"I can't believe Jonathan Edwards has risen to the bait," says Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda in South Wales. "Roger Lewis's piece is fatuous nonsense, but the last thing people want is a moaning version of Welsh nationalism. Wales is at its best when it is triumphantly insouciant about the criticism of others, and if we can't take a bit of scabrous attack without running to the police, it's a sad day for Wales."
Chris Bryant MP's reaction to Alun Cairns silly comment about the Italian football team:
Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “David Cameron has had over two months to decide whether or not Alun Cairns should be sacked as the Tory candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan. “It’s very much decision time for David Cameron on this issue.
“Failing to sack Alun Cairns shows how indecisive Cameron really is when it comes to taking tough decisions.”
Sack somebody for making an ill informed joke about the Italians, but laugh off a scurrilous attack on the Welsh!
Typical Welsh Labour MP!
I wish I'd remembered Bryant's reaction on Cairns when I Blogged on this.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think the chances are that IOS have a follow up article to Matthew Bells piece on the reaction of those "Welsh" who didn't see the joke?
Interesting to note that Northampton's South African prop, Brian Mujati, has complained of racism, claiming that he was called a 'baboon' by two white South Africans who play for Leinster. Leinster have launched an investigation into the matter. Would Chris Bryant advise Mujati not 'to rise to the bait' and laugh it off in a 'triumphantly insouciant' manner?
ReplyDeleteChris Bryant. Prat.
ReplyDeleteCan't help thinking that Roger Lewis's views are also those of Chris Bryant.
Of course we should laugh off insults. I thoroughly agree with the posturing, self-promoting, hypocritical fairy.
ReplyDeleteTinkerbel says," If you believe in fairies, shout 'Save Cymru from buggery!'... 'No, children, it's not 'Save Cymru from bigotry."
DeleteMaybe Chris Bryant wast the best person to give an opinion on prejudice against the Welsh. Apparently, he thinks we're all homophobic thugs (or at least his constituents in the Rhondda are), so much so, he had to 'flip' his main property (TWICE) on his expenses just to be on the safe side.
ReplyDeleteIt's very naughty of him to fiddle his expenses if he did, but the main contributor above really is homophobic dear, as a close reading of the text will reveal. It wouldn't be surprising if Bryant's neighbours are as well.
DeleteAlthough I think Jac o' the North should man up, I don't agree that we should just laugh off insults in this case. It was an ignorant attack which should be addressed in a cool way with factual statements,not necessarily with passion. However hurtful, if they had been accurate, we could have taken them on the chin. As they are not, we should put the ignorant right. It's just not true that we haven't coined any nouns since medieval times.
ReplyDeleteThere's a tendency to laugh at us for having loan words from other languages. But all languages have them. Some fool said to me that if Welsh was a 'proper' language, it would have a word for orgasm! English can't be a proper language then as 'orgasm' is Greek. When I pointed this out to the person, he didn't understand. Someone else sneered that we didn't hav a word for television. I pointed out that we did ie 'teledu'. The person said this didn't count as it was a 'made up' word. All words are made up. They're not found under leaves or cushions. These remarks could just as well be made about any language. It's made about ours because we are looked down on.
People really need to know that there are no inadequate or primitive languages.Glenda Jackson apparently said that she doubted that Welsh was 'adequate' for cultural purposes. Considering that we have the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe, she could hardly have been more wrong. I've seen an awful old encyclopedia from the thirties which said that Bushmen had 'scarcely any culture, their language being very defective.' Now, people say it is elegant and complex. of course, it must be.i can' remember which fool rcently called Welsh a 'monkey language.' I think citizenship classes in school can be useful here. Kids can be given an overview of the cultures and history of the different parts of the UK and former colonies of the British Empire.It needn't be very deep but at the moment, English kids don't seem to know anything like this at all.
The Daily Mail could do with being slapped down too. Even Lord Salisbury, an extremely reactionary Victorian prime minister said that it was written for those who can read but can't think. Its poor readers could do with some accurate facts for a change.
But yes; it's particularly annoying that this chap has no consistency. There are certain groups who don't seem to be worthy of benefiting from anti-racist measures, and we are among them. I would confidnetly state, though, that the Roma, for instance, are even worse off. They're persecuted left, right and centre and it is not perceived as racism at all.
Marianne Hancock
Where did Glenda Jackson say this ?
DeleteI'm relying on the accuracy of Mike Parker. He cited Glenda Jackson as saying this in his book, 'Neighbours from Hell.' Apparently, she said it in an interview on S4C, not a very diplomatic move! But I you're asking if I can verify this from independent research, no, I can't.
ReplyDeleteMarianne