Welsh Labour Are A Bunch Of Charlies....And Not In A Chocolate Way

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Wales as a nation has many things going for it. And I hope that, whilst not running away frim it's problems I've highlighted this. However one thing that it doesn't have in abundance are writers that have a wide worldwide audience.Now whilst there are some writers who make a splash but then are eventually forgotten. I can off the top of my head only think of two....Dylan Thomas and Roald Dahl.

But whilst the Swansea area has taken its famous son and have put up a centre for Dylan Thomas as well you being able to visit the boathouse where he lived. Cardiff...capital city of Wales seems to have almost ignored one of the greatest children writers ever and not a bad adult one at in Dahl, who was born in Cardiff.

He had the knack of creating ordinary and recognisable worlds and sprinkle them with light touches of fantasy. When you were a child reader, it was that formula that made you believe that beneath the seeming drabness of life, magic could happen.

And of his adult work it's his short stories ("Tales of the Unexpected) that are most remembered. A lot of them were capable of that sudden missed beat in your mind when the ending proved to be completely unexpected and yet logical.

Last year people flocked to Cardiff for the City of The Unexpected festival which brought the spirit of the children books to the place of his birth. This year, on the 100th anniversary of his birth...today....barely anything on an official level.

The Welsh Labour Government says there are many dedications to him across Cardiff.....hardly a centre now is it?

Cardiff Labour Council say they are looking into the possibility of building a Roald Dahl centre. But how can you take them seriously when you consider the fate of the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, which recently had to close down because the council were not prepared to extend the lease on the building. Therefore there is a good chance that the experience will be moved to another city, a city which will have absolutely no connection with the good Doctor. Unlike Cardiff where the show is actually made!

For some reason the Cardiff Labour Council / Welsh Labour Government prefer things like the UEFA Champions League final which provide one off revenue hits than things like the Doctor Who Experience was or what a Roald Dahl centre could be in providing a continuous stream of money for the local economy.

The council/Welsh Assembly should be proactive in trying to get the agreement of the Dahl estate to such a centre. That activity would certainly be a Tale Of The Unexpected coming from Welsh Labour but welcome nonetheless . It's current tardiness carries the danger that another place in the UK will get in there first, so that Cardiff, and Wales would have lost an cultural and financial opportunity to celebrate him.

Why are they like this? Well I've no idea. Welsh Labour arrogant incompetence comes to mind. But perhaps there is a more worrying reason.

Perhaps there's no one in Welsh Labour that bothers to read books anymore.

Until the next time.