Plaid MEP Jill Evans, who has campaigned for many years for official status for the Welsh language at European Union level, has welcomed today’s first speech in Welsh at the EU Council of Ministers.
Welsh Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones will speak Welsh at a ministerial meeting of the EU’s Culture Council in Brussels on [...]...
Plaid Cymru Assembly Members Leanne Wood and Chris Franks have hit out at job cuts and the closure of the Cynon Valley’s Leader office in Aberdare by Media Wales.
Valleys based AM Leanne Wood said:
“My thoughts are with the workers who have lost their jobs; I sincerely hope that they can find alternative work soon. I [...]...
All about protecting the kiddies of course:Politicians are ready to introduce league tables naming and shaming the speed with which internet service providers take down offensive material.The culture minister, Barbara Follett, and her Tory shadow, Ed Vaizey, have backed the idea that web providers must be embarrassed into dealing with violent, sexually explicit web content.Follett said she wants to see the pre-screening of material on sites such as YouTube, as occurs at present on MySpace. She admitted there was growing chaos out there on the internet, and order needed to be brought.We need order. Oh really do we? Do we really, what ever happened to parental control, actually watching what the young un's see on the internet. She has also admitted barriers aimed at preventing children...
Exhaustion is the predominant feeling. There is the physical exhaustion of not really having slept for two days. I was up well into Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and then up at 6 a.m. on Wednesday to take part in its "American Breakfast" -- an hour and a half of drinking tea with a fellow American and a Welsh historian, occasionally breaking to tell Garry Owen that this is pretty awesome.But there is also the emotional exhaustion of having had my head swimming in this and fretting in this for too long. And the emotional exhaustion of knowing that this is actually the easy part. The United States needs root change; Obama and the Democrats will have limited time to enact that change and will need to work outside party lines to achieve it.I pointed out on radio today that the last time the...
As I write this, polling stations in the United States' east coast are opening and millions of people are queuing to take part in what feels to be the most important election of my lifetime.There is the historical element, of course. If the polls are right, the United States will elect its first black leader and we can say once again that the American dream is fulfilled. Few histories are more tragic and painful than that of blacks in America. As a white middle-class kid from the suburbs I won't be so condescending as to pretend to be able to fully comprehend that history or how it feels to carry it around. I also won't suggest that the election of a skinny mixed-race fella from Illinois ties it all up in a neat bow.I can remember from my own childhood seeing the "whites only" water...
"Black Rain" by Ben Harper I apologise that I have become more and more brazen in breaking my loosely-adhered-to rule of remaining apolitical -- the latest evidence being the Barack Obama badge over there on the right.If you are one of those people who occasionally stumbles upon my posts several months after the fact -- reading this subsequent to the 2008 election -- you'll see that I have since removed the badge, so here it is in the body of the post just for you:There is something about a presidential election that causes my behaviour to become more and more erratic. I fail to heed the advice of Public Enemy and I believe the hype. I start to think that this really may be our last chance (a) and I get sick in worrying that we'll blow it.Since the beginning, the rhetoric of the Obama...
Lefty nice guys the Bevan Massive Crew is havin a Blogging Gig in Cardiff Bay.
It be happenin soon.
DJ Peter Black be there.
Boom boom, shake the room.
He big nice tie man, wear me shades.
Vicky W of the Bevan Massive Crew be there.
Betsan Bloop be there. She be be be by the sea woman.
Tea be there…. “re fresh ments provided”.
You be there......
I was thinking yesterday about how much I wish Michelle Obama would just go off on Sarah Palin. I like to imagine that when she is in interviews she is using every bit of her strength to keep herself from unleashing a verbal firestorm against the folksy cheerleader that calls her husband a terrorist. I'm going to stray into ridiculous stereotype territory here but the three most frightening words in my world are: angry black woman. Verbal devastation is the black woman's superpower. Somewhere deep in Michelle Obama's soul is the ability to unleash a storm of words that would lay cities to waste. In Welsh mythology, the cry of the red dragon is so overwhelming that it forces women to miscarry and causes the crops to fail. That's what I envision a Michelle Obama tirade to be like. I...
You are invited to a Public Meeting to show Hirwaun residents want a say in the future of Hirwaun Village.
The Meeting is at 5pm on Thursday 9th October 2008 at Sobells Sports Centre, Aberdare.
Where R.C.T. Councillors will be deciding on the Gloucesters/Ironworks site planning application which will have a huge effect on the life of [...]...
In
Environment,
Development,
hirwaun,
ironworks,
Hirwaun Ironworks,
Overdevelopment,
Planning Application,
karen morgan,
gloucesters site,
piper homes,
Politics
All U Can Eat - Ben Folds The other day I was talking to Rachel about a girl we both know who is, for all intents and purposes, a self-serving, out of touch, ignorant, morally ambiguous bitch. But see, she's pretty. And I have this terrible habit of wanting to be an apologist for pretty girls' unacceptable behaviour because, you know, they're pretty.So I stumbled upon something that I referred to as pretty girl syndrome, which is the wavering internal compass that guides this particular pretty girl, as well as several others I know. For those pretty girls reading, I'm not saying that every pretty girl is like this, just that it is a behaviour endemic of your kind (a).As a pretty girl said female has spent her life encountering (and gravitating toward) weak-willed souls such as myself who...
A Public Inquiry will be held by the National Assembly’s Planning Inspectorate into a planning application for a series of wind turbines near Hirwaun
The application, submitted by Pennant Walters Ltd. is for the erection of nine wind turbines, an anemometer and associated infrastructure and buildings on land south of the A465 in Hirwaun at Hirwaun [...]...
In
National Assembly,
Events,
rhondda cynon taf,
rhondda cynon taf council,
wind turbines,
public inquiry,
pennant walters,
planning inspectorate,
Environment,
hirwaun,
Politics
Gorgon, go and die:Gordon Brown hailed the internet as a world of "entertainment, opportunity and knowledge" as he launched a new watchdog to protect children online.The Prime Minister said that the UK Council for Child Internet Safety was an "important landmark" in efforts to keep young people safe on the web.The council was set up by the Government in response to recommendations by Dr Tanya Byron, a psychologist, in a report about internet safety published in March.It will monitor the web for offensive content and have the power to order sites that illegally encourage suicide or harmful behaviour to be taken down.And quite how fucking much is this going to cost us? How many more countless non jobs will be taken on by HM Govt to run this shit?I think that the answer is a lot and lots,...
"Pennies From Heaven" - Louis Prima It occurred to me today that I never got around to posting my most recent column, but since it's actually about a fortnight old I won't go to the trouble to record myself reading it. Instead I offer you an appropriately ironic Louis Prima song.That said, the column is still somewhat relevant. It's about the economy and the fact that this sucker's going down, to use a Bushism. You have to hand it to Bushy in that he's not one to mince words. I have a slight suspicion that he's become a better president since everyone stopped listening to him. He's straight-talking and doesn't really give a toss what his party tells him to do. That's the president I wanted in freaking 2000.But I'm still not keen to go with him on the $700 billion deal. Am I the only one...
Gordon Brown's diminishing number of supporters are fond of using the cliché that one should not switch captains mid-journey. I'm not exactly sure why that would be the case, I mean, if the captain is going the wrong way why wait until arriving at a hostile port to point this out? But in this case I think a more apt metaphor is that of removing a pilot from a plane that's going down in flames. I'm not entirely sure what getting rid of Gordon Brown would achieve apart from signalling to British voters that there's nought but stupendous fuckery occurring at Whitehall. Honestly, Labour, how many unelected leaders do you want to cram in before the Conservatives seize on your ineptitude?If our man GB had cajones, he would respond to all this by calling a general election. He could use the...
Apparently using the well-established metaphor (a) of "lipstick on a pig" is a direct attack on Sarah Palin, who we all know is the only woman in America who wears lipstick. So, I've been trying to think of other clichés, metaphors and similes that should be avoided.That dog won't huntFamously one of Bill Clinton's favourites, this is clearly an assault on Sarah Palin, who we all know is an avid hunter. Nevermind that Spally Six Guns compared herself to a pitbull, how dare we cal her a dog! And of course we all know what a female dog is called.A stitch in time saves nineSexist! By referring to an activity that is so often associated with women, Obama would be suggesting that Spally has no place in the upper echelons of American power. Clearly it's a suggestion that Spally's place is in...
John McCain's Mr. Sniffles Strategy appears to be functioning perfectly. About two months ago, The Daily Show's John Oliver suggested that McCain's main campaigning tactic was to garner pity. And I have to say it's working. I genuinely feel bad for the man. The wheels haven't just come off, the engine has caught on fire and the whole thing has been pushed off the side of a mountain. And then attacked by wolves.Spally Six-Guns is pretty much everything that a Democrat could hope for in a Republican vice presidential candidate. Crazy? Check. Questionable? Check. Duplicitous? Check. It's kind of sad. If John McCain had simply run as John McCain he would be a serious threat to Obama. Barack's message of change could be countered by McCain's maverick image. Many of those people who pushed...
A scrap of paper fell from the filing cabinet today echoing some of our reading from years past.
It was a quote by theologian Dorothee Soelle from her book The Silent Cry (Mysticism and Resistance) (2001) :
One of the spiritual difficulties in our situation is the inner connection between globalization and individualization. The more globally the market economy structures itself, the less interest it demonstrates in the social and ecological webs in which humans live, and the more it requires the individual who is without any relation whatsoever.
The partner that our global market economy needs is Homo Oeconomicus. This is an individual fit for business and pleasure, showing no interest in the anti-personnel mines that his car manufacturer produces, no interest in the water that his...
"(Michelle Obama) must prove she loves America, as opposed to Republicans, who everyone knows love America -- they just hate half the people living in it." -- Jon Stewart (The Daily Show: August 26,...
From the hypocrisy and you-couldn’t-make-it-up department: Nike have enlisted the help of the Chinese government to track down a blogger who made anti-Nike comments.
So freedom of speech? Human rights? Naaa, who needs it when companies use Communist-era government controls to stifle people’s thoughts?...
Via Justin Webb, there's a mildly interesting survey on Britons' attitudes toward Americans. The survey was commissioned by what appears to be a nutjob pro-USA website. The question I have is why it matters what Britons think.I mean, sure, on a person-to-person level it matters. I don't really enjoy it when someone looks me in the face and tells me that they hate Americans, but is it really necessary to commission a survey to prove them wrong? And it's not like the average American's perceptions of the rest of the world are any more informed. The other night, the child bride spent several minutes on the phone trying to explain to her father that we in Britain are not watching NBC's coverage of the Olympics.But there you are. The thing I found mildly interesting was the perception that...
Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks welcomed the Hirwaun Mothers’ Union to the National Assembly in Cardiff Bay.
Over 500,000 visitors have visited the National Assembly last year, according to the latest report by National Assembly for Wales Commission.
Chris Franks said: “I was very pleased to welcome Hirwaun Mother’s Union to the Senedd. More and more citizens [...]...
Two more people wanted from Aberdare…
If two more people sign up for the free Hear From Your MP service, Aberdare’s MP will receive an invitation to contact her constituents via the service.
The Hear From Your MP service is free and it enables MPs to communicate with their constituents.
In the words of Tom Steinberg and the MySociety crew : “HearFromYourMP is a site which allows you, the constituent, to sign up to get emails from your local MP about local issues. When your MP writes to you and other constituents, we give you the chance to discuss what has been said in a simple online forum.”
Here’s the link to Aberdare’s MP Ann Clwyd (Labour) on Hear From Your......
a story in this week’s Time magazine is being called the definitive Barack Obama puff piece…According to political analysts, the Time piece features the most lack-of-depth reporting on Obama ever published…”I’m not quite sure how he intends to turn around the economy or get us out of Iraq,” said California resident Geoff Mills, an ardent [...]...
It is with considerable sadness we announce that Huw Lewis AM has joined the Mumbo Jumbo Cult.
On 3rd July 2008, he announced on his blog that he has “joined the revolution”. This is a common phrase chanted by new Cult Members as they ritually affirm that they belong to their new ‘family’.
The Mumbo Jumbo Cult has swept through the Welsh political landscape claiming many other Assembly Member casualties.
Symptoms of Cult Membership include excessive references to brand names and imagery in a not-very-subtle attempt to recruit more people to the Mumbo Jumbo ’cause’.
Huw Lewis History
On July 18th 2007, Huw Lewis was sacked as Deputy Minister for Transport and the Economy. Two months later he published his Winning for Wales pamphlet on the future...
In
Logos,
merthyr tydfil,
facebook,
Corporations,
Huw Lewis,
mumbo jumbo cult,
mummery,
welsh labour party,
Humour,
People,
welsh assembly,
Politics
Some time ago we discussed the importance of co-operation as the basis for a fair society. We used the example of a local village shop because the first Welsh co-operative store was established near Aberdare by working people.
Today we experienced something of an epiphanic moment reading the views of Paul A. Baran in his essay entitled “Better Smaller But Better”. It was published in Monthly Review in July 1950, originally under the pen-name Historicus.
Baran discusses ‘Co-Operation on the Left’ in a post-war American society where capitalism seemed unassailable and omnipotent. He discusses the methods used to preserve and strengthen capitalism in America as it was then, 1950.
Here’s how Baran puts it, any emphasis in the text is ours …
“The...
In
America,
capitalism,
socialism,
Marxism,
paul baran,
1950s,
cooperation,
left politics,
monthly review,
neo-marxism,
Politics
The Gloucesters Site in Hirwaun is once again under threat from developers despite currently being the subject of a village green application
Developers have re-submitted plans to build 130 houses on the site which is much valued and used by the community as an area for recreation and leisure and home to an abundance of wildlife [...]...
Adam Price, Plaid Cymru’s election campaign co-ordinator, sent a mailshot to Plaid Cymru supporters two months ago asking “Are you on Facebook?”. Fortunately, we are not. Here’s why …
Facebook is an American corporation. It exists to make a pile of money. That is the purpose of a corporation. It makes money by providing what is dubbed a ’social networking service’ and saturating users of such a service with advertising.
Nowadays, Welsh politicians of all parties bandy corporate brand names as if they held talismanic political properties. It is an absurd and exploitative relationship.
Why would we surrender our privacy to a commercial proxy to become “involved” with Plaid (or any other Party) ? That is not a means to engage in...
In
Local,
Technology,
Adam Price,
Media Analysis,
economics,
trinity mirror,
Social networking,
Chickens,
alienation,
jerry mander,
lewis mumford,
local economy,
monoculture,
orion magazine,
small scale,
facebook,
Corporations,
Plaid Cymru,
Politics
The Gloucesters Site is once again under threat from developers.
Despite being refused planning permission in April last year, which was further dismissed at an appeal heard by the Welsh Assembly in October 2007, the developers have re-submitted plans to build 130 houses on the site which is much valued and used by the community as [...]...
Ann Clwyd - Aberdare’s MP - drew attention to the plight of starving people in Zimbabwe yesterday in a debate in the House of Commons. She contributed a persuasive anecdote concerning her recent trip to South Africa…
While I was in South Africa a few weeks ago, Zimbabwean refugees handed me a note for 10 million Zimbabwean dollars. That buys a bag of tomatoes in Zimbabwe. Now Mugabe is prepared to starve his people to death for their votes. What kind of human being is President Mugabe ?
- Source Hansard, via TheyWorkForYou. Click the link to read Mrs Clwyd’s full contribution to the Parliamentary debate.
*
For regular updates on Ann Clwyd MP’s debate contributions, sign-up to the free Hear From your MP......
So, the Bilderberg Group's annual private shindig comes to a close in Chantilly near Washington, and ‘The Prince of Darkness’ materialises during the night to deliver its press release, written in his own blood.Here is the perverted, ice-cold logic that considers a PPE degree (the interdisciplinary study of Politics, Philosophy and Economics – known as ‘social studies’ at Harvard) as appropriate vocational training to represent the hopes and aspirations of millions of ‘hard working families’. In common with his fellow-interdisciplinarians Ed Balls, Evette Cooper, David Milliband, Ed Milliband, Jacqui Smith, Ruth Kelly and Caroline Flint, Mandelson clearly finds compassion abhorrent. It is these modern-day vampires that have made the Labour Party such a horror show.But before...
