Wales, a Story

According to the mediaeval  pseudo-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth the Britons (the ancestors of the modern Welsh) were the first people to inhabit the British Isles.

"she stretcheth forth as it were three arms whereby she taketh in the traffic from oversea brought hither from every land in her fleets. By twice ten cities, moreover, and twice four, was she graced in days of old, whereof some with shattered walls in desolate places be now fallen into decay, whilst some, still whole, do contain churches of the saints with towers builded wondrous fair on high, wherein companies of religious, both men and women, do their service unto God after the traditions of the Christian faith. Lastly, it is inhabited of five peoples, Romans, to wit, Britons, Saxons, Picts and Scots. Of these the Britons did first settle them therein from sea to sea before the others, until, by reason of their pride, divine vengeance did overtake them, and they yielded them unto the Picts and Saxons. Remaineth now for me to tell from whence they came and in what wise they did land upon our shores, as by way of foretaste of that which shall hereafter be related more at large."

Ptolemy's map of the British Isles  

However by the 13th century the light of British independence was extinguished by King Edward I (Longshanks) in 1282 with the death of it's last ruler Llewellyn Ap Gruffydd

The Killing of Llewellyn  

And his monument

Here began the oppression of the Welsh people that did not end until completely until 1992 with the Welsh language Act which gave Welsh (the aboriginal language of Britain) official status, and ironically giving it De Jure the status of the only "official" language in the UK.

After the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr in the early 15th Century, there were tough penal laws enacted against the Welsh

" These laws banned the Welsh from obtaining senior public office, the bearing of arms or buying property in English towns. All public assembly was forbidden, and education of Welsh children was restricted. Englishmen who married Welsh women also came under these laws."

Owain Glyndwr

These tough penal laws affected the Welsh people terribly, however the Welsh language and Welsh law was allowed to carry on, and the Welsh themselves could be said to live on "reservations" rather akin to the Native Americans or a type of apartheid.

In 1485 Henry Tudor who was Welsh born  (Henry VII) who adopted the red dragon of Cadwalldr

His victory was seen by the Welsh as a promise of the return of King Arthur to drive the Saxon out and restore Britain to it's original inhabitants, and Henry named his eldest son "Arthur" however Arthur died and his elder brother took his place and it was his "Laws in Wales" Acts of parliament of 1535 and 1542 that ended the Welsh law and banned the Welsh language from government, putting another nail in the coffin of Welsh identity

Copy of the 1542 Laws in Wales Act

""Also be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid,

That all Justices, Commissioners, Sheriffs, Coroners, Escheators, Stewards, and their Lieutenants, and all other Officers and Ministers of the Law, shall proclaim and keep the Sessions Courts Hundreds Leets Sheriffs Courts, and all other Courts in the English Tongue;

and all Oaths of Officers, Juries and Inquests, and all other Affidavits, Verdicts and Wager of Law, to be given and done in the English Tongue;

and also that from henceforth no Person or Persons that use the Welch Speech or Language, shall have or enjoy any manner Office or Fees within this Realm of England, Wales, or other the King's Dominion, upon Pain of forfeiting the same Offices or Fees, unless he or they use and exercise the English Speech or Language."

This act led to the angliseation of the Welsh ruling class and a further marginalization of the Welsh people.

Wales was losing it's identity as a nation and becoming in the words of Basil Jones (Bishop of St David's) a "geographical expression"

This situation became worse in 1847 when an enquiry was launched into state of education in Wales, that became known in Wales "the treachery of the Blue Books" because of its criticism of the Welsh language and encouraged it's disuse.

With such extreme measures including what became known as the "Welsh Not"

Children who were caught speaking Welsh would have this put on until at the end of the day the child to be caught speaking Welsh would be beaten. Essentially Welsh was to be beaten out of the people.

However at the end of the 19th Century there was renewal of the Welsh identity when a group known as Cymru Fydd (Young Wales) led a revival of both the Welsh language it was led by David Lloyd George.

In addition, the establishment of the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) and the Welsh League of Youth. With its aims to revive the Welsh language.

In 1966 The Welsh National party led by Gwynfor Evans

Captured its first parliamentary seat and his victory began the march to self-government and the revival of Welsh. The year after his victory The 1967 Welsh language act repealed the anti-Welsh provisions of 1535 and 1542 Laws in Wales's acts. On top of that, Welsh medium schools were established, along with Welsh language programs on TV and radio

Miri Mawr (great fun) a popular Welsh language show for Children

In the 1980s the Thatcher government had decided to shelve the proposed Welsh 4th channel they changed this after Gwynfor Evans threaten to fast to death> Evans was prepared to die over the status of the Welsh language in the media and he won

Gwynfor preparing for his hunger strike

This victory did 2 things it led to the 1993 Welsh language act which made Welsh the official language of Wales (and the only one in the UK) and it made home rule for Wales possible which resulted in the new National Assembly for Wales being established and Wales finally being a nation again for the first time since the 13th Century and again Securing a strong place for the Welsh language.

National Assembly for Wales

The Funeral Rites For Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism

Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister 1945-51 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cover of Margaret Thatcher

It's been an eventful couple of weeks in the USA with the death of the "greatest prime minister since Winston Churchill" Margaret Thatcher. It's amazing that even with the Boston Bombings her recent passing was still a leading news item. What amazed me that even left wing commentators were lauded her as the best since Churchill! I thought that the late Clement Attlee had done quite a lot great things, the Welfare State, the NHS, rebuilding the economy after a rather expensive war, staring down Joe Stalin in Berlin and the Communists in Korea. I am sure that Lady Thatcher was a great Prime minister and did great things. I guess recovering the Falklands and  helping in ending the Cold War would be considered great! However what divided the country were things that she did that were not so great, like letting our manufacturing go down the drain, and as the late Harold Macmillan put it "selling off the family silver"., and to leave the last say to the late Ian Gilmore (one of Lady Ts cabinet ministers) "The ship is off course and heading for the rocks". Looks like history is repeating itself, its a shame there are no real "one nation Tories" around, they are more effective than the whole of the Labour party.

Should Lady Thatcher have been given a state funeral considering the division of feeling about her? I would say yes as if to bring closure to her and her era. Also for there to be a spirit of forgiveness for those who we feel that she destroyed their lives. There was a comment in the Spectator that said that "it was not her who saved Britain, but Britain itself" That would say to me that she really did nothing during the great recession of the early 1980s, just let nature take its course.

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America's Shame: Sand Creek

Colonel John Milton Chivington, United States Army (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A portrait of Edmond Guerrier. Guerrier was the son of Frenchman William Guerrier and Walks In Sight, a Cheyenne. Guerrier provided testimony to Congressional investigators at Fort Riley, KS in 1865 concerning the Sands Creek Massacre. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

America’s Shame Sand Creek Massacre

Last weekend nd we decided to take a family trip (trying to escape Kansas triple digit weather) to Colorado. The wife being interested in Western history had wanted to visit the site of the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado. This infamous act of barbarism was committed towards the end of the American Civil War (November 9th 1864), and ignited a war amongst the Plain’s Indians that culminated in the battle of the Little Big Horn, where Col. George C Custer and elements of the 7th Calvary were wiped out. It began when Colorado’s hard line territorial governor, John Evans (of Welsh descent) ordered Col John Chivington to deal with the Cheyenne and Arapaho who had been stealing cattle. He commanded 800 troops (Calvary and artillery)

John Chivington

Meanwhile a group of Cheyenne Indians led by Black Kettle and White Antelope where camped near the Sand Creek with 70 lodges and about 800 men, women and children. They were told to camp there by the authorities, and were to be regarded as “friendly Indians”. That did not stop vegetate Indian hater and Methodist preacher, Chivington from killing them, in fact he said.

“ 

Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! … I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians.

” 

Genocide was in his mind, and he and his soldiers attacked. Only 2 officiars refused to (Captain Soule and Lt Cramer).

This was from a testmony by John Smith

I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces … With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors … By whom were they mutilated? By the United States troops …

” 

—- John S. Smith, Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith, 1865^[17]

“ 

Fingers and ears were cut off the bodies for the jewelry they carried. The body of White Antelope, lying solitarily in the creek bed, was a prime target. Besides scalping him the soldiers cut off his nose, ears, and testicles-the last for a tobacco pouch …

Chief Black Kettle

Another eyewitness reported.

“Jis to think of that dog Chivington and his dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? What der yer ‘spose our Heavenly Father, who made both them and us, thinks of these things? I tell you what, I don’t like a hostile red skin any more than you do. And when they are hostile, I’ve fought ‘em, hard as any man. But I never yet drew a bead on a squaw or papoose, and I despise the man who would.”

The famous scout and pathfinder, Kit Carson.

Unfortunately Carson’s enlightened attitude was rare and the old saying “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” was commonly held by those who even abhorred Slavery. The native American was either to be absorbed and become white (which was Thomas Jefferson’s view) or be wiped out. It was estimated that 133 men women and children were killed.

Chivington was condemned by a court of enquiry, but disgraced with nothing but the memory on his self righteous and sociopathic mind.

It took us about 3 hours of driving through dusty western towns, named for such enlightened folk as Horace Greeley and his anti slavery newspaper “Tribune”. After driving for 30 minutes along a dusty county road, we arrived at the site of America’s shame on open plain, where there is one marker.

We stood by the site in silence with nothing by the wind blowing and moaning. It was like the cry of a baby. Just like the ghost of those innocents who were butchered there.

Also those who believe in “American Exceptionalism” and a “City built on a hill” should come here and ask, what is “exceptionable” about this. We are as guilty now as we were then.

And with the Immigration law in Arizona which encourages racial profiling, we are a long way from fulfilling the American dream. They should come here and ask why?

Margaret Thatcher RIP

Cover of Margaret Thatcher

Today Margaret Thatcher was buried with a grand ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Nothing seemed more controversial than giving Britain’s longest serving 20^th prime minister a state funeral, almost seemed more hate directed at her than when she was alive!, everyone who loathed her wanted to get the knives in, whether it was ex miners who blamed her for losing their jobs, or other workers who had memories of the 1980s. She presided over a divided nation (though what kept her in was an ineffective and divided opposition).

I was not fond of her policies I think she favoured the rich because she perceived them as the “job creators” and should be rewarded by keeping more of their wealth with low taxes. Unfortunately, what happened the rich made money, sat on it whilst the working classes lost their good jobs, and ended up working at Tesco (like many people I worked there in the late 1980s). I was one those people who suffered unemployment after I left school, but in the end, I did get a full time job, as did many others. In the community that I grew up in there were people who did not work, or fiddled (one neighbor ran a taxi business whilst drawing the dole) I do believe that welfare dependency is real and Trans generational.

I always joked that I left Wales in 1990 to get away from Maggie, however I did have a job and things were not that bad.

In fact, what was so great about the 1970s? We had strikes, our industry was uncompetitive, and power cuts etc. I am sure that a Labour government would have ended up closing the mines.

She could have approached the economy differently. However she is gone, and part of being a Christian is forgiveness, and that’s how I see it.

May she rest in peace and rise in glory

Mae ei addysg dwp! yng Nghymru

English: Sir Howard Stringer at the 2009 premiere of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Photographer's blog post about event and photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Image via CrunchBase

I find Mark Drakeford’s view that the only issue in Wales now is the economy quite troubling. If he’s thinking of James Carville’s adage “it's the economy, stupid” at the time of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election, he should catch up now Carville is saying it's “education, stupid” then US education system was still half way decent, now it's terrible and so is Wales, with 20% of Cardiff children leaving school barely literate, with poor numeral skills. How exactly are going to compete with up an coming economies in Asia with a poorly educated work force. Perhaps we should ask Barry boy Howard Stringer how we do it since he was the only Welshman who ran a Japanese corporation. Even better why not talk to Stringer, Sir Terry  Matthews, and Michael Moritz, ask them to help build an excellent education system for Wales. Yes the economy is important but without education is all our kids can aspire to is pushing trolleys at Tesco?

What if! David Seligman had won Cardiff West in 1983

I had read an interesting comment on Twitter this morning, which caught my eye. It concerned the 1983 general election in the UK particularly the result in Cardiff West when the Tory Stefan Telezki won the seat that had belonged to the former Speaker George Thomas (Lord Tonypandy). I remember it well. It was a unusual time, Maggie Thatcher had just won the Falkland’s war but despite that her economic policies made her as popular as VD in a “Greek knocking shop”, but the country was not the only thing that was hemorrhaging the Labour party was with the biggest schism in its history which produced the SDP, but particular the Cardiff West SDP.

If memory serves me right, Caerau councilor David Seligman was the official Labour candidate whilst the Cardiff West SDP had the former Abertillary MP, Jeffrey Thomas as their candidate. It was claimed that Thomas won votes because of his surname was same as George Thomas (somewhere I always thought was absurd) . I think the real reason the strength of the Cardiff West SDP which consisted of those in Radyr.  They campaigned hard and consisted of such people as Cllr Marion Drake and her husband Geoff (who stood in Cardiff West in 1987), Marion rejoined the Labour party (she and her husband did not join the Liberal Democrats if memory serves me right) at the rise of New Labour and Tony Blair and served in Russell Goodway’s cabinet until she lost (or retired) from her seat in 2004).

The What If is quite interesting how things would have turned out if David had won in 1983. First, there would have been no Rhodri Morgan in 1987 and perhaps no Rhodri Morgan as First Minister in 1999 and no Welsh Labour. How would have things turned out?

Those involved in that Twitter exchange https://twitter.com/gareth52 decided probably not to speculate probably not it would just bring recriminations.