Citizen Kane is Citizen Hain

Citizen Hain                                                        Citizen Kane


Are they related?

Roger Lewis, Jasper Rees, and Welsh Twrcu!

Cover of Richard Burton

I want to thank Roger Lewis (who in my invincible ignorance had not heard of) for his review of Jasper Lewis’s  (who I have heard of) “Bred of Heaven”. Incidentally I do not read the Daily “We love Mussles”Mail, if I can help it, and had not read Uncl Roger’s review of  Iaspr’s book, only the assorted blogposts associated with it. However I have got Jasper’s book and it is a very good read. Is this the theory of unintended consequences? A guy not only writes a scathing review  of a work but demonises a whole language, so that people go out and get the book?

There are those who defend Lewis’s attack under the guise of the freedom of speech.

You could not call Roger Lewis a racist, because he is Welsh, and identifies with the nation (I think).

You could call him a “Cymraegthrope”?  Surely language is a part of Being rather like skin color?

Surely a Welsh speaker who grew up speaking the language from infancy (rather like Richard Burton) to be told that something that is part of their being is like something that is strangled and dying, is inappropriate as Willy Rushton (dead) describing German as sounding like “someone being sick on a 747” or  P J O’Rourke’s comment about French being a “wimpy language”. these 2 are (were) humorists, whilst Lewis is something more serious.

when Welsh joins the Dodo in extinction only history can tell (along with English), certainly not Roger Lewis, jasper Rees, or even me.

You cannot hide this type of bigotry under the freedom of speech like the case where it is ok for the KKK to burn a cross on a African American’s lawn! just aint right.

I Am quite surprised to find that many of my customers know about Wales and even the “beautiful language” a far cry from a “turkey being strangled”. One of my older customers who asked where I was from, and said “Cardiff” told me that the Welsh language was a precious thing “and must be saved” brought tears to this monolingual Welshman. If we can save rare animals so we can save languages.

My daughter is learning Welsh, and when we were last in Wales when to Urdd camp at Llangrannog. What Welsh needs is LLangrannog’s all over Wales. Just as much in Monmouth as in Cardigan.

That is the challenge.

Related articles

• The Independent Newspaper - Defending The Indefensible (ansionnachfionn.com)

National Pilgrimage to St David's 2012

Image by bookish in north park via Flickr

In the Middle Ages people rarely travelled outside the confines of their own communities , the exceptions were for war, trade and pilgrimage. In Britain there were a numbers of places that were popular for pilgrimages. Canterbury (the tomb of St Thomas A Becket), Walsingham (a shrine dedicated to Our Lady and her home in Nazareth, and finally St David’s in Wales. And its St David’s shrine that I am interested in. in the 12th Century Pope Callistus proclaimed that “2 pilgrimages to St David’s equal one to Rome, and 3 equaled one to Jerusalem’. This made St David’s one of the most popular places of pilgrimage  and the least known. possibly because of the damage from the Reformation and the removal of the bishop’s residence to Camarthen, and the continuous protestantisation of Wales and its culture.

However that sad situation was reversed with the arrival of the Oxford Movement and the  Catholic revival in the Church in Wales, and folk started to go on pilgrimage again. In Wales Anglicans go to Walsingham and Penrhys to honour Our Lady, whilst Roman Catholics add Our Lady of the Taper (sic) in Cardigan. Yet I have not heard of a formal pilgrimage to St David’s one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Europe in the Middle Ages.

What I would like to do next year is to see a walking pilgrimage to St David’s next year very similar to those ones that go to Santiago De Compostella and Walsingham. I cannot see why this could not happen. It would be a great experience for all involved.

All we need is for it to happen.

If anyone would like to participate please contact me at michael.cridland@live.com or 00 620 339 1507. (mobile)

St Mary (Caerau) lives AKA Fr Victor Jones Heritage Center?

Some years ago my uncle purchased a redundant church from the Church in Wales (the former Parish church of Leckwith, Cardiff, St James) , he converted it into a house (quite common I understand)

In fact he converted it into 2 homes quite successfully. My thought about the former St Mary’s church, Caerau to save it for posterity, since Restoration by either Cardiff council, the Church in Wales or even in Dr Oliver Davis’s proposals (whatever they might be now).

I think the only chance to restore St Mary’s is for a private individual to purchase it, convert the bell tower into a private residence, and the nave back to its original state rather like St Teilo’s Church at the Museum of Welsh Life

This would take a bit of an effort, but I think it is feasible, and will save a rare church within the Cardiff area.


My uncle in fact had shown an interest in St Mary’s before he opted for Leckwith. Can this be done? A lot of ground work will be needed. However it is quite possible that a church with someone living in it might help with the anti social activity that haunts the area.

I would dedicate it the memory of Fr Victor Jones the giant inspiration in saving St Mary’s, and a great community leader of  Caerau.



Any contributions would be welcome.

CCFC, Swans. Welsh or Wenglish Teams

Image via Wikipedia

My family have been Cardiff City fans forever, and I am quite sure that 2 of my uncles  were probably present when they won the cup in 1927, and recently my cousin named his son with the the initials as CCFC. However my own parents who used to take me as a kid in the 1970s stopped going at the end of that decade. Why? Well my dad’s view that 2 things killed football in his eyes “money and violence”, and he transferred his allegiance to Snooker, Rugby, and Cricket. For him it ceased to be sport anymore. I wish the Swans good luck and still remember them as being the top team in Wales when City was dropping like that Whale in “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” to the 4th division (if memory serves me right). I think that true Cardiff fans would wish Swansea luck whilst only the fanatics (like all fanatics) would curse them. Its real time for those goof balls to grow up, its only a game. Personally speaking I think its time (and I am no frothy mouth nationalist) to make something of the FAW  and create our own premier league and cut out this crappy big money that destroying the sport both here and in the US. (or maybe I should say “Wales and the US” since its where I am at the present).



and talking of the state of sport in the US my favourite commemorator MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan did a piece on it on his show some time ago on how it has become big just another way of making big money for big business and is why many hard core fans do not go to watch the sport because they cannot afford the tickets, its sad but true. Its time that sport went back into the hands of fans and players and out of the hands of big money and so called celebrity players. Just like the LA Dodgers who are owned by the people who go to watch them and not by some foreign tycoon.

The Welsh National party should take lessons from the SNP

It would be better (in my opinion) to go into the wilderness and meditate begin the business of rebuilding the party by growing your membership through ALL OF Wales. By making your presence as strong i the chip shop in Chepstow as well as the one in Bangor. Going into coalition is akin to marrying a Black Widow Spider it has already happened to Liberals who are paying the price for their black marriage. The WNP needs to learn from the SNP who are the only majority government in the UK. They have had no history of coalitions.

The wistful meanderings of an irrelevent bore

Looking at the state of my former country I sometimes despair. This last election most people could not even be bothered to vote, just like a US mid term election. So how Labour could claim they have a mandate to rule should baffle me, yet it does not, they still had the largest share of the votes. what I think should happen is instead of a coalition which consists of people who only work together because the have to and have no popular mandate, this should provide a great opportunity to have a proper system of checks and balances. i think it is right and proper for Labour to form the Executive, (they did win the largest share of the votes even though it was low) whilst the opposition parties provide proper scrutiny over governance as well as legislation. To be supportive when the Welsh Labour Government is right and to be corrective when they are wrong. it also means that the opposition parties have to work together and bury their differences on unimportant issues. to borrow a analogy from my former theological days there has to be a certain amount of ecumenism in Welsh politics.This could be a chance for Wales to be a trail blazer in a new type of cooperative politics that could lead the world. Or it could just be the same old crap. Yet who am I? Mr Darren Hill of referendum campaign fame called be a “irrelenvent bore” perhaps I am, but I am someone and there are quite a few someones in Wales who feel the same, its time for those someones to stand up!

Jesus is a socialist

Many years ago I worked as a verger at Llandaf Catheral. There I engage in a interesting political discussion with one of the Stewards, John Davies. John was a dedicated Tory.              
However he made this extraordinary comment. "you know Jesus was a true socialist~ i thought to myself maybe there is not such a wide gap and that Jesus was the bridge.

Test

A Stations of the Cross commemorating both the Merthyr Riots and Dic Pendryn's "crucifixion

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Reading pieces about Michael Sheen’s spectacular Live Stations of the Cross. I thought what about a updated live stations commemorating the Merthyr Riots beginning in Merthyr and ending in Cardiff with the “crucifixion’ of that innocent “Dic Penderyn” next year.

FW: Breaking News: Radiation levels at Japanese nuclear plant 100,000 times above normal

---

Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:32:26 -0400
From: newsletters@email.washingtonpost.com
To: michael.cridland@live.com
Subject: Breaking News: Radiation levels at Japanese nuclear plant 100,000 times above normal

---------------------------------------- Breaking News Alert: Radiation levels at Japanese nuclear plant 100,000 times above normal March 27, 2011 7:27:23 PM ---------------------------------------- Leaked water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant showed the highest radiation readings yet, compounding the risks for the hundreds of workers trying to repair the facility's cooling system. Seventeen workers have been exposed to high levels of radiation, and airborne radioactivity in the unit 2 building remained so high that a worker there would reach his yearly occupational exposure limit in 15 minutes. http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/F490YD/YHOF1F/Y6VK69/0EK37B/T5F5O/82/h For more information, visit washingtonpost.com ---------------------------------------- Get closer to the story. Download The Washington Post app for iPad. http://itunes.com/app/thewashingtonpostforipad ---------------------------------------- Get breaking news alerts sent to your mobile phone. Sign up by texting NEWS to 98999. Manage your e-mail subscriptions To unsubscribe, click here ---------------------------------------- Copyright 2011 The Washington Post Company Washington Post Digital E-mail Customer Care 1150 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20071

James Garner on Charlie Rose

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Test

Fire in Western Kansas

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Updated: 5:11 pm

STANTON COUNTY, Ka

Lyn Hudson

I had written a post on a letter that was published in the South Wales Echo by Cllr Lyn Hudson, and though she did not equate belly dancing with lap dancing, I do wonder whter it is fair to equate it with striptease??

Lap-dance club is not needed

I WAS surprised to read that there is a lap-dancing venue planned for the basement of Gios restaurant in The Hayes, Cardiff (“Firm plans to open new lap-dancing club in city”, March 7).

I don’t want to be a killjoy, but why do we need them? Why do we have to have them? We will be complicit in accepting a cut in the moral standards of our city if we are complacent in granting licences for venues such as these.

We are already tolerant of pole dancing, striptease, burlesque and belly dancing, all of which require a degree of expertise and skill, but I place lap-dancing firmly in another league.

I am not convinced that we should pander to all tastes and I hope that Giovanni will reconsider allowing the premises to be used in this way. Knowing him and his family personally, I can’t believe they would approve of this action.

I sincerely hope that the application does not succeed.

Lyn Hudson

Welsh Conservative councillor, Cardiff

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/letters-to-the-editor/south-wales-echo-letters/2011/03/22/tuesday-22-march-2011-91466-28377337/#ixzz1HKknxKnQ

Could Obama be impeached over the US attack on Libya?

Yes he could said Rep Kucinich.

Dennis Kucinich: Libya Air Strikes Could Be 'Impeachable Offense'

The Strange Rebirth of Welsh Liberalism

The Welsh Liberals will have a option when they are hammered at the next election. They can break with the Federal party and stand up for that Welsh Liberalism that gave birth both to Wales as a modern Nation and the modern welfare state in the UK, or they can lose Cardiff in 2012. They are a autonomous party.

Welsh Liberals need to be the party of Lloyd George and T E Ellis again!

Why I am voting Yes, and why I should vote no

Today the Welsh people will finally deride whether they are a nation with real sovereignty, or just a region with nothing more than a glorified county council a glorified county council. However with out the framework of a written Constitution with separation of powers even with a vote in favor, the sovereignty will still be illusionary as a future UK government could destroy devolved government in the UK with a simple vote at Westminster. This could not happen to an US state or a Swiss canton because of the constitutional guarantees it is impossible, however it happened to Northern Ireland with its 50-year-old parliament in Stormont in 1973.

I will vote Yes, except I cannot, because I live abroad, so I hope my friends and family will vote Yes, because despite everything I believe it to be the right thing to do.

On the other hand the strongest argument against giving it the power to legisalte is its lamentable performance. It has done good things (free bus travel for pensioners etc) but it has not done great things ( the promised economic miracle from Objective one funding which would had living like our then filthy rich cousins the Irish) the dreadful state of Welsh schools and education.

However I leave it to my friend Denis Campbell editor of UK Progressive and Huffington Post contributor and resident of the lovely village of Monknash in God's beautiful Glamorgan (I envy Denis's house and would rent a room in it just to live there) .

Cap'n Denis Campbell Marrrch 2 roundabouts 7:47 in the mornin' Denounce this misdeed

OK, could not resist....

MARCH 2, 2011 AT 1:45 PM
I loathe the BNP and everything it stands for and I am voting NO.
There is far too much wheeling and dealing and piggy noses in the taxpayer trough as it is.
This crop of pols had 10-years prove themselves deserving. To now blindly give them more powers when the economy is in such disastrous shape is unwise. They are guilty of fiddling whilst Cardiff burns spending months on assuring they have more powers than fixing the economy.
The numbers do not lie:
-70K manufacturing jobs lost,
-economic development stifled and under government control,
-the High Street looks like Beirut,
-uncompetitive bid after uncompetitive bid,
-boondoggles like the Smithsonian folk-life festival and Ryder Cup without a penny’s worth of ROI (not to mention a lack of constituent demand)
and
-no one cares.
Where oh where is the outrage when something like 11% will decide this important question?
Nicky, you need only to look at Wisconsin in the US to see what governmental hubris and over-reach looks like and what an enraged constituency with a measured, appropriate response can do.
Plus ‘We Are All Egyptians’ is a stronger slogan.

Quite accurate, sadly. 

Then my friend Gary Lewis from Maesteg. Gary is a highly qualified professional who has been unemployed for quite a while. what has the Assembly done for him and thousands of others? sweet FA.

Disappointing I say yes to democracy, but vote the bastards out in May!

No Choice for Welsh Voters in may?

Is Andrew Neil right?

Egypt’s Supreme Military Council Dissolves Parliament Places PM in Caretaker Role | UK Progressive

Egypt’s Supreme Military Council Dissolves Parliament Places PM in Caretaker Role | UK Progressive

Lets hope that it is a temporary move!??

Thousands Turn Out For Anti-Govt Protests In Algeria : NPR

Thousands Turn Out For Anti-Govt Protests In Algeria : NPR


Mubarak's out,looks like Algeria's turn!

Welsh Consulates??

Some wonders from the True Wales web site.

"Let the people decide on independence, says Rachel Banner
Last week in a highly polemical essay, Oxford academic Patrick McGuinness argued that the campaign for a referendum on further powers for the National Assembly is being hampered by misinformation spread by those who fear a Yes vote. Rachel Banner, of True Wales, a grassroots movement formed to oppose the devolution of full law-making powers, replies
PATRICK McGuinness argues that it is an extraordinary claim to say that full law-making powers for the National Assembly would lead to independence.
In reality, the greater the legislative rift between England and Wales becomes, the more likely is separation from the United Kingdom. It is certainly not difficult to find evidence that the Welsh Assembly is set on independence. The Senedd's enthusiasm for a new Welsh honours system, a £13,000 investment into research as to the viability of a Welsh stock market, and initiatives to set up Welsh consulates abroad all demonstrate that the Assembly Government is doing its utmost to prepare for an independent Wales.
A further indication is Dafydd Elis-Thomas latest pronouncement concerning the devolution of control over S4C. Is this not the clearest sign yet that Plaid Cymru government politicians are gearing up for independence? Will the Assembly Government ultimately want control over the whole of Welsh broadcasting? The truth is that full law-making powers for the Assembly are the penultimate piece of the Independent Wales jigsaw."

What is a Welsh consulate, and where are they? I think they must be referring to those WDA offices that were set up in Chicago some time ago.

In fact I remember writing to Mike German in 2000 after a visit to the new Consulate general's office in Denver. My concern was that seemed to be very little attempt to promote Wales, and that WAG should set up offices to promote Wales.

When they were set up I recall that the were refered to in the Welsh media as "Welsh embassies" which is obviously hyperbole.

Reagan Mythology Rewritten . Reagan's real legacy

Ask not what Wales can do for you,rather asked what you can do for Wales

Ask not what Wales can do for you, as what you can do for Wales

Ask not what Wales can do for you, as what you can do for Wales

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

It is fifty years since these famous and epic making words were uttered by President John F Kennedy at his inauguration, They followed the farewell address of President Dwight D Eisenhower who warned of the dangers of the “Military Industrial Complex”. Though I would like to spend time on Ike’s unheeded warning with which we are now living with the consequences, I am going to meditate on JFK’s epic prose.

The beginning of the 1960s heralding the age where those who fought in WWII were taking charge from those who led it. Symbolised by JFK (who fought) from Ike (who led). Kennedy was a man with a vision and a man with a mission to transcend the Cold War with a new war of hope. He wanted peace and liberty, yes he was a Cold War warrior who saw the Soviets as the epitome of evil, but even he as a Catholic saw the possibility of redemption. He avoided getting the US involved in wars (even though his generals pressured him to nuke Cuba).

There is a great tendency to focus so much on his personal failings, his affairs etc. These are sins of commission, the serious sin is that of omission which is hate and indifference. There was substance to his speech. One thinks of the Civil Rights legislation which he inaugurated and the Peace Corp which did so much around the world, and finally the Test Ban which marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

People see the 1960s as the decade of permissiveness. I think it was a decade of Maturity when Humanity began to grow up, even in the Roman Catholic Church with Pope John XXIII and Vatican II. It was also the decade of martyrdom. With JFK and ending with Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. This new hope was built on the blood of the martyrs.

The 1960s was also a period of maturity for Wales, surely the truth of our modern nation symbolised by Gwynfor Evan’s epic victory at Camathern succeeded Lady Megan Lloyd George the daughter of David Lloyd George surely that is symbolism that cannot be missed. Both Gwynfor and Lloyd George are founders of our modern Wales. 1966 signified the march of Wales to nationhood which makes the upcoming referendum even more important. Wales is standing up, but it needs to stand up for itself and not rely on others to bankroll it.

I am saddened that the “No” side has to rely on such negativity and lies to promote itself, and its not lost on me that one of its leading spokesman is a devout Baptist. I am not sure whether he is a fundamentalist seeing the World and black and white. He does to me with the Assembly and those who support it as being the forces of “darkness” whilst he and his supporters being the forces of “light and truth: and the voice of the “Common Man”. To me its more the voice of bigotry and ignorance which is why they taken the stand of campaigning money, they would prefer people not to be informed and to remain in the dark.

To end Kennedy’s speech was to do with service both to America and the World. Thsi is what should;d motivate Wales. Service both to our country and the world. Preserving what is good and unique our language, and securing prosperity.

Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Bale for Wales wins

Haverford West born Christian Bale wins a Golden Globe! Hooray for Wales! So nickers to wales online! I GOTTIT AS IT HAPPENED. Does Chris care? Right from my TV

FWD: FWD: On your bike Fido!

we were having coffee in our favorite coffee shop in Dodge City "Cup o Jo ones". A man and his dog biking!

Kansas new order

This is a picture of the Dodge City Daily Globe's January 13th's edition front page. This particular copy was on a table of our breakroom as I came into work. I am not sure if you can see the horns that some one had drawn on the picture of our new Republican governor and his wife?

Who did it? A angry Democrat? Or one of my Hispanic co workers angry at his Tea party rhetoric, or even a angry right winger who thinks he is not hard enough.

I was amused by the remark of a coworker sitting there who remarked on "the lack of maturity amongst our coworkers", to me it said more about her own outlook, when she did not respond to the "N" word that I had seen written on a picture of President Obama previously.

All indicated how right the president was right about the type of discourse that is seen these days.

President Obama's speech in Tuscon

Will a Yes Vote mean That Wales Will Stand up?

Soon the great day will be upon us. March 3 ^rd , referendum day. The day when the Welsh people will be given the opportunity to vote on whether they wish their National Assembly to be able to pass laws without reference to the UK Parliament. If its yes then it will be the first Welsh legislature since Owain Glyndwr's Senedd in the early 15 ^th Century. If no then The assembly will still be able to pass laws indirectly using the cumbersome LCO process.

Though because I am living in the US this ex pat will not be able to vote. However many of my friends and family will, and how they will vote I cannot say. What I do know is that is these people that will decide this, and not the lobbyists, the Cardiff Bay Bubble clique that figured so much in the Yes launch. I am just a humble supermarket worker, I am not a lobbyist or political hack that spends his life obsessing on what happens in the Bay. No I am just an ordinary Joe who wants to see the best for his country. Its Joe and Jo who will decide, and they better understand what is going down, as I was talking someone today who believes that this about independence. She did not get this from Len Gibbs or the No campaign, but the Yes campaign need to go door to door to be sure that folk know, or they will vote No.

My first feeling was that it would be a big yes for me. To me it seemed logical, that if the Assembly could pass laws through the cumbersome process where legislation had to pass through the UK Parliament, then why not directly?

The “No” campaign seems to use scare tactics as illustrated on its web site (before they changed it at my suggestion, I think ;) ). They seemed to imply that those who were in favor of legislative powers for the Assembly were racists (opposed to English speakers). It's a shame because they could have made a good case with their criticism of the assembly's poor performance, and the infamous “ Cardiff Bay Bubble” and being out of touch with the ordinary masses.

I agree that the Assembly has not done great things (economy, education and healthcare) however it has done good things, for example free bus travel for OAPs and disabled people, free prescriptions, free breakfasts etc. These are good things in itself and probably would not have happen.

I also think it has lifted Wales's profile in the World, and that must be good.

Perhaps Wales will finally Stand up!

A Change of Personnel: A potent sign of Wales lack of economic clout and ...

A Change of Personnel: A potent sign of Wales lack of economic clout and ...: "There couldn’t have been a more powerful image of Wales lack of economic importance or its underperformance over the years compared to our S..."

Hat Tip to A Change of Personnel this something we should be concerned about.

What is Wales and where do we stand in the World. Or maybe its time for Wales "to Stand up"?

Why I would vote yes in the Welsh Assembly's referendum in March!

I thought this comment that I left on Wales Home.org was good enough for its own post.

Complements of the season to my fellow compatriots from across the “pond”. Watching this thread (I can hardly call it reading as some of the comments have been hard to read) is like watching a game of tennis at Wimbledon with poor old Len trying to beat John McEnroe’s and Bjorn Borg’s serves (at the same time). I think the problem with the internet is the fact that it is in its infancy (and that goes for social networks too). It was the telly what won it for Obama and it was the seem medium that brought him down (and not the cable news relatively speaking more people watch Songs of Praise than Fox News), and Palin’s tweets make her look a positive twit. I have looked at TW’s web site, and to be honest I think they could put the “follow the money section” as their home page instead of looking for it. People who are rabidly opposed to devolution would find comfort with that than reading the pap on the front page.

In fact talking of the front page does the talk of discrimination imply that supporters of devolution are on the whole frothy mouthed BNP style racists? Is that fair? Or is it just the type of rhetoric that will encourage those who have moved to Wales come out and vote against what could turn out in the end to be a “Welsh Republic”? I was not here in 1997, but as a 14 year old growing up on a working class area of Cardiff I remember the 1979 campaign very well. When the No campaign played the separatist card all the time, with stunts like putting mock immigration officers on one train. I also recall a friend who went to work at the Welsh Office telling me that there were stories of a “secret campaign” being run out of the Welsh Office which operated on a “divide and conquer” mode. Which wanted to frighten those in the north with the fear of a Assembly dominated by Cardiff and south Wales, and frighten those in the south with idea that it would be dominated by Welsh speakers from the north. In fact it worked.

I was not here for the referendum in 1997 my parents were and they voted, and I would have voted for it. However after that they accepted its establishment. I moved back to Wales in 2002 until 2005, and I was not happy with its lack of achievement., to the point that I even contemplated voting no in this forthcoming referendum. Then I recalled how bad things were in the old days. Welsh hospitals suffered from budget problems just as much in the 1970s as now, or my grandmother would not have been sent home early die in her cold house, which was because the council took so long to replace the window that was broken. Or the shoddily maintained schools with cold class rooms with asbestos hanging just a couple feet above you, with teachers who were so inept it would have better if we left alone and taught ourselves. If there PISA scores in 1979 I am sure they would have been far lower then. And talked to me of the 1980s, it's why I left Wales in 1990. No hope.

TW talks of “True Devolution”. What does that mean? I live in the US where we have true devolution with local control and referendums (voter initiatives and propositions). I have witnessed referendums in both Colorado and California that have shown the “People’s Will” like proposition 8 in California which banned gay marriage and TABOR in Colorado which restricted tax increases and later destroyed education in the state. I am not a fan, in fact I sure if they had been held in the South we probably would still have had Segregation. In fact there is another word for true devolution we call it federalism. So is TW advocating that, which would mean that Wales would have real sovereignty, which can only be guaranteed with a written constitution? Or is it just an empty phrase devoid of meaning?

Len also mentioned the possibility of a low turn out. Does that mean that TW will not accept a yes vote? Because of the low turnout. I have heard the same argument t prove its abolishment. However that’s a double edge sword as turnout for local elections are usually lower, should we then abolish Cardiff Council? Certainly not.

Again I shall not be in Wales for this referendum (unless we move back in February). Yet I have a large family and lots of friends who I keep in touch with that will. And talking of family I can say that with my mother is still in good health because of that she can travel free on the bus, and the good treatment from her GP. My grandmother died because things failed under the old system ,but my mother is still with me thanks to the new.

My daughter’s education in her early years in Cardiff helped her to succeed now, whilst it failed me.

I admit the achievements were not great in the last 10 years, but I thank God for the small ones, which have had a positive effect. I admit this is all rather personal and subjective, but they are the stories that matter both for and against. Not the endless stats that you read