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Gwyrangon

Listed below are comments made by Gwyrangon between Wednesday, 10th June 2009 and Tuesday, 20th October 2009.

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No problem! 7:11pm on 20 Oct 2009 #11

The only way I can interpret your answer is that you deny the existence of Welsh identity. Is that correct?
No problem! 5:34pm on 20 Oct 2009 TheStoneMason #9: What we probably both believe is that a country, any country, has a responsibility towards its own people before it starts to to think about wider, external commitments.

Where we differ is that for you the country we live in and belong to is Britain whereas for me it's Wales. Your identity is British, mine is Welsh. This then leads you to assert that nothing must be done to defend the interests of those regarding themselves as Welsh if doing so disadvantages other British people. Whereas I of course argue that, within Wales, Welsh interests should be paramount.

These conflicting identifications and loyalties cannot be reconciled within the existing socio-ethnic and political paradigms. Seeing as Welsh interests will not be defended within the British State the only answer is to either destroy Welsh identity entirely or to have an independent Wales.
No problem! 4:13pm on 20 Oct 2009 What is the justification for funding from Welsh sources and otherwise assisting projects and schemes in Wales that offer no benefits to local people? Other than helping genuine political refugees I can think of no instance in which such help can be justified.
If anyone can satisfactorily answer the question then I promise to vote for the Conservative and Unionist Party at the next election.
No problem! 9:47pm on 19 Oct 2009
The link http://www.welshtimes.eu/politics.html has something to say about Ms. Gillan and offers stimulating interpretations of Conservative thinking vis-a-vis Wales.
It's goodbye from him 3:47pm on 01 Oct 2009 There's a paradox here (or maybe just confusion) with people who oppose the Assembly having more powers, or being in existence at all, criticising the Assembly for not doing enough, for just 'tinkering'. You can't have it both ways.
En garde! 08:52am on 23 Sep 2009 The one problem with the Hart-Davies dream ticket is - as the Wasting Mule will point out - they're both from Swansea. (Of course it wouldn't matter if they both came from Cardiff.) The fear will be that this could signal the beginning of a new era, in which the Assembly starts serving all Wales. The power-brokers in Cardiff - most of whom were opposed to devolution - can't have that.
More please? 10:45pm on 18 Jul 2009 These 'I hate eveything Welsh' loonies are so entertaining, but I feel almost guilty laughing at them.

Take poor old mapexx - post 8 - who asks why Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should be treated any different to other "regions of the UK". Obviously no one will convince him that Wales is different but has he been asleep for the past 40 years - doesn't he realise that there's been a war in Northern Ireland waged by those who do not wish to live in a "region of the UK"? Mightn't that make it just a teeny-weeny bit different to the West Midlands?

Others of his ilk argue that Wales should receive no special treatment. Don't they realise that if Wales were to suffer the kind of poverty that would result from such an approach Wales would soon cease to be a "region of the UK"? For what the English government does in Wales is to cleverly guarantee just enough public spending to keep the natives from coming to their senses by making them believe it's their own fault they're poor.

As for Scotland, it too has been exploited. Had the oil revenues gone to Scotland instead of being wasted on imperialist adventures and grandiose projects by London governments Scotland could today be on a par with Norway. As more and more Scots realise this, with a successful nationalist administration in Edinburgh, and an independence referendum in the next year or two, how much longer will Scotland remain a "region of the UK"?

Finally, if we are all equal partners in Great Britain plc why can't the wealth be shared out equally as it would in any other business? (And most other advanced countries.) Why is it that the wealth in this State has, for centuries, gravitated to, and remained in, the south-east of England? What great natural resources are there in Surrey? What great tradition of manufacturing can we find in Buckinghamshire?
Lions ratings 6:02pm on 21 Jun 2009 Will Schalk Burger play in the Second Test? I ask because I think the guy is phenomenal, a force of nature. There are few forwards around who can win games in the way great backs can, but Burger is one of them.
If he plays what will be the Lions' reaction? It's almost impossible to outmuscle him yet he's fast as well. One answer must be to get the ball away quick, which brings us to the problem of Phillips. Probably the best 9 we've got, but oh so slow.
Then again, Burger not might be match fit, or fit at all. Fingers crossed!
Labour: The Remake 5:08pm on 10 Jun 2009 masterbluebird believes "South and South East Wales, ie the regions that pay for everwhere else".

The bulk of south and south-east Wales is made up of the Valleys, one of the poorest areas of western Europe into which pours hundreds of millions of pounds annually. Then there's Cardiff, sucking in public money on grandiose schemes that invariably prove unviable.

Wales has no financial sector and little indigenous commerce or native industry. So do tell, masterbluebird, which parts of south and south-east Wales are wealth generating, by what means is that wealth generated, and how is it distributed to the starving masses in other parts of the country?
Labour: The Remake 4:17pm on 10 Jun 2009 Labour obviously has problems, and they may, eventually, be worse in Wales than in England simply because of the "clear red water" Rhodri Morgan is so fond of reminding us exists between 'Welsh' Labour and New Labour.

I grew up in a working class area of Swansea where all the men worked at manual jobs; they worked in steel, aluminium or tinplate mills (in my father's case, titanium), or they were dockers, lorry drivers, etc. They were working class and proud of it. They worked hard, made sure their kids behaved themselves and went to school. On a Saturday they went to watch football or rugby, and they had a few pints. But they never got into trouble and, like swans, they mated for life. They all paid their union dues.

There is still a rump of that respectable working class, but only a rump. Many of the children and grandchildren of those men have sunk into what might be termed a white underclass, while others, more aspirational, no longer regard themselves as working class and would struggle to comprehend the class system their fathers or grandfathers believed in. A system that dictated where they lived, where they went on holidays, what clothes they wore, and how they voted.

The demise of that respectable working class is one of the biggest problems facing Labour in Wales. Another is that when I was growing up it was Labour, Tory or Liberal, few members of the south Wales working class had even heard of Plaid Cymru.

Labour has to drag itself into the 21st century. Thus far it has failed dismally, and this explains its mounting problems. Labour in Wales needs a new message to bring in activists and to secure fresh sources of funding. It doesn't have long because its traditional supporters are being claimed daily by the Grim Reaper, and they're not being replaced.

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