Wales: The Politics Of Apathy?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Recently there has been a poll which showed that Wales was the most apathetic nation when it came to politics. The reaction on Twitter that I saw was wide ranging. But I did notice that there was a number who were despairing about this. One tweet I saw suggested that he might as well move to Scotland and help the SNP with their Independence drive.

So why is this? Well one factor as I've said before and am going to repeat again is that the Welsh people suffer for the fact that taken as a whole they are just too nice. They allow decisions to made which the Northern Irish or the Scots would rebel about. Not so much apathy, more the "mustn't grumble" approach to life.

Trouble is. Being nice means that for example, a bridge can be renamed to toady up to a Royal. Radioactive mud can be dumped in Cardiff Bay, Super prisons for criminals to be built for criminals  all round the United Kingdom or whilst high speed services are built in England with Welsh taxpayers' money the intercity train service west of Cardiff has the rail equivalent of stabilisers being put onto it as the line is not going to be made electric. And don't get me started on Welsh local Labour Government mismanagement...(Regular readers know what I think of what they have done to Bridgend Town)

And these decisions are taken by Labour and the Conservative party in Cardiff, local government and Westminster level in this "mustn't grumble" atmosphere which they take full advantage of. They also have the advantage of the one true obstacle of their political monopoly, Plaid Cymru, being damaged by the leadership of it's previous leader Iuean Wynn Jones, who damaged the brand by muddying the waters as to what it stood for.

Can this situation be changed? Even to an extent where Welsh independence can be seen as a credible alternative? Well yes in my view. Of course in politics events are everything but based on how they seem at the moment I have also mentioned before that the Welsh might vote Labour in the next general election if they felt it could get Theresa May out. This would in the short term damage Plaid but when the people see that Socialism with a Westminster face does not work for them then that's when the party for Wales will need to move to show you can provide Socialism with a Welsh face. For the people will need an alternative. the politics of apathy could soon turn to the politics of despair which only extreme parties profit from. Only Plaid Cymru, not extreme but not part of the establishment either can offer a true alternative, and yes, that includes independence.

And when people are shown there is an alternative, that there is a different pathway for their aspirations then the Welsh will be apathetic towards politics no more.

Until the next time.