Was it really just a couple of weeks ago that Welsh Labour launched their "Get Back the Welsh Speaking Vote" crusade? i distinctly remember Rhodri Morgan taking a whistle stop tour of the land the Welshies call home and I'm sure I remember spending an evening reading up on the Cymdeithas Cledwyn (Labour's Welsh Speaking group) report on how Labour could shed their image of being "anti-Welsh".
What better place to try and repair the bridges than the National Eisteddfod - the annual hub of Welsh speakers. If they want to convince us who speak the language that they're listening then surely handing out copies of the Cledwyn report on the Maes would be a great way to start?
Nope, while the Lib Dems, the Tories and Plaid Cymru pitched up their tents our main party of government was nowhere to be seen. Maybe they just forgot to send in the application form, or maybe since the One Wales Government came into power Labour and Plaid have merged and nobody bothered to notice!
Anyway, I'm home from the Eisteddfod and ready to go!
(P.S. Yep, the title to this post is WAY too overcooked, but after a week away I was in the mood to ham things up!)
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7 comments:
We don't have a stall there because our last time we did, our stall was vandalised repeatedly and staff spat at. So blame the (minority) language militants and not the Labour Party.
But since the people who disgustingly spit are, as you point out, a tiny minority what good does it do to ignore the vast majority who wouldn't dream of spitting on anyone?
Isn't hiding away just making Labour look even more like the "enemy" of the Welsh speakers?
(And yes, i am singling out the spitting allegation over the vandalism one - a political tent being plastered in posters in the Eisteddfod is hardly a new scandal! And hasn't it come to something that the Tories can enjoy the quiet life on the Maes but Labour cannot!)
It wasn't covered in posters, it was scrawled over in marker pen and cut with scissors. And Labour are not hiding anywhere, jus choosing to not send staff and volunteers into a situation where they are likely to be assaulted.
But surely if they believe that their cause is right then Labour should be standing up to people who spit on them, not hidng away (which is the only definition you can give to not attending because of intimidation by a tiny minority).
As I said, if anyone has received abuse at the Eisteddfod over the years it's the Tories, but they still attend and stand up for themselves - Labour being targeted is a reletively new thing.
And I'll repeat what I said eariler - while spitting and threatning behaviour is a bloody disgrace, damaging the tent doesn't register at all when it comes to the Eisteddfod - Labour are hardly the only victims of that - I guess the Lib Dems are the only ones never to have been targeted.
I don't think the party leadership quite understand Cymru Cymraeg. But then I don't think the more moderate Welshies (inc. myself) understand it either.
There's plenty of the Cymru Cymraeg in Labour, hell even Huw lewis is learning Welsh!
Their problem is similar to Plaid actually, but with different effects. Both parties are desperate for the valley vote - Labour tries to woo them by making them scared of the evil Welsh speaking bigots who will ram the language down their throats while Plaid devote a lot more of their manifesto to pleasing the socialist valleys than their own much more conservative (small c) voters.
The reason for that is simple - the valley is massively symbolic as the heart of Welsh labour - if they lose that then the blow to them and the boost to Plaid would be massive.
Luke - when I first read the comments I assumed you were Luke Young but now I notice that it doesn't link to your profile? Are you just not bothering to sign in or have I completely got the wrong Luke?
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