent to the Press complaints authority and I suggested that the Staffordshire Sentinel asked Mark Hughes and Joe Allen , manager/player and Welsh in the local football team (Stoke City) what they felt about the article. Doubt it would happen though.

As I've explained before the best description I've ever heard of Wales is as Italy with rain. But the people are similar as well. Pleasant, easy going and slow to anger outside of the sporting arena. It explains why a dim local journalist in a place that evokes as much passion as cycle in a washing machine felt it ok to "have a go" at them.

My blood is part Italian. I remember that the one time a politician aroused me to fury was when an MP in a nearby area to Bridgend described Italians as "greasy wops". That man was Alun Cairns. Now Secretary of State for Wales. If he had insulted Afro-Caribbeans , Asians or people of the Jewish faith you would never have heard of him again. But because he insulted Italians then we were supposed to turn the other cheek and forgive him.

Well whilst I would never physically attack the "man" (a term used advisedly) should he decide to walk down the street where I live then that would be fair game for me to throw eggs at him. Though admittedly having never pitched for baseball I'd be afraid my aim would be poultry....I'll get my coat soon ...promise.

Anyway the reason I'm mentioning this whiny little boil on the backside of humanity (can you tell I'm still angry?) is that the Welsh Office have unveiled a new logo. Now I don't know let me stress but I'm sure that this was done (and the money was pocketed ) by an English firm. After all how else can you explain a Welsh organisation with a logo without any hint of the Welsh language or a dragon in it? Cairns, the idiot agreed to it. Every nation has it's symbols and for it to be taken away is nothing short of vandalism.

And so we get to the final issue. A tweet I saw from a Libdem supporter which showed a chart of all parties and the strong gains of the Libdems in local byelections in the past year. Plaid Cymru was just up by three. However on closer look this chart refers to all of Britain so it was hardly representative of Plaid's true performance in Wales. When I mentioned it the response I got was "Nothing stopping them" . An answer best described as Trumpesque in it's crassness.

So the point I thought was this. Perhaps the Welsh need to less polite, bang on the table and demand more which is exactly what Scotland does. Whatever the UK government, or the media think about the SNP Scotland under them is a nation which it has to deal with and not expect to follow. Wales is a proud and hopefully independent nation one day. It should not be known as "and Wales" as in the afterthought to "England....... and Wales".

Until the next time.