Tuesday, December 23, 2008
What is Plaid Cymru for?
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The disappointment of Alwyn.
I read his words of disappointment, dreams shattered on a shallow philosophy of "Separatism" that has become undeliverable, much like the oversized "Christmas card" that has to be compromised by folding to pass through a letterbox.
The defence of local communities relates to services provided by the local authorities, Alwyn is obviously unimpressed with the Plaid Cymru dominated local authorities who have been thrown in the deep end of political pragmatism, you cannot spend what you do not have, the tax payers of Great Britain do not have bottomless pockets. The political economic model presented by Plaid Cymru is little more than smoke and mirrors, link to Decentralised Socialism, the only work that describes the model I have been able to find, it is only an unsupported reference in Plaid Cymru documents.
Not being able to deliver on the Welsh language is tricky, the aspirations of the membership of Plaid Cymru is the replacement of English by Welsh as the dominant language. There is talk of Bilingualism amongst the party apparatus, but historically the principal aim of the founders of Welsh Nationalism, and latterly Plaid Cymru, would be to foster a Welsh speaking Wales, the words of both Lewis and Jones. Unfortunately for Alwyn the vast majority of Welsh people have a preferential attachment to English, a second disappointment to begin the New Year with.
Finally Plaid Cymru are loosing the battle for a referendum to increase the powers of the Welsh Assembly Government. As I wrote yesterday, the pragmatic approach by Dafydd Elis- Thomas, Plaid Cymru WAG Presiding Officer, to the impossible task of assuring success is to tell the membership to wait a little longer, success cannot be jeopardised, there are limited opportunities to repair a successful "No" campaign which seems the increasingly likely outcome should the electorate voice its preference in the near future. I think this might be the tipping point for many of the Plaid Cymru faithful, but here is a message from a Unionist .....
..... democracy is not just about being a winner or looser at the ballot box, it is about people, all the people.
I read his words of disappointment, dreams shattered on a shallow philosophy of "Separatism" that has become undeliverable, much like the oversized "Christmas card" that has to be compromised by folding to pass through a letterbox.
The defence of local communities relates to services provided by the local authorities, Alwyn is obviously unimpressed with the Plaid Cymru dominated local authorities who have been thrown in the deep end of political pragmatism, you cannot spend what you do not have, the tax payers of Great Britain do not have bottomless pockets. The political economic model presented by Plaid Cymru is little more than smoke and mirrors, link to Decentralised Socialism, the only work that describes the model I have been able to find, it is only an unsupported reference in Plaid Cymru documents.
Not being able to deliver on the Welsh language is tricky, the aspirations of the membership of Plaid Cymru is the replacement of English by Welsh as the dominant language. There is talk of Bilingualism amongst the party apparatus, but historically the principal aim of the founders of Welsh Nationalism, and latterly Plaid Cymru, would be to foster a Welsh speaking Wales, the words of both Lewis and Jones. Unfortunately for Alwyn the vast majority of Welsh people have a preferential attachment to English, a second disappointment to begin the New Year with.
Finally Plaid Cymru are loosing the battle for a referendum to increase the powers of the Welsh Assembly Government. As I wrote yesterday, the pragmatic approach by Dafydd Elis- Thomas, Plaid Cymru WAG Presiding Officer, to the impossible task of assuring success is to tell the membership to wait a little longer, success cannot be jeopardised, there are limited opportunities to repair a successful "No" campaign which seems the increasingly likely outcome should the electorate voice its preference in the near future. I think this might be the tipping point for many of the Plaid Cymru faithful, but here is a message from a Unionist .....
..... democracy is not just about being a winner or looser at the ballot box, it is about people, all the people.
As always, Stonemason believes that one can only be a monoglot and that there won;t be any rights for Welsh because most people prefer English.
You must be one of the few people who believes that a monolingual monocultural state is either desirable or culturally vibrant.
The minority who speak Welsh want equality.
You prefer not to give them that equality.
Yet you parade yourself as a sensible tolerant person and claim theiy are the extremists.
Go figure.
The rest of Europe deals with multifarious languages and cultures, and is adapting to bi- and plurinligualism. But Stonemason is against Welsh medium education and attacks Welsh speakers for little more than being a minority.
Indeed, the Welsh-bashers are the only ones for whom minority is actually a dirty word!
As for Saunders Lewis, he wanted a Welsh-speaking Wales. Plaid wants a bilingual Wales, but above all Plaid wants rights for those who speak Welsh and choose to go on doing so. Also for English speakers like me who want the right to send their kids to Welsh-medium school.
I have a pretty clear sense , from growing up in the sort of Wales Stonemason and the anti-Welsh lobby foisted on us (Welsh and English speakers) back in the 70s and 80s and early 90s, of who the intoerant and bigoted ones are - and it's not Plaid!
You must be one of the few people who believes that a monolingual monocultural state is either desirable or culturally vibrant.
The minority who speak Welsh want equality.
You prefer not to give them that equality.
Yet you parade yourself as a sensible tolerant person and claim theiy are the extremists.
Go figure.
The rest of Europe deals with multifarious languages and cultures, and is adapting to bi- and plurinligualism. But Stonemason is against Welsh medium education and attacks Welsh speakers for little more than being a minority.
Indeed, the Welsh-bashers are the only ones for whom minority is actually a dirty word!
As for Saunders Lewis, he wanted a Welsh-speaking Wales. Plaid wants a bilingual Wales, but above all Plaid wants rights for those who speak Welsh and choose to go on doing so. Also for English speakers like me who want the right to send their kids to Welsh-medium school.
I have a pretty clear sense , from growing up in the sort of Wales Stonemason and the anti-Welsh lobby foisted on us (Welsh and English speakers) back in the 70s and 80s and early 90s, of who the intoerant and bigoted ones are - and it's not Plaid!
# posted by 
: 6:43 PM
: 6:43 PM
well ex-labour boyo, I'm not sure where I wrote that .... your "monolingual mono cultural state is either desirable or culturally vibrant."
but I did say the majority of people have a preferential attachment to English, I have described this as indifference in the past.
Your .....
"You must be one of the few people who believes that a monolingual monocultural state is either desirable or culturally vibrant."
An interesting accusation, I presume its an accusation, it's as if you consider my position as barbarian, no matter, no offence taken.
I do not recognise your Wales, I have wonderful memories of the 50's and 60's then travelled the world until several years ago, I returned to a very green valley full of optimistic people. I find Plaid Cymru very backward looking, possibly this is why we quarrel, I am looking forward to the next election or referendum, which ever comes first.
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but I did say the majority of people have a preferential attachment to English, I have described this as indifference in the past.
Your .....
"You must be one of the few people who believes that a monolingual monocultural state is either desirable or culturally vibrant."
An interesting accusation, I presume its an accusation, it's as if you consider my position as barbarian, no matter, no offence taken.
I do not recognise your Wales, I have wonderful memories of the 50's and 60's then travelled the world until several years ago, I returned to a very green valley full of optimistic people. I find Plaid Cymru very backward looking, possibly this is why we quarrel, I am looking forward to the next election or referendum, which ever comes first.
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