On Books:Specifically How Those On Ireland And Russia Makes Me Wonder Whether The Welsh Are The Last Serfs Of Europe

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The Land War In Ireland (1870) A History For Our Times a contemporary history written by Irish writer James Godkin was an interesting book to read. Imagine the history of a country (and yes I know the republic didn't exist then) through the basis of it's laws of land ownership and rent with the effect it had on the people.

His preface was an interesting one. Suggesting as it did that whilst Ireland did indeed have problems. It was largely brought upon by the English ( though to be fair here Westminster).

It's not an easy read. It demands your complete attention and any lapses of thought are punished as you find yourself adrift for a while only discover sanctuary in the next chapter as the story moves apace.

The thing is that the Irish Land laws punished the vast majority of the population. But they were also, you realise now with hindsight, one of the slow burners that led to the creation of The Republic.

John M Synge: a Few Personal Recollections, with Biographical Notes is essentially an article John Masefield wrote about the Irish playwright. It was I must admit an indulgence (albeit a free one) on my part getting this book. But I was curious given that I had to do The Playboy Of The Western World for my exams at school.

Well it had it's moments. But mainly it was a waste of my time and my (non) investment.

Can you like and dislike a book in equal measure? This question comes to me on reading A Sportsman's Sketches Volume one by Ivan Turgenev. This is a volume of short stories published in 1852 and set in the Russian countryside.

Sketches are in fact the perfect description for this book as in the majority of these cases you catch a glimpse of the lives of people and then move on. This was before I read him what I understood the term Checkovian meant before I read the good doctor Anton and yet it's Turgenev who seems to better define the term and is indeed to me the better writer.

Also I've never been to Russia, let alone it's countryside and yet the picture Turgenev conveys of a sense of place in the nineteenth century certainly seemed convincing to me.

However the "sport" referred to in the title is in fact shooting birds which to most people is just the passion for the rich in money if not mind. And the condescending tone the narrator has for the people he describes doesn't does grate.

Best described as a nearly then.

The book did remind me in one story though of the system of serfdom in Russia at that time. Rather like the Irish land laws it was one of those issues that served as a slow burner that led to change for the nation.

And the thought did occur to me that Wales could be the last Serfs of Europe. Allowing Westminster to starve it of long term investment such as the Swansea Bay Lagoon or electrification of the Main Intercity line. Instead it seems to be deemed only worthy in their for dumping nuclear mud, monster prisons and the rest being some sort of regal theme park. The Welsh government in the Assembly seemingly powerless or obsequiously servile to all of this.

Which just might mean it's another slow burner to independence....hope so.

Until the next time.