... they didn't ask me either, ...

... but they don't have to in Wales, they didn't teach me to read and write either ...

... so I couldn't "opt out", I'm not sure what "opt out" means, I can't remember "opt out" in our classes at school, why have the politicians hung my body in the cold room with the pork ...

... am I the Assembly bacon ?

... for tolerance, I couldn't advise Jack's view of ...

... the world, in particular the relationship between Wales and the rest of humanity.

For the latest diatribe you might hop across to his blog, though I would warn it is not for the faint-hearted.

He writes in one paragraph ....

... hate filled and intolerant, and he is not alone. intolerance

Just the other day I was sent an email with a single embedded image ...

... obviously he lives in a different reality, possibly the Discworld of Terry Pratchett, there is a downside, he works for an assembly member who must by definition approve of his particular intolerance, will the A.M. approve of "kickings" in the wider world I wonder.  Is it hate filled or intolerant, I'm not sure, when comparing his words with those of Jack I see a certain similarity ......

Why the call for ...

...  investment in infrastructure and wealth transfer during difficult economic times, when there are real solutions for very real problems available with the aid of good analysis.


Could it be because the alternatives are just a little too problematic to politics of all flavours, politicians would be required to do things that would be under the counter transactions, transactions that go by unnoticed by the general population;  an alternative to the spend, spend, spend regimes advocated by the Left, and the Left leaning politicians and economists unable to quantify the value of a pleasant place to do business.


It  requires a deal more thought, than the regurgitated "Political philosophy" so many politicians study ,  maybe a more fundamental philosophy, possibly on the lines of "Zen and the art of Governance".  Some might remember Robert Pirsig and his book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", a 1970's philosophical examination of what I would term "Quality", I don't think the term I use is particularly important, it is his realisation that the world was developing into a multi faceted science that could offer a multitude of explanations   when in fact there exists a single hypothesis... 

Pirsig was greatly troubled by the theory that there is always more than one workable hypothesis to explain a given phenomenon, and that the number of hypotheses appeared unlimited. He could not find any way around this, and to him it seemed that the whole scientific endeavour was essentially problematic.  (from a Guardian report)

I remember quite early in the book (Zen .... ) where Pirsig related the tale of the "motorbike that kept cutting out", after repeated visits the a workshop without a successful remedy, the motorbike was taken home where he stripped down the engine to discover the cause of the problem, a simple few pence pin in the oil delivery system.  The moral of the tale is, I think, to determine the actual problem before attempting a fix; how often are political remedies created for problems that exist only in the minds of politicians.


So how does "Zen" and "Governance" sit with "Political Wales" circa 2011/12/13/14/15 ?


Firstly, the opposition in Wales is desperate to create problems to fix, there are the Nationalists that are asking for Policing and Broadcasting to be devolved to Wales, the Liberal Democrats have suggested that children aged 16 are competent to become members of the electorate, and the Conservative leader is advocating a return to the slaughter of animals as recreational sport.  The common thread is each of the political groups are seeking advantage, Nationalist see further divergence from the UK, Liberal Democrats see the promised land ahead with teenager support, and Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies seems to be favouring political self destruction, the odd one out maybe.


So what about Carwyn Jones in government today, or soon to be back from holiday, we have today two calls, the "redistribution of wealth" and "Keynesian investment" in Wales, both could be the business of government, but should they be the business of our Assembly Government and how might Carwyn consider the issues.


John Dixon, former National Chair of Plaid Cymru, makes a call to redistribute the wealth within Wales, the essence of his paper is in a single paragraph where he writes ...

What Wales needs is an economic policy which doesn’t simply concentrate economic success in the most populous part of the country, but spreads it around.  From a private sector perspective, that would require a more interventionist approach than simply allowing and encouraging businesses to set up where they wish (as long as it’s in Wales), which has effectively been the approach of successive Welsh Governments since 1999.

... the only questions that Carwyn's government needs to answer is the starter for ten "why do businesses prefer to establish themselves in the South East of Wales", and the bonus question "can these conditions be replicated throughout Wales". 

 Adam Higgitt asks a supplementary question in his last paragraph where he replies to John Dixon, "can the government create a policy that the whole population is able to support", an essential question with our "me culture".  

For the answers to the three questions Carwyn needs to find a few honest men and women, and the certainty that doing what is good for Wales outweighs what is good for his politics, personally I think someone like Carwyn Jones could make political mileage from doing the "right thing for Wales" so shouldn't be shy in coming forward with the good news.



The second call on Carwyn is for "Keynesian investment", I hope there is someone in government who will remind him that without a link to the first question such government activity is indulgence when such indulgence is not affordable, indulgence by government should probably never be affordable.  Going back to John Dixon, it's not intervention to coerce business into preferred areas, it is providing a level playing field, the rest is up the business ... and of course geography.


Going back to "So how does "Zen" and "Governance" sit with "Political Wales" circa 2011/12/13/14/15 ?"  There is plenty of time Carwyn, get it right and you will be forgiven a multitude of sins, and looking at the time line, there's plenty of time thanks to Westminster.

Bethan Jenkins has announced ...

... that she will be developing her thoughts on the future of Plaid Cymru in the weeks to come.

Well, lets get down to the nitty gritty,  the heart of the matter,  the basic essentials,  the harsh realities of life in the United Kingdom for the separatist agenda, a single most basic fact of political life, Wales has lost its radical past to the hedonistic materialistic future.

The peoples of Wales, we are multicultural, along with the peoples of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland came to realise quite a while ago that we are only on this planet just once, so we best make the most of it, be happy is the clarion call even when things seem a tad negative.

Our nationalist combatants (they are not particularly friendly towards any other political parties in Britain, other than other separatist parties) on the other hand have tried to wrap up their jingoistic objectives in a cultural pastry;  much like salmon en croute, though the cultural pastry used by our separatist neighbours in Wales comes with a large dose of bile mixed with a suitably large quantity of insulting abuse to those who would oppose independence.

That's the nice part, the Welsh Nationalists have over the last 20 years or more tried to become everything to everyone, if you wished for pink tomatoes then the nationalists would campaign for your pink tomatoes, more than anything the separatist movement needed to increase its membership, and although the membership increased, its direction had become octopus like ...

... Plaid had looked into the abyss of Nietzsche unaware that the abyss had looked right back at them, the abyss is of course "British Politics", Plaid Cymru by looking into the abyss had adopted many of the attributes of British Politics, become just another political party that would bribe the electorate with their own taxes.  But during the last 10 years devolution in Wales had created a new playing field, a field that would allow politics in Wales to become divorced to a degree from the politics of Great Britain, and could be moulded through cultural nonsense into a new arena that Plaid might play a larger role in public life.  It worked for them, however it created far greater challenges for the "well to the left separatist agenda", gradually the "we were here first" political brigade became as Welsh as Welsh could become, and began to challenge the need for a party such as Plaid Cymru, whose intention is to separate from the United Kingdom.

Inside Plaid Cymru those that held the puppet strings had decided a decade or more before to take the softly-softly approach to gaining power, no longer using the "independence" word, they became even more mainstream, much to the chagrin of the "young turks", and the young turks bring me back to the beginning, how will this woman of politics, she knows little else than politics, develop her thoughts ...

... let me predict, the likes of Jenkins and her activist chums have a single objective, to bring their politics to the front row of her party, and what are her politics, what are those feelings deep within her chest, what is it that is about to be birthed ...

... I don't think on reflection that it is the urgency of independence, although it will be a rhetorical priority, I do believe it will be gender specific; she dropped a very large hint at Wales Home today, the 4th paragraph, she is backing a movement within the party for a female leader, Jill Evans MEP who will also bring independence to the forefront of Wales politics.

And the proof of the pudding is in the very next paragraph when she writes ...

This kind of obsession with the individual echoes down the years in Plaid Cymru, that we can rely upon a single person to save the party – and save us from losing elections.

And the person in question is always a man.

Spicy pinto bean soup or Plaids Bethan Jenkins, ...

... that's a question indeed, a delicious deep bowl of soup or shallow plate of politics from the "separatist agenda", make up your own mind ...

For the soup you need ...

Ingredients, for 4 ...

100g dried pinto beans,  2 tbsp butter,  1 tbsp olive oil,  1 red onion, chopped,  2 garlic cloves, chopped,  1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced,  2 carrots, chopped,  2 tsp chilli powder,  2 tsp ground cumin,  2 bay leaves,  1.5 litres vegetable stock,  400g tin of chopped tomatoes,  Sea salt,  1 small iceberg lettuce finely shredded,  Soured cream,  Leaves from a small bunch of fresh coriander,  Lime wedges

Method ...

1 Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Drain and set aside.
2 Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan, set over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper, carrots and a pinch of salt.
3 Cook for 10 minutes, until softened. Stir in the chilli powder, cumin and bay leaves. Cook for 1 minute, until aromatic.
4 Increase the heat to high. Add the stock, tomatoes and beans and bring to the boil. Reduce to a medium simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, until the beans are tender.
5 Serve topped with shredded lettuce, a dollop of soured cream and a few coriander leaves. Offer lime wedges on the side. 

Recipe by Ross Dobson of The Times, what a fine newspaper.

Having enjoyed the bowl of soup what has Jenkins got to offer, either the electorate or Plaid "the separatist agenda" Cymru ?

Her history is school and Plaid Cymru, so we can expect an introspective view of the world coupled with a vision of an independent left wing utopia, was it learned at the hearth of her father the long-term co–editor of Red Poets.I wonder ?

Today she opens a discussion regarding the Plaid leadership contest, a faction within Plaid would like to change the rules so that non-elected members might race for the coveted leaders badge, a little like the blue-peter badge without the excitement, and in a democracy it should be possible to elect anyone to the position of party leader, though why any party would want a leader that doesn't have a platform is puzzling.

Interesting though, some elected members of the Assembly see the next leader as a caretaker-in-waiting for the return of the native Adam Price, Plaid AM Lindsay Whittle is on record as writing "Whoever will be our new leader must now recognise it’s an interim post in my opinion."

So the contest hereabouts between the soup or Jenkins, do I see the beginnings of a double chin in her image, is won hands down by ....

... the "Spicy Pinto Bean Soup", considered to be interesting and flavoursome with a hint of things yet to come ...
... the runner up is same-old, same-old Plaid politics delivered by 2nd division politics ...

Whilst the "no vision" pundits bump their ...

... gums over at Wales Home regarding the Daily Mail, why would anyone read it, or when blinded by the vision of the China entrepreneurs revert to type and consider Wales of the 1890's, the BBC have published some really bad news for Wales ...

... the "get up and go" leadership of Westminster has announced 21 enterprise zones, some very close to home at Bristol, Birmingham and The Wirral near Liverpool, these close to home zones will compete for businesses and, just as important, people with skills that could be based in Wales.

How then might our WAG, and what a wag they tend to be at times, compete with the mighty Westminster, well our administration in Cardiff responded by saying ...

... it was looking at options and had received correspondence from a number of people regarding their potential structure and location ... furthermore ... It said Business Minister Edwina Hart would outline her policy when the assembly returns in September.

There we have it, our very own Edwina will work it out by September, ...

... a favourite of business men and women in Wales, not really, she is more like the grim reaper of commerce than saviour, having her well to the left socialist feet firmly on the Soviet side of the defunct Berlin Wall, precludes much dialogue with the men and women of ideas that can save the Welsh bacon.

I might have been better to have collaborated with Westminster, we might at least have moved from the "thinking about it" stage so favoured by our local administration and membership.

Adam Higgitt is still on the ropes but ...

... fighting back with gusto.

The nationalist " Y Teifi " is unable to comprehend that nationalism is a centralist political regime.  He is adament that ...

"nationalism and decentralism DO NOT contradict each other"

... he was shouting at poor Adam at this point of the discussion, unaware that those in the sane hemisphere understand the meaning of his nationalism, from wiki ...

"... the belief that the state is of primary importance, or the belief that one state is naturally superior to all other states.  It is also used to describe a movement to establish or protect a 'homeland' (usually an autonomous state) for an ethnic group. In some cases the identification of a national culture is combined with a negative view of other races or cultures...

... how much of that has been read amongst the recent comments at Wales Home.

Why am I confident that this poor man, or woman, is delusional ?  Plaid is categoric in its constitution that the future of Wales is with decentralised socialism, not decentralism in isolation.  The nationalism on offer is, as with all nationalism, a one size fits all.


Plaid Cymru,  the alma mater of the "separatist agenda", believes it can perpetrate a confidence trick, I say it can only fool the woolly ...

And BartiDdu got really out of shape with Adam ...

... Higgit when he wrote :

... which disease is the most dangerous?  Welsh Nationalism or British Nationalism? ...

The  answer by Adam was "both types of nationalism are equally dangerous";  as the vast majority of democrats in our Britain would agree.

Our angry young (maybe old) man/woman then tried to insinuate that those that oppose his nationalism are nationalists themselves by writing ...

... those who deride Plaid Cymru and the like as ‘Nationalists’ are more often than not ‘Nationalists’ themselves, of the British variety.

... he reverts to "Fallacious Argument", by introducing the false rhetoric that there exists a British variety of nationalist akin to Plaid Cymru that Adam must belong to.


A dangerous lot the "separatist agenda" in Wales, based upon the rhetoric found amongst the nationalist in Wales commentating at Wales Home these past few days, how might the individual or non-BartiDdu-conformist fare were Plaid and its nationalist following able to gain power ?

Y Teifi, non de plume of a separatist ...

... who would be lost without the politics of identity, I missed it earlier at Wales Home, possibly because it is "so last century" as my daughter would say, linked here, but duplicated below.

... and please don’t go back to the argument that the Welsh and the English are the same and therefore should be governed the same. It’s ignorant and insulting. I’d suggest that the English and the Germans are much more the same than the English are to the Welsh, possible unity with Germany maybe?

If the writer is able to read anything other than the "separatist agenda" tripe, I would direct him to the Prospect paper written by Stephen Oppenheimer titled "Myths of British ancestry", linked here.

Genetics demonstrates the British, that is everyone other than the most recent or distinct immigrants, are in fact so similar we are quite indistinguishable,  it is not "ignorant and insulting" to consider the peoples of England and Wales the same, it is "informed and courteous".

Because I doubt those of the "separatist agenda" would be interested in anything that would usurp their vision of an independent Wales, let me tell you, we are all Basque based, the English and the Welsh, the various invasions have diluted our precious bloodlines in a way that did little to alter our heritage, having said that, I welcome people from other parts of the world into Wales because they enrich our way of life, and so should the man who calls himself a river, Y Teifi.

Adam Higgit at Wales Home seems ...

... to be a lone voice in defence of the status quo (the vast majority of people in Wales) in the face of the "separatist agenda", although the separatist diatribe is tedious in the extreme it reflects very well the views of nationalists; the nationalist in this context are Plaid Cymru, Cymdeithas yr laith (Welsh language society) and the loose canon separatists of no-fixed abode.

Adam sums up the defence of the status quo when he writes ...

"All we need to is adjust the levers of government so as to give the maximum control at the lowest possible level. That should clearly be lower than the British level and lower than the Welsh level, since the variances in the different indices that have come up in this discussion are as great within Wales as between Wales and most of England.".

... it is a classic "Sicilian Defence", the King's Pawn Game, the king puts the people into battle by sleight of hand with the sufficient weapons to win the war, in this case the war for democracy.

There a very few members of the "separatist agenda", but the commentators at Wales Home represent the mentality that is a common thread, and they have a loud voice, to defeat this disparate group of political outlaws, this"Hole-in-the-Wall Gang", the government needs to shift the agenda of the majority from the politics of identity to the politics of the economy, without the politics of identity the "separatist agenda" have nothing ...............


I deliberately didn't contribute to the discussion because Cymdeithas yr laith (Welsh language society) supports direct action against individuals, criminal activities.