A Metaphor For Labour In Wales

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Women eh? One minute they say that there won't be a general election until 2020 so you just go through your days assume the only political battle will be the local one come May. The next you're driving home after a trip to Lidls (Croissants - I'll explain why tomorrow - Instant Cappuchino - I'll explain why tomorrow too - Milk, 4 small bottles of water and Bananas) turn on the radio and find myself listening to an interview with a Tory MP.

So the interview is going on. Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for Ribble Valley. A man who has always given me the impression that he'd wish he was English even though he was born in Wales.

(A quick aside here. Is it just me or do all Welsh Conservatives who make it in Westminster sound as if they've thrown their accent over the river once they've crossed the Severn bridge?)

Anyway there he is nattering away and it dawns on me all of a sudden that she's called an election. Thing is I suspect the Conservatives will win, and it'll be English votes that will sway it. I predict there would not be a Tory majority in the other three nations.

What that would mean though is that there would be a resentment in these other UK nations that Hard Brexit, with it's consequent jackboot politics fuelled by jackboot journalism is imposed. That alone will power a yes vote in Scotland in the next independent referendum.

Northern Ireland will be next. As the people there will realise what Hard Brexit will do with their lives and realise that there is a quick way back into the EU through reunification.

And as for Wales? Pro Brexit  Wales.Well when the consequences hit home there and good people start realising that they were misled (starting as I've said before with Bridgend where "control" has moved not to Westminster but Ford in Detroit). Then the independence movement will gather steam there as well.

Theresa May then, if I'm right, will be remembered as the Prime Minster who won an election but lost a Kingdom.

Anyway, the promised metaphor. had to go out again to the local store a five minute walk from where I live (forgotten the butter, or I can't believe it's not butter, or butter milk, or olive butter or anything that smooths the contents of a sandwich down my throat).

This building is along the route.

The Sadness of a Building That Can Remember Better Times

This building was the Ogmore and Vale local Labour Club. I never went inside but it was a big thing. Not only did it have a bar but also space that you could have a dance in if you were inclined. Indeed once a Strictly Come Dancing couple actually did a show there!

As they say that was during the glory days. It's been shut down and run down for roughly six years. It may be the biggest building on the block but as the picture shows it faces terminal decline. Whatever its achievements during the good times people do not have good words for the state it's in at the moment.

And that applies to Labour in Wales. Living off the past. I'll be voting Plaid Cymru in May and June (though in June it'll be somewhere else!)

Until the next time.