On Friday Paul Murphy said:
Voters won’t thank us for putting a referendum before economic worries
On Saturday an anonymous commentator on this blog said:
unbelievable! world is going into meltdown and all you care about is giving more power to those wankers to bugger Wales up even more!
Today a journalist asking me about the Facebook YES Campaign raised a similar question. Should you be bringing this campaign on now, when people are more worried about the financial situation than the devolution settlement?
Draig, made an important point in responding to the crude nonny:
This isn't just a financial crisis, it's a constitutional crisis too.
And Draig is right. The financial crisis means that the Assembly needs as many powers as it can get to help Wales survive the consequences of the credit crunch.
Those of us with long memories will remember the comments of Eddie George, then Governor of the Bank of England who said in 1998 that unemployment in the north of England was a price worth paying to help the London economy. As far as Westminster is concerned unemployment, stagnation and depression in Wales would also be a price worth paying for recovery in the city. Wales needs a strong Assembly NOW to ensure that we aren't forced to pay that price again.
I see. So Wales, a land of 3 million, with no financial institutions of its own, is going to be independent, eh? No manufacturing industry of sufficient size and a public sector that accounts for over 50 percent of the economy. It's going to be independent?
ReplyDeleteMost commentators now agree that Scotland, a bigger and richer country with its own major banks, couldn't go it alone. So little Wales can?
By all means dream your pipe dreams, sing in your eisteddfodau, pray in your chapels, hunt the legend over the wonderful Welsh hills.
But please don't believe - really believe - it'll ever happen. There's not enough collective madness in Cymru.
Anon - what a pointless, inaccurate and vinegar-laced little post: Scotland has a good chance of going it alone. Ireland was worse off than Wales when it went it alone, and though it had a hard time of it, it's been a powerhouse for decades.
ReplyDeleteI see your reference to eisteddfodau and chapels. One doesn;t have to scratch very far to find the nasty Welsh underbelly to your comments - we're not good enough for you, that's it, we're just poor peasants you feel superior to? Oh, and we're all the same, Welsh or English speaking, all the same...
Thanks anon - you've probably made another few converts.
PS - join True Wales - I think they share your (self-) contempt.
anon - what a load of shit. if you have time to put down your crayons and listen to what the referendum will be about. its not about independence, its about making things work better. you are just the sort of one eyed mong that True Wales is aiming their crap at. learn a little will you but well done on typing so much with 2 fingers
ReplyDeleteFerg
Alwyn, I have set up a blog for the campaign - see below
ReplyDeletehttp://walesfirst.blogspot.com/
I have already passed details to Jim - I will set you up as an author
Mike/Penddu
If this is handled correctly.....by the pro-devolutionists.....this is the correct time. On the other hand, when everybody is happy (those that own property - which isn't an inconsiderably amount of peeps).....ie when house price inflation is screaming ahead....the attitude is 'if it aint borke, why fix it?'
ReplyDelete