When Britain Is On The Verge Of Stumbling Into A Hard Brexit, The Economy Looks As If It's About To Explode,Social Cohesion Is Hanging By A Thread And The Prime Minister Looks As If She's Having A Nervous Breakdown......Let's Talk Again About Pitching In

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well when you feel that the saga that is Brexit cannot get any lower the sub Prime Minister with the sub prime government shows again that there are hidden levels to the bottom of the barrel. Who knows what's going to happen?  But I say this. The probability of Britain leaving the EU by jumping off a cliff and instantly trying to learn how to swim through a hard Brexit increases.

This I'd argue will probably cause an economic disaster, a dismantling of social cohesion and the breakup of this disunited kingdom including independence for Wales. The independence part will be a good thing. Point is though, as I've said before, no nationalist will wish for this scenario because of the route of economic and social misery people and families in Wales will have to get there.

Once we know for sure what is going to happen I'll chat again about Brexit and it's effect on Wales. Though I will leave the issue for now with one question.

Is Theresa May slowly having a nervous breakdown?

So let's return to Pitching In.

You may remember I chatted about this show when it was shown in Wales earlier this year. A light drama about an English owner of a North Walian caravan park. When it was shown here it seemed to be almost universally attacked for issues that I will recap as I go along.

Well next week it's going to get a disunited kingdom transmission and I thought it would be interesting to chat about it's reaction from this (I'm assuming English I don't know - If I checked I'd reckon it would be digital stalking) perspective. Specifically a review I saw in next week's edition of the Radio Times.

There is kudos to be given to the reviewer for saying that the programme has received a mauling in Wales. Though when she says it's just from "some" viewers I'd certainly argue with that. Also her assertion that it's "mainly" due to the lack of local actors is another I'd would contend with. Partly because other reasons seemed just as prominent to me in the reaction against the programme but also that whilst true, just to say the programme lacked local actors does not explain the whole argument here.

As I mentioned previously this is linked to the Welsh accents on the programme . For something supposedly set in North Wales there were a whole slew of accents from across Wales on oral display. It would be like EastEnders if all you could hear were Brummie, Geordie and Scouse voices. I suspect that the Radio Times reviewer, rather like my theory with regard to the casting director, is English living in England so all she could hear was one "Welsh" accent. If you're Welsh or like me have lived in Wales for twenty years however you can hear several. Because Welsh is a country and like all countries has several regional accents within it.

But there is also the point that it's cliché Wales. The cliché is that the Welsh are just a bunch of happy go lucky eccentric locals ("colourful ensemble" is how the review in the Radio Times put it) really is English wish fulfilment ( though to be fair Larry Lamb's character is described as a "cockney curmudgeon").

And this is, let's not forget, a programme commissioned by BBC Wales. But now transmitted across the disunited kingdom. This is the image, the completely wrong image, that the state broadcaster wants other nations to see about itself.

Here is the key point. Forget about six nations victory, Euro 2016 semi final, Tour De France success. If you have this image of cliche  Wales Pitching In will comfort you. You will like it. If you however know that Wales needs to break from the cliche then you know full well Pitching In needs to be thrown out of the schedule as quickly as possible.

Until the next time.