Is she still in a job?
Has Cathy Owens turned up at her job in the Welsh Assembly Government today? If so - how come?
How can a 'special adviser' paid from the public purse still be in post after saying that Ministers would not countenance 'Quebec-style' language laws in Wales, even though the Assembly Government understood the Welsh Language Board was going through its 'death throes'. She went on to say,
"It's for elected politicians to agree the way forward for public policy in Wales. We are talking about a situation where English speakers have rights too. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas but no one voted for the Language Board either."
Other people, who don't have the patronage of the party of power, have been sacked for less. If she is a political appointment to be the Brit Nat Labour Party's spin-doctor then she should be sacked for being so crap - doesn't she realise that she's not allowed to make the news?
But more importantly, what is her problem with the Welsh language. We're not the sort to go kicking up a fuss every time some minor English celeb makes a comment about the Welsh and there are differences between the dynamic of the campaign for racial equality and parity of esteem for Welsh. But really, her comment about the Welsh Language Board is just redneck stuff. Would someone still be in a job after making such un-called for remarks about the Commission for Racial Equality or and English-language organisation?
What's this 'turkeys don't vote for Christmas'? Oh, yes, we see - if the 'English-speaking 80%' don't want their English-speaking communities in Wales to become Welsh-speaking communities, then that's OK - it's 'inclusive' and all the other Brit Nat-Labour speak.
If Welsh-speakers, either the so-called 20% or those in stronger Welsh-speaking communities, don't want to see their communities become English-speaking communities for the first time in those communities history, then they're 'racists', xenophobic, extreme etc.
What's Cathy Owen's problem - no what's the British Nationalist Welsh Labour Party's problem with the Welsh language? Is the party just institutionally anti-Welsh language? We know the Welsh Labour Party is the party of British nationalists and obviously, English language nationalists.
How can decent Welsh-speakers and supporters stay in a party which from top to bottom has just contempt for the language? Does Rhodri windbag Morgan have so little moral authority (or, most likely, doesn't give a toss) that he won't stand up the constant bitchy comments about Welsh?
Even the Tories are now much more supportive of the Welsh language, and have broadly supported the Welsh language Society's call for a New Welsh Language Act, so what's wrong with Labour?
Ah, well! There is one silver lining to the whole shabby affair. As Owens was apparently educated (is that the right word?) at a Welsh-medium school, then maybe the British nationalists in her party and Education Minister, Jane Davidson in particular, will find it OK now to support the sector. You can have a dodgy attitude towards Welsh and be a Labour hack even if you've been to these 'crachach' schools see boys!
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4 comments:
Are you wilfully missing this spokesperson's real meaning or have you simply not stopped to think about it?
It is glaringly obvious to me that the "turkeys" are members of the Welsh Language Board who, understandably, are reluctant to vote themselves out of existence.
At the same time, they have no democratic mandate, being an appointed quango.
The point is thus perfectly clear; elected politicians properly and democratically decide on courses of actions. The WLB can disagree with those decisions, but it cannot change them.
Simple - when you lift the anti-Welsh paranoia.
And who exactly voted for Cathy Owens? She has obviously broken the code of conduct for special advisers, and she should go.
You're dodging my point - these comments were not about English speakers having a veto on Welsh language policies, as you suggested, They are about who out of the WLB and the WAG takes the decisions.
This spokesperson suggested it is the latter. Do you agree now that a) this is the case and b) that is how the comments are intended?
You're dodging my point - these comments were not about English speakers having a veto on Welsh language policies, as you suggested, They are about who out of the WLB and the WAG takes the decisions.
When I first read these comments, I thought she was refering to the Welsh langauge board, but when you put them with her other comments like: "English speakers have rights too" than I'd say she was talking about English speakers having a veto on Welsh language policies (as you rightly phrase it)
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