Tories, Plaid and Martin 'wanabee' Eagleston

So, let me get this right. Dr Ian 'Ulster says No' Paisley and Gerry ‘gun-runner’ Adams make peace in Northern Ireland and will form a government. Decades of political tribalism, ground standing and jingoism make way for the forces of common sense and good governance. Everyone's happy. Peter Hain, Tony Blair and the entire Labour establishment, even Rhodri 'just for laughs' Morgan, thinks it's a Good Idea.

Over the water in not so glamorous Wales, Adam Price says Plaid Cymru will work with anyone to form a government except the BNP and won't serve under the Tories.

Cue, Labour’s cleless wanabee-politician Martin Eagleston trotting up outside Plaid Conference in Caernarfon asking Pricey to sign his petition to say they won't work with the Tories.

This coming from a member of the British Nationalist Labour Party in Wales who supports the war in Iraq, Trident missiles, PFI, privatisation - in fact the whole agenda which any self-respecting Tory would have supported during the last 20 years - what the hell is going on?

I'm no Tory and won't vote for them but does Labour have to create this almost racist image of the Tories? Tory policies are OK but because of class jingoism or Labour nationalism, then what, they're beyond the Pale? Paisley and Adams form a government but Bourne and Wigley is a political impossibility? Mad!

Way I see it, we can either have a Government (Labour) which implements some Tory policies but gives us this 'Aneurin Bevan was my dad' rubbish, or we may, possibly, have a Plaid government with a out of the closest, honest for the voters to see Tory party as a junior member in government. I mean, if the Labour Party really doesn’t want any Tory policies to be implemented in Wales, then their only option would be to go into coalition with a more left wing party - and that party is Plaid.

Labour have to give us this faux tantrum and anti-Tory racism because they've only got this medieval hate history left. Only 38% of the voters voted for Labour last time. Despite their rhetoric, they're the biggest party, but not the majority party in Wales. Labour are scared shitless that Plaid would actually call their bluff and get an understanding with the Tories (and the LibDems) and then what - Labour out of power in Wales for ever! Excellent!

Welsh Assembly Election 2007 - It's time for a change!

I received an email informing me of this YouTube video earlier today! Plaid may not be perfect, but heck... they're still head and shoulders above the British Nationalist parties!

www.plaidcymru.org

Ireland beat Pakistan at Cricket! Where's Wales?

Amongst all the celebrations after we beat England at rugby, it seems to have passed people's notice that Ireland beat Pakistan... at cricket!

Who the hell plays cricket in Ireland? In any case, it just begs the question - where's the Welsh team? Of course, we know the answer, deep in the bowels (or up the arse) of the Englanddontmentionthewalesbit 'national' cricket team.

What is this sad psychology that it's better to be ignored as part of an England team than to have a Welsh team? Heavens, aren't there some blazer wearers who'd like a trip to the West Indies as a committee member of a Welsh national cricket team? Heavens again, we even beat England at cricket a few years ago!

Who are these people? That Mrs Davies, Burry Port, syndrome sure does run deep. As I've said before, a lot of bravado (and musical hall Welshness) when it comes to the Welsh rugby team, but for many of the Brit Nat persuasion, that's as good as it gets. We are a beaten, peasant people pretending this inferiority complex is internationalist brotherhood.

Rhodri Morgan's Letter in the Western Mail

This letter in Friday 9 March's Western Mail is a peach. I did a double take to make sure it wasn't taking the mickey. But no, it's a genuine letter, with Rhodri Morgan, Peter Hain or Kinnock (or some other Welsh Brit Nat MP/AM) writing under the pen name of Miss D. Davies.

Read it and laugh. Forget all the sophisticated arguments about Wales needing to be a part of Britain because of British inclusivity or multi-culturalism, or Britain a force for good. The reason why Welsh Labour's Brit Nats don't want Wales to be independent are written in plain English in this letter.

The Labour members - every jack one of them, really do think like this. This is the true Labour manifesto for 2007 - "without England we'd be a poor country like Albania, still with horses and carts... a country that really cares for us". Bloody hell how deep has colonialism seeped into the Labour movement.

Yes that's it. Fantastic isn't it? This is what Morgan and every Labour candidate in 2007 actually think of Wales... and what's the bet that Albanian GNP will overtake us in 15 years time?! The message - 'vote Labour, cos Wales is crap and we're stupid!'

Political choices

SIR - Rhodri Morgan has missed the point with his "straight choice" between Labour and Conservative campaign. In most areas the straight choice is between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

I am Labour but if I went around pretending the Conservatives could get in here I'd be laughed at! I could say the nationalists are "in bed" with the Tories but I wouldn't be believed either. They are active here, people know them.

Come on Rhodri! Fight the proper fight. Tell us that without England we would be a poor country like Albania, still with horses and carts. We've done well being looked after by Britain. We're too small. We are part of a fantastic big country that really cares about us.

Plaid are the real threat. Peidiwch Pleidleisio Plaid!

MISS D DAVIES
Elkington Road, Burry Port, Carmarthenshire

Rhodri Morgan, Neil Kinnock, Peter Hain, Huw Lewis, Glenys Kinnock - your boys took one hell of a beating!

Yes, we lost to Italy. And you know what, I'm quite glad. If there's one thing worse than Wales losing at rugby it's the Welsh Brit Nat Labour smugocracy giving us their god-awful musical hall Welshness as they bask in the success of the national team.

All this crap about rugby being a badge of Welsh identity and mirroring Welsh success. Bollocks! We had an excellent rugby team in the 1970s and the idiots voted No and then complained when we had 18 years of Tory rule.

We had a crap team in the 1997 and we won the Referendum. A bad rugby team is good for Wales as it means we're not going to be patronised by conversation making efforts related to this game.

All that bollocks by Morgan in that infamous article in the Guardian about the success of the national team a reflection of a confident Wales - oh for heavens sake - grow up man. All this bollocks about the national team being a great way to promote Wales and Welsh products etc. If so, why won't Morgan, Kinnock and the rest of the Welsh Labour establishment campaign for a Welsh team at the Olympics, or a Welsh cricket team at this year's World Cup?

Of course, we know the answer - it's because they're Brit Nats and Welshness starts and ends with rugby. For the Brit Nats of the Labour party, rugby isn't a badge of proud Welsh identity its just a sop. Welsh national presence starts and finishes with the Welsh rugby team.

When Welsh people want similar status for Wales in other spheres - politics, arts etc, then you'll soon see how shallow 'the proud Welsh passion' of the rugby field is. British nationalism will always win for the Brit Nats in Welsh Labour.

Forza Italia!

Welsh, multi-ethnic and proud! Sod you Trevor Phillips and Brit Nat Labour Establishment!

What an excellent day! The fourth annual St David's Day parade through Cardiff was excellent. The organisers must be congratulated.

It was fabulous to see so many people enjoying their Welshness and yes, even some colour and pageant! I'm fed-up of the miserable utilitarian trait in Welsh nationalism that believes everything is down to policies and politics. Lets celebrate our Welshness. Some may laugh at the 'Welsh kilt' but so what, why not invent a new tradition and why not follow Scottish fashion instead of American street ones?

One of the great thing was to see so many non-white faces - just proves that Welsh identity can encompass all people even on this most Welsh of days. And it wasn't just the faces; the different religions were also invited too.

Just goes to show that Trevor Phillips and the British Nationalist Labour establishment are institutionally anti-Welsh when they say that only Britishness can accommodate people from different backgrounds - it's time they got to grips with their own prejudices.

Oh, and another interesting point. All three opposition parties, Plaid Cymru, LibDems and Tories were present at the march (as they have been for the past four years). The only party noted for its absence... the Brit Nat Labour Party - I mean, how anti-Welsh does a party have to be not to turn up for a St David's Day parade? That's what British nationalism does to you!

Neighbours from Hell?

Neighbours from Hell? - Yes, it's a provocative title for a book written by Mike Parker, an Englishman who wrote the Rough Guide to Wales.

Mike's interest began in Wales from an early age as he lived in the English West Midlands, not far from the Welsh border. He was asked to write a Rough Guide book in the early 1990s that was meant to be for that mythical country so beloved by Welsh Labour politicians, Englandandwales. Parker made a stand and told the Rough Guide people to drop the Serbia & Montenegro, sorry, Englandandwales, idea and give him the chance to write about a proper country - Wales.

Since then he's learnt Welsh and lives in the Machynlleth area. One of his most interesting contributions was an article in Planet magazine in 2001 about the ambivalent, if not racist, attitude of some English people who'd moved into Wales towards the Welsh and the Welsh language. The type of white-flight people (left and right wing) who left the English cities to live their 'good life' in the (white) Welsh countryside... only to learn that people here also spoke another language, albeit not Punjabi but Welsh!

Parker came interested in the narrative of English attitudes towards the Welsh and learnt that the same 'jokes' about the language and society are regurgitated every generation. He's been attacked by some of his fellow English for the book and his other articles, despite the fact that he's proud to be English and supports an English parliament.

A good interesting read. Of course, it takes an Englishman to write this kind of stuff. To paraphrase the old Welsh saying, Gorau Cymro - Sais! (the best Welshman - an Englishman!).

As I said, it's not an anti-English book nor does it say all English people are hostile, but the book does give an insight into a collected memory and narrative which some wish to ignore.

Union on the Rocks!

Very interesting and well-written piece by Tom Nairn in the New Left Review.

Nairn, who is a good friend of Welsh nationalism, became a Scottish nationalist gradually but is now something of a veteran.

In this excellent article he gives a historical context to the formation and success of the Union... and now for its disbandment.