Commercial Radio In Wales : A Case Of London Calling?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let me make it clear I don't listen to Jagger and Woody on Heart radio Wales in the morning. Indeed I don't listen to Matt and Polly in Capital FM Wales in the morning either. It's one of those things where personally given I'm a fifty five year old curmudgeon these shows have many factors that don't attract me listening to them. One of them being they're just too young and bright for my ageing soul.

However daughter is a fan of Jagger and Woody and she was horrified to hear the news that these shows were coming to an end. Along with the one for Smooth radio. The idea (apparently approved by the authorities)  by their parent company Global radio is that all across Britain there will be a one show from London interspersed with local weather and traffic.

Now I'm going to focus on the Welsh perspective and not the British one because obviously I don't know the latter but the decision seems stunning to me given that we're talking about popular breakfast shows. My brain is obviously too old to understand how programmes which are popular can be closed down.

Ah say the people from Global radio look at the threat from the likes of Spotify. Well yes. But cancelling programmes is not going to keep people to a particular station. If anything it will drive people away from it. Indeed if there is one type of radio music programme people will listen to it's the breakfast show (the second being the drive time show which though revamped is according to reports still going to be local - making this decision even more odd).

And you could also make the argument that this decision, intentional or not, is anti-Welsh. As I've said before I don't listen to the above shows being as I am ancient. But I would guess that the Monday programme would have been full of Wales' victory over England in the six nations on Saturday. Radio stations in Wales happy with a Welsh victory. I'd be comfortable with that.

However a London produced programme would have mentioned the match probably in passing if at all. It would also have probably been neutral as to not offend the largely English audience. Advertisers of a London based show would not be happy to have unhappy listeners. Advertisers of a Welsh based show would be quite comfortable with a show happy with a Welsh victory over the traditional sporting enemy.

So what can be done? Well irony of irony there is the BBC. There are two radio stations at breakfast time in the Welsh language. BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Cymru Mwy. BBC Radio Cymru broadcasts a radio news type programme and Cymru Mwy broadcasts a breakfast music show. Therefore why can't the English speaking BBC Radio Wales (that just broadcasts a news programme at this time) do exactly the same?

A Welsh based breakfast music show in the morning with news, weather and traffic from BBC Radio Wales. There can be no arguments about "competition" given that commercial radio, supposedly the providers of choice, want to take the choice of  popular Welsh programming away from the listener.

Until the next time.

Again The Question Needs To Be Asked. Is The Welsh Rugby Union Mad? Today's example: The Ospreys

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

There is a part of me that wonders whether we are witnessing a sort of unique Welsh mathematics rule being that the more success the national side has there is an equal and opposite reaction of incompetence on the Welsh club rugby scene.

So after Wales beat England in the six nations you expect something to happen in the club structure and there is no change here. You may remember a post I did where I discussed the proposal to change the Welsh regional club structure (called Project Reset by the way - says everything you need to know about the success of the Welsh rugby structure). The original proposal was of the current Welsh Pro14 teams (The Cardiff Blues, The Dragons, The Ospreys and the Scarlets) two should become the main teams whilst the other two "feeder" clubs.

This mad proposal was rejected. And a good thing too. End of story.

Well apparently not. For the latest proposal is to disband the Ospreys team and create one in North Wales instead.

As I've said before my view is that the Welsh teams should leave the Pro14 and go back to the previous local club structure which included promotion and relegation. I'm not going to back down on that point of view.

Four questions need to be asked.

What is the research that states that a North Walian regional team in the Pro14 is going to be successful? After all as we've previously discussed when you look at matches for the supposed heartlands of South and West Wales then the current regional teams do not play to full houses as opposed to those that play the round ball. So where is the proof that things will be different for a North Walian franchise?

Secondly why have the Ospreys been picked for this Sporting suicide? Why not the "financially troubled have to be bailed out by the WRU" Dragons? Since this regional rugby concept began they have been the most successful team yet for no apparent reason they're the ones venerable for the chop? What is the logic here?

Thirdly does the WRU seriously expect disenfranchised Ospreys fans (a team mainly playing in Swansea) to move their allegiances to the Cardiff Blues (yes really!) or the Scarlets? This is the same mad logic that for example assumed rugby fans from the South Wales Valleys would flock in their droves to watch the Cardiff Blues play. It did not work then. It will not work now.

And finally the most important question of all. Explain how in terms of anyone can truly argue that the regional rugby structure has been a success for the Welsh club game? Is it not a case that the WRU created a mess of it's own making and have made it even worse through the years?

So going back to the first point I raised in regard to the Welsh rugby mathematical formula. With this increased mayhem I predict that Wales will win the rugby world cup later this year. With regard to the club game however predictions are impossible.

Until the next time.

I Now Know Where I've Gone Wrong In Poetry... Art Galleries Next

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've never hidden in this blog the fact that whilst I chat about a whole range of books very rarely is poetry mentioned. Partly as I've explained it's due to the fact that as a teenager in the seventies and eighties the price of a slim volume of poetry seemed to be the same as that for a far bigger novel. So my teenage mind said "what's the point?" and bought the novel.

One of the consequences of this I think is that when a volume of poetry does enter my hands then with exceptions I'm not comfortable with it. With exceptions I'm not certain I've read it right.

Yesterday I had a little time on my hands so decided to do what I've promised in this blog for years now (I get there in the end) and listened on Spotify to Richard Burton reading a selection of the poetry of Dylan Thomas.

And I was enthralled.

Didn't have the time to go through the whole album (life interfered) but I felt I understood now how to deal with poetry. As the old ad adage goes you try before you buy.

For I understood that listening makes you hear the cadences of the poet. Makes you understand how the particular poem is meant to be read. Also if the particular poet doesn't appeal to you by ear then there's no point in picking up a book and reading something by him/her. It's a visceral thing.

It also explains how I like T S Eliot (when depressed) and John Betjeman. The first I was taught at in school the second really was the only well known contemporary poet people knew of in the seventies and eighties. In other words I heard them being read.

It doesn't mean they'll be a sudden influx of poetry in this blog. Just that I know what to do when the opportunity arises.....after all these years.

Which brings us to art galleries. Here in Wales it's half-term. I have the next two days off and someone suggested to me I should take my daughter to an art gallery.

Metaphorically I fell off my seat laughing hysterically as if my next fitting was for a straitjacket. However outwardly I just gave a non-committal "we'll see".

Well we won't see. My daughter is as interested in art as I am (which I suspect is because neither of us have any real talent for the subject). She will be bored. As will I.

Now I know exactly how to react to commercial art galleries. You have loads of money. Wander round. See a picture you like and say "I'll buy this". They flog pictures. I get it. But given I don't have loads of money it's not something I'd regularly practice.

But public art galleries. You wander round. See pictures. Some you like some you don't and wander out. I know what daughter will say even by look alone. "We could have gone to a play or a film but you took me to this?"

And the people I really don't understand in art galleries are those who seemingly spend eternities looking at one piece of artwork. If they were drawing it I get it. But looking? As if expecting something is going to move? What is it with that?

Perhaps like poetry it will come to me eventually. Probably that's the moment when I'm so old I have to be wheeled around and my eyesight is so bad even with glasses I have to look right up as close as possible squinting to even work out the basic shapes.

Sometimes in life things just pass you by.

Until the next time.

Porthcawl: A Town In Danger Of Lacking Small Change?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometimes in this blog inspiration comes in the most surprising of moments. I was going to write nothing today. The sun was shining (unusually for February it was a spring day) and there was really nothing else to say. Especially as I was no where near finishing any of the four books I'm currently reading (most poncey statement I'll probably make this week but there you are).

But yesterday I had this conversation which for whatever reason led to the issue of bank closures in Porthcawl. The Natwest I mentioned before closed last year. It's turned into of all things a betting shop. So if I have my sums right there are three bank branches left....but not for long.

For Barclays Bank in February announced the closure of it's branch.

And what the guy said to me about the situation in Porthcawl was that already some small traders find themselves running out of change because people go to a cashpoint machine, find that the lowest amount of money it will give them is £10. They will then go to a shop, buy the cheapest thing they can see, say "sorry don't have anything smaller" (which of course would be true) and thus the shopkeeper's stock of small change dwindles.

For these small shop owners to get change they would have to drive to Bridgend Town go to the branch there, get a lot of money in change (making them venerable to mugging) and drive back to Porthcawl. This operation would take at the very least the best part of an hour.

You might say "Why don't they change their bank branch?" A statement that's not unreasonable but for all we know a particular business might for example have a loan with Barclays or Natwest so things are not so simple or clear cut.

Now I know full well that bank closures are occurring across Britain. But what makes Porthcawl's situation relatively unique is that it's a seaside town and so come the summer months this small change situation will increase when tourists and day trippers arrive. Indeed irony of irony if  we're lumbered with the long dark Brexit of the soul then Porthcawl actually might profit given that people would stay in Britain during the holiday period.

And with timing that could almost be described as malevolent the Barclays Bank branch is set to close in May.

Let me reiterate one point before I go on. I'm not talking about the big chains (relatively few) or even the arcades. I'm talking about the bakers, the many cafes, the gift shops. Small businesses. Businesses that do a lot of their turnover in cash. Businesses that banks bent over backwards to in trying to get their custom. Announcing the closure in February and closing in May does not give these businesses enough time to plan for this situation.

So whilst the best option is for Barclays to completely stop this closure at the very least there is a case to postpone it until the autumn thus giving businesses an opportunity to know what they will need to prepare for for the future taking into account summer business.

It will also give the opponents of the closure another chance to fight to have it stopped of course.

And of course the greatest irony is that the Porthcawl situation shows that even in a supposedly card based cashless contactless society the old way that is cash is still needed in this day and age.

Until the next time.

Has The Celtic Accent Become Appropriated By English Culture? Let's Start With The Voice.....Or Rather MY Voice

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Firstly an apology. I said in a recent post that Wales Scotland in this year's Six Nations fixture was going to be played in Cardiff. Well I honestly thought this was the case but I was wrong. It's being played in Edinburgh. As regular readers know I'm never afraid to reveal when I've made a mistake and that was the case here.

But as mistakes go.....

Yesterday something very odd happened at work. It was about six thirty in the evening. I was chatting to an Englishman I'd never met before and he asked me whether I knew the result of the Wales England Six Nations game. Politely I gave him a look and an explanation which the subtext was "I'm here working how do you expect me to know the result of the game?"

He said he wouldn't tell me not to spoil it later. That was kind of him but given that International rugby is something I let wash over me I asked what the result was.

"Well.." he said "Your team won..."

And for a moment I was stunned. The guy had listened to my voice and had thought I was Welsh. He was the one stunned when I subsequently told him I was born in the East End of London.

It left me intrigued. After all whilst I must admit that morning I'd caught myself saying "Cerdiff" my accent though not East End is unquestionably still English. Or so I thought.

On asking the wife she (after trying and failing to contain her laughter) told me it was still English. So how could it have been confused?

I have a theory, no more than that, but here goes.....

To my ears my accent is English.

To Welsh ears my accent is English.

To English ears when I'm in England my accent is English.

To English ears who are living in Wales my accent is English.

But to English ears who are visiting Wales my accent is Welsh.

Not full on "We keep a welcome in the hillsides" Welsh. But any slight intonation in my voice  after twenty one years of living here is automatically assumed to mean I'm from the West side of the Geraint Thomas bridge.

It comes back to the panned BBC Wales drama Pitching In and my notion that the casting director was English living in England. For if I'm correct in that opinion (which as I've said before I haven't checked because it seems like digital stalking to me) then it explains the wide variety of Welsh regional accents in a show set in a particular spot in North Wales (where it didn't say though it was filmed in Anglesey) for the person would not hear a regional accent just a Welsh one.

And whilst I'm obviously talking generally through the prism of UK TV my ears probably have the same issue with the Scots and Irish accent as well. You hear a general Celtic accent but don't notice a regional one.

So you would say why does it matter? Wouldn't that be the case with regard to hearing a French accent or a German one. Well no. Because UK TV is perfectly happy to show English regional accents. As an example EastEnders and Coronation Street have clearly defined locations where the voices of most of the cast reflect that. EastEnders does not have a group of Geordies pretending to be from the East End of London and yet a Welsh drama (produced by an English company it should be noted) has accents from all over the place.

And it should be noted that through UK TV most people in England probably have a greater idea through films of American regional accents than their Celtic neighbours.

The notion then that Welsh Scottish and Irish should just have one accent each seems (again generally speaking) inbred into UKTV and action should be taken to highlight it's differences...or just have independence and don't give a damn what would be then English TV says.

One of the two.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Where I Owe More Tax Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

There is always a certain fear when the brown envelope hits the floor. You pick it up and find that it's from HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs - You don't think I want Wales to be a republic could make me ignore it? Ah well).

Well that envelope came again yesterday and unlike other occasions when it told me a change in the tax code or other admin stuff this time it said I owed them an extra amount of just over £107!!

I am annoyed for three reasons. Firstly I'm an employee which means the tax gets taken at source from my wages every month. In other words whatever has caused this alleged underpayment of tax is not my fault.

Secondly whatever has caused this alleged underpayment of tax is a factor as well. Because I don't know. It doesn't say on the document. I got the wife (who used to work at a pay department) to have a look and she can't see it either. That means on Wednesday (my next day off work) I'll have to ring these people up. The tax office enquiries service does not have a good reputation. And when I say it does not have a good reputation I mean I could be waiting on the end of an imaginary cordless phone line for hours.

Thirdly I'm not a wealthy man but I'm not on income support either. So it's made me realise the trauma families on income support face when similar letters drop into their homes. Even if this extra tax is justified the tax people have spent time and resources on getting just over a hundred pounds from me and other families where there are tax avoiders syphoning off much more laughing all the way to their next glass of champagne!

More on this to come.

To books then and the latest from the library I've read.

Edward Marston - Dance of Death

I've chatted about Edward Marston before in this blog on his Railway detective series so here's one on his Home Front detective Harvey Marmion also a series set in Britain of 1916 during the First world war.. Mr Marston seems to have tapped the entertainment historical detective market judging by the many books he's written. I can see why. Judged as an entertainment Dance of Death concerning the grisly murder of a professional dancer cannot be faulted. It has the detectives, the murder, the suspects and also the feel of historical accuracy.

It reminded me (though set a few decades earlier) of the Inspector Cribb novels of Peter Lovesey. And though not as good are certainly good value for your reading time.

A quick side issue here. I have a rough rule that if a book is part of a series then I read it in chronological order. The big exception to this though are detective series because to me the key is the particular murder and not the detective's family dynamic (there are things that happen here in that regard but I won't spoil by revealing). I'm not particularly bothered that the next Harvey Marmion novel I'll read might be earlier than this one in the series. To me it's funny how for the most part I'm fundamentalist on this issue but with detective fiction I couldn't give a damn.

Politics: And hidden away in the Welsh news was Plaid Cymru's stunning by election victory an increase in the percentage of 18% no less) in Cardiff's Ely ward for the council. It needs to be made clear here. Ely is a working class area which First Minister Mark Drakeford covers in the Senedd. It is the sort of place that Labour would describe as it's heartland. Not any more. The shift might be slow but previous Labour voters are seeing them in Wales for what they truly are. The arrogant incompetent arm of Welsh establishment.

Let this crumbling of the edifice continue. For at it's destruction will come independence.

And let's continue with the state of Cardiff shall we. the Cancer Research charity have opened a new superstore here (which I haven't been to yet). Now am I being heartless for saying that you can truly judge a nation's decline by the fact that a charity can open not just a shop but a superstore?

West Ham beat Fulham last night (I was at work). People say 40 points means safety which means they might get it when facing Cardiff City in two weeks time.....and I will be there!!!....albeit quietly in the home seats.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 15: The Score (2001)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

Robert De Niro then. Cool guy. In this movie he's not talking Italian here but occasionally in French (he's in Montreal after all). He drinks coffee seemingly by the pump and he owns a jazz restaurant. All facts which for this learner of French preferer of tea and usually avoider of jazz just shows why he's cool and I'm not.

Then again in this movie he's also a safebreaker. But a tired one. He doesn't want to do it anymore. He wants just to shack up with Angela Bassett (not just wasted but the only woman with more than one scene in the movie) and live a calm don't look behind you life.

However Marlon Brando (in his last role. And did not have the look of someone comfortable in his own skin) who plays the fence for De Niro's stolen goods makes him an offer of one last job. De Niro doesn't want to do it but eventually agrees.

Now that's not really a spoiler. After all when have you ever seen a movie where the conversation went like this?

"I want you to do one last job"

"I'm retired now. I'm not doing it"

"Ok then I'll ask George instead".

So this job. A Sceptre from France in the Montreal Customhouse. In a safe of course. Essentially a gang of two. De Niro and Edward Norton (easily the best thing in this film)  the young whippersnapper working as a disabled cleaner who's in fact "the inside man" and not disabled thankyou very much.

The rest of he film is the planning and the actual robbery (trailed it has to be said by some over the top dramatic music). That is it's biggest problem. Whilst it's not an awful movie for the fancy wrapping of it's big name stars you would have expected something more different. Instead what you have is a run of the mill caper movie variations of which I've seen hundreds of time before and I know will see hundreds of times before I die. Perhaps more sweary than most others, certainly ponced up in terms of the star names but really not that special.

Come to think about it. With these movies I've chatted about so far judging on of expectation over actual reality this is actually the worst film so far.

Until the next time.

The Real Independent Group : Or How Nationalists Could Profit From Labour/Tory Splits

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

At time of writing the Labour party has been hit by eight MPs who have left the party through issues of anti-semitism and the attitude towards the long time Brexit of the soul that a hard Brexit will bring. The Conservative party has currently lost three MPs because of Brexit and the party has gone too right wing (who knew?).

I won't bother going through their arguments as that's been distributed far and wide and I'd be boring you if I repeated them. I will say though that my gut instinct is that they won't be successful if only because I'm old enough to remember the SDP and whatever you think about their politics the original defectors "the gang of four" were people with stature. For the most part you look at these recent people who have moved and say "who?"

But let's say I'm wrong. Let's say they have "momentum" what then?

Well I'd argue that essentially this whole movement is an "English middle class" thing and that the people who would vote for them (if they were a party....they're not yet) would be that cliched "Middle England" voter. What the Independent Group would miss is the fact that with devolution the real independence groups, Plaid Cymru and especially the SNP are more powerful than they were at the time of the SDP.

So you see the Nationalist option is there. And if the only alternatives to the disillusioned Scottish/Welsh Labour/Tory party voter is a sort of LibDem on the cheap then who else is there but the Nationalists to offer an alternative future to the electorate. Both Plaid and the SNP could mine that seam. People who would not vote Tory but cannot see the point of a party that cannot even control itself would look at the Nationalist parties as both unified and with policies that would be to their point of view.

The possibilities for the Nationalist parties profiting from this situation are clearly there. After all they actually represent a unified front in contrast to the shambles that are the Unionist parties in Westminster.

Irony a go go.

Until the next time.

Cardiff City vs West Ham : Where I Will Be A Quiet Hammer Amougst Bluebirds And Where Again A Chink In The Armour Of The Wales National Rugby Team Will Occur

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So then yesterday morning at about ten I was here:

Bluebird Country

I have as regular readers are aware been tracking the general availability of tickets for the visit of West Ham on March 9. Had discovered that they were on sale from 9:30am and so there I was with the enthusiasm of a ten year old boy (admittedly with the advantage of a debit card) to buy the ticket and become the quietest Hammer amougst the Bluebirds when that Saturday comes.

And not to beat around the bush....

I got it !!!

Now it's not quite where I would have wanted it to be but the best placed seats were sold off but really wasn't unhappy (and I'll come back to that point in a moment. Out of respect to where I live now I won't be shouting "Come On You Irons" and singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles". Still my heart will be rooting for one thing. And it will always be forever claret and blue.

You may remember that in the Welsh Autumn rugby internationals I chatted the fact that for the first time in my memory the national team played a match in the Millemium (I'm not going to call it by it's official title) stadium whlist a short journey away Cardiff City were playing a home fixture at roughly the same time.

Surely this sort of thing could not occur in a six nations match you might ask? Well you'd be wrong. Wales would be playing Scotland at roughly the same time as Cardiff faces West Ham. Before the Welsh teams in the English leagues and especially the capital city side would have made sure that they would have played an away fixture. Not anymore. They are no longer in awe.

Now I'm not saying that the rugby match is not important or anything stupid like that. But the fact that Cardiff City felt confident enough to play home game whilst a Six nations match is on shows that the pull of the Welsh national rugby team is not as great as it was. The fact that I couldn't get the seat I would have preferred shows that most tickets have been sold.

Of course there are many reasons why this has occurred. But I suspect that the general apathy that has permeated through the club game since the disaster that is regional rugby has seeped into the national side. The six nations result will dominate the headlines. But not as much as it would have done even five years ago. And that's the point.

What could be done to resolve the situation? Well putting new life into club rugby would help as would Wales winning the forthcoming rugby World Cup.

Otherwise I don't know. What I do know is that a failure to act will weaken how people views  the national team even more.

Until the next time.

When Books And TV Worked Together

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When I was a child growing up in the late sixties, seventies and early eighties the facility to record your favourite TV programmes was only really available to a select rich few. As a consequence TV shows to increase more publicity (and of course revenue) would go back to an earlier medium to drum up interest....books.

A lot of these TV tie-ins were merely literary versions of TV episodes. Some though were stand alone novels in their own right

Whilst it still occurs today (particularly for things like Dr Who and Star Trek) it's not as widespread as it was then given the ability to purchase the actual programmes as well as fan fiction.

I give this admittedly brief history because the latest book I've read was this.

Michael Avallone - The Birds of A Feather Affair

Now why did I buy this? Especially as I've never seem the series? Well curiosity was one reason. But price was the other (20p).

This was what sometimes constituted equality when I was a child. Get a successful male series Batman, Superman etc and then get a "girl" version of the success. There were of course exceptions to this but this is how it worked a lot of the time.

So the depictions of women were mixed. The Girl From UNCLE April Dancer is resourceful and intelligent but she and another female character seem to have schoolgirl crushes on male figures. . Another female character has a body "built for bed" (I laughed at that - Presumably if the character was Swedish she'd have been self assembly) but she is no bimbo.

It was a quick read. Finished in a couple of hours. Not terrible but not great either. As if a snack before a proper meal, which makes me think (I don't know) that this was an episode from the series. Of course the downer in such books is when you could work out the big reveal before it is revealed and in this I did.

It was a nostalgic read for some of the TV tie-ins I read as a kid. But to be honest I can't say much more for it.

Until the next time.

In Which Selma,Matthew and The Radio Times Film Guide 2013 Have Made Me The Film Whisperer Of The Family

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The story so far. Have watched Fools Rush In starring Matthew Perry and Selma Hayak as part of my little mad exercise to watch as I come home late from work to watch a film randomly selected to cross off on the Radio Times Film Guide 2013 as I'm eating a microwave meal.

I like it (amongst only three of the fourteen movies I've seen I've liked). I write about it on this blog. There we are then.

But up pops Valentine's day. I'm working on that day but I know what to buy the wife. Fools Rush In. A romcom I liked. Not Richard Curtis Love Actually nothing. There we are sorted.

Now read on....

For today (Monday) was the day that the wife actually saw the movie with me.

The omens were not good. Wife had cooked a turkey curry which was fine but left us all bloated. Afterwards she suddenly acquired a heavy cold from I don't know who (not me folks).

But you know what? She liked it.

And there is something else to say as well. It actually improved on second viewing. Something I really did not expect.

At the end of the film I raised my arms as if in triumph "I am the Film Whisperer of this family!" I announced. For the last time I had to pick a film to watch was at Christmas. We had bought Netflix for the month and that particular day my wife, daughter, mother and me were arguing over what film to watch. The main blockage to a simple choice was the obviously swarthy rugged macho features of yours truly...…..especially when I take my glasses off to clean them.

Well I picked the Mel Brooks movie Robin Hood Men In Tights. A great film which if when we watched it is a guide gave people of all ages a good time.

So there is a track record now. Wife asked how I picked Fools Rush In. I could have said that in trying to randomly watch movies pre 2013 to cross off a film guide this was the next movie in the next channel on the TV from the last one I watched.

Instead I said I just was monitoring suitable films for Valentine's Day.....ho hum.

Until the next time.

More About Britain In Danger Of Going Into A State Of Denmark And Why Moderation Will Not Help Wales Or Scotland

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Living in Britain at the moment is weird. And come March 29 it will become even weirder as it becomes the North Korea of Europe. It occurred to me that what is needed to actually contemplate what the disunited kingdom has turned into is to step back and look at those issues which before 2016 you would have laughed at if you discussed it happening to Britain but now. Though no one would necessarily agree it will happen, the fact that it could happen is something few would deny.

Racism/Xenophobia : Almost from the moment the result of the election was announced there was a rise in incidents of racism and xenophobia as if the racists of Britain came out of their racist closet and became loud and proud.

And with the rise of racist attacks there is also from the right the notion of being patriotic. The trouble is here that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. There are as many people who proclaim their love of Britain as there are those suspicious of the motives of those propagating this.

Britain has it's own "yellow jackets" but unlike France there are no questions as to the political allegiances of the protesters. They are a small group of extreme rightwingers (copying a French idea. Note the irony) who seem to get more violent with every week. Whilst Wales/Scotland are not immune from this it appears to mainly be an English phenomenon.

Democracy is not just about voting. It's also about the acceptance of the non violent view of others even if different from your own. This is the thing that made Britain different from other nations and this is the thing that Brexit has taken away more than anything else. It's why the grave of Karl Marx has been regularly attacked.

Food/Medicine Shortages: This wasn't on the side of that bus now was it? The possibility that Britain, and let's say that again Britain, might be facing food and medicine shortages wasn't shouted on the rooftops by the Leave people was it? This by the way in a nation where already the use of foodbanks is not unusual.

You know what Britain might become? Eastern Europe under communism where people queued for everything.

A hungry people. People who see their loved ones ill and without access to medicine will become an angry people which could lead to...….

Martial Law: Government is preparing for martial law in the event of social unrest. Martial law folks. No one in Britain truly knows what that means but the mere thought that you can blog about in Britain without feeling stupid should send chills.

Britain is also a country that no longer knows the meaning of the word nuance. The furore over Winston Churchill typifies this. You either believe that he was a great war leader or you believe he was responsible for atrocities in for example Ireland and Tonypandy here in Wales. The idea he could be both seems to be gone for most people here.

Media here is either mainly right wing or strives for balance even if "balance" means giving propaganda to people whose views are beyond the pale. There is one broadcaster here who said that people battling to remain in the EU should be "stopped". Didn't explain how. But that's not the point. She had the confidence to say it. Britain today.

At the moment the right wing media are trying to blame the EU for this mess. But as the Goebbels of Brexit they seem to be running away from the consequences of actions they help promote which includes companies leaving Britain for Europe or just closing down entirely.

People say that the "moderate majority" could stop all of this. But this so called majority has allowed this situation to arise and is currently quiet. Moderation will not stop this. If it did the "mother of parliaments" would not have the nervous breakdown it's currently undergoing. No more radical thinking is needed. In terms of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland independence is the answer.

Independence as I've said before will help the Celtic nations avoid the state of Denmark that Britain is fast becoming. You may argue with me. The above may not happen. But as I've also said before no one can honestly say that it won't happen. And that's the point.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : As An Atheist I've Really Upset The Sleeping Gods Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I start writing this it's 3:15am. Let's be clear here. I have the day off (four actually mind you I've worked the previous ten). I could wake up at any time I want but I've woken up three??!!!

The sleeping gods are very unhappy with me today.

The Brexit timetable is dominating the news as we see what clowns or perhaps even worse are in the two main Westminister parties at the moment. Few things move me away from it though one of them is what's happening March 9 when Cardiff City FC play West Ham. I have the day off (good news) but am facing the invisible timetable that I don't know when the tickets that Cardiff season tickets haven't bought will be available. So the situation as to whether I'll be able to be the quiet one amongst the bluebirds fans is unresolved.

I do hope I can get a ticket. West Ham are one of the few things that could make me forget about Brexit. Indeed it's probably the only thing that brings me to a state best described as ten year old happy (when of course they win).

In the world of Welsh Twitter the issue Brexit aside that has seen to dominate is the latest drama from BBC Wales Pitching In which I chatted about recently where people were angry about the depiction of Wales based on the trailer of the show set in a trailer park alone. Well I've seen the episode now and it's even worse than the trailer suggested.

I won't bore you by repeating myself here. Except that my theory that the casting director is English and living in England so only can hear one Welsh accent holds water (in case you wonder why I haven't checked it, well it's a bit stalkery if you ask me).

BBC Wales needs to avoid making cliché Wales productions like this if it wants to represent the nation. It's no coincidence I think that the standout drama shows from Wales (even those with English/Welsh versions) are those instigated by the Welsh language channel S4C.

Just registered for a People's Pension Webinar on February 28th. Yes I'm of an age now when it's not far away.

Am I one who is getting irritated by Kindle books on Amazon. That's to say those books that Mr Bezos promotes seemingly constantly by email etc. Am I the only one who is comfortable enough to read a book on a Kindle but disturbed when the book seems to be only on a Kindle?

Speaking of Amazon they have cancelled a subscription to Amazon Prime because the card (which was a prepay card anyway ) was out of date. Thing is I hadn't realised I clicked onto join it. Not particularly bothered except it reminds me to be careful for the future.

Alexa has just reminded me (it's 6:15 now)about Easy Yoga. An app that I downloaded out of curiosity. But as my left foot hurts I think I'll leave it for another day.....and relax.

Anyway time to go back to sleep now. Thankfully the urge to zzzz has caught up on me.

Until the next time.

One Raymond Chandler....There's Only One Raymond Chandler

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers might remember last year that I read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. A book enjoyed immensely until the end when I was struggling reading it through a heavy cold and sore throat. So bad it was that wife/daughter didn't mention "man flu" once. And yet as I loved the novel I wanted to finish it, which given my condition was a mistake.

Anyway the above clearly makes me an expert on all things Chandler and so made me confident to read this.

Apologies For The Blurring

Published in 1988 for the centenary of Chandler's birth this book was a collection of short stories featuring Philip Marlowe written by the leading crime writers of her day such as Sarah Paretsky and Simon Brett with the last story by Raymond himself showing the latterday young whippersnappers how it should be done.

And I say that because it was a disappointment. There were various reasons for this. One was because some tried to out Marlowe Marlowe as if the writers involved thought they were in a metaphor writing competition.

Others didn't seem to bother with the style. Why were they there at all?

And some took absolute liberties. There was swearing in one and in another private eye Phillip Marlowe met Bertolt Brecht. Bertolt Brecht? Do me a favout.

The crime stories here were also too short. You could whip most of them down to this. Marlowe is given problem. Marlowe confronts problem. Marlowe deals with problem. Trouble is in a short story it's just too rushed. Probably no coincidence that the Chandler story (The Pencil) was the longest in the set.

But ultimately there was one reason why these writers failed.

There's only one Raymond Chandler.

Until the next time.

How Matthew and Selma Save The Day. A Man's Search For A Romcom On Valentine's

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm working today, Valentine's day (ahh) but amazingly I will be off this Saturday (unusual for me) so thought it would be best to have a belated Valentine's night in with the wife having a meal I'd have cooked (Pasta bake. Don't get your hopes up. Still I'd have cooked it) and watching a Romcom later that I would have purchased from Amazon online.

But therein lies the rub. What film? I downloaded a fav of hers Four Weddings and A Funeral for her last year and like the other Richard Curtis vehicle Love Actually it's a film I dislike for being well packaged nothing. So you see being a man and picking a romcom is not easy.

I did think it would be mind you. My favourite Romcom even before I met the wife is the George Clooney/Michelle Pfeiffer movie One Fine Day. It's a favourite of mine if only because it seemed to be about realistic people falling in love with the special guest star being New York city. Far better than When Harry Met Sally which when I saw it gave me the impression it was co written by candyfloss.

So I purchase it online through Amazon Video to watch on the TV on Saturday. Or rather that was the intention. For it's not available.

I mean how could this be? I mean any movie/TV series nowadays seems to be available for sale. Even as I was trawling the German version of Three Men and A Baby. And certainly one with the George/Michelle axis should be there. But no.

So the search properly begins.

Realised as I was trawling through these films that in a lot of them the plot seems in essence to start as follows. Woman gets dumped. Woman tries to get away from her past in one way or another and then discovers man who is different from those she's dated in the past. Initially they dislike each other but.....

Well I had no intention of watching that sort of same old same old movie.

And how the woman "escapes" is stretched as well. In one she stays in her bedroom until some free spirits (which back in the day used to be called hippies) move in. In another the woman goes all Marie Kondo and minimalist until the free spirit of her sister and her daughter turned up.

Very close to being picked was a movie called How We Met starring no one I've ever heard of in which a disastrous first date gets even wilder after a policeman is killed (and it gets even wilder than that). Its seemed different enough and would have been my choice if I hadn't remembered.....

….Fools Rush In. The film I've chatted about before in this blog re my mad exercise in watching all the movies in  the Radio Times Film Catalogue 2013 starring Matthew Perry and Selma Hayek.

I liked it. I know the wife will like it. And given that it's about an American and Mexican getting along I know Donald Trump wouldn't like it. So it's a win, win, win and downloaded.

Next year though. I suspect the search will be even tougher.

Until the next time.

A Thought In Progress. H E Bates: Is He A UKIP Favourite Writer?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now let me start by saying this. I'm not saying that H E Bates would have voted Leave in the EU referendum, or that he would have campaigned against legal immigration to Britain. But sometimes a writer's work can change when read in a different decade and this is what I'm chatting about here.

Also the reason why I'm titling the post " A Thought In Progress " is not to sound poncey but because I've not read enough of his work to throw a complete answer but as it's nagging within I felt some sort of chat was worthwhile.

I've just finished reading Castles In The Air. A short story (I thought when I purchased it on the Kindle that it was a collection but there we are that's my fault) and it was then when I thought about The Darling Buds Of May quartet of books and Uncle Silas that this thought began to occur.

You may remember when I chatted about the last book in the Larkin quartet I mused that it was a Tory book in disguise. But now I think it's potentially, when read in these troubled times a far more right wing book than that.

After all what these stories depict is a Britain, no an England where people are basically happy living off in a countryside (almost always sunny) without the state around them. Where there are comely maidens ready to pounce on unsuspecting tax officials and where there is oceans of alcohol of all varieties. Where whilst you may be friendly towards your overseas neighbours England is still the best place to live.

And of course almost everybody's friendly ….and white.

I suspect the reality was not even the case when these books were written but it's definitely not the case now. Britain is a much harsher, greyer place now.

But this vision of an England is the sort of vision that would appeal to the extreme right. As indeed similar visions of a nation have appealed to their equivalents in other countries.

So again it's a thought in progress. And I don't know when I'll be reading another H E Bates book but it'll be something will return to when I do.

Until the next time.

Warning : Bridgend Labour Council Are "Consulting" Again

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Firstly apologies in advance that a lot of things I'm going to write about today I've repeated from a previous post. But given that Bridgend Labour are "consulting" (ie asking whether you want your perfectly healthy arm or leg chopped off when the option you'd prefer, no organs chopped, is not on the table) I felt it was worthwhile returning to it.

Bridgend council currently fund certain bus routes mainly from isolated communities to the main towns in the area. This is what they want to withdraw completely and this is what the "consulting" is about.

They say it's because of the cuts in the grant by the Welsh Labour government. So remember. If Welsh Labour blames Welsh Labour then Welsh Labour is to blame.

So this consulting. If you live near the area affected even if you have a car you'll say "keep the route" in case your car doesn't work. If you don't then you wouldn't really care. That's human nature. It means nothing to the relevance of the service.

And let's not forget here that the commercial viability of the service is not the issue here. If it was commercial then the council wouldn't be funding it in the first place. It was there so that the venerable in our society could have access to the main towns and it's relevant services such as doctors, dentists and libraries (obviously the library bit doesn't include Bridgend Town).

So again as in Cardiff the proposed closure of the bus service affects the very people that the Labour party are supposed to support. At least the Labour party aren't throwing them under the bus as there would be no bus rolling over them!

And remember this. At a time when Bridgend Town in particular is on it's knees withdrawing support means less chance for people to spend money in the town shops. So further damaging the local economy.

Again a cut that's not been thought through.

Welsh Labour in Bridgend and Cardiff. Supporting the community....unless you travel by bus.

Until the next time.

Trump,Hamilton And Me

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I never thought I'd have any connection with Donald Trump. I'm not head of any country, I don't have hair that defies gravity whatever the weather and property development for me is when I've put up a table from IKEA.

But now it appears I'm with him on the musical Hamilton. Which I've grown to dislike even though I've never seen it. Why? Well it's nothing to do with my general shrug of the shoulders when it comes to musicals. The last I saw was in fact Wicked last summer in London. It was a) weird b) almost an opera and c) linked to a) not the sort of musical where you'd be singing a tune as you were walking out of the theatre.

Well blame daughter who hasn't seen it either but who loves the music. Even on a school morning which involves diplomacy:

"Time to get up"

Gunboat diplomacy: "If you don't move I'm confiscating your Ipod"

and transportation as I'm driving her to school she keeps on repeating those songs over and over and over...

and over and over...

again.

And in those days where I'm picking her up from school then it starts again....and again.....and...well you get the drift.

So for me you see it's hatred through repetition.

Many songs have now been unwelcomingly embedded into my brain like musical tinnitus. One in particular sung apparently by Hamilton's sister in law/wife comes to mind with lines like "my heart goes boom" and"Thankyou for your service".

And now Daughter's discovered YouTube videos about it and can't wait to tell me things about the show.

"The same woman plays Hamilton's wife and mistress". "Really?" I answer. Not feigning at all my lack of interest. Gone are the days I felt honour bound to watch things on the TV she asked me to watch with her. Disney channel comedies like Hanna Montana (awful) , The Wizards of Waverley Place (Not bad) and The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody (the worse by far. But of course none designed for me so doesn't matter what I think here).

But things have got worse. Wife likes has become a fan as well and is talking with daughter of going to London to see it. Well fine...but not with me. Even in married and parental life there are limits.

Until the next time.

The Real Parent Trap

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As children we subconsciously set it. As single adults we don't realise it. But as parents we suddenly realise the set of traps our children set for us. Those traps that make us realise they are growing up and that we are consequently are both old and less needed than we once were.

Daughter has been to London on a school trip. Her first. A knee injury and a dislocated shoulder being the reasons why she couldn't attend these trips before but here it was the case of third time lucky.

And she loved it.

Amongst other things she and a friend spent time by themselves in Covent Garden where they went to the Transport Museum.

There were no calls permeated by floods of tears. She was just confident and happy.

And of course more grown up.

She even got some gifts. And there were thoughts made for those she got me.

Firstly the bookmark (as she knows I collect them)

A Bookmark Of A Tube Line

Not just any tube line but the Central Line. The line I went to work on for over a decade. For me the great railway journey of the world not for the journey but for what it led me to in the eighties. Not work but the bookshops in the Charing Cross Road. Now largely (and tragically absent).

And she got me this notebook.

She knows me so well

So we as parents weren't needed. She was able to look after herself. Another stepping stone to adulthood was taken whilst me and the wife are further pushed into the descending spiral of senility. Making me feel older than the old man I actually am.

Ah well might as well begin contemplating that zimmer frame sooner than expected.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Cycling And Walking Like An Ape Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I mentioned in a previous post Marcus Chown in his book about science described it as an attempt to describe science to the man on the number 25 bus. Well as I continued reading Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder by Dave Barter an amateur cyclist and cycle writer I realised that this was the cycling equivalent as he explains through a series of what were originally articles his love and experiences on life riding two wheels.

(Though of course if he did explain it to me on the number 25 bus I would have to ask why he was on a bus in the first place)

I loved this book. And what I realised reading it was that the thing it had that Mr Chown's book missed. A sense of humour.

Here was a man in love with cycling. But was not afraid to show us the down moments either. Not afraid to explain the moments that he looked a fool. He rejoices in being a passionate amateur of the sport he loves.

Did it make me want to go on a bike after decades off the saddle? No. And he might consider that a failure. But whilst I was reading his book I felt like a cyclist so in that sense the book is a major success. In fact the best book I've read so far this year (though as it's early February that's not much of a recommendation).

Perhaps the better praise is this. If I wasn't fifty five but twenty five I might have been tempted to try cycling again after reading his book. Many people whether cyclists or not will enjoy it and many people will be inspired to give the two wheels a go after reading it. By treating cycling with passion but also a sense of realism and fun I suspect many readers after reading Mr Barter have found their go to writer on the subject,

I'm so old I can remember when Britain regularly did well in the Eurovision Song contest. Yes I'm that old.

A reason added a few days back as to why I'm not a cyclist, amateur or not, is that my back has started to hurt me. Have no idea why but the small of back began to inflict pain so much so that I was wandering around as if auditioning for Planet Of The Apes.

I get this from time to time. Not enough that it stops me from going to work but enough that it makes its presence felt. A couple of days back daughter was off for a trip to London with the school. She wondered why I wasn't properly saying goodbye as she was leaving. Only when raising myself from the settee (propped up behind me by a few cushions) did she realise I was not 100% as I was struggling to do so.

The best relief so far from this pain has actually been driving. As the seatbelt strapped against me seems to have worked wonders. That is until I arrive at my destination and take the belt off. Let's say my exit from the mighty Kia Picanto is not graceful.

I am getting better. But the feeling is still there. So any thoughts of trying out the high jump will have to be put on the back burner for now.

Remember a few posts back I was pitching in about the new BBC Wales drama Pitching In which got a lot of people's backs up by the trailer alone? Well BBC Wales have got a natural history series coming soon. Fair enough for those into wildlife and that sort of thing (not I must admit me). But the title is Wales: Land of the Wild. Might just be a bit picky here but does sound cliché Wales if you ask me.

By the way I intend to watch that Pitching In programme either Tuesday or Wednesday on recording. I'll chat about it then. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the trailer suggested. We shall see.

Until the next time.

The Possible Effect Of The Ford Redundancies On Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's been about two weeks since the news leaked out and a week since it was officially confirmed that there would be widespread redundancies in the Ford Engine plant in Bridgend. I've already chatted about the effect on the people there previously. As I've said I only know some of the workers on an acquaintance level and I've not spoken to them about it since. After all you don't start a chat to a person about a possible redundancy. You just don't.

So next to the people who work there the next point of interest is the effect of this news on nearby Bridgend Town. As I've explained practically since the blog began, Bridgend Town is an urban tragedy largely brought on by the arrogant incompetence of the local Labour council. Clearly this is going to make the situation in the town even worse.

In a short space of time the town will face Brexit and the Ford redundancies. It is, as things stand now, in no position to cope.

The situation in Ford's and it's probable effects on the town is in fact another error by the Labour council. I know what you're going to say "How can you ….even as a Plaid Cymru member blame the Labour council for events out of it's control?"

Because as I chatted in this blog the alarm bells were being raised by Ford two years ago. 

The council could have, should have, set up a committee to deal with the possible scenario of plant closure or massive redundancies by Ford regarding it's effects on the town. But it does not appear to have done so. I've written before that the council seemingly runs the town on a crisis management basis. Yet when a real crisis emerges to damage the town further the management seems non existent.

Before the announcement, and I don't know the percentage between the council and private developers, there seems to have been an idea of just doing up the empty shops in the town in the hope of attracting new retailers. "Build it and they will come" as it were.

But for the most part they haven't come. Many of these shops just stand empty with a To Let sign on them and what this announcement means, combined with the Brexit uncertainty, is that it's unlikely to happen soon if at all.  I've no idea how many people being made redundant live in the area. But it's not unreasonable to assume the majority. We will have people going into the town to buy the basics for living in the supermarkets and bargain stores and that's it.

So what can be done to help the town? Well in truth I'm not sure now. The town is facing threats from things outside it's control (Brexit, online shopping, austerity) as well as the consequences of the actions of the local Labour council which I've detailed previously. The only thing I can suggest, as I've suggested before, is that the Welsh Labour council try to persuade the Welsh National Government to reduce the business rates for the town. But whether that will help, especially in the short term I honestly don't know.

For the moment things look grim to say the least.

One final thing for today. The local paper advises that they'll be a committee set up by the council to handle the immediate issues surrounding Brexit including social unrest.

Well judging by the council's history that'll end well.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 14: Gold (1974) AKA The Roger Moore Movie That Should Be Banned

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So then Gold. A piece of seventies kitsch set in South Africa. Where Roger Moore working in a gold mine (he incidentally got his qualifications by corresspondance course) has to battle the consequences of a dastardly plan by second in command Bradford Dillman to flood it thus making money for himself (and not the actual owner who doesn't know anything about this Ray Milland) as the gold price would increase whatever the human costs.

Roger is of course a handsome dude and he knows it. What other actor can in the first scene handle a mining disaster with more than the regulation buttons open thus showing his cleavage. And they say men can't multitask.

He along the way falls in love with Susannah York. The wife in the film of Bradford Dillman. Now I don't blame Roger for that. In my teenaged years Susannah York along with Julie Christie were the English versions of Catherine Deneuve. The sort of woman who you didn't only lust after but would die for. So it was disappointing to see her in a film where essentially she was Moore's main squeeze and nothing more. But she would disappoint me here far more than that.

Of course she falls in love with Roger because he's Roger. And because Dillman doesn't satisfy her. Well of course not. Not only is he the main villain on screen but he can't handle dust. And he works on a mine (though of course in the offices). So not only is he evil. He's also an evil wimp.

John Gielgud is also in it as the leader of the bad guys. Proving that not just Laurence Oliver could ham it up in trashy films. Nor is he above product placement as he strategically places a bottle of Martini to the screen

It is I would admit entertaining in a put your brain in first gear and relax kind of way if it wasn't for one thing. This is 1974. So it's not just South Africa. It's apartheid South Africa.

So the actors I mentioned (note none of them with a dark skin) were happy to work in a film promoting a racist state. Including...oh Susannah how could you! There is only one black actor with any significant role....and that's relatively minor in relation to the whole movie. Remember that non-whites were the majority in South Africa but were unable to vote. The film is just as undemocratic in it's depiction of life at that time.

For example before Roger moves in on Susannah he goes to a bar where he eventually picks up a brunette. Her hair colour being the darkest thing in the room.

There is a scene where Roger confronts another white employee of the mine and says not to attack people with a skin darker than his. But the next scene is of him in a stadium where three quarters of the place are filled with black people and one quarter white. But it's only the light skinned that are able to get to have food and drink from the marquee afterwards.

So what do black people do in the movie? Well aside from mining they carry suitcases in airports and serve drinks in hotels.

"Ben dry white wine" shouts Ray Milland to a black waiter. Note not even the courtesy of a please.

Of course apartheid by name is not mentioned. But it does permeate this movie through the sin of omission. Really it should be banned and should be banned now.

Until the next time.

Am I Thick When It Comes To Science Books? Well Possibly.....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So this was the latest library book I've read.

Modest Ambitions here...

And it's similar to the book I briefly chatted about earlier this year. It's a science book that Mr Chown explains is designed for the man on the number 25 bus.

(As an aside that comment endeared him to me given that whilst not the man in the seventies I was the boy on the number 25 bus as it took me from Forest Gate in the East End of London to what was then the glamour that was Ilford in Essex)

So did it succeed in explaining the scientific stuff to me? Well ultimately no.

I will say that of the two books it came closer. But with each chapter came the moment when scientific theory had to be explained and whilst in the beginning I caught on eventually it got complicated and oh my brain hurt.

So let's get back to the title of this post. Regarding scientific books am I thick as two short planks? Well yes and no. Science was never my subject at school and whilst you could get by for a while by just learning the previous lesson ultimately when it came to exams I just couldn't hack it. I just didn't have the passion.

However as a reader there are other (many) subjects that I'm not expert at where I've read non fiction books that I've enjoyed. So why not science?

Based on the wide cross section that are these two books I suspect that it may be that it's because there's too much science and not enough people. Now I know what you're going to say. "Too much science in a science book? Is this man mad?" (A debate for a later post I'm sure).

But the point is this. Archimedes discovered that the volume of water from a container by realising it when he went to have a bath. Similarly whether apocryphal or not everyone knows of the story of Issac Newton discovering gravity because of the fallen apple. These two scientific events are well known not just because of the discovery but also the human events that led up to it.

So perhaps one day I'll find the science book for the general reader that is able to do this. And if it comes I promise you'll be the first to know.

Until the next time.

Pitching In On Pitching In

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Twitter you know is a fascinating thing. Currently my timeline is mainly Brexit related with general politics and sport issues added on. But one subject matter that's made an appearance is a forthcoming BBC Wales drama series called Pitching In. In fact if it wasn't for Brexit /rugby it might be the number one issue around Welsh Twitter. For people have seen the trailer....and they don't like it (which is of course not what trailers are supposed to do).

It stars Gavin and Stacey star Larry Lamb as an owner of a caravan park in North Wales. This is the first thing that has annoyed people. "English colonialism" are some of the more polite words banded about here.

Well I'm going to park the issue aside for a while. Partly because I would wouldn't I? But also because the trailer does not make clear what has led him to North Wales. It could be for example that his wife was Welsh (it's made clear he's a widower) so it's best to wait till it's broadcast in that regard.

In all other respects though if the trailer is anything to go by the complaints seem justified to me. After all you have an English owner who whilst learning about life thanks to the kindhearted Welsh folk is still the boss. I've seen variations on this theme all my life. It's the sort of cliché Wales peg that only independence can throw away.

Twitter also advises me that for a drama that's set in North Wales the accents of the Welsh characters are South Walian valleys. Now I don't know for sure what I'm going to say is the case, but it suggests that the casting director is English. Before I moved to Wales I just assumed that there was just one "Welsh" accent. Now I know different. There's a Cardiff accent, a Swansea accent and so forth. For there to be just a central casting Welsh accent strikes me as an English mindset (and to be clear I'm talking about someone who does not live in Wales).

And why should we be surprised if the casting director is English? The production company is from Liverpool and the director is English. And yet the commissioning editor for BBC Wales agreed to it? Surely there were other commissions from Welsh based companies he could have signed on the dotted line to agree to? But for some reason he chose this.

Also the trailer says that it stars "Larry Lamb and Hayley Mills" (Got to say the fact that she's in it stunned me) but no mention of the Welsh actors and actresses in it? Why not?

Perhaps this Twitter attack on the trailer is a good thing. For it shows people are not prepared to take this cliché view of Wales and it's people anymore. That can only be applauded.

Whilst I am going to have a look at the first episode (February 12th - BBC1) I'd be lying if I said my mind was open on this show given the trailer.

The trailer that makes me hostile to a series. Not the greatest of starts.

Until the next time.

The Welsh Rugby Union....An Anti Welsh Institution?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I know what you're thinking. Is this man mad? Has the frost from last week bitten into his brain?

(The answer to these questions is...I hope not)

A question was posed yesterday on Twitter that caused me to think. It was what what is the most anti-Welsh Welsh institution? The answer seemed easy. A tie between Welsh Conservatives and Welsh Labour. Both being, despite having Welsh in their title, more beholden to the other organisation with a capital W. Westminster.

I've given examples throughout the history of this blog and will probably do so more in the future so I won't bore you with it here. So instead I'll give you the organisation which I initially thought was a close runner up spot but the more I considered it seemed to join the unionist parties I mentioned. The Welsh Rugby Union.

Now I could have also added the England and Wales Cricket Board or the Green Party of England and Wales. But they already surrendered the Welsh part of the deal. No the question was clever in that it queried seemingly Welsh institutions. You don't seemingly get more Welsh than the WRU and yet if you look beyond the six nations and other internationals the organisation whether consciously or not seems to undermine Wales with every opportunity.

I have dealt with issues in more detail regarding the WRU individually in this blog. But I think now it's probably best to highlight them in one place.

So here goes.

The Badge : The Prince of Wales feathers symbolising the image as a plaything of royalty when it was called a Principality.

And speaking of a Principality.....

The Principality Stadium: The WRU were happy to get the money so that the rest of the world sees the national stadium called Principality. Wales is not a principality and I know that the naming comes directly from the Principality Building Society but most people outside Wales would not know that.

Image is everything. But who cares about image when you get the money?

Eddie Jones : As I chatted about last year the England coach (who let's not forget is Australian) described Wales as s***. And to be clear he wasn't talking about Wales the rugby team he was insulting Wales the country.

Now any self respecting organisation representing Wales would have banned Jones from attending this year's six nations match with England in Cardiff. Not the WRU though.

Weakening The Club Game: What was once a (mainly) Saturday afternoon ritual has been weakened by the creation of four specific regional teams and no possibility of promotion/relegation for the clubs outside the privileged quartet. Whatever the arguments about the quality of the rugby these teams were for the most part unable to attract the uniform support of people in the regions they covered. Thus they play to relatively sparse crowds that even television cannot hide.

It's a system so successful that the WRU tried to rejig the system to reduce the number of relevant regional clubs to just two. They failed in that (for now).

Compare and contrast with the Welsh Football Association. The badge is that of a dragon and whilst the major Welsh football teams (Cardiff, Swansea etc) do play in the English leagues they have subsequently created a distinctly Welsh league with promotion and relegation which whilst it may not be the Premiership is nonetheless established now.

So here's the irony. Despite the cliché image. The more Welsh of the institutions is probably that of football.

Until the next time.

Welsh Trade Unions And The Welsh Labour Party. Time For A Split?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Welsh trade unions and the Labour party have been entwined for over a century. And understandably so. But as the disunited kingdom contemplates the possibility of a long dark Brexit of the soul then perhaps this partnership should not now be as strong a it was.

And, like the majority of Welsh voters (though it is declining) this support is mainly due now to what the Labour party has done in the past. It cannot be argued that in the past the Labour Party was the party for ordinary men and women. Hence it got the people's votes and most of the unions political monies.

But that was then and this is now. Past performance does not justify the votes and finances of the arrogantly incompetent Labour party of the present.

Look at the workers at the Ford Engine plant in Bridgend who are soon to be made redundant. Did they see the Welsh Labour party swing into action when the first signs in 2017 that there was a problem? No. They give Ford money to deal with the consequences of Brexit (which as I posted at the time raised questions in itself) and what good did it give those soon to be redundant workers?

Remember when the news of the redundancies first came out the comments from Welsh Labour figures (including former First Minister and local Assembly member Carwyn Jones) gave statements which were just nothing of substance.

I can give you other examples. When the announcement Tesco call centre in Cardiff was to be closed down Carwyn Jones did not know it was coming and Labour did not fight to the death to keep it open. Similarly the soon to be closed call centre in Swansea. Where was the fight from the Welsh government for the workers? I don't know whether they had union membership there (and if not Welsh Unions you should ask why) but I'd guess they're feeling betrayed by "the people's party" now.

(And by the way I still think people in Wales should boycott Virgin media for this)

So this political levy. Why can't some of it go to Plaid Cymru? Why does it have to be (in terms of political parties) Welsh Labour? After all no one would call Plaid Cymru conservative. It will have the interests of the Welsh people and those who have made their home here at heart. Plaid who tried to get zero hours contracts abolished in Wales where Labour, Labour please note, voted against.

More people are considering independence as an option for Wales.
Unlike Labour Plaid is not a party of the establishment. It will not cocoon itself in Cardiff Bay as the rest of the nation suffers. It will go out and battle for the best outcome. Not make meaningless statements of nothing as jobs are under threat.

So perhaps trade unions in Wales it's time for a split. No longer make alliances based on a glorious past but of an independent future instead.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : No Relief For Public Toilets In Bridgend Town Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember I've chatted about the closure of public conveniences in the Bridgend area due to cuts by the local Labour council which they blame on the Welsh Labour national government in Cardiff.

Welsh Labour blaming Welsh Labour folks.

Well one of the towns involved, Porthcawl has, in the words of the local paper have now found "relief" as the town council are going to take over the running of the public convenience there. Hurrah for Porthcawl

But again it brings into focus the fact that there is no relief for Bridgend Town. The toilets there are closed and there are no signs it will reopen.

So again Bridgend Town is caught short. Not just in comparison with other towns in South Wales but also other towns in it's own area.

This is really manslaughter through neglect. A drip, drip of decline where when you step back you realise is an absolute torrent. As I've explained before, this is due to the arrogant incompetence of Welsh Labour.

Meanwhile Plaid Cymru shadow economy minister Rhun Ap Iorweth has contacted and will be meeting Ford in Bridgend in the light of their announcement of substantial job losses in the engine plant. More than the local Labour AM Carwyn Jones appears to have done. I've also suggested he should walk round the town beforehand so he can understand the urban tragedy Labour have caused and how these redundancies will make the situation even worse.

One of the headlines in the BBC News website here is that in a survey the greatest searches for anti-Semitic phrases on the internet is here in Wales. The picture then is of a rise of intolerance.

And yet.

When you read the report there were just 170,000 such searches in the disunited  Kingdom as a whole for the period from 2004-2018!. I'm not saying anti-Semitism doesn't exist in Wales but really this proves nothing and certainly does not deserve the headline status the BBC gave it. Unsure why that was as well.

At last the snow situation for me has reduced to being picturesque and from a distance. The only good thing about it was that for a while it made me forget about Brexit.

But let's talk about Brexit. I was tweeting on Brexit just this morning when I got a Direct Mail response from a follower in England saying how much he was against it. Thing is. He went the Direct Mail route for fear of being attacked by Brexiteer internet trolls.

Britain today folks.

Until the next time.

The Need For Mr Chris Needs

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As you can tell from writing this on Friday I did return home. I was advised that the main roads seemed fine and that as long as I was careful then everything should be OK. That is how it turned out to be.

Now that does not mean the journey was easy. There was the snow of course and those lorries that thought it was a good idea to overtake me on the motorway (I'm on the inside lane as well)  because I assumed it was a good idea to be slow because of the weather. I know. What was I thinking?

And the double caution approaching roundabouts, the need to follow clear unsnowed tracks on the road as the white stuff encroached.

There was a bit of humour. Perhaps black ice humour. As I was on the M4 the electronic roadsigns advised bilingually of "poor weather conditions". Really? Too late now!

But I got home. Announced to wife and daughter that "the snow warrior returns" (they were unimpressed).

What I do need to mention was my choice of Radio companion for the journey. Chris Needs is the late night host on BBC Radio Wales which is the station I felt I should listen to. His style is a curious mixture of flamboyance and garden fence conversation...but it works.

Now I don't normally listen to him because the music is mainly the disco, europop energy which does not in my ageing years fit to my easy listening tastes. That is not a criticism. That's just an issue of preference.

During the journey he seemed to be concentrating on his friendly chatty gossipy style. It worked for me. It didn't distract me from the task in hand but seemed calming. He illustrates again the difference between television and radio. With radio at it's best the voices can be a friend helping out even though you haven't met them.

So thankyou Mr Needs.

Until the next time.