Rhodri Gets Tough

So finally, at long last, after 8 years and one month into his job, Rhodri Morgan grows some cahoones. In an essay he wrote for a new book on Welsh politics the First Minister finally bites back at a few parts of the Labour Party that he has usually lain down before.

Firstly he launches a pretty damning critic of the Blair and Brown legacy. He ridicules Brown's attempts to convince us all that being British means tolerance and decency by pointing to New Labour's record of:

"bulging prisons, record incarceration of children, fortress-like asylum policies, and a progressive erosion of the distinction between ‘anti-social’ behaviour (where solutions ought to be sought primarily through social policy)and criminal conduct (which falls to be dealt with by the criminal justice system) provides an uncertain background of evidence.”

Damning stuff. He also criticises the attack on Iraq, something which he embarrassingly refused to do a few years back (when it actually mattered). But Rhodri isn't finished yet, he then turns to his own Welsh party.

Echoing views that Eluned Morgan and Carwyn Jones said in February's Welsh Labour Conference (but which they later backtracked on in the Western Mail letter page) Rhodri states that a big reason for Labour's collapse in West Wales (they do not hold an Assembly seat West of Swansea) was their public image of being anti-Welsh language. While Rhodri is careful enough to state that he doesn't believe his party is anti-Welsh language his admission that:

"it would be foolish to deny that, from time to time, strands in the party have acted in ways which have given it credibility"

is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Strands in the party? Now I wonder who he could possibly be talking about there?

It's very interesting to see Rhodri's admission that the Tories have managed to reposition themselves in front of Labour in the "pro-Welsh language" front. This would have been unimaginable only a few years ago, but there's no doubt that Welsh-speakers now feel that Labour is the party who opposes their quest for more rights not the Tories.

There are two reasons for this; yes the Tories, in the Assembly at least, have repositioned themselves well to the fore of Labour on this issue and, as Welsh-speaking Tories will always be quick to remind you, it was the Tories that (eventually) gave us the Welsh Language Act and S4C.

Perhaps more importantly though, they only have 3 Welsh MP's at the moment. So while Labour's numerous MP's lash out at the Welsh language from London, their Tory counterparts don't get much publicity when they do the same. So while the Tories in the Assembly have managed to redeem themselves to some extent, their MP's haven't - they're just being ignored. When, as is likely, the Tories find themselves with many additional Welsh MP's come the next election, it will be interesting to see if we'll still be thinking of them as pro-Welsh language?

So with the looming Cardiff v Westminster fight is about to begin over the Welsh Language LCO (believe me, the Housing LCO bickering is merely an undercard compared to the mess that the next one could cause) Rhodri has drawn a pretty big line in the sand. The question is what side of that line will the reminder of his party stand?

Another Award Winner

It looks like the Hen Ferchetan's favorite letter writer is back

Sign of the times

SIR – I have no wish to lower the tone of the debate occupying your letters pages, following my letter published on August 19 (which expressed my concern about the misapplication of scarce Welsh Assembly funds in the wasteful promotion of the Welsh language and the misuse of curricular time by the compulsory teaching of Welsh to a generation of teenagers who need more marketable skills to prepare them for employment) but this morning, I received through the post a computer-generated certificate stating that I had been nominated for “A**hole of the Year” for my services to Welsh.

Perhaps you will allow me, through your columns, to thank the sender for the award.

I cannot do it personally, because the sender signed X and gave no address – proof, if any were needed, that our Welsh education system is indeed failing.

BERYL ROBERTS

Caerphilly

Ok, who's the joker?!

NB - there's three stars after the "A" in "Arsehole" Mrs Roberts, unless you happen to be American!

Letter Writing Bigots

Western Mail letters page, my additions in italics:

Forcing Welsh
SIR – It is not enough to provide Welsh Nationalists with Welsh-medium schools; they also insist that all state school children should be compulsorily indoctrinated in the Welsh language, even though timetable space is paramount.

If we want to attract investment into Wales to create more jobs, we need to give curricular priority to science, technology, basic English literacy and numeracy, not Welsh. (Don't kids still learn Science, Maths, Technology and English?)

Authorised bilingual graffiti disfigures public walls, train windows, street signs and motorway gantries, confusing visitors and annoying most residents. Our ears are abused by Welsh rasped at us over electronic amplifiers in post offices, railway stations and even in supermarkets. (Our ears are ABUSED? Bloody hell!)

The objection is not that Welsh is spoken by Welsh speakers (good luck to them) but that we non-Welsh speakers are forced to hear it, to read it and, more significantly, to pay for it. (Forced to hear and read Welsh. Breach of human rights surely? Call the police!)

Welsh Labour Party complacency and apathy among the Anglo-Welsh population has allowed Plaid Cymru, a minority party in South Wales, championed by voters from outside the area, a disproportionate amount of power as reward for coalition in the Assembly. (outsiders moving in? Sounds like Seimon Glyn doesn't she! Someone tell Glennys Kinock so she can reach for her high horse again!)

Language Acts have been rushed through and fluency in Welsh has become the pre-requisite for employment and promotion in top jobs in areas of Wales which had formerly felt enlightened to be exempt from its parochial constraints. (acts? More than one like? rushed?)

Scottish Nationalists are realistic about their ancient language and look forward and outward, not backward and inward to their place in the real world.

There are indeed some useful tips to be learned.
Beryl Roberts
Waun Erw, Caerphilly

What century do these people live in? Seeing as how, in a recent letter to the Telegraph, she claims to live in "Mid-Glamorgan" which hasn't existed since 1992 then I'm guessing it's not the 21st Century!

Labour's Welsh Fraud

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!)

A Man Walks Into a Bar...

Not sure where to start on the Rhodri Glyn Thomas resignation "scandal". It must go down as one the most bizarre resignations in recent times. Clearly, as everyone with half a brain can see, his position didn't become untenable because he walked into a pub carrying a cigar. If he had refused to put the cigar out, or caused some great scene then it would make some kind of sense. To resign after simply apologising and taking the offending butt outside is laughable.

So why are Plaid now looking for a new minister? Some bloggers seem to believe there's a dark secret yet to come out, I can't see it myself but who knows. Plaid's office is insisting that the curious incident of the cigar was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for the "accident-prone" minister. That doesn't quite ring true either. While tales of the Culture Minister's flamboyant nights out have been circulating since the dawn of time he has, largely, been gaffe free during his time as minister. The excruciating Welsh Book of the Year incident apart I can't recall a single embarrassing mishap during Rhodri's time as an AM, let alone as a Minister. There's also never been any suggestion anywhere, by anyone, that Rhodri's nights of drinking has ever spilled over to affect his work.

In truth, this seems like a reshuffle that Ieuan Wyn Jones has been contemplating for a while. He might not have been ready to execute it quite this soon, but I can't believe that it was a spur of the moment job. There are two reasons why Plaid would want a new minister in the Culture seat. Firstly there might have been concerns that Rhodri Glyn was a scandal waiting to happen. I don't quite buy into this line, as I said above he has proven himself apt at staying out of any major trouble.

The second, and more plausible reason, is that Plaid wanted to draw a line under some certain issues. While Elin Jones has made the Agricultural job her own and earned plaudits by pretty much everyone, the Culture post was always going to be a hot potato for Plaid for one single reason, its remit contains the Welsh language. Do too much for the language and they'd be reinforcing their image in certain parts of the country as a party for Welsh speakers only. Do too little for the Welsh language and they'd be angering their core vote. There's no doubt that in the eyes of many in the Plaid "heartlands" Rhodri Glyn did a little too much of the latter and not enough of the former. The funding of Y Byd and the delay in a Welsh Language LCO has angered a lot of traditional Plaid voters with many claiming to be disillusioned with their party's first stint in power. Getting rid of Rhodri Glyn puts some sort of a line under the Welsh Daily, but the new man's standing with Plaid's core vote will be very dependent on how fast, and how far, he can get the Welsh LCO.

And who might that new man be? It seems that there's no point looking further than Arfon's Alun Ffred Jones. He's one of the few Plaid AM's (if not the only one?) to have actually ran anything in his career (Gwynedd Council) and his previous career in broadcasting is perfect for the Culture brief which includes broadcasting. He is also a Welsh speaker, surely a must for any Plaid Culture minister. While the usual description of "competent but uncharismatic" seems to be very qualified praise there is a lot of respect for Mr Jones' potential in the bay and it will be interesting to see how he pans out as a minister.

One final note on this whole saga, there is one possible after-effect that needs be considered. In 3 years it's National Assembly election time again - will Rhodri Glyn be standing? Having been a minister and now returned to the back benches will he have the desire for another 4 years? If not then it would open up an Assembly candidacy spot in Carmathen East and Dinefwr. Can anyone think of a politician from that area who may be looking for an Assembly seat come 2011?

But Officer, the Sign Told Me To!

This is a sign, a number of which have been placed around Swansea. The translation of it is, technically speaking, totally correct. Check a dictionary and you will find that:

Zone = Parth
Tow = Halio
Away = Ymaith

Even the grammar is correct, with the word for Zone placed before the "Tow Away".



This sign though is a perfect example of why translations should be done by people who can speak both languages, not by an English speaker with a dictionary. Because to any Welsh speaking reader, this sign does not say "Tow Away Zone".

It says "Wank Away Zone".

Be Glad

The (absence of) the new Welsh language LCO is back in the news following Rhodri Glyn's (re)announcement that 57 more bodies are to be brought under the old Welsh Language Act. Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) have criticised the announcement and demanded a new Welsh Language Act.

The scope of such new Act is something that will be argued and debated until Judgement Day, but Welsh speakers should be glad that they're not speaking a minority language in France. The French have refused to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. According to French Culture Miniser Mme Christine Albanel having "an inviolable right to speak a regional language, notably in the public sphere" is "against constitutional priniples fundamental to the indivisbility of the Republic, equality in front of the law and the unity of the French people"

I'm off to use InterTran to work out how to paint "Shut Up French" in Breton, Basque and Catalan on a barn!

Murder She Rode

Quick follow up to the phantom horse-slasher story. A few days on and clearly the BBC, Mule and co have decided to just ignore their mess-ups. The only ones to change a thing were BBC Arlein who changed their quotation of "Sais Mas" to the correct "Cai Maes Sais" - the rest of their article makes it sound like "Cai Maes Sais" is a perfectly common anti-English sentiment!

The Western Mail has decided the best way out is not to make a correction but to print a few letters bringing up the translation points - one of which was extremely scathing of the Western Mail!(Oh and a warning to Cwlcymro at Maes-e, the guy who wrote the fourth letter here is taking credit for your investigation work!)

Many blogs have posted on the matter, with the Old Fart very helpfully giving examples of proper anti-English quotes to assist the next person who wants to pretend to be a Welsh nash!

One part of the story which did make me laugh a bit was the horse's owner giving the teary eyed story of how "Hope loved being around people but now I can’t get near her. She is terrified"

have a look at that picture up there, not only does the horse seem pretty comfortable around her, she's even got her hand on his bloody nose!

I really do hope the Police catch whoever did this, just so that we can have an answer to our riddle!

On a personal note, the last post was the most viewed and most commented post ever on this blog (by a country mile!) Just goes to show that however important the going ons of the Assembly and London are, all you need to really captivate some interest is a poor hurt animal and a healthy dose of scepticism and mystery! (oh, and yes, I do know the headline puns are getting worse!)

Inspector Horse

So the BBC, Western Mail, South Wales Echo, icWales,the Daily Mail and even the Tivyside Advertiser are incensed by the Welsh nationalist thug who "slashed" a horse's nose and wrote racist graffiti on his stable wall. The stupid idiots who, according to all these articles, wrote "English Out" on the wall didn't even realise that the couple were English-speaking Welshmen! According to the horse's owner the area is mostly Welsh-speaking and the vile thug who carried out this attack must have mistaken english-speaking for being English.

Here's a picture of the barn and the graffiti.


Now, if you are a Welsh speaker you will probably have already noticed that something doesn't quite add up here. If you are a monoglot, let me clue you in. See those words on the side of the barn? They don't say "English Out", whatever the respected media named above might tell you. I'd love to tell you what it says, but I can't. Why? Because it doesn't say anything. It is gibberish.

Now Sais clearly means "Englishman", every Welshman knows that. But "Maes"? Well that means field (or town square). "Cai" doesn't mean anything, it is not a Welsh word (it is actually a Welsh name, like Kai in English). So what is the painter trying to say? Beats me!

Could he be saying Cer Mas Sais (Get Out Englishman)? Or maybe Gai'r Maes Sais (Can I Have The Field Englishman)?. Western Mail thinks it says Cer Maes Sais (Go Field Englishman, makes no grammatical sense in Welsh either!) or Cae Mas Sais (Field Go Englishman). The answer is no. This isn't some mis-spelling or typo, most of those suggestions don't makes sense (Go Field Englishman?) and the ones that do (Cer Mas Sais) do not sound anything like Cai Maes Sais and are way too far off to be the words of a grammatically challenged Welsh-speaker or even a poor learner.

Clearly someone up in Trinity Mirror has realised something is wrong, they just havn't quite put their finger on it. The South Wales Echo would have us believe that it's common slang for "English Out" while icWales disagrees and tells us it's actually very old Welsh for "English Out". The Western Mail disagrees again, telling us that the writing doesn't say "English Out" but "English Out of This Field". Top prize for awful reporting must go to BBC Newyddion Arlein (Welsh BBC News) which actually quotes the graffiti as saying "Sais Mas" (English Out) even though the picture of the actual words used above comes from the BBC!

As a Welsh speaker I can assure you that those words certainly don't say "English Out". Not in slang, not in old Welsh, not in proper Welsh and not in misspelt Welsh. Or do they?

This is where things get interesting. I'm sure you all know of the infamous InterTran, one of those diabolical online translators. To you and me "Get out Englishman" clearly doesn't translate as "Cai Maes Sais" - but to InterTran that is exactly what it translates as.

So let us get this straight, whoever painted that slogan had to use an infamously awful online translator to work out how to translate "Get Out Englishman"? What nationalist worth his salt can't say or spell that?

Something smells here, any budding detectives among you?

(Congrats to Cwlcymro at Maes-E for making the InterTran connection - oh and I'm sorry about the god awful headline pun!)

End of the World

Yes the title of this post is so very unoriginal, yes every part of the Welsh media have already used it and so has most blogs, but it's a good title so I'm sticking to it!

It refers of course to the premature death of Y Byd, the Welsh language Daily Newspaper that never got to publish. The company who had been touting the paper for over a year finally announced that it could not do so, mainly due to what it saw as a pitiful grant offer from the Welsh Assembly Government, more specifically from Plaid Minister Rhodri Glyn.

While the inner workings of a coalition government means that the decision to offer only a third of what Y Byd said it needed must have been joint between Labour and Plaid, as Culture Minister Rhodri Glyn was always going to be the man in the firing line, and rightly so.

This is Plaid's first real taste of the bad side of power. When you make unpopular decisions, you will, unsuprisingly, become unpopular! I've heard a lot of people saying that any state funding of a newspaper is undesirable, I disagree. As long as every effort is made to show that the paper is nwholly independent editorially then I would not be too concerned. After all, most of the private papers we have in the UK are slanted enough without state funding!

Let's be honest, £600k out of the Assembly's budget is far from huge, and that's why the decision to offer something not even close to it is so confusing. A Welsh language daily was part of Plaid's manifesto and, even more importantly, it was in the One Wales Government document.

So what happened? Hell if I know. Was Plaid trying to make themself look like a party of government by being tough. Was Plaid trying too hard to not pander to their core supporters? Whatever it was, it's made a lot of their voters angry with them.

While both governing parties, especially Plaid, have a lot to answer for, so do Welsh speakers. While every Welsh speaker I know wanted Y Byd, very few subscribed to it (Y Byd asked for advance subscriptions). I, along with many others I'm sure, may regret that now, but I'm still not convinced that a daily paper dependant on subscriptions would survive. And that's where Y Byd was always in trouble. Most people buy their Dailes in the shop. I read papers during lunch, something I could not do if my paper was delivered to my home. While those in the so called Welsh language heartlands would probably have no trouble finding a copy in their local newsagent, are we really to believe that demand would be strong enough in places like Newport or Monmouth that it would be stocked anywhere?

The whole saga leaves us with a Hobson's choice. Either there will be no Daily, or one will be published by Trinity Mirror, who has a near enough monopoly over all our English language papers let alone Welsh ones!

Huw Lewis' Phantoms

So both Eluned Morgan and Carwyn Jones write letters to the Western Mail disagreeing with the Newspaper's coverage of their comments regarding Labour and the Welsh language. Carwyn's letter was a little less forcefull than Eluned, merely stating that he hadn't mentioned the Valleys as the hotbed of the anti-Welsh. Eluned denied having said that any part of Welsh labour is anti-Welsh language. Apparently what she said that parts of Labour are PERCEIVED as anti-Welsh (all our fault then is it Eluned?)

Huw Lewis, probably the biggest fish in the valley contingent that we all assumed Eluned and Carwyn meant, calls the claim nonsense, bonkers and self-deluded. Apparently Huw Lewis has never come across any person in his party who is against the Welsh Language. Everyone in Labour loves the Welsh language!

Well, Eluned and Carwyn may be trying to distance themselves from the matter, but this is certaintly not the first time that prominent Labour members have made such comments...

The Wales Labour Party has been attacked by one of its own MPs for "shamefully" ignoring the state of the Welsh language in order to further the party's electoral position. Newport West MP Paul Flynn, speaking in the Welsh language current affairs magazine Barn, said greater efforts had to be made to protect the Welsh language. MrFlynn said some Labour politicians were guilty of joining a tabloid "witchhunt" against the language "in the belief that it is politically advantageous". (BBC 2001)

Paul’s (Murphy) antagonism to the Welsh language is not skin deep. He shares with MPs Alan Williams (Swansea West) and Llew Smith a tribal phobia of Welsh (Paul Flynn 2008)

Does Mr Lewis consider Paul Flynn to be bonkers then?

The one quote from Huw Lewis that made me laugh most however was this...

What people expect from Labour is first of all that they are a unifying force across Wales, [and] any party that sets out to pit one part of Wales against another is doing a bad thing.”

Considering the organised assault on the Welsh language back in 2000/01 which I discussed in my earlier post and which Paul Flynn was talking about in the first quote, I assume that Huw Lewis will admit that back in 2001 Welsh Labour was "doing a bad thing"?

P.S. If Huw Lewis wants to do some investigating into finding the anti-Welsh language parts of Labour, I'd suggest he starts here:

Chris Bryant, Paul Murphy, Don Touhig, Alun Michael, Ian Lucas, Nick Ainger, Ann Clwyd, Andrew Pelling and John McDonell

Those were the signatories of the Early Day Motion to ensure Welsh was never announced before English in train stations in the majority of Wales. (What the hell was the MP for Hayes and Harlington and the MP for Croydon doing signing such an EDM!?)

Labour Love In It Was Not

So the Welsh Labour conference has been and gone, and while most of it was enough to draw a snore from even the most die-hard Labourite, there were some bits of interesting news from Llandudno.

I'll just make it clear from the outset that Rhodri's speech and "interesting" are not words I'm going to put together. It shows how desperate the media is for a bit of political news during the boring season that Rhodri's speech was considered even remotely newsworthy. What did he say? He said that there would be investment in health and education (really, who saw that one coming!), he said that there would be difficult decisions ahead on the environment (haven't we been saying that for a decade?) and finally he broke the huge shocking news that Labour would be fighting against Plaid in the May elections (Oh. My. God!).

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy told us that we care more for services than for devolution, the exact same words he's said in every speech and interview since he became Welsh Secretary again (actually, as I pointed out before, the exact same words he's said since he FIRST became Welsh Secretary!)

No, far more interesting was the talk coming from the Cymdeithas Cledwyn tent. This is the Welsh Speaking part of Labour, whose meeting I was once lucky enough to gatecrash by accident. The time I saw them in action Rhodri Morgan and Beti Williams were being heckled and booed by an audience that was supposed to be Labour members. With his answers to questions (or, more accurately, his non-answers to questions) drowned out by the sound of rain on the roof Rhodri was accosted by an old lady who told him that the noise was God's way of telling him to shut up!

While I'm sure things were far more civil at this meeting, the shots fired by certain high profile Labour members were just as powerful as the words of that old lady. King -to-be-Carwyn and Eluned "We don't do Welsh in Brussels" Morgan were the ones quoted delivering cannon-ball sized shots across the bows of the ever-strong Valley contingent in Welsh Labour. When they said that the 2007 elections were lost due to the anti-Welsh agenda of the valleys it was not hard to see who was sitting in their sightlines. Step forward Leighton Andrews, Huw Lewis and of course the pathetic Chris Bryant. While there was clearly a little bit of blame-shifting in the allegation that it was the anti-Welsh ramblings of the valley types that lost Labour the election, there's undoubtedly truth in it.

Labour has no presence in West Wales at the Assembly. And when I say "West Wales" I don't just mean Llanelli! There is not a single Labour AM in the North or South West, most of which forms the so-called Welsh language heartlands. Labour lost big seats in the West (even though Nia Griffiths MP still hasn't realized it!) And is there any doubt after the attacks the Welsh language have had from Labour over the years.

While it's very refreshing to hear Labourites being so open about their anti-Welsh problems, it's a bit rich for them to try and pin the blame on a few rouge elements in the valleys. After the 1999 drubbing of Labour, where they lost big seats in the valleys, Labour went nasty. With the help of the newly-formed Welsh Mirror and the ever reliable journalist Mr Paul Starling they made a conscious effort to dump the Welsh speakers. The tactic was simple and effective. Welsh speakers are a minority that Labour decided they could win without. Facing electoral danger from plaid, Labour decided to turn Welsh politics not into Labour v plaid, but into monoglots v bilinguists. The thinking was that if they could identify Plaid with the bilinguists and themselves with the monoglots they'd be guaranteed big wins.

Looking back at that part in politics you shudder by how nasty things were. Hardly a day passed without the Welsh Mirror deriding a prominent Welsh speaker as racist. While some Labourites denounced the tactic (Paul Flynn in particular) most, including those at Cledwyn, sat back and hoped the plan worked. Eluned herself caused a stir at the time when she and Mrs Kinnock refused to speak Welsh to a group of Welsh language children visiting Brussels. When one of the Children asked Mrs Kinnock why she answered their Welsh questions in English, Eluned jumped in and told them 'leave Glenys alone, you have an obsession with the Welsh language'. The presentation became a bit of a slanging match which I would have paid good money to see!

The anti-Welsh tactic paid off, with Labour getting a working majority at the next election and Plaid thrown into the curry-conspiracy madness (another Welsh Mirror coined phrase!). But the cost was huge, both to Wales and to Labour. The relationship between Welsh and English language Wales was badly hurt, as a Welsh speaker I still come across people who see all of us as racists. While Plaid eventually recovered from the assault, Labour was damaged badly out West. I know a lot of Welsh speakers who see Labour as a bigger enemy of the Welsh language than the Tories even.

While it is very refreshing to hear parts of Labour doing the political version of standing up at an AA meeting and admitting their problem, their words will not have much effect while Chris Bryant and his lot keep up with crap like the train announcement early day motion!

Ok, I Failed

An interesting rumour doing the rounds concerning Rhodri Morgan: While happy enough to give his undying support to Mr Permatan in Welsh for the BBC, he apparently steadfastly refused to do the same in English. Is this a sign of the First Minister's new attitude towards the Welsh language following his tour of Welsh Wales? Or has the First Minister just realised along with everyone else that no-one watches Newyddion so he can say what he likes, while having to watch his step when talking to the English language media?

(Yes, i failed to refrain from talking about Hain for the day!)

Tender Truth About My Sheep

Today is what I can only describe as a crap news day. When the BBC have to resort to drink-drive figures going down as their top story, while icWales manage to link the one hour detention of the son of Hypocrite Kinnock by Russian police to the Diagnosis Murder-style killing of Alexander Litvinenko! EVen The Onion's top story today, detailing Jessica Simpson's plan to bring down the Dallas Cowboys, stinks of a page filler.

Even Fox News, always ready with a new scandal with a lack of accuracy and shovel of bias that would put the Daily Mail to shame, lead with the astonishing fact that OJ Simpson is still not in jail! And since I wanted to give Hain the rest for today I'm reduced to trawling Google News for an interesting read. One article which I've given a wide berth is the New Statesman intriguingly titled Tender truth about my sheep!

So, trying to avoid mentioning Mr Permatan for a day at least, I took the opportunity to look at the headlines a few days back reporting on Rhodri Morgan's tour of Welsh speaking Wales. The First Minister was at least honest in admitting that this was a desperate attempt at vote gathering, but what appalled me was the fact that this was even news. "First Minister of Wales leaves Cardiff" shouldn't be on page 11, let alone front page news, but sadly it is. There's many people in the South West and the North who, rightly or wrongly, don't feel the Assembly works for them, having the First Minister make such a big deal of a three day trip to the wild west is hardly going to reassure them.

A lesson for bloggers today comes from the blog of ex parliamentary candidate and ex-Assembly candidate (i.e. habitual loser) for Arfon Mr Martin Eaglestone. His entry for Rhodri's visit to the Royal Town is headed Rhodri Listening, and yet his very next entry is a video where Rhodri Morgan, after his visit was interrupted by a Cymdeithas protest, confirms that he is not, and will not, consider a new Welsh Language Act. Should that first entry be re-titled "Rhodri Listening Only To those who Like Him"?

No discussion of Rhodri Morgan and the Welsh language can end without quoting these wise words from a young(er) Mr Morgan when he was an MP in 1993

"The Government calls this a Welsh Language Bill, but it would be better described as a Welsh Language Quango Bill. What one could call a Quango for the lingo ...... We shall be abstaining tonight because we hope to have the opportunity before long to do the job properly. That will be done when we revisit the question of a Welsh language measure when we are in Government"

Oh how things (and principles) have changed!

The Wonders of Welsh

Just a quick lesson for any of the 6 or so people reading this blog who lives outside Wales about the wonders of the Welsh language. It is unique in the languages of this world.

If you suddenly felt the urge to learn French, Italian, Mandarin or Yoruba (the 49th most spoken language in the world!) you'd find a teacher, buy some textbooks or pay £200 or so on a set of Pimsleur tapes. Welsh cannot be learnt this way. Welsh cannot be taught in a classroom with a teacher, Welsh cannot be learnt by reading books or listening to tapes.

Don't believe me? I can prove it. Try using the very useful website Googlefight. All it does is comparte two phraes and see which one comes up most often on the net.

Welsh taught in classroom = 97,500
Welsh forced down throat = 551,000

Seems the letters page of the Western Mail and the ramblings of English-speaking Welsh on internet forums are telling the truth, the only way to learn Welsh is through the ingestion of a rather large pill -forced down your throat!