CAMBRIA POLITICO

Byline: Jack of the North

Do we need this?

As if the defeat by Ireland wasn’t difficult enough to stomach the presentation was even worse. While the Irish were represented by their charming president, Mary MacAleese, who did we have ‘representing’ us? – William Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, now Royal Vice Patron of the WRU. His granny being the Patron. (You must have seen her at the games with the Trimsaran boys, downing the Felinfoel.)

The WRU has even named a cup named after him. Competed for every autumn by us and the South Africans. Odd, to say the least. Because, traditionally, the majority of the players in the Springbok team have been Afrikaners, who fought a couple of wars against the English, and lost thousands of their women and children in the concentration camps that some chinless wonder thought was such a spiffing idea. An increasing number of Springbok players are black – so what did the Brit empire ever do for them? Then there’s us Welsh – we all know that Wilhelm and his loutish, carrot-topped half-brother support England! Is the WRU having a laugh?

Probably not. For the truth is that the Welsh Rugby Union has been run by a self-perpetuating and self-serving claque of sycophants ever since its formation in 1881. For proof you need look no further than the badge the founders chose to adorn the shirts of our team. While the Irish have the shamrock, the Scots the thistle, the English the rose – all national emblems – our boys sport ostrich feathers and an inscription in German! A bird that is not native to Wales and a language that has never been spoken here. Very fitting. So maybe those bewhiskered rugger-buggers were having a laugh. No. They genuinely thought that the emblem of the ‘Prince of Wales’ was perfect for the team representing the Welsh nation.

(Historical note: the ‘Prince of Wales’ in 1881 was Edward the Lecher. His mother, Victoria, wrote of him, to his sister, “I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder”. She actually blamed him for the death of his father, her beloved Albert.)

Clearly, it’s time for change. The WRU must adopt a symbol that represents Wales, not some alien monarchy. As for patrons, they can choose from within the nation, from the ranks of our people who have achieved fame and honour. As for Willi and his cup, why not re-name it the Rorke’s Drift Cup? There’s a genuine Welsh-South African connection. Or why have any cup at all; for it’s only awarded for an autumn, warm-up friendly and in a few years time these fixtures may be dropped? If there has to be a presentation after a game then why can’t it be made by our First Minister, someone elected by Welsh people. (And someone who might even know the names of the Welsh players.)

For so many reasons the Welsh Rugby Union is an embarrassment to the nation. This is not 1881; we no longer defer unquestioningly to the extended family based on Buck House – we know too much about them. Roger Lewis, Dai Pickering and the rest must be forcefully reminded that they run the Welsh Rugby Union, and that it represents the Welsh nation. They should stop regarding it as their ticket to a knighthood.

Jack of the North

By Rhydian Fôn James

This article was inspired by a chat over the garden wall with a neighbour and good friend, leading to his complaint about his council tax bill and a request that I write something about it. Is there any basis to his complaint? Yes, without doubt – and we in Wales must work to ensure a fair and progressive system of local taxation. The difficulty lies in the fact that powers over taxation still lie with Westminster, and not at the Senedd. As we shall see, the battle for devolution of further significant powers to Cardiff is tied up with the battle over council taxes.

Many everyday public services are provided through local governments all over Wales – even ones so simple that we can forget that they are a service, such as driving on a local authority road and taking children to schools, libraries, or leisure centres. Part of these services are funded by local taxation, currently in the form of council tax. Bu this is about to change, in some UK countries at least – in Scotland, the SNP are pressing ahead with plans to discard the council tax system in Scotland. It will be replaced with a local income tax, also a Plaid Cymru policy for some years. At the time of writing, Plaid Cymru’s Fairness Commission is researching and considering the party’s policies on taxation, with local income tax being a focus of discussion.

The biggest problem with the council tax is quite simple: those on low incomes pay far too much, whilst the rich get away with paying so little that it is laughable. Similar arguments can be made about many taxes, especially UK income tax, but council tax is far more regressive than almost any other tax. In Wales, the council tax is paid for Bands A to I, corresponding to the historic value of a house. A Band I bill is about 3.5 times greater than a Band A bill, but the typical Band I house is worth around 10 times the typical Band A house’s worth. A typical Band I resident, earning over £50,000 a year, will have and income 15.5 times greater than a person on income support, who may pay Band A council tax.

So, welcome back to Dylan Jones-Evans and goodbye to Cynical Dragon of ‘Paul Flynn is a Cock-editions 0- 745′ notoriety (and also a fan of the Doors-so he must be alright!).

The churn in Welsh political blogs goes on. No sign of any Labour revival though. Congrats to Ordovicius on topping the Welsh Wikio rankings (we are rapidly coming up behind you, bach!). All we need now is for Alwyn to become less miserable.

Nominations for the best blog post judged by a panel of judges must be done by the end of the month (August) at Ordovicius:

What are the pigs saying? Enter your captions in the comment area. What is the pig saying to the other piggies troughing the public purse?

Acknowledgement to Guido Fawkes for this idea.

Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews is reported as demanding that Cambria’s ‘editor’ apologise for claiming that Rhondda schoolchildren were forced to turn out “North Korean-style” during a visit to the area by Prince William in May. Henry Jones Davies (Cambria’s publisher, not its editor as Andrews stated) made the remarks on BBC Wales’s Dragon’s Eye programme in June.

Andrews is quoted as saying: “This magazine is running a campaign to prevent Prince William being invested as Prince of Wales.” Not true. Certainly a report on the icambria weblog revealed a new PR offensive in Wales by the Royal Family’s spin-doctors, but the magazine has never covered the story. Out of this report grew a petition aimed at sending a ‘shot across the bows’ of the British establishment in the event that it was contemplating another investiture similar to the event staged in 1969 at the behest of the then Secretary of State for Wales, the egregious George Thomas. The ceremony was widely seen as part of a strategy to counter the rising tide of nationalism at the time.

Cambria’s publisher said today: “This is the typical sort of impudent response from a breed of London-centric politicians who fall over themselves in sycophantic frenzy to kow-tow to the British establishment whenever and wherever possible. Presumably they do so in the hope of being tossed some meaningless bauble of an honour when they have fawned enough.

They have little understanding of Welsh history and even less respect for it. Devolution is, as Ron Davies so rightly said, a process – not an event. The inexorable development of that process – now forging ahead – will lead, inevitably, to full self-government – independence – for Wales, and the attainment of a sovereignty which will belong to the Welsh nation and to it alone. Young people in Wales, and this will include, when they are old enough to speak for themselves, the young people of the Rhondda, are not remotely concerned with the trappings of monarchy and all the paraphernalia of patronage and condescension that goes with it. Their loyalty is to their country and they are becoming aware of a new reality: the bright future and the dignity that independence will bring.”

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i-Cambria has news of an alleged ‘Royal Charm offensive’ in preparation for a possible investiture of Prince William to succeed Prince Charles as nominal Prince of Wales. See below for an extract taken from the main article.

“Nowadays, Welsh support for the English monarchy is confined to a dwindling band of pensioners clinging to memories of the glory days of the British Empire, sundry Tories who have failed to grasp their party’s new-found enthusiasm for Devolution and a tiny clique acting out the antediluvian rituals of their smarter English peers as ‘Lord Lieutenants’ and ‘High Sheriffs’ along with a group of thirsty freeloaders from County Council ‘chain gangs’. All are generally deemed to be pitifully out-of-touch with the times.”

Source: i-Cambria

Whatever one thinks of the involvement of the English monarchy with Wales (little as it has been recently) this will stir up a political hornet’s nest. A petition has already been launched and is gathering momentum… see here
The funny thing is that most people seem to have no objection to Prince William himself (as a young person), it is the use of him as a political pawn, particularly in the Welsh context, that seems odious to many.

Full article is here

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WRU – a self-serving claque of sycophants

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DJE back from Dead. Cynical Dragon slain.

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