There use to be a time when Plaid Cymru was the party that one could expect to defend local communities. Now it is a party that closes local facilities such as schools and public conveniences and shouts down and swears at those who offer solutions that might help save services.
It use to be a party that supported the Welsh Language, but since being in government they have renegade on some promises made to support the language and failed to deliver on others. They even voted against a proposal to establish a Welsh Language Commissioner.
Plaid use to be a party that supported self government for Wales, but according to the Western Mail Speaking as a Plaid Assembly Member and a former leader of the party Dafydd Elis Thomas says that he is opposed to a referendum on further powers for the Assembly untill well after 2011. Indeed this mam who vociferously opposed the 40% threshold imposed by Labour in 1979 is now opposed to further self government unless it is clear that at least 60% of voters support further powers.
If Plaid doesn't defend local communities, doesn't deliver on the language and doesn't campaign for further self government is there any reason for the party's continuing existence?
Hmmm. It's certainly worth asking this question, Alwyn. Maybe their raison d'etre has been swamped by this year's tsunami of political and financial events.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a clearer message and a more charismatic leader is required. Any ideas?
Plaid supports independence for Wales, wants to create a fully bilingual scoiety and supports decentralist socialism.
ReplyDeleteOf course, sometimes those aims become more or less difficult to achieve. Other parties, finance, and Plaid's own fallibility can be to blame. But the cause is just and the party is heading in the right direction.
Plaid voted against a commissioner for Welsh because it was a crap idea with "toothless Tory quango sop" written all over it. They were right. My hope is that it leads them to propose something better.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't go along with Y Byd because it wasn;t watertight, and had been delayed so bloody long already that questions were being asked. I should know - I bought 200 quid's worth of shares in it, and more than anything I wanted it to work. Plaid's mistake wasn't to send Y Byd back to drawing board but to kick it into touch. They should be made accountable for that.
Elis-Thomas isn;t really a Plaid politician any more - he's an establishment figurehead who obviously believes he can do more good as such than as a Plaid man. He may be right, I dunno.
Change of leader is the way forward, plus getting Adam Price and Dafydd Wigley into Assembly. There's no telling where we'd go with Dafydd back and Adam in.
We've reached the glass ceiling with IWJ.
The danger with the way Plaid is going in govt is that those who voted for it will be disappointed and those who didn't won;t be sufficiently impressed to vote for it next time round.
That is the really serious risk, and my view is that IWJ's is a very risky strategy: he needs to start to look like a statesman rather than a caretaker deputy head teacher.
Interesting and valid question following Dafydd El's statement.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing some interesting answers as well as some of the predictable one's by Plaid supporters, who like some of their member's on Gwynedd Council are totally out of touch with reality and the communities that they are supposed to represent.
Gwilym,
ReplyDeleteI noticed that your lot voted to close a few schools after promising not to do so. It didn't take you long to fall down on the one policy you had.
The good Lord always says something to get in the press before a holiday. You can set your calendar by him.
ReplyDeleteAnon..."my lot" as you referred to them voted to close 2 schools as one of them had no pupils in it and the other only had one pupil.
ReplyDeleteTo have done anything other than close them would have been silly.
Llais Gwynedd will always vote in favour of keeping schools open when the children's education on offer meets the standards set by Estyn and it is the parents wishes that the school stays open.
Due to the threat posed on certain schools by Gwynedd Council, parents have moved their children from some of those schools as sadly was the case in the examples you flagged up.
Now get back to the point...what is Plaid Cymru for? We know that in Gwynedd they are for closing schools, old people's homes, swimming pools, toilets and selling buildings for at least £100k less than their value.If you are in favour of such actions, that's fine however I and Llais Gwynedd and many other tax payers across the County are not, can you understand and respect that?
I think all minority language, or to be precise "endangered" languages need protection.
ReplyDeleteThe promulgation of English as the world's "lingua franca" is unethical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker!
Unethical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is the position of English at the moment.
Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential.
An interesting video can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
fair question Alwyn, I see Plaid sinking into beige It used to be fiery,some of its AMs were fiesty and outspoken,there seemed to be a buzz about it.Now its sad,quiet ,silenced almost.
ReplyDeleteIt needs to find its being again, its verve, that it wont do while its being led by beige people.
Bull shit to most Plaid were so jumped up at the thought of being in power they took an oath to serve labour, now they come out shouting about taking power but nobody believes them anymore, what are Plaid for to keep labour in Power, At the last local election I could not vote labour and Plaid are now a full blown part of the Labour party.
ReplyDeleteIf I may suggest, the question is not "what is Plaid Cymru for" _ I think that is still clear to most people - but "why have DET's comments not prompted a similar chorus of condemnation that Peter Hain's virtually identical remarks did in October"?
ReplyDeleteNot one of your better posts Alwyn
ReplyDeletePlaid in gwynedd have faced a particulaly difficult set of circumstances. Even Llais gwynedd have accepted you cannot run schools with no pupils in them.
The other closures quoted are part of the problem with finances in Wales at present. The £270 million taken from the Welsh budget because the English NHS failed to meet its spending targets is now hitting hard. Any council is in a difficult situation perhaps Gwynedd could do different things but it would be a matter of closing different services to the ones listed.
Daffyd Ell does not not speak for anyone other than himself on this issue.
The real threat to Plaids message comes from thos who wish to dilute our central nationalist message by making us be more "socialist" or more "Green".
Alwyn
ReplyDeleteLook i am sure my words will piss in the wind in terms of you listening to them, but essentially Plaid have woken up to realpolitik. Their electoral growth has been built on the ditching of the political ideas that i know you fully support.
Dafydd El is basically saying what most in Plaid have known all along.
why no one will come forward to help longfields handicap center is beyond belief'when catherine zeta turned up it was awash with dignitaries,am,s mp,s mayor the lot.just shows what a shower of leaders we now have.
ReplyDelete