One Step Towards Welsh Independence Is One Step Away From Serfdom

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

On Saturday there was the March for Welsh Independence in Cardiff. Thousands turned out according to media outlets aside from BBC who said six (actually they said that "hundreds" marched but the disparity between them and other organisations is an issue in itself). I wished I could have joined them but work and personal issues kept me away.

But what this march first showed is that no longer is the cliché that an aspiration for Welsh Independence can be considered a concept for freaks. It has supporters of all ages and classes. It has momentum.

Let us be clear here. Wales is probably the last serf nation in Europe because of the way it has been exploited through the centuries by Unionist parties. Only recently projects that could help Wales, like the Swansea Bay Lagoon or the electrification of the South Walian railway line west of Cardiff have been knobbled by Westminster. With let's no forget the full support of the Welsh Secretary of State Alun "Chucky" Cairns.

What does Wales gets in return? Village flooded so English towns can have water, nuclear dumping in Cardiff Bay. Prisons to house criminals who were born and living in England. A lower standard of life  A bridge renamed after a privileged man by other privileged men just to kiss regal backside.

You might quote to me the proposed  South Wales Metro link or the M4 Relief Road. But feeding Cardiff is not going to help Wales as a whole. You could argue as to why have a metro link when the entire country does not have a linking rail network? Ask yourself why that is? It's because Westminster does not want Wales to have something that would be physically independent from the Disunited Kingdom.

No one is saying that the majority of Welsh people want independence from this Disunited Kingdom...yet. But no longer can Welsh Unionist polictios brush it off like dandruff from their expensive suits. More and more people have seen the Unionist parties car crash response to the Brexit vote plus the state of the nation, looked at the concept of independence and thought "why not?".

Wales has much to offer when no longer a serf nation. Energy and agricultural resources, tourism and (mainly) a friendly and welcoming people. Like Ireland independence could allow Wales to properly educate the children for the world of tomorrow. Equip them with the skills instead of the current Welsh Labour administration being so bad the current minister is a LibDem. I know what you'll say. Education is a devolved issue. But Unionist parties currently run Wales on a Unionist mentality. Labour, as I've explained before, has a First Minister for Wales in Mark Drakeford who is not a leader but a disciple...of Jeremy.

Like Ireland there will be mistakes along the way. No nationalist is a Brexiteer in the sense of stating that it will be instant nirvana. But it can build itself up to be a vibrant, multi-faceted economy. Not today though. Not whilst it's Serf Nation.

But the chains of Unionism that have enslaved the Welsh for centuries are slowly beginning to buckle.

Mark my words.

Until the next time.

So Welsh UKIP, Welsh Labour Or Plaid Cymru Which One Do You Think Has A Vision?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

UKIP in Wales has a policy out regarding the Welsh Assembly. It's leader Mr Creepy and his cohorts know it's a simple policy with one simple message.

Abolish it.

Their argument is simple. It's a waste of money and has done nothing for all the twenty years since it was set up.

Of course when Mr Creepy and his cohorts are asked what has the House of Commons done for Wales during the same period then they are unusually silent.

But here's the thing. If you take the last of the Carwyn Jones years and the first months of Mark "Jeremy Disciple" Drakeford's tenure as First Minister then it's easy to see how that impression can get a footing in the thinking of the Welsh voter.

Government is a combination of good management a clear vision for the future. The Welsh Labour administration provides bad management whose only purpose is to stay in power. It is short sighted. The Welsh Labour party is the Mr Magoo of world politics.

Last Saturday there was the People's Vote in London. Over a million turned up. And amongst the speakers, introduced to loud cheers was Nicola Sturgeon. That's right an audience of mainly (I presume) English people cheered the leader of the Scottish Nationalists. Afterwards Mark Drakeford was introduced to equally thunderous applause....of course not he wasn't there....Jeremy would not approve (and probably most people even if they were Welsh would not recognise him anyway).

So only Plaid Cymru has the true vision thing. It is not a back to the future UKIP policy but a forward thinking idea of an independent Wales which, why there will still be problems it will Wales who will deal with it not begging for an answer from a large city far away.

Until the next time.

Why Water Is An Independence Issue

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

There is the often repeated joke in England that it always rains in Wales. Similar stuff is thrown at Scotland as well. But it appears that the product from the clouds has now the potential to become an issue for independence as well.

For the chief of the environment agency has warned that England could run short of water within twenty five years. A combination of rising population and dwindling supply caused what would be a perfect storm for drought....if that wasn't the wrong metaphor to use.

Part of the way he seeks to resolve this is to "transfer water across the country" this for now only involves England. But you don't need to have any degrees in politics, business or water management to know that eyes will be looking across the borders into Wales and Scotland.

Of course this is not new. I've previously spoken in the past about the Tryweryn reservoir where in the nineteen sixties the village of Capel Celyn was flooded so that the it could built to supply Liverpool.

Could this happen again? Well politically in Wales First Minister Mark "Jeremy's Disciple" Drakeford and Welsh Secretary of state Alun "Chucky" Cairns are remarkably similar in the way they appear to be supplicants to their Westminster masters. So despite this not being in the interests of Wales there is nothing to suggest they won't agree to do it.

But there is another way and that is for Wales to judge whether they should sell the water to England and at what cost. It's a Welsh resource that should not be drained away like North Sea oil was for Scotland.

This is where independence come in. In my lifetime the Scottish Nationalist Party really stepped up a gear in the seventies in the discovery of North Sea oil. What people could see was that here was a Scottish resource being frittered away by Westminster whilst there were some parts of Scotland that would have benefited from monies that the oil would have provided.

In Independent Wales for oil read Water. Plaid Cymru should emphasise that it is a Welsh resource and the profits for supplying England with water should be put back to Wales with the consequent increase in resources for things like health,education and transport.

It should also emphasise through the rooftops something else as well. Not that no new reservoirs would be built, after all who knows what the future will bring, but that no communities will be flooded for new reservoirs built in Wales if it's designed to solely supply England.

Water is a resource and an independence issue Plaid needs to make this loud and clear. For we know the Unionist parties won't

Bridgend Ford Engine Plant : The News Is Revealed

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

On Friday reports came in about the car manufacturer's plans with regard to the Ford engine plant in the area. Ford's have not confirmed the plans as they are consulting with the unions, but let's assume that these reports are correct.

So what is being reported is that in a two year period roughly half of the current workforce will be made redundant. It's not clear whether all of these redundancies will be voluntary. That's almost a thousand people who will find themselves without a job. They will be affected, their families will be affected, the South Wales area and particularly Bridgend will be affected.

Really the complete plant closure aside this news really could not be worse.

I've chatted about the plant since about March 2017 when it's future became an issue. The workforce have had this hanging over their heads since then. Whilst I do not know people who work there as friends as such I do know some people on an acquaintance basis. One person told me last year that he had been offered voluntary redundancy which he'd turned down but almost instantly regretted because he sensed the atmosphere in the place had changed. I get that. I remember feeling that very sense of foreboding in a call centre I used to work at before it closed down.

The Welsh Labour government has supported the plant through the years only recently in this blog I queried the monies it was giving Ford to support it over Brexit on the grounds that no one really knows what and indeed how Brexit is going to turn out to be. Current First Minister Mark Drakeford has issued what is best described as holding tweets on the issue. His predecessor, Carwyn Jones, who lets not forget is the local Assembly Member has promised to work to continue the plant's future. Again a bland anodyne statement when politicians should be fighting for the people who actually voted for them.

The Welsh Labour government does not appear to have done any planning for Ford cutting back in Bridgend and it's effects on the wider area. Neither indeed have the Welsh Labour council. Only a few posts back I chatted how their actions with regard to Bridgend Town should be considered urban manslaughter. Well this decision is hardly going to help the town is it? Let's assume the majority of the people threatened with redundancy are from the area. They won't be able to spend as much money on local businesses. They have had two years to deal with a worse case scenario and nothing seems to have been done. Shameful.

The council is cutting services because of the lack of grants from the Labour government. This situation needs to be reviewed. If we assume the redundancies take place then Labour needs to attract new investment and this will not occur if they allow the area to be run down.

I have been made redundant. I can remember the paralysing depression it gave me. I multiply that feeling one thousand times, then multiply the effect on their families.

This is not the greatest of moments folks.

Until the next time.

First Minister Of Wales Mark Drakeford : The Disciple's New Year Message

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So as far as I can see First Minister Mark Drakeford gave out a New Year message as supposedly the leader of a nation. Blink and you'd miss it. It was on Twitter.

Two tweets that was it. It said that Britain had the prospect of being on a No-Deal Brexit. That the Welsh government will continue to stand up for Wales. That Wales could not work in isolation.  He would like to see "a more unified approach" from the UK government to secure "the bext possible deal for the whole of the UK".

All very well. until you remember that he was Finance Minister in the Carwyn Jones administration that surrendered the Brexit powers that should have come to Wales after March 29 to the pathetic May administration for seven years. Let's repeat that : He did not negotiate. He surrendered.

So much for standing up for Wales.

It is not a statement that thinks Wales should have any input in any negotiations. Why? He's not thinking of Theresa. Oh no. He's thinking of Jeremy. As I have said before in this blog Wales does not have a new leader. It has a disciple.

But the most interesting statement was that Wales could not work in isolation. It shows yet again that he is a Unionist in a Nationalist political role. Of course it would be great to work with other nations. Plaid Cymru has advocated independence and not isolation. But the thing is. History shows that there are moments when isolation is better than compromise (and let's be clear I'm not talking about Brexit here).

But Mark Drakeford's instinct is to compromise with Westminster, especially a Westminster with Jeremy as Prime Minister.

So the question which needs to posed to the disciple is this. If an issue comes up in tenure as First Minister where the best possible action for Wales is to take a course of action different from Westminster will he do it?

For if he doesn't he will be a Welsh Quisling. Truly a "Red Cairns".

Until the next time.

Why Plaid Cymru Needs To Prepare For A Hard Brexit

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Everything I'm going to say next I've said before. But things seem to be a lot more heightened now with the government talking about sending in troops in the event of a no-deal long dark entrance of the soul Brexit (they speak of 3,500 which if you think about it seems remarkably low in case of shortages of food or medicines).

Let me say also this again. No nationalist wishes for a hard Brexit. For the damage it will cause to families across Wales will be substantial and it will not be clear when the pain it will cause will end.

But that needed and having been said. Plaid Cymru should politically prepare for a hard Brexit. For it will not be the party that failed to negotiate with the EU a workable deal (the Conservatives) or the party that has sat on it's hands whilst being unable to sort out a clear policy of it's own (Labour).

In the event of a hard Brexit the Welsh voter will not vote Conservative. But they should also be reminded that Welsh Labour were happy to let Theresa May's pathetic withering of a government have Welsh powers for seven years. The Finance Minister at the time? The new First minister Mark Drakeford.

Secretary of state for Wales and social slug Alun "Chucky" Cairns is warning Welsh businesses they should prepare for a hard Brexit. Of course if the Conservatives had done their job as the UK government such preparation would have been made months, if not years before March 29th next year. The sheer bare faced cheek of Chucky has plumbed new depths.

Which is why Plaid should make a position as the only alternative to the Unionist parties that would have brought Wales to this position crystal clear. They would have created the misery that hard Brexit would bring so in Wales it would be Plaid and Plaid only that could offer an alternative.

And that alternative would be independence.

For Plaid Cymru would simply say that if Hard Brexit has brought Wales to a disastrous situation then Wales would need to sort out it's problems away from the Union. Independence would not be simple solution. Mistakes will be made. But independence would bring solutions tailored  for Wales not Westminster's messy patchwork that brought the situation in the first place.

Plaid also will need to be unashamedly populist about this. But there's nothing wrong with populism if the cause is just.

So I say again nobody with a brain wants a hard Brexit. But should it happen Plaid must be ready to offer hope where the other parties offer failure.

Until the next time.

It Needs To Be Said Again...Carwyn Jones Needs To Resign From The Senedd Not Just As First Minister

I don't often like to repeat something in this blog, but I must admit to have been annoyed by the attention Carwyn Jones has got in his last few days as First Minister of Wales.

Fly on the wall documentary (not seen it but wife says his house is untidy), programmes analysing his leadership, a round of applause from the Senedd on his last day as First Minster (tried to think of why. Reckon it's for his achievements as a Master of illusion). All is leading up to the inevitable question "Mark who?"

But we'll leave Red Cairns for another day and focus back on Jones wearing his seasonal Shifty Santa look. He will be leaving the Senedd as Assembly Member for Bridgend in a few years time.

And he should resign from that post now.

Because of the latest band of cuts local government grants from Cardiff Bay Bridgend council have said that that cuts to services for the people will have to be made. This is despite there having been extra money found by someone apparently in the back of a sofa for Bridgend (and other councils).

Now despite the Welsh government blaming the monies they get from Westminister the councils blame the Welsh government. So essentially Welsh Labour are blaming Welsh Labour.

But let's focus on Bridgend. Let's say these cuts are made. Bridgend voters would expect their Assembly Member to be banging his fist arguing for more money for the region he represents.

But he can't. Because he was the First Minister when the cuts to the grants were made.

So if he cannot defend the people of Bridgend from the cuts the council are threatening to impose then why is he an Assembly Member ? Surely the voters of Bridgend require somebody who is not tied from fighting for their interests because of the associations of the past.

That's why if he was an honourable man Carwyn Jones should resign from the Senedd now.

But he probably won't though.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meandering Post : Wet And Windy Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Out there it's wet and it's windy. I think I've said before that weather forecasters seem to be good at forecasting bad weather. True again today.

Anyway with everyday that passes Brexit looks like the car crash where no one can apply the brakes. Thing is a second referendum would allow the brakes to be put. But no one in power wants to out their foot on the pedal.

And I say this again. There are some people on this side of the water gloating about the Gilets Jeune protests in France. But if Brexit happens and turns out to be a disaster this will be Britain.

More anecdotal evidence about Brexit. A few posts back I chatted about the lack of people in a Cardiff Bay restaurant despite this being Christmas office party season. Well the wife tells me that a colleague at work has told her exactly the same thing. The effect of Brexit Eve then.

In Wales Mark "Corbyn Disciple" Drakeford is now officially First Minister and showed off his new cabinet. Quite frankly IKEA could have done a better job. But what's important to mark up here is that a Libdem is still the education minister. Showing up again the disaster that Labour have done on the issue.

The other interesting thing is the creation of a minister responsible for North Wales. Presumably taking a campaign promise from another contender in that election Eluned Morgan. Thing is though Labour have not just failed North Wales. They have failed EVERYWHERE.

In my list of things I hate about Christmas I've forgotten to mention lights on people's houses. I'm not talking about small twinkly lights across a front door. No I'm talking about full blown Las Vegas here. I mean what is it with that?

Really windy out there. And wet.

Anyway wife's awake. Surprisingly early.

Until the next time.

Mark Drakeford : When Welsh Labour elect Not A Leader But A Disciple

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So Mark Drakeford is now Welsh Labour leader and probably first minister next week. If the publicity is anything to go by this is a man who will bestride "twenty first century socialism" like  a colossus.

But...

Let's be clear about Red Cairns Drakeford as I've discussed in the past he has done nothing in his career that suggests nothing more than the branch manager of the Welsh office. Indeed he is so looking forward to his future position that he has described himself as a bridge to the new generation of Labour Welsh figures such as Vaughan "Mr Memory" Gething. Thing about being a bridge though...you get walked all over.

And let's be clear what he has done as Finance Secretary. He has been part of the surrender of the Welsh Government's powers to the feeble May government post Brexit. Also he has cut the grant to local authorities. As we have discussed previously Welsh Labour in the form of the local councils are blaming Welsh Labour in the form of the government. Thus cuts to local services will occur across Wales. He, Mark Drakeford has been on the forefront of this.

And if he so cared for the Welsh people why did he surrender the Brexit powers, vote against a People's Vote in the Senedd and for the dumping of "nuclear mud" in Cardiff Bay.

Wales needs a First Minister with independence of spirit.

All Wales gets is Corbyn's tool instead.

Until the next time.

Welsh Labour Party Leadership Elections. Let's Chat

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday two of the main candidates for the Welsh Labour Leader (and therefore the next First Minister) started their campaigns. Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford id the current favourite. The other being Vaughan "I haven't worked out a funny name for him yet" Gething. I found it surprisingly interesting to hear what they had to say as it reveals how flawed they both are.

Let's start with Mr Drakeford. For copyright reasons I can't show it here but have a look at a particular promotional picture for his campaign. His face is in the front but at the back there is a young woman. Her attention is not with him but with something else. She looks as if she'd rather be somewhere else.

He speaks like a career politician. Talking about a "social partnership model to provide "collective solutions to collective problems". Whatever that actually means.

Welsh Labour party tweets I've seen describe him as a radical leader and visionary. Yet he's imposed cuts to local government grants which councils have passed on as cuts to service which will impact on many people within Wales but especially (as we've discussed with Bridgend) the venerable.

Let's turn to Mr Gething. He has promised many things such as ending holiday hunger for children and removing tuition fees for Care Leavers. All very laudable. Except Labour have been in power for twenty years. He is the Health Secretary. He is the one who has coined the phrase "managing decline" seemingly acknowledging Labour's failure and yet how can he being part of Carwyn Jones' failure team now imply that he will make a difference to Labour's approach when he helped manage it?

He also spoke about his ambition to create a National Care Service for Wales. Thing is we all have ambitions. But ambition is not a policy.

He also says that Welsh Labour was the only party committed to tackle inequality and poverty. Really? Bet he had his fingers crossed when he said that given that Plaid Cymru is committed to exactly the same thing.

Both men have projected themselves as "the alternative" but both men are part of the establishment.

Both men are suitable leaders for Welsh Labour.

Neither are suitable leaders for Wales.

Until the next time

No Ms Morgan There Is No North/South Divide In Wales....Welsh Labour Has Failed EVERYWHERE

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The thing about leadership competitions for political parties where that party is also running the country is that candidates to be noticed don't really say "Let's keep things as they are. We're doing such good a job" but instead advocate even to the slightest level change.

So the contest to succeed Carwyn Jones as leader of Welsh Labour and therefore the next First Minister of Wales is no different in this regard. Already we have the current favourite and Corbyn disciple Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford strongly suggest that Wales will become a lapdog of a London Labour government (as opposed to the Jones administration that basically worshipped on the altar of Blair).

Now another candidate Eluned Morgan has stated that should she win the contest that she'd create a minister for North Wales. Stating that there had been "a failure to connect" with parts of the North compared to other regions.

Let us for this post ignore the question of how administratively speaking she would be capable of doing this. After all surely that would involve stepping on the toes of other minister's responsibilities? Or is she actually proposing a devolution from a devolved assembly? It does for the moment seem like an idea that sounds good but is not thought through.

What it does reveal is that Carwyn Jones' "steady as she goes" policy of running Wales has been a failure and is now revealing itself to the nation as such. I've said before but I feel it's worth repeating that the First Minister's one real skill was as a politician and that left him after the death of Carl Sargeant.

What Ms Morgan is essentially saying is that Welsh Labour does not have a coordinated plan for North Wales. I'd argue that Welsh Labour does not have a coordinated plan for Wales as a whole.

I have never been to North Wales. But I live in South Wales and have regularly visited the West of the country. And what I can tell you is that areas of affluence are surpassed by areas of poverty or by areas that can be described as JAM (Just About Managing). Port Talbot, Bridgend, Ebbw Vale, The South Wales Valleys will all fall into these categories.

So indeed (taken as a whole) would Cardiff. Yes Cardiff. Relatively recently in this blog I've chatted about the decline of the city centre

These JAM areas would be venerable to an economic downturn. Like say a long dark hard Brexit of the soul. The sort of scenario that Welsh Labour has not planned for.

So you see Ms Morgan's idea fails because everywhere in Wales needs attention. Welsh Labour has failed everybody everywhere because of their arrogant incompetence. What Wales needs is a proper government for all of the people all of the time.

And currently it hasn't got it.

Until the next time.

Is Welsh Labour Leadership Contender A "Red Cairns"? And The Surrender Of The Welsh Green Party

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

If the predictions are correct Mark Drakeford will eventually emerge as the new Labour leader and consequently First Minister in the autumn. I've been avoiding chatting about the various leadership competitions (other than Plaid Cymru's) which will be held in Wales in the next few months. But Mr Drakeford's election Twitter account made me sit up and take notice.

Against a smiling picture of him and Jeremy Corbyn casually dressed as if off to the pub the account makes clear that the leadership favourite has always been a Corbynite and then says.

"Mark sees the role of leader of Welsh Labour as a "bridge" between the party across the UK"

Now when I saw this tweet my first reaction was to say that taken by itself it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And that is still my view. But some Twitter reaction was completely different. What they saw was that essentially what he was saying was that he was London's man. Red London's man. In the case of Mr Corbyn let's be specific. Red North London's Man.

He has already made it clear that he will battle to keep the United Kingdom as it is today. It does have to be asked whether he will show "clear red water" between Wales and a Corbyn government or whether he will threaten Welsh devolution simply by making the National Assembly become a shell whilst he does Westminster's bidding. Remember when we chatted about the issue of water Corbyn and his allies are not beyond being colonial when it comes to Wales.

Is he in other words a Red Alun Cairns? A Pro Consul for Westminster? If he becomes First Minister then his actions will need to be monitored to make sure he isn't. Not since Alun Michael has the Welsh Labour Party's independence in the Assembly been questioned.

And speaking of political independence let's chat about the Welsh Green party. Actually they're not the Welsh Green party, they're the Green Party of England and Wales. And it's Welsh members have voted to remain so.

What does this mean ? Well if it wasn't for the fact that a large proportion of their members are probably vegetarians I'd have said that it was a case of Turkeys voting for Christmas. What it does mean though is that where there is an issue where Wales and England clash then the Green position is not clear. It's not impossible that they might side with England. What then for it's Welsh Green Party supporters.

What's clear is that the Greens have absolved all responsibility of being a party for Wales. That, as it always seems to do really, leaves Plaid Cymru as the only party speaking for Wales and the people living here.

And the sooner their leadership contest is resolved the better.

Until the next time.