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Just1nD

Listed below are comments made by Just1nD between Wednesday, 1st April 2009 and Wednesday, 26th August 2009.

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Lights and bushels 9:59pm on 26 Aug 2009 179 Jack W - What I am whittering on about is the article which you draw our attention to, which claims that the South East is less Welsh than other parts of Wales. The quote at the end, bearing in mind the premise of the story, makes a total nonsense of the conclusions.

181 Mappex. Colonisation, in the eyes of international law, is not neccessarily one nation state colonising another. Some of the most pernicious cases involve the weakening and irradication of one culture or language grooup by another within the same state.

The moving of large numbers of non-Welsh speakers to predominantly Welsh speaking areas, and *their refusal to learn the language in order to contribute to the ongoing culture of the area* is a definite act of colonisation in international law. The reported 49% of the population of Conwy who were born ourtside Wales, and their effect on any vote re devolution / home rule / independence etc is rather more woolly, and open to argument far more knowledgable of the subtlties of law than mine.
Lights and bushels 10:30pm on 25 Aug 2009 I am loathe to contribute to the debate, having started off with 'Outraged of Lower Cwm Scwt' complaining that a government minister has had the temerity to learn the language of a proportion of her constituents, and then degenrated into a "Wales is a Nation" "Wales is not a Nation" shouting Match.

But the article mentioned by Jack Wilkinson cannot go un-challenged. For a start, I wonder how London would come out in a survey of English Surnames. Or Paris, Berlin, Madrid in a survey of their respective 'national' surnames. Its a function of University City / Capital City / Historical centre of immigrnat workers... Hardly an indication of 'hpw x-ish' a palce is.

But more to the point, Armand Watts makes a nonsense of the whole story. For a start, many of the non-Welsh names are of recently arrived commuters (I take it that you consider colonisation to be a valid imperial practice, Jack?), but more significantly, as he explains, he has no Welsh surnam, he has no Welsh first name, but he is Welsh through and through.
Sprinting to the end 08:06am on 19 Apr 2009 Mappex. This discussion would be more fruitful if you answered the point that I made, rather than one you just made up...
Sprinting to the end 08:43am on 18 Apr 2009 173. I'm going to appear a little thick now. What did that last post mean...?
Sprinting to the end 07:57am on 18 Apr 2009 Is it true Wales opinion then that the current problems have stemmed from the government of the last 10 years? Because that is what you appear to be saying.

You say "You bet, a "New Deal" that will treat every person in Wales as a valued member of society, not excluded through the autocratic politics of Cardiff Bay," yet your "new deal" appears to be the old one (that didn't work either) rather than any new thinking.

Lets try something else, is it?
Sprinting to the end 11:03pm on 17 Apr 2009 I appreciate the facts of the Latvia story, Mappex, but my complaint remains. Latvia is a small nation that was horribly misruled by Communist Russia and / or Nazi Germany for the majority of the 20th century, and has been basically left behind by modern developments. It has rebulit in the last 20 years, and become a full member of the European Union, modernising and developing more in 20 years than in the previous 100. A huge global recession has caused it to ask for additional help of £3bn. True Wales claims that this is purely due to its size, ignoring all other context to bend the facts to its own agenda.

Further, whilst explaining that the need for a £3bn loan shows that Latvia is unsuited to survival, it fails to point out that Wales accepts £9bn every year, and still cannot keep up with Latvia.

Question: Are we Welsh too incompetent to survive? Or is there a structural problem that needs addressing?
Sprinting to the end 2:52pm on 17 Apr 2009 Thank you Mappex (161). A logical explanation of the position of True Wales. I fully support your right to voice a contrary opinion to mine, and the right of the people of Wales to make a decision based on facts on the future of Wales within or without the UK, by means of devolution or recentralisation.
My problem with the True Wales ebsite (and thus their campaign) is that they appear to be opposing a yes vote in the referendum on the grounds that a) it will lead to indpependence and b) it will lead to 'power for the Nationalists', neither of which viewpoints stand up to scrutiny. They have plenty of questions ( a good thing), but seem to have no real answer as to what the advantages of the current system appear to be. In other words the TW website appears to be an 'attack blog' rather than a serious attempt at dealing with the situation.
Oh, yes, and they have the breathtaking arrogance to proclaim that Latvia is a country too small to survive the recession (a recession brought about by countries big enough both to survive and to not give a toss about those that might not...)
Sprinting to the end 12:54pm on 17 Apr 2009 Things become clearer to me...

As far as I was aware, the AWC was set up to assess opinions regarding the possibility of a referendum being held according to the terms of the GOWA. This is why they do not discuss (or allow the discussion) of ending the assembly / preserving it with its present level of powers. That is not within their remit.

The current situation, thanks to the GOWA, is that the Assembly can request additional powers in prescribed areas. Following a yes vote in a referendum, those powers would be transferred en masse. There is no other option available currently, thus to discuss it in AWC meetings would be pointless, and a waste of taxpayers money.

I would imagine that True Wales understand this point, though you wouldn't believe it to read their website. I would also imagine that certain contributors to this blog also understand that point, and choose to ignore in in accusing the AWC o stifling democracy.

Unfortunately, it would seem that 'True' Wales and its followers believe that the onnly way to win a referendum debate is by peddling misinformation and preventing education.

Hardly sounds democratic to me...
Seconds out ... 10:56pm on 01 Apr 2009 Stonemason 38

"The granting of additional powers will place in the hands of politicians, who are intent on separation, the tools to achieve their ends. There is no in-between."

An awful lot of Britain's top political minds are too stupid to see what is so obvious to you...

It seems a pity that a split from England would become unavoidable just because we are attempting to achieve equality and social justice here.
Seconds out ... 12:55pm on 01 Apr 2009 "No one is saying ...(that) the language itself, should not be given 'equality'."

Have you read some of the posts on the subject?

More to the point, Stonemason specifically says that the subjects in which Plaid Cymru are interested, from which I can only assume he means the languaeg and housing LCOs, are about to rip the UK apart.

Again I ask, if equality for the Welsh language (which you yourself purport to br infavour of now), and an attempt to allow people to live on their own communities despite external pressures, is going to rip the UK apart, what does that say about the UK?

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